Long-Term Capital Projects

Imagine OPRF is our five-phase, long-term capital projects plan, created by the Imagine OPRF Work Group. The group was formed in 2017 and was charged by the Board of Education with making recommendations for a fiscally responsible facilities plan that supports equity and current and future academic programming needs. 

The core Imagine team comprised 30 community members and 10 employees, who conducted a year and a half of intensive research with hundreds of stakeholders. This community-based process produced a multi-phase plan that upholds three guiding principles: to be needs driven, student centered, and equity focused.

Imagine OPRF Project 2

Click here for an FAQ about Project 2. Scroll down for information about Project 1.

The second phase of Imagine OPRF focuses on building a new physical education wing at the southeast (Scoville and Lake) corner of the building. This would replace the current structure there and would not include the Fieldhouse.

The schematic design with floor plans for Project 2 is available in the Oct. 27, 2022, presentation to the Board, which you can see by clicking here. Overall, the replacement wing would include:

• PE classrooms, PE and athletics offices, PE equipment storagem and a conference room to replace the ones removed during demolition
• Improvements to the performing arts green room, which does not meet student needs 
• All-gender locker rooms for gender non-conforming students
• An elevator that complies with accessibility requirements 
• A multi-purpose/dance gym to replace the current studio
• Larger, flexible, multi-use gyms that can serve as a competition space and replace small, limited use gyms
• A weight room
• An expanded treatment room for athletic trainers to address inadequate space issues 
• Boys locker rooms to replace the current ones, which have a host of issues (poor ventilation, plumbing problems, inadequate toilet space, etc.) 
• Student commons and pre-function space for students waiting for activities/rides and spectators
• A 25-yard x 40-yard pool to replace the two current pools, which were built in 1928 and have exhausted their useful life, with a spectator balcony to replace the 550 seats along the two current pools

Project 2 will accommodate some functions that currently are in the southwest Physical Education area of the building, including boys locker rooms, the West Pool, and the trainer’s room. This will make space for moving performing arts to the southwest area of the building, which is called for in the conceptual design for Project 3.

Imagine OPRF Project 1

Click here for before and after photos.

In June 2020, Oak Park and River Forest High School began the most significant renovations to its campus in 50 years, funded entirely from existing cash reserves, thereby avoiding a tax increase to property owners and preserving the district’s debt-free status.

Project 1 broke ground in June 2020. The renovation of the final 20 classrooms will take place in summer 2023, marking completion of Project 1, which includes:

• Replacement of the South Cafeteria (completed)
• Addition of a two-story Student Resource Center (completed)
• Renovation of the Main Entrance and Welcome Center (completed)
• Renovation of the Student Activities Center, now called the Student Commons (completed)
• Renovations of 65 classrooms, including our special education TEAM classrooms and visual arts labs (final 20 to be completed in summer 2023)
• Addition of 15 new classrooms, including two science labs, in the old library and Tutoring Center spaces (completed)
• Renovation and addition of Special Education offices and conference rooms (completed)
• Relocation/renovation of Driver Education classrooms (completed)
• Eight new all-gender washrooms (completed)
• Relocation/renovation of mailroom and duplicating (completed)
• New ADA-compliant elevator (completed)
• Renovation of freight elevator to be ADA-compliant (in progress)