Joliet District 86 ready to get building 2 new junior high schools

Joliet — Joliet Public Schools District 86 broke ground Thursday on two new junior high buildings, which will replace the existing Hufford and Gompers junior high schools.

The new buildings are both being built on open fields adjacent to the existing schools - Hufford on the district’s west side and Gompers on the the east side - and will be constructed over the course of two years.

“We are so excited to be here ready to break ground,” District 86 Superintendent Dr. Theresa Rouse said. “The construction of these two new schools would not have happened if it were not for our supportive community, school board and referendum committee. Thank you for your commitment to provide our students with these new innovative buildings where they can thrive academically, socially and emotionally.”

Rouse was joined in the groundbreaking ceremony by Board of School Inspectors President Elvis Madison, Jr., Board Vice President Jesse Smith, and Inspectors Gwen Ulmer, R. Emil Stanfield, Matt Pritz, Sandra Aguirre and Delia Ulloa-Jimenez, as well as Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy, state Sen. Rachel Ventura, and state Reps. Natalie Manley and Meg Loughran-Cappel – a former District 86 teacher.

“I’m thrilled to be here as we mark the beginning of something truly special for our city and most importantly for our young people.”

—  Joliet Mayor Terry D'Arcy

The officials also were joined by a group of students selected from each school to assist in the groundbreaking, including several sixth graders who will be among the first students to graduate from the new schools in spring 2027.

Hufford and Gompers junior high schools were built in 1956 and 1958, respectively. Students said the buildings were “really old” and, in the case of Hufford, a bit crowded.

“It gets really crowded, especially at the end of the day,” Hufford sixth grader Diego Monico said.

The crowding issue at Hufford will be alleviated by additional space, with the new 171,000 square-foot school, which will be built off Ingalls Avenue west of Larkin Avenue. The building is planned to be 33% larger than the existing building and comparable in capacity to Gompers.

While Gompers will remain similar in size at 142,000 square feet, the new Gompers campus at 1501 Copperfield Ave. has a slightly more complex timeline for construction because the new academic building is set to sit on part of the space occupied by the existing gym.

The new Gompers gym will be built first, so students can begin using it next year while the old gym is demolished and the rest of the building can go up in its place. Additionally, the new Gompers building will be built on an area that is slightly hilly, so significant excavation work must be done to level the site.

As part of the joint construction project, much of the excavated earth will then be relocated to the Hufford site to help level the terrain for its new building.

Rouse noted that both the construction sites are fenced off from the campuses for safety, and that construction management firm Nicholas & Associates has been informed of the school schedules to coordinate deliveries and equipment arrivals around student arrival and dismissal periods.

“Thank you for investing in our students, for investing in our community. This is something our students will enjoy for many years to come long after we’re all gone.”

—  Raul Gaston, principal at Gompers Junior High School

Both new buildings were designed by Green Associates, Inc. and were planned with the goal of improving classroom and hallway size, technology, ADA access, safety and energy efficiency.

Once the new buildings are complete, demolition of the remaining old buildings will take place and new field spaces – including a regulation-size track at Hufford and a full-size soccer field at Gompers – and parking lots will be created in their place.

“This is an awesome day,” D’Arcy said. “I’m thrilled to be here as we mark the beginning of something truly special for our city and most importantly for our young people. This groundbreaking represents more than the construction of a new building. It represents an investment in the future of our children, our community and our city. These new schools will be places where students can learn, grow and mature into well-educated and well-rounded individuals, and it’s an example of how we’re going to bring Joliet into the future.”

D’Arcy also thanked the community members who “spearheaded” the referendum initiative, JD Ross and Tony Contos. The $99.5 million referendum which funded the two new schools passed in spring 2023 with an overwhelming 71% of the vote.

“Dreams can be realized, and we’re taking a big step today,” said Contos, who served as co-chair of the referendum committee with Ross. “I think with this vote, the community showed our children that they matter, and that they matter in a big way.”

Demonstrating how much the schools matter to the community, Ventura noted that she grew up in the Hufford community and that both she and her children attended the school.

“The growth is definitely needed, and having purposefully designed classrooms was needed,” she said. “Keeping an eye to the future of education can help diversify the type of education we’re providing.

“And who doesn’t love more bathrooms,” she added, referencing a student’s observation that the new Hufford will have 36 bathrooms when it is finished, along with a three-basketball court gymnasium and a geothermal heating and cooling system.

“This is a great thing for the community,” said Kimberly Rogers, whose eighth-grade daughter, Aniyah Howe, spoke at the Hufford ceremony. “it’s great for the kids and it’s great for the teachers. They need something new.”

“I want to say thank you on behalf of all our students and staff,” Gompers Principal Raul Gaston said. “Thank you for investing in our students, for investing in our community. This is something our students will enjoy for many years to come long after we’re all gone.”

“Today is an exciting time for Joliet, and most importantly, our students and the future of our community,” Madison said. “We are building more than just two schools. We are creating state-of-the-art innovative facilities for our students, our future leaders, that will benefit generations for many years to come.”

Construction on both schools will officially begin Monday.