Between class periods, 1,500-plus students try to maneuver and push their way through condensed hallways to get to their next class within a five-minute span. This says it all, according to DeKalb High School Principal Larry Stinson.

Inside the nearly 45-year-old building, located at 1515 S. Fourth St., rests a student body and an administrative staff that has had to exhibit flexibility and preach patience during a time Stinson said many overcrowding issues have plagued the school.

“What we need is not just expansion,” Stinson said. “We need renovations as well to accommodate the kids and remain functional for the years to come.”

Within District 428’s proposed April $39.8 million referendum plan, DeKalb High School would receive $23,687,881, all of which is the estimated cost of the proposed work the school has planned should the referendum succeed.

Currently, DeKalb High School is home to about 1,500 students with projections for next year to reflect somewhere in the ballpark of 1,580 students, Stinson said. The school’s plan, should the referendum pass, would be to increase its square footage from 230,732 to 292,117 feet. This space would accommodate the influx of students for at least a decade, a capacity that could hold upward of 2,500 students down the road.

The most significant aspect of the school’s proposed additions would be the 55,134 square-foot, $11.6 million field house addition on the campus’ southwest side. On the first floor of the field house, multiple basketball and volleyball courts with retractable bleachers would accommodate home games. Also on the first floor would be new boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, a lobby with concessions and ticket windows for the games and offices for the athletic administration.

The second floor would consist of wrestling mats, a weight lifting room and, similar to the first floor, a corridor that would link the field house to the main school. Stinson, however, emphasized that some of the intricate aspects of the field house would be determined through student and staff surveys.

Finally, the field house would provide another main entryway into the school and a circular loading/unloading drop off around the spot where the soccer field currently is located. The soccer field and tennis courts subsequently would be moved out of the field house.

“I hope people understand we’re not just building a field house to build a field house,” Stinson said. “We’re doing this to gain classrooms in the existing gym.”

Stinson said in order potentially to accommodate 2,000 students, it was a foregone conclusion that new classrooms be created.

With classrooms already filled to the brim and little space left for any significant number of additional students, Stinson said 12 new classrooms could be created on the second floor where the second-floor gym currently exists.

Stinson said with the amount of students growing so rapidly, the school has been forced to place lockers about everywhere within the school. As a result, congestion in all hallways is a major concern, and it also is a potential fire hazard. Stinson said he hoped with the addition of new classrooms and the confinement of classrooms within the existing gym, a possible extra minute or two allowed between periods would help students, and the congestion of the hallways could be alleviated.

On the second floor, the problems begin within the cramped administration offices that consist of both the school’s administration and the nurse’s offices. Around the corner, the dean’s offices are makeshift offices tucked within a section of the second-floor hallway. Stinson said the lack of privacy is a major problem, especially when a student needs to visit a dean for disciplinary action.

Within the proposed plan, the administrative/nurse’s offices would become teaching facilities, most notably for the math department that presently is forced to have its office within an old classroom. The administration and nurses would then relocate into newly constructed offices in a portion of what is now the first floor gymnasium.

Also included within the first floor gym would be an expanded common area that would exclusively cater to lunch time periods. Stinson said with lunch periods currently ranging from third period (10:30 a.m.) to sixth period (1 p.m.) many students have to eat lunch at odd times. Within this new cafeteria, adjacent to a proposed expanded kitchen/servery, lunch periods would be reduced to just the fourth and fifth period hours.

Additional problem Stinson said was the aging library that is in desperate need of renovations. Also, the referendum plan would call for an expanded and renovated music room. Other renovations would include new and refurbished equipment within the science classrooms that, at the present time, are extremely out of date.

Stinson said a key component to the high school makeover would be to install air conditioning within the school. During the first and last weeks of school, Stinson said the school as a whole can become extremely stuffy and humid with the amount of students crammed into a classroom and congregating in the hallways.

Stinson said within the scope of renovations, various exterior/interior improvements would be made to the school that in spots show pieces of the ceiling falling off as well as walls and floors that are deteriorating by the day. In addition to upgrading the unit ventilators and watering system, Stinson said throughout the entire building dull lighting is a major issue because most of the lights are extremely old and need to be replaced.

“We want to make sure people understand the renovations and additions, and how it impacts them,” Stinson said.

Stinson said the project would span over the course of two years, with the field house addition occurring during the school year with everything else within the school taking place over the course of two summers so students don’t have to battle with construction.

“Just think if someone didn’t do much with their house after 40 years,” Stinson said. “How long before they’d think a change needed to be made?”