Dist. 300 school plan may shift east
Community Unit District 300 has one more school to build with 2006 referendum money -- and some officials are considering putting that school on the east side.
The concern with that?
When the district campaigned for the bond issue, all of the new schools were supposed to go on the west side.
Since then, however, the housing market has slowed and enrollment on the east side has spiked. Many in the district now say the initial impulse to focus on west side growth must be reevaluated.
"The administration is concerned that we'll eventually need a new school on the west side, but we have a need for space on the east side right now," District 300 board President Joe Stevens said.
District officials say the three new schools out west, combined with the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove, may ease pressure from rising enrollment on the west side.
"The major reason that third elementary school wasn't built immediately was the charter school," Assistant Superintendent of Operations Chuck Bumbales said.
But officials say the district owns little unused land on the east side, other than eight or nine acres on the site of the former Oak Ridge Elementary School. Administrators said it remains to be seen whether this site can support a modern elementary school.
"You really don't know until you actually do the … soil tests," Superintendent Ken Arndt said.
Some east side principals and teachers say they welcome a new school on their side of the river.
"I think that would help alleviate a lot of the needs that we have on the east side," Perry kindergarten teacher Carmen Ortiz said.
Others in the district said the idea needs more work.
"I think it's such a complex issue that it's going to take some study to figure out if that's the best solution," Golfview Principal Trish Whitecotton said.
Even if the district decides to build the third new elementary school on the east side, officials say it won't open until at least 2010.
That's because the district promised to keep its bond tax rate at 47 cents, meaning it can't approve the sale of the remaining $30 million in bonds until 2009.
East side principals say they can't wait that long for a solution to the space crunch.
"Especially at Perry, we need something to happen next year," Principal Craig Zieleniewski said.