District 219 OKs designs for $41.6 million building addition at Niles West High School in Skokie

Niles West High School in Skokie is expected to get a sizable building addition after the Niles Township High School District 219 Board of Education on Jan. 9 approved the draft plans, which include better security and more instructional space.

The plans call for relocating the building’s guest entrance, centralizing student services and constructing additional classrooms on the building’s third floor. According to an estimate from the architectural firm that drafted the design, the addition would cost $41.6 million.

Athi Toufexis, an architect from Studio GC, said the district planned to create a separate entrance for visitors following a safety audit completed before COVID. She explained that visitors who come to Niles West now can have free access.

“The access (to visitors) is pretty much unobstructed throughout the building,” she said. “So while you have visitors, they may be escorted to meetings; after their meeting concludes, they may not be escorted out of the building, so they have free rein.”

According to the plans, the first floor of the building addition would hold the main office, a visitor entrance, offices for deans and attendance and security. Toufexis said that although visitors will enter through the addition, they will not have access to the rest of the school.

Toufexis said that by moving those offices to the addition’s first floor, nearly 17,500 square feet at Niles West will be freed up to be converted to classrooms.

Superintendent Thomas Moore said he was interested in reclaiming the classroom space and turning it into classrooms for manufacturing, trades and career classes. He said the school can approve those classes to be taught but needs the actual physical space to teach them.

The second floor of the building addition is planned to contain student services offices and staff. In addition, Toufexis said there would be dedicated spaces for before and after school programs and flexible learning during the school day. “It helps bring everybody together as far as creating a sense of culture and community,” she said.

Toufexis said the concept of the floor would be similar to the one in the building addition at Niles North High School, where a $24.5 million, 42,835-square-foot building addition opened before the start of the fall 2023 semester.

“I can’t tell you how many evenings I’ve been over at North, and it is jam-packed after school with various types of services and activities going on,” Toufexis said.

The third floor of the building addition would hold up to six classrooms, according to the designs. Several board members were concerned that visitors would have access to the third floor, but Toufexis said there would be a reception area and security guards who would swipe ID cards to allow students to access the classrooms.

Board Member David Ko had concerns about the traffic that the building addition would create, saying that it was the school’s number one issue. Toufexis said for the building addition to serve as a hub for student services and as a second vestibule for guests, it would make the most sense to place it at the front of the building. She pointed out that the current main office is also at the front of the building.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Tim Neubauer said the next steps for the process would be for the district to solicit input from teachers, students and parents to flesh out plans and then go out to bid for the project.

Students from Skokie, Lincolnwood and large portions of Morton Grove and Niles attend District 219 high schools.