December 26, 2006: A letter to our Neighbors

First and foremost thanks to you our taxpayers for the successful passage of the Lake Forest High School building bond referendum in November. The first of many phases of the high school renovation will begin as soon as school lets out for winter break (December 22). A temporary faculty parking lot will be constructed just south of the football field. The tennis courts in the back of the school will be converted to student parking and a construction fence will be erected to control the construction staging area behind the high school. The staging area will be off limits to all traffic, students, staff and the community for safety purposes. These modifications will allow staging to begin in the rear of the building for the initial phase of construction activity. Listed below are some of the changes that you can expect when students return on January 8, 2007:

• All staff, guests and parents dropping off students will now enter ONLY from McKinley Road. There will be no entrance from Noble or Willow.

• Some staff members with assigned spaces in the rear of the building will be reassigned spaces in a new parking lot to be constructed in the green area in front of the pool. Entrance and exit to this lot will be from a new driveway off the north end of the horseshoe drive.

• Staff members whose rear parking spaces are not affected by the construction area will enter from McKinley and exit on Noble. The drive along the side of the auditorium will be a two-lane east- bound entrance only. The left lane will go to the rear parking area and the right lane is for right turns to exit to Noble.

• Parents dropping off students will have 2 options after entering the horseshoe drive. They can proceed along the front of the school to the cafeteria entrance as they do now or turn right at the Y intersection in front of the auditorium and drop students off at the entrance near the David Miller Theater. Parents choosing to drop off in the back will be routed around the parking lot and out the exit-only Noble gate.

• The Noble Street gate will be converted to a two-lane EXIT ONLY.

• Senior Parking will be moved to the Tennis Courts and the Willow Street/Park Avenue gate at the north end by athletics will be used ONLY by authorized Senior parkers. The only option when entering at this gate is to go to Senior parking. Access to the rest of the parking lot will be blocked by the new construction staging area.

• Traffic in the morning and after school is traditionally heavy and congested and although we’ll have additional parking lot personnel on hand we still anticipate delays.

• A fenced construction staging area extending from the handicapped ramp at the rear athletics door and along the south end of the tennis courts will be in place and will block through traffic along the back of the school. Construction equipment and materials will be stored at this location. This fenced area will encompass the auto shop door and the staff dining room door (where driver ed cars park) leaving the entrance near the David Miller Theater and the handicapped ramp at the athletic end as the only entrances to the rear of the school.

• The house purchased by the district, which is located on Edgewood adjacent to the tennis courts, will be the Construction Manager and Architect base of operations. We know that communication is a critical aspect of the high school’s construction project; therefore, the Communication Department will be involved in the Construction Advisory Team meetings on a weekly basis. Our goal is to ensure that the information about the work progress, achievements and benefits of the project is communicated in a relevant, accurate, consistent and timely manner. Throughout the construction project we will post information here. Prior to phases, such as this, we will send a Neighborhood News mailing to surrounding homes. If you know of someone who would like to be included on this mailing list please contact Joy at 847-582-7376 or by email a jmuraws@d115.org. If you have specific questions or concerns you may also contact Linda Cahill at 847-582-7306, or in the event of an emergency after school hours Allen Albus, Deputy Superintendent at 847-558-3972 or Carol White, Director of Buildings and Grounds at 847-404-3754.

Thank you in advance for your patience as we begin this exciting new initiative for our community and school. Our goal is to provide a safe environment with the least disruption possible.

Dr. Harry Griffith Jay Hoffmann
Superintendent Principal

LFHS Neighbors...
On November 7, 2006 you will be asked to vote on a $54 million building bond referendum to fund the renovation and expansion of Lake Forest High School’s East Campus and to upgrade and repurposethe West Campus. We have scheduled an overview of the plan just for you—our neighbors.

Please join us on

Thursday, October 26
7 pm
Faculty Dining Room
Lake Forest High School

Please park in the back parking lot and enter the doors closest to the smoke stacks to find the faculty dining room.

