Litchfield School Board Seeking Bids for a SUN Room at Lake Ripley Elementary
On Monday evening, the Litchfield School Board approved of having the administration seek bids for a project at Lake Ripley Elementary School to turn some of the space into a sun room. The special room would help students in the Individualized Education Plan.
The number of students in this program has increased steadily over the past few years, which has resulted in increased special education programming across the Litchfield School District. There’s been an increase in the number of elementary students in the Federal Setting Code 03 which is where a teacher or speech therapist delivers special education services primarily within a special classroom – a separate room for more than 60% of the day.
The Students with Unique Needs – or SUN room, for short – has been estimated by Wold Architects and Engineers to cost $395,000 as a portion of the current multi-purpose room would be renovated. Business Manager Jesse Johnson says there’s $296,000 remaining in the construction account which could be used for the SUN Room. He says these funds can only be used for the betterment of school facilities; and the remaining amount would need to be covered by the general fund.
