Reconstructing Springfield’s high schools

Secondary education in Springfield is undergoing a metamorphosis as hundreds of millions of dollars are being pumped into revitalizing the city’s three public high schools.

Perhaps no project better illustrates this transformation than Lanphier High School, which is undergoing a $93 million facilities upgrade that will largely be complete by January.

The 86-year-old building is becoming state-of-the-art with new classroom space, two new gyms, a new commons and cafeteria space, auditorium and music classrooms. A modern exterior will also be added to the building along with more parking space.

“We’re doing this for the next 100 years,” said Jennifer Gill, superintendent of Springfield Public Schools District 186. “Every school district has the responsibility to keep their buildings in tip-top shape and provide a great education for their students.”

Gill said funding for the improvements at Lanphier, as well as the planned improvements at Springfield High and Southeast High schools, comes through a one-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2018.

Before the most recent renovations, Lanphier was not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, she said.

“One of the biggest and most primary drivers for comprehensively reconstructing Lanphier was ADA. They did not previously have an elevator,” Gill said. “The building had been phased in over time, adding additions, and all of those had different elevations with stairs going up and stairs going down. So, any student or teacher who might have a disability was not able to move around the building with ease or get to all portions of the building.”

It’s no longer your grandparents’ high school. Lockers are shorter and more accessible to youngsters in wheelchairs. Private, all-gender restrooms have been added at a time when more students are expressing gender fluidity.

“We want to be compliant with the law regarding restrooms and different genders,” Assistant Principal Alicia Miller said as she stood beside the door of an all-gender restroom. “There is one person in at a time, and they can lock it. This allows students to be who they are and feel confident.”

The new classrooms are larger and more technologically sophisticated, giving teachers greater flexibility in how they instruct.

One of them is biology teacher Rob Handy.

“We have projectible microscopes that enable students to see the same thing at once,” he said, as he pointed at a large computer monitor at the front of his classroom, where a blackboard might have been generations ago.

“Look! Here are some algae – some little green critters that do photosynthesis,” Handy said as an image appeared on the screen as his three pupils looked on.

He pressed a button and a new image appeared. “This little one is a diatom critter. Last week, we started to introduce cells to the kids.”

Handy added the changes are more than just technological. For example, larger classrooms with more counter space and electrical outlets enable him to create and exhibit habitats for students to learn more about plants and animals.

“We’re getting poison dart frogs,” Handy said. “They’re going to send us three tadpoles, and my three classes are going to raise each of the tadpoles up into real frogs. And then we’ll have a vivarium for them. It’s a living ecosystem. So, it’ll have all the plants, including the little bugs that the frogs eat. It’s self-sustainable. It will enable me to teach them things that they would not normally get to see.”

Even the desks and seating in the newer classrooms provide pupils with a different learning experience.

No longer are the desktops connected to the chairs. Instead, they are individual tables, which allows students to adjust how far they are from the desktop.

“We all have different body styles, and it’s just more comfortable for all students,” Miller said.

Laura Allen, another biology teacher, added, “These desks can be moved so students can collaborate a lot better and have flexible labs.”

Allen pointed at the large classroom windows and said, “We have lots of light so we can do photosynthesis stuff. I also can have an aquarium now. I can do all kinds of things (with these new classrooms) that I’ve never been able to do.”

Expanding the vocational program is also in the works.

“Lanphier will become the high school where students from across Springfield can attend to learn more about building trades,” said Mike Grossen, Springfield Public Schools director of school leadership and facilities planning.

Standing before the high school’s cafeteria, Grossen pointed and said, “We’ll have two classrooms in there and also a building trades lab. It’s being currently used as a common space and their cafeteria. They’ll start (construction of) that in the summer.”

Miller noted that just as Southeast High School is now the hub for students throughout District 186 to train for health care professions, the plan is for Lanphier to serve as a district-wide hub for those wanting to pursue training in the building trades.

Grossen said the building trades section and the planned auditorium will be the last parts of the construction project to be completed, with the auditorium schedule to open in fall 2024. Unlike the city’s two other public high schools, Lanphier has never had an auditorium.

