Dist. 300 schools on east side all filled up

Even though voters approved $185 million in construction bonds last year, two Community Unit District 300 schools are at capacity -- and the situation is only expected to get worse.

Perry and Golfview elementary schools, two predominantly Hispanic schools on Carpentersville's east side, have no empty classrooms left, district officials say.

With 872 students, Perry is District 300's largest elementary school, according to the district's latest enrollment figures. Golfview, with 608 students, is the third-largest out of 15 elementary schools.

In 2006, the student body at Perry was 62 percent Hispanic, and 90 percent of Golfview students were Hispanic, compared with 25 percent districtwide.

Because of an influx of young families, the district expects the number of students at both schools to rise over the next two years. The problem is, there's nowhere to put the new students.

Simply shifting students to other schools would be difficult, officials say. The district opened two new elementary schools this year, but both of them are on the west side of the river.

Expansion also would be difficult because the age of the 1960s-era schools may make add-ons unfeasible, district officials say. There's also the question of money.

"There really are no significant dollars to build a school on the east side or add on," Superintendent Ken Arndt said Tuesday. "There won't be any additional construction dollars until 2009."

Arndt proposed that the district shift Perry kindergarten students to the deLacey Family Education Center three miles away. The deLacey Center houses pre-school for at-risk children.

But school board members said the administration needs to be more creative and that sending Perry students to deLacey wouldn't benefit the children.

"That's just a lot of movement for these kids," board President Joe Stevens said. "I'm looking for solutions that are more permanent."

Perry kindergarten teachers aren't happy about the proposal, either.

They say moving children to deLacey would create more busing problems for the district, prevent sick kids from leaving school promptly, and deny students access to classes such as music.

"Kindergarten is a difficult transition, and having our kindergartners at a different school means they would have to transition all over again in the first grade," Perry kindergarten team leader Carmen Ortiz said.

Arndt acknowledged that moving kids to deLacey is only a short-term fix. He said existing district committees should look at the crowding issue in-depth to come up with a permanent solution.

"There really is no easy, quick fix," Arndt said.