Reinvesting in Excellence
A Presentation to the Community – May 2006

Dr. Harry Griffith presented an overview of the East Campus of Lake
Forest High School and the challenges the three additions (1958, 1966,
1992) to the original 1935 building have presented. He also noted that
student enrollment has increased almost 70% since the last addition to
the school. Months have been spent studying potential improvements and extensions to the buildings and grounds necessary to serve the best interests of the students, to enhance the academic excellence expected by our community and improve safety and security. Dr. Griffith noted that neighboring high school districts had spent significant dollars over since 1996 improving and renovation facilities:

New Trier - $68 million
Stevenson - $78 million
Glenbrook – $88 million
Barrington – $85 million
Highland Park/Deerfield - $78 million
Lake Zurich - $52 million
Antioch - $26 million
Grayslake - $29 million
Hinsdale - $27 million
LFHS - $8 million

Dr. Griffith reported that the Board views West Campus as a community
resource. It is currently being used by the high school (both gyms and
fields) for athletic purposes. The academic wing could be used in the
future for administrative spaces, a community meeting facility, early
childhood center, etc. These options and others are all under discussion
for the future.He noted that next steps include further study of West Campus and a through review of cost estimates. A proposed building and renovation project for Lake Forest High School will require that a proposition be submitted to the voters of the district. The Board of Education is not yet ready to provide complete detail but continue to gather all necessary information. Fully conscious of its fiscal responsibility, the
Board is studying the project carefully and investigating various
projections, with an anticipated recommendation in August.

Graduation
The 2005-06 school year ended with the commencement on the front lawn of the school. Thanks to all that helped to make this a day to remember. We
wish all of the graduates a promising future. It was the perfect ending
to an outstanding year at Lake Forest High School.

May 24, 2006

Thanks!
A special thanks to all of you who attended our neighborhood coffee in
April – a few updates: At that meeting some neighbors shared concerns
that their recycling pick-up times were during the heaviest traffic time in
the morning when students are arriving at the high school. The high school
contacted the City of Lake Forest with this concern and they changed the
recycling pick-up times for these neighbors in order to improve safety. Kudos to the City for their quick response!

Save the Date!
LFHS will hold graduation for the Class of 2006 on the front lawn of the school:Saturday, June 3 at 2:30 p.m. The students are excited about returning to the school campus for this significant event. We hope you mark your calendars and stop by to join the celebration.

In case of inclement weather, each graduate will receive tickets for admission to the Field House. Additional seating for guests without tickets will be available in the Competition Gym where the ceremony will be televised via closed circuit TV. The high school has been working with the Lake Forest Police Department to plan for traffic and parking. Hats off to the Class of 2006!

April 6, 2006

Dear Lake Forest High School Neighbor:Many thanks to those who attended our neighborhood coffee on March 22. Click here for a recap of the topics we discussed that evening. Thank you for your feedback on our night football game. As stated, we do not have one planned for this fall 2006 due to the football schedule – but agree that it was a wonderful event that fostered school and community spirit.As announced, we will hold graduation for the Class of 2006 on the front lawn of the school Saturday, June 3 at 2:30 p.m. The students are excited about returning to the school campus for this significant event. We hope you mark your calendars and stop by to join the celebration.One topic that was discussed at our evening meeting was the concern about the conflict of the city’s recycling pick-up and morning high school traffic. We are in conversations with the City of Lake Forest to see if there is anyway to rearrange the time of pick-up to alleviate this problem. We will keep you posted.Finally, we appreciate your thoughtful ideas as we consider the future of Lake Forest High School. We will share more specific information with you as the plans come together. Once again we hope you stay in touch and informed either by contacting my office, visiting our website, or clicking on “Neighborhood News.” We truly appreciate your continued involvement and input as we plan for the future.

Sincerely,Harry Griffith