DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — Tuesday night, the Decatur Public School Board voted to lease 16 modular classrooms. They will be installed on the Garfield Learning Academy grounds, to allow all Dennis Lab School students to attend class on one campus in the fall. Garfield students will be relocated to a wing of Stephen Decatur Middle School until DPS61 determines what to do with the Dennis Lab Schools.
WAND News has reported that DPS61 closed the Dennis Lab Schools after engineers found the buildings were unsafe.
"I would never be where I am today without Dennis and the staff who work there," Gavin Crim, a Dennis student, told the DPS61 Board Tuesday night.
Students, parents and teachers packed the Board of Education meeting to let the district know they want all Dennis students on one campus next fall.
"Dennis families will feel more comfortable knowing their children will be with former classmates, teachers and staff members, just in a new location. This will tremendously help with the climate and culture and the plans we previously had in place," Colleen Veitengruber, a Dennis teacher, said during public comment.
The Board unanimously approved a lease for modular classrooms for Dennis students. This will allow teachers their continue project-based learning model and mentorship programs.
"Staff at Dennis understand the importance of these experience between grade levels. As such, it is imperative that the whole Dennis family be together in the upcoming school year and beyond," Nick Crim, a Dennis parent, said.
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DPS61 will utilize the classrooms in the Garfield Learning Academy, and the 16 modular classrooms, to accommodate all K-8 Dennis students on one campus at Garfield Learning Academy.
But parents still have questions about how the Dennis Lab Schools became so unsafe without administrators knowing.
"I found it hard to understand that we went to a school all year in these buildings and a day after the school is out, we are considered so bad out, that repairs can't be made so we can be back in the buildings in the fall," Amber Carr, a Dennis parent, said.
Some parents are already asking DPS61 to tear the buildings down.
"Take this time as the needed opportunity to build a modern school that actually meets the needs of the Dennis family," Crim added.
The district has met with several masonry contractors who are expected to provide estimates for repairs to the two Dennis schools. The board will then need to decide whether to fix the buildings, or consider construction of a new campus.
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