No Decision on Urbana Early Childhood Location, Elementary School Locations

The Urbana School Board met for more than three hours Tuesday night on plans for a new Early Childhood Center. But board members -- already worried about state education funding -- could not reach a consensus on the project, which would be funded by the countywide sales tax for school construction.

Two board members want to build a new center on a new site. A third member supports building on the site of the current Early Childhood Center on Broadway. But school board President John Dimit says the district should close one of its existing elementary schools for early childhood use.

With no agreement on where to build, the Urbana school board will vote next week to commission an architectural program -- essentially a formal description of the features the new building would contain. Dimit says they can make that move before deciding whether to build a new building or convert an old one..

"We've been operating under some assumptions of a just a general 40,000 square feet," Dimit said. "I'm concerned that we get that programming down to a little bit more detail, and that's something we can do without having a particular site in mind. As a matter of fact, it may dictate the type of site that we eventually choose."

Tuesday night's school board meeting was attended by several people who spoke against closing an existing school to convert to early childhood classes. The group "Keep Urbana Neighborhood Schools" submitted a petition with 777 signatures, asking the Urbana school board to keep all six of its current elementary schools open.