Dist. 211 changes admission rules

A contentious issue plaguing Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 over the past week has been settled.

Superintendent Roger Thornton said Tuesday District 211 has ceased to require that an adult be a child's legal guardian in order for the student to be admitted.

Now, all an adult has to do is sign a form that declares he or she has assumed legal responsibility for the child.

Thornton modified the Illinois State Board of Education form, known as an attestation of enrollment and residency, to include the word "legal."

"We believe this is now an option that is very similar to the guardianship process, except it doesn't require you to go to court," Thornton said.

District 211 was spurred by the recent case of Cordeirdre Mitchell, a Milwaukee 14-year-old who moved in this summer with her Hanover Park grandmother.

District 211 initially refused to admit Cordeirdre to Schaumburg High School but relented after the grandmother, Tanya Washington, started guardianship proceedings in circuit court.

Tuesday's announced change in policy came after District 211 met with state board of education officials.

Thornton claimed District 211 has always followed Illinois General Assembly statutes.

But the General Assembly has approved and endorsed ISBE's rule that legal guardianship can't be required, according to ISBE legal counsel Darren Reisberg.

School districts have been confused in the past, so much so that ISBE clarified the rules in April.

Thornton said that while District 211 knows Illinois state law, they didn't know of the ISBE rule.

"We were unaware of that," said Thornton. "But it's our job to stay current. I take responsibility for that."

However, Thornton said he wrestled with a privacy issue, since the district isn't supposed to provide information about a student's grades, health or attendance, among other things, to anyone but a parent or legal guardian.

However, during some "very frank discussions" with the ISBE over past few days, Thornton said they settled the issue by adding the word "legal" to the form.

"This will fill the same purpose (as legal guardianship) and appears to be held more favorably by the ISBE," he said.