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Ribbon cut on expanded library Project added 10,000 square feet, second floor to building in Oswego By LYLE R. ROLFE
Long-time Oswego Public Library District Board President Vernita Hettrich addresses the crowd outside the newly expanded Oswego Public Library Saturday morning. At left is Aimee Long, another library district board member.
news@kendallcountynow.com More than 100 people ranging from babies in arms to senior citizens were on hand Saturday morning to watch as Oswego Public Library District Board members, joined by other local officials and state lawmakers, cut a ceremonial ribbon to reopen the newly expanded Oswego Public Library. The 10,000-square-foot addition to the building on Jefferson Street at Main Street in the village’s downtown includes a longplanned second floor on the east wing. “Charles W. Eliot once said, ‘Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors and the most patient of teachers,’” Terry Tamblyn, board secretary and emcee for the event, told the audience members waiting for the ribbon-cutting. “As a trustee of the library, I have been asked why we would add on to our library campus. Libraries must be going away. Isn’t everything you need to know on a computer?” Tamblyn said, adding, “We say, ‘No.’ In fact, last year we had well over one million
Photos by Lyle R. Rolfe for Shaw Media
As Oswego Public Library District Board members look on, Dr. Terry Tamblyn (right), board secretary, welcomes residents to the ribbon-cutting ceremony held Saturday morning to mark the opening of the newly expanded Oswego Public Library on Jefferson Street at Main Street in the village’s downtown. patron visits at our Montgomery and Oswego campuses.” Tamblyn said the district has a special ingredient that makes it successful – a trained, caring, energized staff. He told the crowd, “As you tour the building, please enjoy
our new teen area, our early literacy area, our new kids’ program room, our small conference room and our new meeting room, open to the community.” “We sincerely hope the view from our new windows will be a highlight,” he said, referring to
the large windows – some almost floor to ceiling – that overlook the Waubonsie Creek Valley, which adjoins the library property to the north. He said one of the future attractions will be an environmentally friendly green roof over the Kids Program Room, a project made possible by a grant from the Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley (Aurora Foundation). Before winter, live plants will be planted on the concrete roof where they will be visible from the east and south ends of the building as well as from the inside.
He credited Dewberry Architects for combining three separate buildings or additions starting with the 1964 section, into one and then adding a second floor. Through the skill of Doug Pfeiffer, Jonathan Tallman and staff members, the building appears to have been designed and built as one facility with a total of 35,000 square feet of space. The firm also designed the 35,000-square-foot Montgomery Campus library at 1111 Reading Drive in Montgomery. That library opened in 2009.
See LIBRARY, page 2
Board weighs sending kindergartners to home schools Closing East View Center would save $550K per year, board told By NATALIE STEVENS news@kendallcountynow.com School District 308 officials are considering closing East View Kindergarten Center in Oswego and transitioning the district’s kindergarten students back to their home schools in the coming years, a move which could save the district about $550,000 a year. The key issue Superintendent Dr. Matthew Wendt asked school board members to consider Monday evening was moving all of the district’s kindergarten students
from East View back to their home schools by 2020. Wendt said he supports the move. “I do. I believe it’s the right thing to do,” he said. Wendt cited several reasons. One, he said, was the “divided siblings” issue, where a kindergarten student is sent to a separate school from their older elementary sibling. Secondly, he said, was the “isolation” of kindergarten teachers at East View. Wendt said when kindergarten teachers are not
down the hall from first- and second-grade teachers it does not allow for collaboration. “As an education expert that must be in place to take us to another level,” he said. The last reason was transportation. Wendt said the biggest issue with transportation are the school attendance boundary lines, which will need to be looked at, although he anticipates that discussion about a year from now, as right now the district is “not ready for it.” There are currently 543 kin-
dergarten students attending East View. If the district moved those students to home schools, 343 of them would qualify to walk to school and the other 200 would be bused. The move would eliminate 16 bus routes, Wendt said, which would cut costs by about $350,000. In addition to transportation savings, Wendt estimated about $200,000 in savings from the elimination of staff at East View. He said the move would likely not include teaching staff, but office and administration employees. “When you take one school offline, you don’t need all of the staff afterwards,” Wendt explained. Board President Matt Bau-
Related In his column, Ask Dr. Wendt, the D-308 superintendent discusses the kindergarten issue. Page 6
man said there were a “lot of layers that will unravel before us” concerning the possible closure of East View and wanted to clarify background information first regarding what the district was obligated to do. The state requires that halfday kindergarten be offered, but
LOCAL NEWS
WHERE IT’S AT
Landmark in 165th year
Support for lighting
Little White School Museum, restored in the 1970s, marks a milestone this year / 4
Montgomery backs streetlights at Rt. 30 intersections; would have to pay for installation / 4
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OPINION
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Vol. 57, No. 38 3 sections