Construction Update: 2.5 million dollar facelift

Construction Update: 2.5 million dollar facelift

Lea Delattre, Copy Editor

Starting after the 2017 school year came to an end, West began to tear down the entire main entrance, visitor parking lot, and the hallways leading up to the security booth. Soon after graduation, the school started demolishing the narrow corridor between the auditorium and the rest of the campus, which has served as the main entrance since 1964.

They continued working on the main entrance throughout the summer. Not many were informed of the construction, so this came as a surprise to a lot of students upon entering the school on the first day, of the 2017-2018 school year.

One of the biggest changes that students and visitors will be faced with until this project is completed is that the new security booth and main entrance are now temporarily located at door 6.

The predicted ending date for the project is by winter break of 2017 but there is no saying for sure when it will be done due to some technical difficulties faced at the beginning of the project. After hiring a contractor to complete the construction, the projected cost for the new main office and parking lot is roughly about 2.5 million dollars. The corridor between the auditorium and the rest of the campus had served as the school’s main entrance since 1964, so there were many reasons pushing the school to upgrade that part of the building.

The original main entrance brought all visitors in through a hallway that was connected to classrooms and students, making it very easy to enter the high school. This set up caused many security and safety issues in the school and with concerned parents because many felt that it was just too easy to enter the school.

When the project is complete, the new security booth will be located in the same spot, but will be completely blocked off from the students and the rest of the school. Visitors will have to go through a more secure process before checking in, and will have to be buzzed in through a door before being able to enter the school hallways with staff and students unlike previous years. Joliet West’s security guard, Mr. Mart stated, “I think this is a good edition to the school. The students safety has always been and will always be our number one concern.” along with Mart, many other school officials agree that this edition was becoming a necessity since the student population continues to grow each and every year.