District 211 uses summer break for facility improvements

Traditionally, Palatine-Schaumburg Township High School District 211 uses the summer break, which starts in late May and continues through early August, for various construction projects to improve its facilities.

Over the past three years, one school has been closed for summer break to allow for larger facility and site improvement projects.

This summer, Hoffman Estates High School received the largest share of renovations, beginning with all of the student restrooms, which were outfitted with new plumbing fixtures, tile, toilet partitions, and electrical upgrades, including new hand dryers and energy-efficient LED lighting.

This renovation project was the first significant renovation to the student restrooms since the original construction in 1971. In addition, individual occupancy restrooms were installed on each floor.

Hoffman Estates High School also had several other projects completed on the summer "to-do" list. This summer marked the completion of the second phase of a safety redesign in the school's parking lot.

The redesign enhanced the control of traffic and pedestrian flow with the installation of speed tables and pedestrian walkways. Additional safety features were added to the school campus, including new lights along the pathways extending north and east from the tennis courts.

An emergency call button was also placed at each end of the paths, which will be directly linked to the police dispatch center. Also, a large section of the roof over the school's classrooms was replaced.

After being originally installed during the summer of 2009, the artificial turf at Hoffman Estates and Palatine high schools had reached the end of its useful life. Both schools received new artificial turf, as well as new surfacing on the running tracks. This completed phase two of a scheduled three-phase field improvement plan.

In the final phase next year, Conant High School's stadium will be the final field to receive new artificial turf and track resurfacing. Work on Conant High School's baseball and softball fields, which began in 2018, is nearing completion as sod has recently been laid on these fields, with the seed to be planted in the remaining areas soon.

Each high school received areas of new carpeting. Palatine High School and Conant also had smaller projects done, like replacing outdated mechanical equipment with new higher performing and efficient systems.

All large-scale construction projects are scheduled to be completed prior to students returning to school Aug. 12, with the exception of the outdoor Conant fields, which will be completed over the coming months.