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Naperville Central officials promise it will be ready

In less than 10 days, Naperville Central High School students will begin making their way through their renovated halls.

A peek inside on Friday, with more than 300 workers doing everything from touch-up painting to installing ceiling tiles as part of an $87 million face lift, makes it easy to wonder if the school will be ready when students arrive the week of Aug. 23. But district officials insist it will be.

"We've got a week to go. We're actually pretty close. We're in the final stages of cleaning and waxing the floors," said Naperville Unit District 203 board member and facility committee chairman Terry Fielden while leading a tour Friday. "Everyone looks at it and says 'I see a lot of dirt' and 'I see a lot of debris,' but it's a lot closer than it looks."

The 3,000-student school at 440 W. Aurora Ave. will open with a three-story addition that will house all major subject areas. It also will have infrastructure upgrades, a new learning resource center, new athletic and music spaces, improved traffic flow inside and out and synthetic turf on the football field. When all is said and done, the project will have affected about 75 percent of the building.

"When I look at it I see what's done, not what's undone. The ceilings are closed up, the air conditioning is running, the lights are working and the technology is pretty far along," Fielden said. "There are some areas that, unfortunately, we're not going to have entirely ready but we have identified them and don't expect it to be a significant impact to the curriculum."

Much of the music wing will remain inaccessible to students through the rest of the year and it may be three weeks before the Learning Resource Center has any books on the shelves. Some science labs also may not be completed, depending on whether the cabinets and counter tops are delivered on time and installed promptly.

Officials are excited, however, about the aspects that are already complete, including the full-service kitchen that will prepare meals to be delivered to other district schools and the springloaded floor in the second story dance and gymnastics gym.

"We knew this would be an accelerated and aggressive project," Superintendent Mark Mitrovich said. "But the quality of work that has been done here is outstanding."

Students will get their first look inside Aug. 23 and 24 during scheduled orientation days designed to help them get acquainted with their schedules and class-to-class commutes.

Work continues on a hallway at Naperville Central High School. The work is part of an $87 million renovation of the building at 440 W. Aurora Ave. Scott Sanders | Staff Photographer