Renovations and upgrades done during break greet Red Devils as they return to classes
Banners of Hinsdale Central's fellow West Suburban Conference members now festoon the school's fieldhouse, while students enjoy playing Spikeball on newly installed turf in the courtyard off the cafeteria. Buildings and grounds employees last week were busy rehanging sound-dampening baffles from the ceiling of the gymnasium, which was repainted as part of an array of summer improvement projects at the school. (Jim Slonoff photos)
The most significant improvement project at Hinsdale Central High School over the summer, according to Principal Bill Walsh, didn't require any heavy equipment.
"We renumbered all the rooms," Walsh revealed on a recent campus tour shortly before students returned.
Rooms now have four-digit identifiers, with 0100 numbers in the basement, 1000 and up on the first floor and 2000 on the second.
"We ran out of numbers," said Walsh, explaining the way expansion over the years had led to incongruent labeling. "No more do we have room 504 on the second floor. No more room 303 on the second floor."
Not as simple as it seems, however.
"Nobody understands the depth and the breadth of a renumbering, because it requires fixing your 911 services, fixing all your phone services, your fire panels, all of that," he said. "It's a massive project."
Once students figure out which classrooms they're in, they'll want to find their way to the upgraded courtyard off the cafeteria. The outdoor space has been freshly outfitted with lawn game-ready - and budget-friendly - turf surfaces for $24,700.
"We installed turf so they can play Spikeball and we don't have to worry about the cost of repairing grass anymore," Walsh related.
A new putting green area offers a lower-energy distraction. A ping-pong table occupies another corner, and an oversized chess board soon be will painted on a section of the paved area.
"We've been trying to figure out ways to keep (students) active and maybe off their phones," Walsh said. "There's a lot for these students to do."
New windows overlooking the courtyard, part of a building-wide replacement of 180 window banks, further enhance the aesthetics.
"This is where you really see the breadth of (the window upgrades) because they were in such bad shape," Assistant Principal Ryan Maita.
Walsh distinguished between the staggered nature of the multi-year referendum-funded projects of the Future Ready Facilities program that's just finished and the condensed but extensive summer work. Every stairwell in the building received new treads and railings, for example, and five different roofs were replaced.
"After three or four years of the building referendum, which was awesome, that was really segmented," Walsh said. "But this summer the entire campus was being touched in some way shape or form."
The entire gymnasium received a fresh coat of paint and a new sound system to the tune of almost $77,000.
"Now when we have pep assemblies in the gym, you can actually hear on the second floor, so we're excited about that," Walsh said.
More natural light streams in from the east wall, which had previously been covered up.
"We had put graphics up to hide the atrocity that was behind those graphics. So now we have new curtain walls on the gym," he said as the school's building and grounds crew members labored overhead to rehang the acoustic ceiling baffles.
"Summer work was a really nice collaboration between some of the outside (contractors) and the inside staff," he said. "Our B&G staff is doing a lot of the heavy lifting so that we can get the other jobs done."
The fieldhouse also got the paint treatment on the ceiling and a new sound system for $44,313. The tired staff cafeteria was given new life with a facelift.
"Nice new furniture, mobile if we need it to be. It's been freshly painted," Walsh said.
Every department office was outfitted with new furniture as well at a cost of just over $203,000. Walsh said the upgrades to staff spaces and infrastructure were being addressed after the referendum spending was largely directed to student needs.
"Now post-referendum, we're using a lot of these operational dollars to fix other things within the building," he said.
On the southwest side of campus outside the Bouchard Fitness Center sits a new bocce ball court. Walsh said a community member donated the court to promote the game, now a Special Olympics sport, among special education students and the school's general student body.
"Other people will be able to benefit from it to during the course of the school year," he said.
