Recent proposals for LFHS renovations cloud the nature of what makes LFHS great. Packaged along with a short list of mandatory security changes is a wish list of flashy changes. But would these changes measurably improve the quality of education at the school?

According to informational posters put out by Perkins & Will (the firm hired for the renovation proposals), LFHS is falling dramatically behind local “competitor” schools such as Stevenson and New Trier. While the “collaborative corridor” at Stevenson has an indoor “green wall” to improve air quality, Lake Forest is falling behind because the linoleum floors in the hallways are “uncomfortable to sit on.” How will we ever maintain pace with New Trier if we don’t have “break out spaces for students?” And how do we expect to provide top-quality education if the department offices are “intimidating to any student seeking help?”

LFHS is a great school for two main reasons: dedicated students and excellent teachers. If the smartboards, chromebooks, and 3-D printers vanished tomorrow, we would still boast a high quality educational experience. The opportunities at LFHS — including classes, extracurricular activities, and athletics — are as good as at larger schools, but with the culture of a smaller school. Our education quality hinges more on these factors than on furniture or classroom space.

We would do well to consider West Campus — a good example of the school district overreaching. The expansion created a burden to local residents that remains today, as the district continues to work to find uses for the building and grounds.

Could West Campus have been worse? Yes. If we had built an even bigger school right away, we would have wasted even more money for even less use. However, West Campus might see even more use today if we had not gone all-in on the trends of the time. The novel “modular” classroom approach to West Campus continues to cause issues with how to reuse the space of the building. Sound carries too easily through certain areas of the building, and the sharp angles of the design cause issues with effectively using space. The building’s harsh external appearance is far less appealing than East’s beautiful Georgian Colonial style. East Campus’s classic design has better withstood the test of time as an educational facility.

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West Campus: A History

Another important consideration relating to West Campus is the student population of LFHS. LFHS has a stable student population; in 2005 LFHS reached a peak population of 1,759, and has slightly declined to 1,585 now. Are the proposed renovations tailored to a declining enrollment?

Not only are the proposals overreaching, but many of the renovations themselves are problematic. For instance, the proposed renovations include an open-office style space for collaboration. Open offices were all the rage not so long ago. Unfortunately, workers found out that it’s hard to concentrate in an open office because they see and overhear everyone else. Students would have to wear headphones to get some isolation to concentrate in these spaces — which is less than ideal for collaboration or productivity.

While it is easy to pick over the merit of each individual part of the proposed renovation, we must remember that the ultimate purpose of the school is to facilitate education. “Competition” with other school districts is meaningless. We choose to educate in our way, and they choose to educate in their way. Lake Forest has long valued providing individual teachers with flexibility to teach the way they want, unlike the cookie cutter programs seen in many other districts. Throughout its 80 plus years of history, LFHS has not produced movie stars, Olympians, and other leaders in their respective fields because of the quality of the building. Lake Forest High School has been successful because of dedicated students taught by excellent teachers.