The District 233 school board is expected to hear a presentation on Tuesday, June 21, on how a new science wing at Homewood-Flossmoor High School will improve learning.
The board will meet at 7:30 p.m. at the high school, 999 Kedzie Ave., Flossmoor. This meeting will also be the last at H-F for Superintendent Von Mansfield, who retires from the district June 30 after 21 years of service.
Jennifer Hester, curriculum director, and incoming Superintendent Dr. Scott Wakeley made a presentation to the board’s Planning Committee June 8 about what the additional space will mean for curriculum changes.
The space can help teachers implement the latest Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), Hester said. Of the 2,700 students enrolled at H-F, about 2,000 students, or 75%, are enrolled in a science class. The national recommendation calls for science classrooms of 45-50 square feet per student, but H-F has 24 to 28 students per class in a space that averages 24-35 square feet per student.
The National Science Teaching Association recommends two exits per classroom, but most H-F classrooms have only one exit. Hester said teachers put off doing some experiments because rooms are poorly ventilated and lack sufficient access to electrical outlets. Furnishings, including lab tables and student desks, limit students on their ability to move around and collaborate.
Planning for the new science wing would also give science teachers the chance to shift instruction from mainly college prep classes, such as biology, chemistry and physics, and expand to include more engineering courses and add a health career curriculum, Hester said. She said state law calls for high schools to offer career endorsements by 2025. These science curriculum changes would allow H-F to offer endorsements.
“H-F moving forward with science for college and careers really allows kids to make the connection between the high school experience, the college experience and the career they want to have,” Hester told the committee. “We really need to be able to implement the science pathways, not just the traditional college pathways, and we need to be able to have the facilities that allow us to have the space and equipment and safety features for our students in the best ways possible so that we can remain competitive.”
The plan calls for the school board to finance this addition with a $20 million bond issue that will be finalized during the June meeting. Planning and design of the space would begin shortly. The timeline calls for construction contracts to be approved in December with work beginning in March 2023. The new wing would open in July 2024.
Wakeley says H-F freshmen and sophomores will be using the new space, but all students at H-F are direct benefits of the project because teachers will implement NGSS curriculum changes as soon as this coming school year.