Reimagining Education:
A Transformative Master Plan to Support Hybrid Learning
Maine Township High School District 207
Park Ridge, Illinois
Maine Township High School District 207 is comprised of three high school facilities, built in 1929, 1959 and 1964. All three high schools required renewal to better meet the evolving needs of their students, teachers, staff, district, and the community. Wight partnered with the district and community to develop a master plan to realize the future vision for District 207.
The team started by hosting vision sessions with District leadership and met regularly with a core team of school leaders. Extensive data gathering included interviewing staff, conducting facility tours of peer district buildings, and making site observations. Wight also led “deep dive” community engagement sessions. The team incorporated community feedback into the design, providing recommendations to the Board of Education that included cost estimates, general phasing, and sequencing of construction.
Significant goals of the project included re-aligning the facilities to include flexible, collaborative, and modern learning environments that supported a hybrid curriculum. The new schedule required a sizeable change to the building design. Each high school building was roughly 500,000 sf, and the master plan needed to include both renovations and additions for each building. In addition, each of the three schools had its own unique character, and Wight sought to honor the traditions and heritage of the community, while offering special solutions for each school.
One of the highlights of the district’s program is a robust focus on Career and Technical Education (CTE), which required redevelopment of the CTE space in each school. The reorganization of areas in school streamlined circulation paths and provided flexible common areas. Teachers and staff were supported with a professional environment that facilitated their collaboration and planning as well as more effective use of instructional space.
The final component of the master plan was to modernize infrastructure for renewed life and energy efficiency. Program equity was achieved between the three campuses, and each was designed to ensure that each campus respected the heritage and traditions in each of the schools’ communities. In November 2018, the community supported a $195M referendum to implement the repairs and updates identified in the master plan developed by Wight during the previous three years. The District supplemented these funds with $45M from their reserves for an overall project budget of $240M.
Highlights from the master plan include:
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West Campus – A new field house, central two-level dining/student resource area, and repurposing gymnasiums into educational spaces
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East Campus – A field house addition, and central two-level student resource/library area
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South Campus – A courtyard student dining area, and renovated athletic support spaces