The Irving Schoolyard Blog
This is the best place to keep up with the latest Irving Schoolyard Project happenings.
Sign the Petition
The Irving Schoolyard project is at a crucial stage in our fundraising efforts and have started to pursue additional support from public as well as private funding sources. An important part of this process is being able to show the incredible community support this project already has. To that end, we started an online petition that we hope you will be willing to add your name to. Besides adding your own name, please spread the word on Facebook, Twitter or through email, to your own network of friends (just use the share buttons below). The...
read morePark District Board Presentation
The Irving Schoolyard project will be presenting to the Park District of Oak Park on March 1st. We would love to have a turnout of supporters at this meeting that reflects the incredible level of support this project has in the community. The Park District does not own the land at Irving and their participation would be very unusual. This is just an informational meeting for the PD board and no funding decisions will be made at the meeting or until the next budget cycle begins. March 1st, 7:30 PM at the Oak Park Conservatory. PLEASE PLAN...
read moreWednesday Journal – Support the Irving School playground project
Letter to the editor, by Jim Kelly Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 10:00 PM As a resident of Southeast Oak Park, I enthusiastically support the efforts of the Irving Elementary School community to transform the existing schoolyard into one that our neighborhood’s children deserve. An inviting, functional schoolyard and playground will enhance the appeal of our entire Southeast Oak Park neighborhood. Irving School has a great reputation academically. The Herculean efforts of its phenomenal principal, teaching and administrative staff and the...
read moreSupport the Ragnar Relay 2012
The Soaring Schoolyard Eagles are pleased to announce that we will be bringing two full teams to run the 2012 Ragnar Relay from Madison to Chicago on June 8th & 9th. Over the next few months the teams will be training to complete the 194 mile relay while raising funds for the Irving Schoolyard Project. This year, the team has set a goal of $7500. All of the money we raise toward our goal will be contributed to The Irving Schoolyard Project. We are currently taking contributions at the link below or via check by mail to The Irving School...
read moreTribLocal – Irving School community seeks funds for improvements
By Bridget Doyle TribLocal reporter 1/19/2012 at 7:17 a.m. A blacktop that currently sits behind Washington Irving Elementary School on the southeast side of Oak Park could soon become a sustainable and environmentally friendly green space – if the community can raise the funds. Dozens of community members gathered Wednesday night at Irving School for a community forum for a presentation of the three-part, $3.2 million project to renovate the school’s existing open space, entryway and parking lot from their current asphalt state to a more...
read moreMasterplan Presentation on January 18th
For those who did not make it to the January 18th Master Plan presentation at Irving school, below are the materials presented, handed-out and an archive of the live webcast that was available. Thank you to SEOPCO for running a great Q&A session after the presentation. They did a wonderful job, as usual. >> Project background presentation (part 1) >> Master Plan presentation (part 2) >> Full Combined presentation >> Handout: An Oak Park Opportunity >> Schoolyard Project Volunteer Form Watch...
read moreTrack the Energy Produced by Irving’s Solar Array
You now have the ability to track the energy that the Irving solar panels are producing in near real-time by following this link. You can also check historical data by looking back as the last week, month or months and see how this compares to current output. This website, plus some additional reporting that is available for administrative users that are logged-in, are all part of the curriculum that teachers will use to teach about solar power. Thanks again to the Ragnar team for raising money with all those miles of...
read moreSolar Panels Installed at Irving
A group of local parents raised about $13,000 for the panels during a June 2011 fundraising race called the Chicago Ragnar relay, by running from Madison, Wisconsin back to Chicago. These funds were added to a grant awarded to Irving from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation on May 13, 2011. The grant ended up funding $8000 of the total cost of the project with the rest coming from the private funds raised by the community. The roof-mounted panels are located at the South end of school for a nearly – but not 100% –...
read moreThe Master Plan
Interested in learning about the proposed master plan for Irving’s Schoolyard? This is the page to visit. We are continuing to work on this page to make as many details about the plan accessible to a wide audience. Some portions of the plan are very technical and other parts are still at a stage of the process where presenting them as finalized would be premature so you won’t find every aspect of the plan here yet. That said, we continue to update this page as the master plan gets updated with new information. If you have...
read morePublic Meeting – January 18th
The Irving Schoolyard Project will host a public meeting in the Irving Auditorium on Wednesday, January 18 @ 7pm. The landscape architecture firm, Site Design Group, will be presenting the Irving Schoolyard master plan. There will be a brief update for those who are new to Irving… and a time for questions and answers following the presentation. Thank you to SEOPCO for moderating this public meeting. All of Oak Park is invited to attend this important milestone. Save the date! If your interested in helping to spread the word, click here...
read more