During summer break, Homewood School District 153 school board approved a three year lease of four modular units to be put on the northside of Winston Churchill Elementary School.

These units were installed before school started and they are currently getting utilities ran to them. They are digging sewers and getting electricity in the units.

The units are going to give the school an increase of space for the many resources the school offers. The change in space is not a reaction to the number of students,
The resources would include specials and the music classes they offer.
“As our programming grows, we are looking at ways to provide space,” Principal Niki Kerr said. “This year we added two additional specials classes, a Technology special, and a Character Development special part of our social-emotional learning curriculum.”
The school already had access to STEM lab, Art studio, and general Music classrooms. These units will also increase space so students can participate in Band and Orchestra.
The units have many accommodations and will be even nicer than the current classrooms at Churchill.
The schools in District 153 were built for a different time period . When Winston Churchill Elementary opened in the 1960s, students didn’t have access to the wide array of classes as they do now.
“[The school was] built to handle the amount of kids back then. one of the challenges is that education has changed so much in the last 50-60 years in terms of what services and classes we provide and even what classes are mandated,”said Board member Alex Bosch, chair of the Finance and Property Committee. “With those changes and mandates we need additional space for those classes.”
The school board has recognized that the schools in District 153 are outdated. In response to this they launched a long range strategic plan. The plan brought members of the community to voice their opinions about what they felt needed to be changed about the schools.
“In response to the long range strategic planning we conducted a space study. The company came in and evaluated what type of classrooms are needed, the capacity of the classroom and condition of the buildings,” Bosch said. “We also commissioned a study to project what the enrollment will be in the out years.”
The board is on their way to making all of the schools fulfill the needs of every student that attends the school. Teachers and students will start using the units towards the beginning of October.