Lincoln parents rally at St. Charles school closure forum
If there are learning institutions loved more than Lincoln Elementary in St. Charles, they weren't represented at one of the final chances for residents to weigh in on pending school closures Friday night.
But despite all the emotional pleas to keep Lincoln open, results of a community survey heard by St. Charles Unit District 303 residents for the first time provided another reason to close it, in addition to small enrollment.
The survey tried to measure how residents want to address the declining enrollment projections and financial fears about possible pension reform, property tax freezes and changes to school funding.
Closing Lincoln and Wasco Elementary School was the popular choice selected by the community, with about 32 percent of the 1,257 responders voting to close the two schools.
The second choice, at 27 percent, was to do nothing and wait. The third most popular option, at 23 percent, was closing Haines Middle School and keeping sixth-graders at the elementary schools. Closing Haines, Lincoln and Wasco and putting a $45 million building referendum question on the ballot was the least popular option.
Dave Chiszar, the district's executive director of assessment, pointed out the cumulative results showed more than 70 percent of the survey respondents support at least one of the school closure plans. Moreover, solid majorities of survey respondents want a solution that keeps existing programs in place and balances the needs of students and taxpayers.
With those results in hand, Lincoln supporters then spent the next two hours trying to persuade the school board to ignore the survey.
They were easily the largest contingent in the audience of nearly 200 people. Parents, teachers, neighbors of the school, downtown business owners, a city alderman and even Lincoln's own student body president addressed the school board.
They said closing Lincoln would force the district to incur new inefficiencies with increased busing. They expressed fears about Lincoln students getting lost in the shuffle if they were moved to a much bigger building.
They once again expressed doubts that enrollment really will decline when the city is reviewing various plans to bring up to 1,700 new residential units to the community. And they all agreed the $1.7 million the district would save by closing Lincoln and Wasco is the "tiniest of Band-Aids" when it comes to addressing the financial fears.
Board members told the audience they will spend the next month soliciting even more feedback while formulating their individual views.
"Your passion and your concern for the schools and St. Charles speaks well," said board member Corinne Pierog. "It's going to be a troubling decision we're all going to have. Keep your voices. Sing them loud. We all need to hear them."
Board member Kathy Hewell said she found the petition from downtown business owners to keep Lincoln open particularly eye opening.
"It's not just about closing schools," Hewell said. "It's the community and the downtown. There was a lot more that we learned today. No matter what comes out of all this, what we're looking for is to maintain this wonderful community."
The board will have its regular monthly meeting Monday night. That will be an additional outlet for public comment. The final decision is expected in January.
Fight: Board member surprised business owners backed Lincoln