Naperville Central 'beginning to look like school, not disaster area'

With every minute that passes, Naperville Central is looking more and more like a high school ready to open, according to district officials.

Board member Terry Fielden, who has put his construction background to use while overseeing the $87.7 million renovation, gave board members a progress update and photo slide show Monday.

"There's been some substantial progress made in the building, and it's beginning to look more like a school now rather than a disaster demolition area," Fielden said.

Inside, he said, floors are being cleaned and waxed, last-minute painting is wrapping up and garbage is being removed. Outside, the parking lot has been paved and trees have been planted.

Board member Susan Crotty said she had also toured the school Sunday and was shocked at the progress being made on a daily basis.

"All the boxes and things used for staging are gone," Crotty said. "It keeps getting emptier and emptier, so that's exciting."

The 3,000-student school at 440 W. Aurora Ave. is scheduled to open next week 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.