Danville District 118 continues to make progress on their plans at 2300 North Vermilion. The former Carle location, now known as the “District 118 North Campus,” has three major plans in its future. Although things slowed down just a bit early this school year when Kenneth D. Bailey Academy classes were being held there as some remodeling work on the Bailey campus finished up, District Director of Early Learning Chris Rice says things are certainly moving forward.
Rice says that eventually, the district plans to have its entire Danville District 118 “Birth to Five” program at that former Carle location. He says that during a recent open house at the North Campus, they were able to show how the “Birth to Three” part of the program has already moved in.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: Which is made up of eight home visitors and two intake coordinators. So we wanted to network with a lot of our resource groups and organizations within the community that we partner with, to provide them the opportunity to come in and see our new facility; and hopefully parents who want to enroll in the program.
Rice says that by this coming fall the plan is to hopefully have all the half-day pre-kindergarten program classes at the District North Campus. Then, by the fall of 2026, have all the pre-K classes currently at Southwest and Edison Elementary at 2300 North Vermilion as well.
After that, the other two major plans for the North Campus will come into play.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: And then the final phase, of course, is adding the alternative classrooms, and getting that district day care that we were excited about renovated and ready to go.
That day care, planned for District 118 employees, could come into play during 2026-27 school year. But as Rice pointed out, there’s a lot of work to be done between now and then.