Dist. 300 OK's razing deLacey site

Instead of a place to engage in illicit behavior, students at Dundee-Crown High School can look forward to new practice fields on the former site of the deLacey Family Education Center.

The Community Unit District 300 school board approved a plan Monday to demolish the building that formerly housed the center for at-risk preschoolers and replace it with two practice fields for Dundee-Crown athletes, who currently have none.

By unanimously backing the plan, the school board followed recommendations from District 300 administrators who argued the district should improve the former deLacey site to put Dundee-Crown on a level playing field with the district's two other high schools.

Superintendent Ken Arndt said more than just equity was at stake: "It is a safety issue. It is a hangout for kids up to no good." Arndt said students have been expelled because of things that happened at the former deLacey center, now used for storage.

It will cost the district more than $1.1 million to tear down the former deLacey building and renovate the site, according to its own estimates. The improvements would also include additional student parking, lighting, sidewalks and a chain-link fence for security.

The cheaper option for the deLacey site, which would have cost an estimated $250,000 less, was to demolish the building and do minimal site upgrades.

District officials hope to demolish the building this summer and have the practice fields ready by summer 2010.