After being serenaded by a quartet of students singing Katy Perry’s “Roar,” School District U-46 officials, staff and students ceremonially broke ground Tuesday on the $28.5 million expansion/renovation of Century Oaks Elementary School in Elgin.
“At Century Oaks, our mission is to provide all students a safe, rich learning environment that nurtures social-emotional and academic growth. And that is what these planned improvements will help us continue to do,” Century Oaks Principal Cheryl Frederickson said.
District Superintendent Suzanne Johnson said the project was launched more than five years ago when U-46 developed a new facilities master plan. That led to a $179 million bond proposal approved by voters to fund multiple capital initiatives, including the construction of new schools and the renovation and expansion of others.
School District U-46 Superintendent Suzanne Johnson speaks Tuesday at an event to mark the start of expansion and renovation work at Century Oaks Elementary School on Elgin’s northwest side. (Mike Danahey/The Courier-News)
“Because of the community’s support of the Unite U-46 initiative, we’ve had groundbreaking ceremonies at four sites across the district over the past two years,” Johnson said. “But those were all focused on the middle school experience and the new construction and renovations underway as the district moves to a true middle school model.”
Tuesday marked the first referendum-related update of an elementary school, bringing a modern style to the 55-year-old building, she said.
Board President Melissa Owens said that over the next 18 months, Century Oaks will undergo 35,000 square feet of interior renovations. The work will include expanded instructional and collaboration spaces, upgrades to mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, and a new 19,000-square-fee addition that will create space for dedicated preschool classrooms, she said.
Century Oaks was designed in the late 1960s with an open concept, which was in vogue at the time, Owens said. The multimedia center is in the middle of the building and connected classrooms surround it.
Deputy Superintendent of Operations Ann Williams said that the renovations will address the school’s layout, which isn’t conducive to how children learn today.
“Students often have to walk through one classroom to reach their own, which is disruptive and can cause safety, security and learning challenges,” she said.
Much of the construction work this school year will be on the north side of the school’s campus, Williams said. It will include construction of the addition, drilling for new geothermal wells and installing new underwater storm water detention.
In June, the focus will turn to renovation of the existing building’s instructional area, she said. During the 2026-27 school year, Century Oaks will use six mobile classrooms to keep students and employees on site during construction so disruptions to instructional time are minimized.
“In August 2027, we expect that students and employees will be able to enjoy their newly renovated building,” Williams said.
Following the indoor comments, participants headed outside for symbolic groundbreaking ceremony.
Frederickson in an interview following the event said the building’s spoke-and-hub design, which some have described as a spaceship, was very outdated.
“That was a workshop model where it was sit-and-get learning,” she said. “Today’s model is about retrieval. It’s authentic learning in busy spaces.”
As such, the remodel will keep the round multimedia space, but build a hallway around it so that classrooms have more privacy and more light is brought into the building, Frederickson said.
When done, Century Oaks building will still house about 450 students but they will include sixth-graders — who are moving into middle schools under the Unite U-46 plan — and preschoolers, she said. There also will be 36 teachers and 34 other employees.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/05/century-oaks-school-expansion-renovation-elgin/
