20
Quiet saƟsfacƟon: Superintendent’s story
about cuƫng through government red tape
Ridgewood High School is
located in Norridge, just seven
miles from a runway at O’Hare
International
Airport,
which,
depending on which civic
boosters one listens to, is either
the busiest or second busiest
airport in the world. Proximity to
O’Hare is, of course, a major
driver of the economy in the West
Cook Region, but that economic
engine is also a very loud one.
On a clear Friday evening in the
fall, planes preparing to land on
Runway 27L are stacked up over
the school and football fans can
count as little as 30 seconds
between arrivals.
As one who grew up in Norridge, I can attest that
it has always been thus. People pause in mid-
sentence while on the phone or in their backyards.
Non-air conditioned schools would have to choose
between the cacophony of windows open and the
stifling heat of windows closed. Airplane noise, it
seemed, would just be a way of life. But, in 1996,
things around O’Hare began to change with the
creation of the O’Hare Noise Compatibility
Commission (ONCC).
As the Commission states, it “is the only
organization that is dedicated to reducing aircraft
noise in the communities around O’Hare International
Airport. It was established in 1996, following an
invitation from Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to
suburban mayors to begin constructive dialogues on
aircraft noise issues with the goal of reducing the
noise.” With that invitation, 28 municipalities and 16
school districts became part of an entity dedicated to
working with the city of Chicago, O’Hare Airport, the
FAA, and the individual airlines in developing ways to
reduce the effects of noise on communities around
O’Hare. Two of its signature achievements are the
residential and school sound insulation projects. The
Residential Sound Insulation Committee helps
reduce the effects of noise on homes, while the
School Sound Insulation Committee does the same
for schools.
The saga of Ridgewood’s adventure in
soundproofing began in 1997, when the district
joined the ONCC and was tested to determine if the
noise levels inside the building warranted a sound
insulation grant. Through that year and through
subsequent years Ridgewood appeared in the top 10
of schools experiencing excessive levels of noise,
but funds were limited and never seemed to extend
far enough down the list to address the high school’s
problems.
Fast forward to 2004, at which time Ridgewood
was again tested and deemed to qualify for funds.
The FAA announced that Ridgewood and two other
schools would soon be given the opportunity to
receive sound insulation funds. In 2005, after getting
preliminary numbers on the cost of the sound
insulation project, the FAA changed its qualifying
criteria and the three schools were determined to be
no longer eligible for funding.
The story of how this decision was reversed and
how Ridgewood became the single largest recipient
of sound insulation funding in history starts here.
From the beginning, the district reached out to Mayor
Richard M. Daley, to senators and representatives,
and even Secretary of Transportation Raymond
LaHood. The FAA remained intransigent and the
school was told to forget it. In the meantime, in 2006
taxpayers passed a bond referendum for $40 million
that would allow the school to complete its long-term
facilities plan. At that point the Board of Education
decided to go forward with the renovations without
the additional funds that might accrue from the FAA.
Ground was broken for a new field house and the
school was in full construction mode.
As superintendent, I believed that it was worth
one last-ditch effort to ask for a reversal of the FAA
Dr. Robert Lupo
Superintendent of
Ridgewood
Community 234
