Supporters of Dist. 15 referendum request launch website
Parents who support Palatine Township Elementary District 15's $130 million proposal for a new elementary school and middle school launched a website Friday that explains how the plan would benefit the district as a whole.
The new schools would prompt a realignment of students districtwide, it would open up space for District 15 to offer full-day kindergarten and would add a community school for students and parents in the district's northeast corner, members of the group have said.
"The ability to have full-day kindergarten would be beneficial to the whole district," said Kelly Gallagher, member of the planning committee. "And the community school is nothing short of amazing."
The community school would offer additional social and educational services to students and their parents, including extra homework help, mentoring, English classes and extended hours of operation.
Opponents of the plan don't like that many children would be reassigned to different schools than they currently attend, and would split some neighborhoods between multiple schools.
"We can't just look at how does each school benefit, but we have to look at the totality of the district," Gallagher argued. New residential developments have popped up in Palatine, and school boundaries have not been altered to reflect those changes, she added.
However, the proposal gives District 15 a way to set the district up for the future, Gallagher said.
Sarah Winter, Hoffman Estates resident and member of the facilities plan committee, said the committee took into consideration the needs of all District 15 students when coming up with the proposal and considering the new boundaries.
"We thought about kids in northeast Palatine, and right now, many of those parents can't be involved in their kids' schools because the schools are so far away," Winter said.
"And the main goal in drawing the new boundaries was to be minimally disruptive," she added.