Seems plans are finally gelling for a more than $2 million cafeteria expansion at Highland Park Middle School. Given the option to approve more elaborate facilities — ones with new classrooms alongside the yet-to-be-remodeled dining space — trustees instead voted conservatively Tuesday, opting to save any add-ons for later.
Their “authorization to proceed with schematic design,” wonky as it sounds, is an early step in a process that will require official renderings, financing, contract bids, permits, construction, and finally — at the end of the proverbial lunch line — a much bigger eating space for kiddos as soon as next fall.
Confession: the thought of a remodeled school cafeteria (or a dated one, or even one staffed with a fleet of tiny robots) didn’t sound so newsy to me when I first heard about this project back in February. Then I caught wind of the cost, and the fact that the current space was build to seat about 400 tray-balancing kids — and now nearly 600 are squeezing in at peak times. Calls to mind an oversized version of Tetris, only the pieces are lunch tables that never disappear.
Renderings aren’t ready yet from the architects at SHW Group, but we’ll keep you posted.
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