Parents to air concerns about boundary changes in District 89

Some parents plan to challenge a proposal to redraw attendance boundaries in Glen Ellyn Elementary District 89 when Superintendent Emily Tammaru holds a forum Wednesday.

The new boundaries would send students in three neighborhoods to different schools next year.

Roughly 100 kids who live in the International Village apartment complex in Lombard would go from Park View to Arbor View Elementary. About 60 students in the Scottdale community in Wheaton would move from Arbor View to Briar Glen Elementary. And about 10 kids who live in the Baker Hill neighborhood near Roosevelt Road would move from Westfield to Park View Elementary.

Those tallies could change as students move in and out of the district. Students headed to fifth grade next year could stay in their current schools if parents provide their own transportation.

Tammaru, who took the district's helm last July, will meet with parents from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Arbor View Elementary, 22W430 Ironwood Drive, near Glen Ellyn.

Some parents have expressed concern about rebuilding their school community if the district sends 100 new students to Arbor View.

The school sits in the Valley View neighborhood west of Park Boulevard, where families have well-established relationships with those who live in nearby Scottdale. The district hasn't changed attendance boundaries since 1991.

Though more Arbor View students currently live in Valley View than the Scottdale subdivision, membership in the school's Parent-Teacher Council is nearly evenly split between residents of both neighborhoods, co-President Patricia Prindible said.

Scottdale families are "very involved at Arbor View and are an integral part of the school community with regard to meeting organization and committees, support in the classrooms, volunteering at events and more," mom Lisa Loftsgaarden said.

Students from International Village now attend Park View Elementary, about two and a half miles from their complex off Finley Road. Buses or their parents would drive them more than four miles to Arbor View, in the southernmost edge of the district.

The distance between Valley View and the International Village complex could create obstacles to children forming friendships and families attending school activities, Prindible said.

A committee recommended the district overhaul boundaries to address increasing enrollment. Members included parents of students in the district's four elementary schools, teachers, administrators, school board President Mike Nelson and board member Scott Pope. They considered alternatives such as moving fifth-grade classes to Glen Crest Middle School in Glen Ellyn and adding mobile classrooms.

But Tammaru has called boundary changes the most "sustainable" plan. If approved, the district also should dramatically reduce or eliminate the number of students who transfer from overcrowded neighborhood schools to ones with room in classrooms. The district now has 97 so-called administrative transfer students.

Administrators, with input from an analytics firm, mapped the proposed boundaries based on building capacity, neighborhood and geographic boundaries and enrollment projections, among other factors.

John Kasarda, a consultant hired to study demographics, said the district likely will add about 300 students over the next five years and could potentially add as many as 600.

With new boundaries, Briar Glen Elementary could see the biggest surge in enrollment. The number of students could increase from 371 to 465 next school year, projections show. About 534 students could attend Briar Glen by the 2021-22 school year.

Architects have pegged Briar Glen's capacity at 538. They determine building capacity by allocating a recommended 120 square feet per student at elementary schools. But that number "counts everything" - bathrooms, hallways, office space - and not just where teachers can hold a class, officials say.

The district doesn't expect Briar Glen, with 25 classrooms, to face space issues in five years due to enrollment growth.

The board will review the committee's recommendation at Glen Crest Middle School at 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 4. The board could vote to approve the plan as early as Monday, Feb. 13.