October 4, 2023

At the October 3 Barrington 220 Board of Education meeting, the Board heard a presentation from DLA Architects about possibilities for new fine, visual, and performing arts spaces at Barrington High School. The design work for these new spaces was an identified project within the $147 million dollar referendum that Barrington area voters approved in March 2020. The cost to build these new spaces was not included in the referendum.

This school year, nearly half of the BHS student body is enrolled in fine arts courses. In addition to the instructional spaces used for these courses during the school day, the fine arts spaces are utilized for large-scale community events. The auditorium in particular, which was built in 1960, is used 290 days per year for fine arts events, athletic events, curricular-connected events, and community events. 

In order to improve these highly utilized spaces, architects presented three options for the Board's consideration, which were developed after collecting stakeholder feedback during the 2022-23 school year.

• Option 1: This option involves renovating the existing auditorium, as well as fine arts classrooms. The renovated auditorium would have approximately 487 seats. (The current auditorium seats approximately 700, however, it is not ADA-accessible. In order to meet present-day accessibility requirements, there would be less space for seating.) This option also involves building two additions near the auditorium, which include new practice spaces for fine arts students, a larger band room, a green room, a multi-purpose room, a new production shop, and a new fine arts lobby. Larger and more dressing rooms are also included in the renovations. The projected estimate is $45,000,000 - $53,195,000. Click here for details.

• Option 2: This option involves building a new auditorium and renovating existing fine arts classrooms. The renovation will also result in a larger band room, a larger choral room, a larger orchestra room, as well as larger and more dressing rooms. The new auditorium would have approximately 969 seats and be ADA-accessible. This option also involves building a production shop and a new fine arts lobby. The projected estimate is $52,000,000 - $57,020,000. Click here for details.

• Option 3: This option involves building a new auditorium in the same spot as the current auditorium, a new music (band, orchestra, choir) wing, a new flexible space that could serve as an art gallery or community space, larger and more dressing rooms, as well as renovating existing fine arts spaces. The new auditorium would have approximately 1,230 seats and be ADA-accessible. The projected estimate is $68,297,000 - $72,973,000. Click here for details.

The Board of Education will continue reviewing the options at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 17. In addition, the Board will begin discussing ways to gain community feedback about each option. Click here to listen to the full presentation at the Board meeting.

In order to make planning easier for families, each year the Board makes an effort to approve school calendars in advance. At its Oct. 3 meeting, the Board approved the academic calendar for the 2024-25 school year. Click here to view the 2024-25 calendar.

2024-25 BHS course offerings

At the Oct. 3 Board meeting, the Board discussed BHS course offerings for the 2024-25 school year. Each year, the high school engages in a process to propose changes to the BHS course guide. These changes include new course additions, deletion of courses, and changes to titles, weights, audience, prerequisites, or course descriptions. Click here to view a presentation that outlines this year's proposed changes. The Board is anticipated to approve the 24-25 course offerings at its next regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 17. Click here to view the current BHS course guide. Click here to listen to the presentation.

Board recognizes state championship golf teams

At the Oct. 3 Board meeting, the Board recognized the BMS-Prairie Campus Girls Golf Team and the Boys Golf Team, which both recently won the 2023 IESA state championship! The girls finished with a group score of 364. Team members include Sophia Christy, Jein Chun, Ceci Haradon, and Addison Yoon. Sophia earned the individual state champion title. The boys finished with a group score of 334. Team members include Tate Blomquist, Logan Lee, Riley Shoemacher, and Niyam Upadhyay. Both teams are coached by Will Bentley, who teaches extended language arts at Prairie. Click here to listen to the recognition.

In his Superintendent's Report at the Oct. 3 Board meeting, Dr. Winkelman shared that Barrington 220 has been ranked the 2nd Best Community Unit School District in IL in the 2024 Niche rankings. There are a total of 386 unit school districts across the state. Niche ranks nearly 100,000 schools and districts based on statistics and millions of opinions from students and parents. Click here to view the 2024 K-12 school and district rankings.

In his Superintendent's Report at the Oct. 3 Board meeting, Dr. Winkelman recognized three BHS students who recently published a book aimed at encouraging girls to get involved in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). "Breaking the Code with Gabriella" was written by students Sarah Pinto, Hafsah Khan, and Cindy Wang, and illustrated by Hafsah. They dedicated the book to their computer science teachers at BHS, Tom Bredemeier, and Kristen Lewis. The students will be visiting all Barrington 220 elementary schools to share their book with students at each school.

In his Superintendent’s Report at the Oct. 3 Board meeting, Dr. Winkelman shared details about Barrington 220’s recent visit from IL State Superintendent Dr. Tony Sanders. Dr. Sanders toured some of the district's new learning spaces made possible by the Build 220 initiative. “I would love to see every district in the state be able to match and mirror the things that are being put in place here in Barrington," Dr. Tony Sanders shared in this recent news article.

At the Oct. 3 Board meeting, the Board approved a settlement offer of $39,714 in a vaping lawsuit filed by more than 100 public school districts nationwide. In 2020 Barrington 220 joined in suing JUUL Labs Inc. and other parties responsible for the production, marketing, sale, and distribution of e-cigarettes and vaping devices. The purpose of the lawsuit was to recover the costs of prevention programs, counseling, and treatment for addicted students. There was no cost to the district to participate in the lawsuit. The district will use the settlement money to increase prevention efforts.

In her Board President’s Report at the Oct. 3 Board meeting, Sandra Ficke-Bradford shared that the Board will hold a public hearing on the 2023 proposed Illinois Association of School Board's (IASB) resolutions at the Oct. 17 Board meeting. Every November school boards from across the state send a delegate to the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) conference in Chicago. At this conference, the delegates vote on which resolutions IASB will pursue in the upcoming legislative sessions. This year’s conference will take place Nov. 16-19. Click here to view the 2023 resolutions.