The 2025-26 school year is the 50th anniversary of Westview Hills Middle School and we have been celebrating all year with throwback documents, special activities, and more!
We have also reached out to some notable Westview Hills staff members to get their perspective about the school's history, impact, and their time there.
First up is Gregory Ostrowski who was a Mathematics teacher in 1968 before Westview was built and became Principal of Westview from 1986 until his retirement in 2002. His response has been minimally edited. Take it away Mr. Ostrowski!
50 years Westview Hills Middle School by Gregory F. Ostrowski
It is hard to believe it is 50 Years but I am happy to share some perspective on the building of Westview and a bit of history. I began my career as a Mathematics teacher in 1968 before Westview was built and then I was Principal of Westview from 1986 until my retirement in 2002.
The school was named through a contest which students were to submit names for it, thus it was a combination of communities that make up the name (WESTmont, GolfVIEW and Clarendon HILLS). It was the first School in DuPage County to be fully central air conditioned and probably for quite some time.
When Westview Hills was envisioned, the building was quite innovative for its time.The open classroom model was rare in 1975. The school was open with few walls and no doors for Mathematics, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Spanish.
Science, Home Economics, Industrial Arts and Music rooms had doors and full walls. The Instructional Materials Center was open to all of the classes that were without doors and full walls. It took a few months for myself and fellow staff to become used to the sound of other classrooms but we worked through it. The visual openness was actually very beneficial in teaching and not distracting at all. You could easily communicate with other staff and even remove some movable walls to team teach.
Later when I was Principal, I could visit classrooms very unobtrusively throughout the day. Many neighboring schools followed with the open concept!
Surprisingly the school was supposed to handle 600 students, however at that time typical classes were 25 to 35 students and no Special Education rooms so we opened with fewer than 300. And of course computer rooms were needed before the laptop was even in the picture.
When I left in 2002 there were 450 students and because of the need to accommodate so many different needs and classrooms while i was there I supervised two additions to the school and of course a third addition took place after I left.
Amusingly, one of the concerns with the original 1975 building was brought on by a snowfall in 1978. Because the building was so open the superintendent was concerned about the limited internal structue because some industrial sites in Chicagoland were having roof failures. So about six of my fellow staff and custodians came in on a weekend and brought snow shovels and hoisted up snowblowers. When we were done removing the snow, we casually walked off the roof.
It is interesting to see how the school evolved for class size, number of students, different programs and safety with need for walls and doors. And the discontinuing of Industrial Arts and computer classes. Interestingly different needs!
I thoroughly enjoyed my teaching years and Administrative years at Westview Hills. The community was very supportive in financing the additions and supportive of all the programs that evolved. My 34 years of teaching and administrating were so exceptionally supported by the many Boards of Education and five superintendents that I worked with. The staff was phenomenal and parents were great. I so much enjoyed this age group of students. Every year that I spoke at the graduation ceremony, I would say how much these kids would change in three years and that was what I loved about the middle school years.
Middle school kids were wonderful to help guide through every day that I worked at Westview Hills. The facility has evolved and hopefully we all have too!