Opening day was delayed this year, but it went smoothly at all three District 230 schools, principals and students said, despite all the controversies surrounding an unfinished renovation and expansion project. Most students were eager to get back to school, which originally was to have begun Sept. 5 for some and Sept. 6 for others. Some feared the delay would eat into their Christmas or summer vacations, but district spokesman Jim Sibley said only two days would be added to the end of the school year. Some students at Andrew in Tinley Park who had to be bused to the old Central Junior High School in Tinley Park for some classes were not happy about it, although teachers said the system worked. A lack of completed classrooms at Andrew is forcing the district to rent the recently closed Central Junior High from Community Consolidated School District 146.
New construction is ongoing, but the old sections of all three schools have been heavily remodeled.
Offices were relocated in many cases, bringing student deans and guidance counselors closer together. And hallways and classrooms all got new looks, with bright paint, geometric floor designs and indirect lighting. Two juniors at Sandburg, friends eating lunch together in the still-incomplete Commons room, held completely opposite opinions about the red circles on the floors and the yellow paint on the walls. I like the 'new' school. They did a good job remodeling.