“They never had one, but now they will have an auditorium with an orchestra pit,” he said. “It’s going to be pretty outstanding. … I believe they have used a gym and they had a stage there. … They also sometimes went to different areas. I think they have used The Muni or other theaters to put on shows.”

Later this year, an esports arena will be completed at Lanphier where teams can compete playing video games against other schools.

“We’ve got the first-ever high school esports arena being built here,” said Dalton McGhiey, a science teacher who also serves as the head coach for the esports team. “With all the high schools that have been built since esports has taken off, we’re the first one that I’m aware of in the country to be willing to invest this much money in our kids for esports. And we’re not just converting a computer lab. We’re building a high school esports arena.”

McGhiey said the esports arena is scheduled to be complete in December. “It’s my best Christmas present that I’ve ever received. (The school district asked) ‘What do you want it to be?’ And the district checked every box. It’s going to be awesome,” he said.

The football team received a gift of its own when renovations to Memorial Stadium were completed in August. Although the stadium is on the Lanphier campus, it serves athletes playing for both Lanphier and Springfield High Schools.

Renovations to the stadium took nearly five years and cost more than $6 million. The improvements include new field turf, a track, restroom facilities, a press box, team rooms and an away team concession area.

Also, part of the construction plans at Lanphier include demolition of the existing gym and construction of both a new gym and the creation of a new auxiliary gym, slated to be completed in January. The auxiliary gym is designed to host wrestling events, classes and basketball practices alongside the main gym.

The new gym will also serve as a storm shelter, which is a requirement under state law when buildings are constructed or renovated.

District 186 school board member Sarah Blissett represents Sub-District 3, which includes Lanphier High School. She said she is very excited to see the changes underway on the campus.

“There’s not another high school in the state of Illinois that will have a brand-new esports lab like these kids are getting. The competition gym is going to be amazing,” Blissett said.

“It’s incredible when you combine the Lanphier renovations with Memorial Stadium, which is gorgeous. And the Lucky Horseshoes are looking to do a lot of stuff over at Robin Roberts Stadium. And we have the new (high-speed) rail that’s coming. In five years, nobody’s going to recognize that side of town anymore.”

Springfield High next on the list

Soon, Springfield High School will undergo a renovation every bit

as large as the $93 million one currently underway at Lanphier, Superintendent Jennifer Gill told Illinois Times recently.

“We’re really at the 50% mark of the conceptual design,” she said. “We’ll be looking to finish those designs and go out for bid and start the project later this spring.”

Already, Springfield Public Schools has purchased additional land near the SHS campus. But an exact price tag for the project has yet to be determined.

“We really don’t know exactly what number we’re going to land on,” Gill said. “But it’ll be around $93 million to $95 million, if not closer to $100 million dollars, in the end. But that will be phased in over several years of construction.”

The first stage of construction will include new gym space. “We have acquired most of the property on Monroe Street that is adjacent to the building so that we can utilize that space to build out and off the building,” Gill said.

“We’ll incorporate a new gymnasium that will be similar in scope to Lanphier’s new gym. We will also have what we call a second gym.” Gill said that space will also double as the storm shelter, which is a requirement for any newly constructed building or addition.

Two wings of the high school that once housed its shop classes, but now host weightlifting and the school’s wrestling program, will be demolished, she said.

“On the other side, the music section, we’ll be adding on to the building to provide extra classroom space,” Gill said. “Much like Lanphier, it’ll be remodeled and have more bright lights, new hallway space, new tiling, new ceilings. It’s all very important to Springfield High.”

She added that it is vital that each of the district’s high school campuses be treated equitably.

“For instance, Lanphier had no auditorium, so that was a big piece (of the project there). Southeast’s auditorium was 100% gutted and renovated this past summer.

And it’s fully operational now at Southeast High School, and it’s beautiful,” said Gill.

Southeast, which is the newest of the city’s public high schools, also had a full renovation of its restrooms and will soon have its football field and track stadium renovated, Gill said.

Gill said the district does not yet have a cost projection for the Southeast High School improvements.

“It’s still in the pre-planning phases, and we have not gone out for bond on that project yet,” she said.

-Scott Reeder

This article appears in Reconstructing Springfield’s high schools.