The Jacksonville School District 117 approved the final boundary proposal plan for the 2018-19 school year at its board meeting Wednesday.

Superintendent Steve Ptacek said the plan will be implemented in the 2018-19 school year, with the potential for current fourth-grade students to be grandfathered in next year.

“Ultimately, it was chosen because of two factors,” Ptacek said. “The first being that it impacts the fewest number of students in the district. Second being that it helped answer our equitable concerns. And visually it makes sense. The decision was pretty unanimous.”

For Murrayville-Woodson, Lake Jacksonville Road and Old Airport Road will make up the northern boundary.

Morton Avenue will be the northern boundary for South Jacksonville, with the exception of Rolling Acres, which will attend South, despite being on the north side of Morton.

The boundary between Washington and Lincoln will run along College Avenue.

The boundary between Lincoln and Eisenhower will be moved to Caldwell Street and the area south of Walnut Street and west of Caldwell Street will attend Eisenhower, instead of North.

The area north of Walnut Street and west of Main Street will be moved from Lincoln into North.

Eisenhower’s boundary will also stretch north along Poor Farm Road to Mount Zion Road, with everyone north of Mount Zion attending North.

The board also voted to approve the plan for the South Jacksonville Elementary School renovation project.

The district’s architect, Graham and Hyde, of Springfield, have developed a design for the building which could cost an estimated $7 million.

The board approved the plans and voted to begin negotiating a contract with Graham and Hyde for a design, bid, build construction model.

“The board voted on the design and the delivery model, which is a traditional design, bid, build,” Ptacek said. “That means the architect designs the bid packages and goes out for bids.”

The plans will include some new construction on the south portion of the building, as well as the west side.

Ptacek said the addition on the south of the building will provide a space for a second set of bathrooms and three resource rooms.

The addition on the west side will create a secured entrance and additional office space.

The project designs also included the removal of the stage to create a hallway to the northeast portion of the building, that is currently only accessible through the gym.

The cafeteria will also be moved and renovated.

Ptacek said while the estimate is $7 million, he believes the project will cost less than that.

Ptacek said the vote will also allow Graham and Hyde to begin preparing the bid packages before the district goes out to bid in December or January.

“Projects could start as early as spring break,” Ptacek said. “They would begin the framing for the new construction before the school year ends, so as soon as the students are out, they can move it and start.”

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-245-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.