Two additions to Dundee-Crown High School — one a cafeteria commons area/school entrance and the other a new Career and Technical Education curriculum center — have been approved by the Carpenterville Village Board.
Community Unit School District 300 documents say construction on the $5.9 million project is to start in June and be completed by June 2027, but district spokesperson Anthony McGinn said in an email that the timeframe was “still being finalized (because some aspects await) pending various board approvals.”
The cafeteria addition will be a commons area, which will also serve as a new entrance to the high school building.
As for new Career and Technical Education curriculum center, a space dedicated to helping students decide upon future careers, it will have classrooms as well as lab spaces for electrical training, wood working, fashion, culinary arts, computers and robotics, small engines and automotive repair area, village documents said.
It will be built in the area currently used as the school’s main entrance.
Construction plans also call for a new 58-space administrative parking lot to be added to the west side of the existing high school. The parking lot on the building’s east side will be reconfigured for 173 staff and visitor parking spaces and 129 for school seniors, according to the district’s plans.
New exterior walls will be part of both additions. Brushed stainless-steel, back-lit signs are designed to match the school’s “Charger” logo. The signs will help with improve people being able to circulate the site and determine where they need to go, documents said.
District 300 officials approved a schematic of the renovation work/addition in April 2025 and started working with village staff in January. The existing land use is consistent with the zoning and meets comprehensive plans, according to village documents.
Village board approval was granted at its May 7 meeting.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
