As you drive down McKinley
Road, past Lake Forest High School’s magnificent
Georgian exterior, it is difficult to imagine
our high school is facing some significant challenges.
Numerous reports and findings all point to three major
areas of concern:
Overcrowding
The
high school’s
last major building expansion occurred in 1992
(1990 referendum).The project was designed to
meet the needs of 1,400-1,500 students.
Lake Forest High Schoolhas seen a 63% increase
in enroll ent since 1992. Today
our high school houses approximately 1,764 students,
with future projections flattening
out at around 1,824 students in 2012. Lake Forest
High School has reached its absolute maximum utilization
of existing space. The school is overcrowded and
overwhelmed.
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Academic Concerns
The current Lake Forest High School facility is no longer
capable of supporting an academic program that keeps
us competitive with other high-performing schools. The
adverse impacts of the overcrowding are being reflected
in the academic program.
Areas of concern have been identified in every
discipline and subject area. A few of which are highlighted
below:
• Lake Forest High School is unable to offer extended
science lab experiences to all students. Only students
in the Advanced Placement classes (highest level) have
access to this type of challenging lab program. Neighboring
school districts are able to offer the rigors
of a challenging science lab experience to ALL their
students. Lake Forest High School students receive 26
hours less laboratory time each year as compared to students
in surrounding districts.
• The Lake Forest High School library, built 40
years
ago, in 1966, is overwhelmed and outdated. Teachers must
register their classes two weeks in advance to
get into the library and even then space may not be available.
Due to overcrowding, students are turned
away from the library on a daily basis, denying access
to resources and technology throughout the school day.
• During any period of the school day, 6 classes
of
foreign language are competing for the use of one foreign
language lab. This is not consistent with
the foreign language lab support of other
high-performing schools.
• The use of technology in education and in the
work environment has and will continue to evolve and
increase. Lake Forest High School needs to meet these
changing demands in order to fully prepare our students
for life
and work in an increasing technological and competitive
global economy.
We need to address these shortcomings, and numerous
other areas, to remain competitive with high-performing
high schools on the North Shore and across the country.
These are our students’ peers as they go on to
college and into the workforce.
Safety & Security
Issues
In today’s society, safety and security has become
an important focus for all schools. This is a major area
of concern as we
work with our local public safety officials. Over the
years,
the following safety and security concerns have developed:
• There is a need to limit and improve control of
exterior
building access points.
• Many hallways and stairwells do not connect
within the
school. In the event of an emergency, evacuation is limited
and confusing. Additionally, it is not efficient for
fire, police
and medical personnel to access specific locations within
the school.
• The school is
not equipped with
sprinklers in all
academic areas.
• Many building access/evacuation areas need to
be addressed (ramping, elevators, etc.) to meet the current
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements.
