Parking lot repaving, bathroom renovations planned for Stevenson High

A parking lot repaving, bathroom renovations and roof repairs are among the projects included in a $5.1 million construction package planned for Stevenson High School this summer.

Parking lot B, which is the main lot at the front of the sprawling Lincolnshire campus, will get new asphalt.

Additionally, the band room will get new storage space. offices will be improved, some hallways will get new lights and fire sprinklers and an auditorium stage floor will be repaired.

Food service lines in the Wood Commons area will be replaced, too.

The Stevenson High board on Monday approved bids from 14 vendors to handle the projects. The contracts cover plumbing, roofing, drywall and tile work, among other aspects.

The bids came in lower than the nearly $5.4 million officials expected to pay for the work.

Much of the work focuses on the West Building, which is notable for a prominent, point-like facade and roof at its main entrance. The building actually started as the original Stevenson High in 1965.

The office, lighting, sprinkler and bathroom work planned for the summer all will occur in that building.

Some of the bathrooms have features dating back to 1965.

“Square, blue tile and all,” Sean Carney, Stevenson's director of business services, said Monday during a committee discussion of the projects before the board meeting.

The Wood Commons is in the West Building, too, as is the auditorium that needs stage repairs.

Funding for the projects is included in the district's $101.6 million budget for the 2016 fiscal year.

Stevenson officials generally schedule heavy construction projects during the summer months. This year's to-do list is less intensive — and less expensive — than the $14.5 million worth of work completed last summer.

Those projects included classroom renovations, the reconstruction of a parking lot and the creation of a study area for struggling students.