Just one week left to finish $1.3 million Hough School renovation

With just over one week left until students return to class, construction crews are working to finish the $1.3 million renovation at Hough Street School in Barrington.

A litany of tasks remain, like installing glass in the reconfigured main entrance, putting fresh coats of wax on the new tile floors and removing all evidence of the Pepper Construction contractors who've worked at the 51-year-old building for the last two months.

District officials are confident it will be done in time.

Principal Jim Aalfs, who has worked all summer in a construction zone, hasn't minded sharing the school with crews but says he is eager for normality to return to Hough.

"The 22nd is the first day with kids and I can't wait for that," Aalfs said. "It will mean that this is all gone away and we just got kids in here excited to start school."

The front entrance redesign is meant to improve school security. The school's ADA compliance has been improved and the staff is getting a much-needed second bathroom.

The school, at 310 S. Hough St., was the only District 220 school where the main office was not adjacent to the building's front entrance. That arrangement was seen as less secure because school staff could not easily see who was coming in or going out of the building.

The main office has been moved to the front entryway. New windows and glass walls increase the staff's line of sight.

Aalfs said Superintendent Brian Harris has done similar projects in other school districts, and assures him that one week out it is normal for it to look like there is no way the work will get done.

Harris told him, it's going to be fine.

"So I keep holding on to that thought," said Aalfs, looking over at the men crawling around the main entrance. "But I do see it, I can visualize how it can come together."

In just nine short days hopefully he won't have to visualize the final product anymore.