Maryville, Oakton, park district offer housing for Dist. 62 school students

Des Plaines schools officials have gotten offers to house the more than 700 Algonquin Middle School students who will be displaced by construction at the Des Plaines school.

The school likely will not be ready to open Aug. 23 due to a laborers strike that halted districtwide construction projects for 17 days.

The Des Plaines Park District, Oakton Community College and Maryville Academy have each offered their facilities, Des Plaines Elementary District 62 Superintendent Jane Westerhold said Wednesday.

"We definitely have some great options that have come forward this week, so we have some space for our Algonquin students, if we have to," Westerhold said. "We were panicking about what we were going to do, so this was definitely good news to know that we do have a backup plan."

The park district's summer programs end Aug. 20 and the fall session resumes Sept. 13, freeing up enough space at one facility to accommodate roughly 500 Algonquin students, Westerhold said.

Westerhold did not want to identify which facility until the deal is finalized.

Oakton Community College has capacity for nearly 300 students, and Maryville Academy could take all 700 - they could house all 700 in the gymnasium alone - in space available on the Maryville campus, she added.

Westerhold said Maryville also may be able to help out with light lunches for students. The district would use its own food service should students be housed at Oakton or at the park district facility.

Students wouldn't need additional busing at the park district facility, but additional transportation costs would come with either Oakton or Maryville.

District 62 officials originally were fearful they were going to need housing for 2,000 students, since they have four schools undergoing significant construction work - part of the district's $109 million master plan for upgrades over the next three years in all 13 buildings.

After a tentative agreement was reached Monday, work has since resumed at all four schools - Algonquin and Chippewa middle schools, Cumberland and Forest elementary schools.

Chippewa, Cumberland and Forest will open Aug. 23 as scheduled, though work will likely continue on parts of their buildings.

"We had over 200 workers in the district today and they have been making great progress, so we are delighted about that," Westerhold said.

Algonquin's $17 million addition and renovation is the most extensive of all the construction projects.

"A goal of the architects and construction crew would be to try to be able to utilize some of Algonquin," Westerhold said. "They may be able to offer us around 20 classrooms. That's not definite yet, but we are trying to look at that as an option."

District officials won't know exactly where Algonquin students will be placed for a couple of weeks.

Westerhold said she hopes to have an answer for parents by Aug. 11 and 12 when middle school registration begins.

A special meeting is set for Monday, Aug. 2 to update the school board and parents on the status of all construction projects.