First look: $4M renovation of CPS boardroom makes space for 21 members

The transition from seven to 21 school board members is bound to cause change at Chicago Public Schools — and it already has created turmoil in some public ways.

But putting the political divisions aside for a minute, there’s a much more mundane question of change to answer: Where will they all sit?

That’s where a $4 million renovation comes in.

CPS officials spent the past few months rebuilding the boardroom in the basement of the district’s headquarters at 42 W. Madison St., which will be used for a public meeting for the first time at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The new space doubles the number of audience seats from around 100 to 200. It reorients the room from wide to long, putting quite some distance between the furthest back spectators and the board members.

There are seven large monitors spread along a side wall for viewers to observe presentations — an improvement from the two screens at the far end of the room that caused audience members to squint to follow along.

And at the front of the room, there are now two rows of chairs and computers for board members, the CPS CEO and the honorary student board member — 15 in the back and eight in front. A nearby door leads to a roundtable conference room for closed session meetings.

“The big thing is we were able to keep the same space,” said Ivan Hansen, CPS’ facilities chief who oversaw the renovation.

The old design of the boardroom had been used since December 2014. But it was out of commission since July of last year after a burst pipe in a nearby business caused water damage in the room. Hansen said the district opted to forgo those repairs since officials knew they’d need to make room for a bigger board in a few months anyway.

The Board of Education and CPS rent their office spaces under a lease that expires in November 2034.