On Tuesday night the District 97 Board of Education voted unanimously for construction to take place this summer to completely redo the Irving schoolyard. Thanks to a strong partnership between District 97, the Park District and the Irving PTO, this project is now a reality!

Our new schoolyard!

The approved plan includes moving the staff parking lot to where the current playground is, installing a large, multi-purpose, synthetic turf field where the current parking lot is, and having all new playground equipment in the northwest area of the current asphalt. There will be a main entryway along Harvard Street and a small plaza at the stoplight.

This plan has safety as its highest priority. The most obvious safety feature is that our students will be able to play on a field instead of asphalt. Supervisors will not have to supervise around a corner anymore. The playground will have a rubber surface and all new equipment. The smaller parking lot also gives our students more space to play.

For more details on the plan itself, please see the updated Frequently Asked Questions page of irvingschoolyard.com

Park District Partnership
Thanks to a huge showing of community support, the Park District is making a significant financial contribution toward the cost of the new field. Irving will become a busy place as families from around the area finally come to Irving to play sports together.

Your Support
You made this happen. You have given financial support time and again, from buying a vase from the Green Team, to shopping at the Irving yard sale and contributing to the Ragnar relay runners. You signed petitions and talked to your friends outside the Irving community. You came to meetings to give input on what you wanted the schoolyard to look like. Some of those meetings were many years ago, and some happened just recently. All of it counts.

Thanks to your support, the Irving PTO was able to secure 10% of the total project construction costs. This includes generous grants from the Oak Park AYSO and Chicago Edge Soccer Club, large individual donations and contributions to all the fundraisers we’ve had for the Schoolyard Project.

There is one more fundraiser coming up: This spring we have another team of runners doing the Ragnar Relay from Madison, WI, to Chicago to raise money for the Schoolyard Project. These funds will enable us to pay for shade sails that (we hope) will go above the main playground structure. Click here to donate online to the Soaring Schoolyard Eagles Ragnar team!

Look for posters of the plans in the school lobby display case soon after spring break.

Thank you to all the teachers, staff, parents, guardians, students, friends and community members who made this project possible!

If you have any questions, please contact Margaret Jeschke (margaret_jeschke@yahoo.com), Laura Crawford (lauracrawford47@gmail.com) or Mr. Hodge (jhodge@op97.org).

At a recent meeting, the Board of Education voted to move ahead with the next, major step toward construction of a new Irving Schoolyard! This means Irving is well on its way to getting a new playground, a large artificial turf field and re-surfaced parking! In March the board will vote on the final plans so that construction can happen in summer of 2013. In the meantime, construction documents are being created and will go out to bid.

Click here to read the recent article in the Wednesday Journal about Irving’s Schoolyard.

What will our new schoolyard look like?

The Board of Ed is sending three different plans out for construction bids. They will pick one in February. Between now and February the Board will conduct additional reviews on issues like traffic patterns, pedestrian safety, parking, etc. During that time they will also be able to work with potential partners, like the Park District, who may assist with funding.

This is the basic plan, Option 1.

This is Option 2. It’s the same as Option 1 but with a smaller field.

This is Option 3. The layout is similar to the original Master Plan.

How do these plans compare to the original Master Plan?

One of the plans (Option 3) has a similar layout of the field, playground and parking. The other two plans leave the playground and parking where they are now but with significant improvements, and they put a field where the current asphalt is.

The original Master Plan.

One major difference is that many of the underground environmental features of the original plan are not able to be included during initial construction due to the increased cost of storm water management, permeable pavers, rain gardens and certain landscaping.

Unfortunately, the grant opportunities that could cover these costs are not on the same timeline that our construction requires. We look forward to finding other grants for environmental features that can go on top of a new schoolyard at a later time.

Are we almost done?

It is important to note that the original Master Plan is a guiding, visionary document. Many of the features on the original plan are items that can be added on as future fundraising allows. Consider the progress of a revised plan this spring as the fundamental building block for our vision.

One of the guiding principles of the Irving Schoolyard Project is to offer innovative learning experiences in an outdoor environment. The solar panels are one example of this effort. The school garden is another. Efforts like these will continue since Irving is full of people dedicated to improvement.

In fact, the Schoolyard Project recently received a grant from the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation to expand the garden and to build a straw bale tool shed. The south side of the building will become quite a lush educational learning environment for students! This is all part of the Irving Schoolyard Project’s overall vision.

Thank you.

We need your input to determine the specific playground equipment that our students will play on for years to come, and details on that can be found separately. Otherwise, look for updates when there is significant activity from the Board of Education starting later in January, 2013.

Again and again, thank you.