Are more grade level centers the future for St. Charles schools?

St. Charles school district officials as soon as Monday may begin planning for some of the most potentially divisive changes since the merger of Davis and Richmond schools that went to court.

Redrawing attendance boundaries, closing schools and creating more grade level centers could all be on the table with enrollment shrinking since 2010.

District 303 Superintendent Don Schlomann is set to speak to the school board, in broad terms, about the impacts of declining enrollment on the district's infrastructure and staffing. District spokesman Jim Blaney said Schlomann wants the board to primarily consider whether they want him to make recommendations to address the shrinking enrollment before he retires in 2017 or leave that task to his successor.

School board members in May delayed discussions about creating later start times for students because Schlomann said that consideration should come in the text of the larger moves needed to address enrollment. At the time, Schlomann said those larger moves could involve "less buildings."

A committee of residents began examining the district's population changes last fall, but it has not yet brought forward any conclusions or recommendations.

School board candidates put forward some early thoughts on the issue during forums in March. Longtime school board member Kathy Hewell said, at the time, dwindling enrollment may not have as large an impact on schools as first thought. She said the enrollment committee provided some initial feedback that indicated people are starting to trickle back into the district, possibly fueling a rebound in classroom populations. But that contrasted with board member Lori Linkimer's view, as a local real estate agent, that the past 10 years have seen a noticeable downturn in the influx of new residents.

During her candidacy, Linkimer said she was open to hearing ideas for closing schools, but she also wanted consideration of grade level centers and using the most empty buildings for alternative educational programming.

In an interview while he was touring the district for the first day of school last August, Schlomann said it will be important to consider the downside of closing schools. Empty buildings can be magnets for crime. And if the economy turns in a big way and new jobs come to the area, the district could be faced with reopening a school it mothballed or sold. The school board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, at the district's main office, 201 S. Seventh St.

In the school district's last divisive issue, Davis and Richmond schools were separate kindergarten-through-fifth-grade elementary schools until 2011. The district then combined them and started sending kindergartners through second-graders to Davis, and third- through fifth-graders to Richmond. A group of parents in a lawsuit claimed the merger was done to evade the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which set standards for student performance at the time. They asked that the schools be separated. A judge said "no" but ordered an improvement plan created by parents and community members.

Before the merger, Richmond was 54 percent Hispanic, with 61 percent of its students designated as low-income, well above the district averages. Davis, the next-closest elementary school, was 89 percent white and 12 percent low-income.