Huntley District 158 mulls new boundaries

Huntley District 158 officials are considering boundary changes to address increasing student enrollment and overcrowding at Leggee Elementary School.

The district will host two public forums to gather feedback on three potential scenarios for changes to elementary and middle school boundaries. The forums will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. March 2, and 6 to 8 p.m. March 3 at Leggee Elementary, 13723 Harmony Road, Huntley.

Leggee, the district's only kindergarten through fifth grade building, also is the only school facing overcrowding because of two major housing developments within its boundaries, District 158 Superintendent John Burkey said.

"We have plenty of room in our K-5 buildings districtwide," he said. "We do not have a space problem. We need to move some students out of Leggee to our (other) elementary schools. The ideal capacity for Leggee is about 850 (students). This will get it down to 600. We need it to be lower than 800 because Leggee still has growing neighborhoods."

District administrators used an outside demographer, DecisionInsite, to gather data and help draw up the three boundary change scenarios.

"They all accomplish alleviating the overcrowding at Leggee," Burkey said. "There really is an option that we think is the best."

Administrators favor the scenario that calls for moving more than 600 students out of Leggee during the next three years to Chesak and Mackeben (currently Grades K-2) and Conley and Martin (currently Grades 3-5) schools.

"(It) really is the best option for the district," Burkey said. "We haven't done a major boundary change in about 10 years. We want to do this change to last for a number of years."

The scenario calls for minor changes to middle school boundaries. Students in K-2 and 3-5 buildings at the Reed Road or Square Barn campuses will go to a middle school on the same campus, while Leggee students will remain split between the two district middle schools.

"It makes transportation more efficient," Burkey said. "That's one of the reasons we like option 1. Everyone west of Route 47 will be going to Leggee. Everyone east of Route 47 will go to Reed Road or Square Barn (campuses). It's going to allow the buses not to have to cross Route 47. That's a big benefit."

Whichever option is approved, the changes will go into effect starting next year. Only families living within the current Leggee boundaries would be affected under all three scenarios. Students going into fifth grade next year will remain at Leggee. Students entering kindergarten or third grade at Leggee will go to a new school instead.

Parents attending the open houses will be able to explore a gallery of drawings on the proposed options and ask questions of administrators.

"It always is difficult when you talk about moving school boundaries," Burkey said. "But we want to get (parents) feedback because there might be something we could do to improve it. If we need to change anything, we will before we take it back to the board."

For more information about the three scenarios, visit www.district158.org/boundaries.