No justification for grade level centers

I am writing as a concerned parent of Wood Dale School District 7.

Recently our school board voted on changing our two elementary schools to grade level centers. One of the schools would be for kindergarten through second grade and the other will be third through fifth grade. This change will inconvenience many families because many siblings will now be in separate schools. Many parents do not want this change, including myself. The board never once mentioned anything about academics to indicate grade level centers are better. Our kids are in school for an education, so unless there are concrete studies to prove that the grade level system is better, I do not understand why we need to disrupt families lives.

Also, one of the issues we have about the board's vote is the quickness and hush-hush manner in which it happened. I feel if the board really cared about families' opinions, more would have been done, such as surveys and more meetings for discussion. The schools send home notes constantly about everything (school-related, park-district related, etc. etc.) but something as important as the board's vote was kept hush-hush. I know it mentions the vote on page 10 of the feasibility report and the school calendar does say board meeting but a lot of people did not know that the vote was happening at this board meeting. I contacted a lot of people, but really the schools should have told us that this major decision was being made.

The board voted unanimously for this decision. I ask: "Who was our voice?" The fact that the vote was unanimous means that no one on the board was representing the opposition. I was really expecting a closer vote to reflect how the community feels. It proves (what many people have been telling me) that there really was no point for us to write all of our letters or voice concerns because this decision was made long before the board meeting.

How can we appeal this decision? What are the steps we can take?

Michele Khan

Wood Dale