Classes are back in session at Libertyville High School, and the staff and students aren’t the only people working in the building.
Construction workers are scattered about the Butler Lake campus, continuing projects that began over the summer and will last through the school year. Among the projects is a new air-conditioning plant, which will be finished late next year.
Workers also are converting an open courtyard next to the offices of deans and counselors into 1,200 square feet of enclosed space. When it’s done, at a cost of $350,000, the new workspace will be used for servicing computer equipment.
Earlier this summer, crews began removing asbestos from water pipes and steam generators in preparation for overhauling the building’s air-conditioning system. A $3.4 million “chiller plant” will circulate cooled water through pipes, replacing the window and outdoor units that now cool the building. The chiller plant will be built on the north side of the fieldhouse.
Though all these projects are going on while students are attending classes, Principal Joe Wojtena said the disturbance should be minimal.
“All this work will be self-contained, so it won’t interfere with instruction,” he said.
Students returned for the new school year Aug. 19.
Workers completed one major project over the summer: The $500,000 renovation of the high school’s 40-year-old indoor swimming pool. They installed new tiles, lighting and ventilation.
All of the projects were financed by the $48.5 million referendum proposal that voters in Libertyville High School District 128 approved last November. Most of that money is being used to construct a new high school in Vernon Hills.
But about $13.9 million of the measure was designated for improvements on the Butler Lake campus. In addition to the work going on this school year, several projects are scheduled to begin next summer, including expanding the grandstands in the football stadium, installing new elevators, building a classroom for music instruction and replacing the laboratories in science classrooms.
No work is scheduled for the high school’s Brainerd Building, where freshman classes are held, because it’s scheduled to be shut down after the new high school opens.
District 128 officials haven’t decided what to do with the building after it closes.
The Vernon Hills high school is being built to relieve crowding and is scheduled to open in a year. About 2,500 students were packed into Libertyville High School last year, and enrollment is expected to be higher this year. Official figures are expected to be released sometime this week.
