Gilberts road closure forces new Dist. 300 routes

With two new elementary schools and a new contract with a private busing firm, Community Unit District 300 has had to make a lot of adjustments to its bus routes this year.

On Monday, the district had to adjust again as the Kane County Division of Transportation began work on Galligan Road, a major thoroughfare for families who live in Gilberts.

The road closure has affected 16 routes in the district, forcing Durham School Services, the district's bus contractor, to reroute students to Randall or Freeman roads, district officials said.

The road closure has added from two to 12 minutes to District 300 routes, most of them taking kids to and from the new Gilberts Elementary School, officials said.

The new routes also have affected a smaller number of kids who attend the deLacey Family Education Center in Carpentersville, Jacobs High School and Dundee Middle School.

District 300 Transportation Director Donna Bordsen said parents already have been notified with letters or phone calls.

Despite first-day jitters, district officials said the first day with the new routes went off without any major hitches.

"We probably had a little longer wait time, but we're very pleased with that for the first day," Bordsen said.

Road crews are resurfacing Galligan and realigning it so it connects to Tyrell Road north of Route 72. Galligan south of Binnie Road will be closed at least until mid-November.

The district will plan on the road being closed until the end of November, Bordsen said. Routes will return to normal after the roadwork is complete, and parents will be notified, officials said.

The Galligan closure is only the latest challenge for District 300's Transportation Department. District leaders admitted last month that that they had issues getting students to and from school on time since the controversial decision to switch to a private contractor.

While the district said most of these issues were limited to new housing developments, some parents said the problems also extended to areas that have been in the district for years.