Warren school expansion may include offices

Revised concept plans for an expansion and renovation at Warren Township High School's Almond Road upperclassmen campus received a thumbs-up Wednesday night from elected board members, who also agreed to pursue a new administration building at the site if there's enough cash.

Phil Sobocinski, superintendent at Gurnee-based Warren District 121, said the administration offices in an old house off Gages Lake Road in unincorporated Lake County can't be used because of mold problems.

Sobocinski said some employees in the offices recently became sick at the same time, which led to an environmental test of the home. He said mold was found in the house and that its use is prohibited until at least $200,000 in repairs are made.

District 121 administration employees have been in other offices since the mold scare, said Sobocinski.

Under the revised concept plans for the Almond Road campus, there would be a two-story addition with seven classrooms, four science laboratories and two computer labs on the building's north side. There also would be three classrooms crafted from basement space and another added elsewhere in the structure.

Sobocinski said it might cost $1.6 million to build a new administration facility onto the Almond Road building.

He said construction costs for the expansion and renovation should come into focus after bids are solicited in March or April, with the administration offices added to the mix only if there is enough available money.

Warren board member Michael Penich agreed the house on Gages Lake Road no longer cuts it as the district's administration headquarters. He said he just doesn't want an expensive administration building similar to Woodland Elementary District 50's on Hunt Club Road in Gurnee.

"I don't want to build a Taj Mahal the way Woodland did on a separate property," Penich said.

Also on the drawing board for Almond Road are physical education space and a cafeteria expansion into the theater.