Workers Moving into New District 300 Office

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Written by Suzanne Baker, The Courier News. January 15, 2015

http://couriernews.chicagotribune.com/2015/01/15/last-workers-move-new-district-300-offices/

Last workers move into new District 300 offices

Chuck Bumbales is beaming these days, and he’ll be even happier in a little more than a week.

Community School District 300’s assistant superintendent of operations watched the last group of employees move into the new District 300 Central Office building this week. More than 100 district-level employees now work at the administration building at 2550 Harnish Drive in Algonquin.

“It was great to get the last people in here yesterday,” Bumbales said Tuesday morning while giving a tour to show off the office space.

At 28,000 square feet, the new building brings together the administrative staff, business office, information technology, student services, human resources and curriculum development under one roof.

Because the former Central Office building next to Carpentersville Middle School was only 15,000 square feet, some of the district-level staff were scattered around the district in another 5,000 square feet of office space. “My goodness, we were everywhere,” Bumbales said.

Now rather than video conference or spend time driving across the district, people in multiple departments can meet in an office or conference room down the hall. As a result, Bumbales expects better communication.

“The personal touch or in-person touch will improve communication,” he said.

A few last-minute details have to be made before the building will be ready for Bumbales’ biggest showing ever: the Jan. 26 School Board meeting.

A couple of metal nameplates, clocks and video monitors still need to be installed. Furniture to fill first-floor conference rooms and the chairs and tables for Board of Education meeting room are scheduled to be moved in this week.

District 300 already is accepting reservations from staff for use of two conference rooms and training room on the main floor and two conference rooms on the second floor.

The district also has room to grow. “In the past, we’ve moved into something and we were at capacity immediately,” Bumbales said.

A carpeted, 3,000-square-foot room is available on the second floor. “We really haven’t work through its purpose right now,” he said.

Bumbales said it’s been suggested the room could be used for small concerts, a meeting room for the community, or used down the road as offices.

While the district had to buy some additional furniture to fill the added number of conference rooms, staff cafeteria and a few cubicles, the majority of the office furnishings are the same desks, tables, chairs and cubicles used by the staff.

What proved most amazing is how the old furniture appears in the new digs.

“It’s the same things, but they don’t look the same,” Bumbales said. He said perhaps it’s the color choices for the walls, the larger size or configuration of the rooms, the light from all the windows or a combination.

“We brought in a lot of natural light,” he said. “The biggest comment from people is that they just love the natural light.”

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District 300 Unveils New Administration Building

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Written by Stephen Di Benedetto, Northwest Herald. January 14, 2015

http://www.nwherald.com/2015/01/14/algonquin-school-district-300-unveils-new-administration-building/a2ou5oc/

Algonquin School District 300 unveils new administration building

ALGONQUIN – The newly opened $3.9 million administration building gives administrators from Algonquin-based School District 300 a centralized location that is nearly twice the size of their old office in Carpentersville.

The different administrative departments from District 300 also will be housed together at the same location for the first time – the primary motive behind officials’ decision to build the two-story, 28,000-square-foot building, said Chuck Bumbales, assistant superintendent of operations.

“The goal is better communication amongst all of our departments,” Bumbales said. “We are really hoping that in-person touch is really going to improve communication.”

But for parents and students, the majority of the building at 2550 Harnish Drive, Algonquin, will be off-limits, excluding the new district board room. Located near the main lobby, the larger meeting area can fit between 30 to 40 additional people.

It features four 70-inch TVs that add a visual component to board presentations and includes a raised seating area for board members. It’s a larger, more flexible space for the community than the board’s former meeting location at Westfield Community School, Bumbales said.

As staffers were settling into their new office and waiting for the final pieces of furniture to arrive, Bumbales showcased the new board room, five conference rooms and various office spaces during a media tour earlier this week.

The nine-month construction project forced administrators in the spring to move from Carpentersville to Hampshire, before they permanently relocated to Algonquin last week.

The project coincided with a $1.17 million renovation to the former Central Office in Carpentersville. The renovation converted the office into classrooms for the district’s alternative Oak Ridge School.

Officials should complete the move into the new Central Office by the end of January, Bumbales said.

“Everything operates – the phones, the Internet, the security systems, the fire system,” he said. “It’s really now about the final move-in touches that will really make the place become home.”

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Huntley High School Expansion Phase II – First Electric Newspaper

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Written By Staff at First Electric Newspaper. January 2, 2015

http://www.firstelectricnewspaper.com/2015/01/hhs-further-expansion-waits-for-thaw.html

HHS Further Expansion Waits For Thaw, Summer Break

Huntley High School students returning from Winter Break Monday will find themselves greeted with a new HHS main entrance sign meant to reinforce a “Red Raiders” identity.  Bolted up during the break, the new sign marks a milestone in District 158’s HHS expansion to handle another 1,000 students.

Most of the Phase I remodeling work’s finished, according to D158’s Operations and Maintenance Director Doug Renkosik  including revamping the main entrance for better security and repurposing four instruction areas including the school’s weight room.  Parking changes and a student entrance to the Harmony Road campus are finished and work’s approaching the halfway point on the new Huntley High Field House.

Phase II construction’s due to begin this Spring (“just as soon as the ground thaws”) for a classroom addition on the high school’s west end with interior work on a larger cafeteria, multiple common areas, and a redesigned library scheduled to start as soon as the Summer Break.  “It’s going to be a very busy Summer,” said Renkosik.

The entire project is being funded by a $39 million construction grant from the State that had originally been planned to pay for the District’s Square Barn Campus almost 10 years ago.

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