Kaneland changes referendum strategy

Several Kaneland school board members said they wanted to refocus the district's referendum planning on Monday night.

"Every time we talk about this, there's more options," said board member Bob Myers. "We have to decide what model we believe in, and that's the model we should stick with."

School board members said they wanted to focus on the need for new buildings in their referendum campaign, as opposed to focusing on what could happen if it didn't pass.

"I think we might be detracting from what the need is -- that we need a new middle school," said board member Cheryl Krauspe.

The eighth-grade class will move into the high school this fall in an effort to ease the crowding at the middle school.

School board members have been going over different scenarios of where students could go if a February building referendum fails.

At a meeting last month, the board vetoed several of those options, including moving the sixth-grade class into the elementary buildings.

"Large boundary changes and mobiles would be assured," said board President Lisa Wiet. "We would just be moving the problem."

The options still in play include rearranging the four elementary schools into two K-3 and two 4-6 buildings, or using one as a 5-6 building and the other three as K-4 buildings.

Some board members wanted to discuss whether the board should deviate at all from its current structure.

"I worry about the precedent set by reorganizing every two to three years, just to house the kids," Wiet said.

She said looking at all the logistical options was necessary before the board decided which options to pursue.

Members plan to have a special August meeting to wade through the philosophical issues involved in the referendum.