Dist. 7 parents disagree on grade-level centers

The next three weeks are shaping up to be a hectic time for Wood Dale School District 7 board members as they prepare for a vote that could change the future of the district forever.

Several trustees and dozens of parents and teachers attended back-to-back PTO meetings at the district's two elementary schools that would be most affected should the board decide early next month to change them into grade-level centers.

While Oakbrook and Westview schools each house different sets of students, the concerns of parents at both schools were quite similar as the district pitched a revised plan of the one pitched twice in the last decade.

Parents quashed a similar plan in 1997. Teachers did it five years later. This time, however, administrators believe they have adequate research and facts to guide their decisions.

Superintendent John Corbett this week presented two alternative plans to the school board that would locate all six sections of each grade in the same school.

The first option would send all six kindergarten classes to the Early Childhood Education Center and all first- through third-graders to Westview Elementary School. Oakbrook School would house all fourth- and fifth-grade classes.

Corbett suggested that plan would require two more school buses and drivers and would create scheduling conflicts for some physical education classes. To alleviate those concerns, he said, the PE curriculum could be modified to include stretching or health in regular classrooms or construction of a new $2 million gymnasium.

The second alternative would send all kindergarten through second-grade students to Oakbrook Elementary, while third- through fifth-graders would all go to Westview. This model would enable the district to offer physical education to kindergartners and to move the bilingual, special education and early intervention programs out of the library and into divided areas of one large existing classroom.

Most of the concerns centered on families. Parents of multiple students wanted to know how they would juggle their schedules to get each child to their respective school on time. Others expressed concern that older siblings may no longer be close enough to watch over younger brothers and sisters at school and on the bus.

Parents in support of the concept, however, said the community would be brought closer together as students of the same age grow together through the years, rather than being divided between two separate schools.

"This affects families, but I see nothing in the plan that accommodates families or takes family needs into consideration, especially regarding a staggered start time, and that bothers me," said plan opponent James Arseneau, who has two children in the district. "It's more important to me that my youngest boy be with the older boy and look up to him at school than it is to me that the older boy is with his friends. The kids are in school to learn, not socialize, so that can be done later."

Parent Barb Welmers, who has several children in the district, said she was "on the fence" when the plan was last considered in 2002 but now supports the revised plan.

"I think we would like to see our children all together, but I don't think our kids see it that way," she said. "I think they would much rather be with their friends and be in that comfort zone than keeping an eye on or hanging out with a brother or sister. I think that's more important to us than it is to them."

Corbett and district trustees are also considering the cost of the required renovations and the district's recurring problem of uneven enrollment patterns across the district. They also believe the curriculum would become more consistent if every teacher for each grade were located in the same building.

Despite the discussions Tuesday, some parents like Diana Kosmach left the meetings believing they were "wasting their time venting" on a decision that had already been made. Board President Debra Morgan, however, said that couldn't be farther from the truth.

"Five years ago, I did think this was a good idea," she said. "But tonight, I am honestly on the fence and don't know how I would vote. I think our votes would be all over if we had to vote tonight."

Corbett will give a plan update to the entire school board on Wednesday and a final presentation is scheduled for Nov. 28 at Wood Dale Junior High's parent-teacher group. The board is then scheduled to vote whether to approve one of the above plans at its Dec. 5 meeting.