Making new students feel at home in Dist 220
Now that the new elementary attendance lines have been drawn in Barrington Area Unit District 220, officials are working to ensure the students changing schools have a smooth transition.
On Tuesday, several District 220 principals walked school board members through their plans for making sure the students moving schools feel at home in their new surroundings.
"We want to make sure that the students who move into new schools feel safe," said Becky Gill, principal at Hough Street Elementary School.
The plans will start in the spring and conclude next fall when school starts.
Starting next month, each of the schools that are gaining students will host welcoming events for the parents and all the new students and their families will be invited to each school's spring open house and book fair.
Two weeks ago, school board members unanimously approved one of four different plans for redistricting.
Under the plan, up to 132 students will be moving schools next year.
Gill said the staff will be positive with the students about the impending change and emphasize that this will give them a chance to not only keep their current friends, but make new friends also.
"We want to stress that this is going to work and this is going to be a great shift for the kids," Gill said.
Also this spring, each school will host the new students for a morning as a way for them to meet some of the new peers.
Rose Elementary School Principal Scott Carlson said before those events, the school will pair the new students up with a buddy so they have someone to pal around with that day.
"We want the students to have a familiar face when they walk in the door," Carlson said.
The district's redistricting plan relocates students from four existing areas next fall and will affect two more areas in the future.
The largest number of students being reassigned, 87, is in South Barrington, north of Mundhank Road, east of Barrington Road and south of Palatine Road. Those students are moving from Rose to Grove Avenue Elementary School in Barrington.
Another area being relocated is in Barrington south of Russell Street, north of Hillside Avenue, east of Summit Drive and west of Prairie Avenue. The 29 students there are being moved from Grove Avenue to Hough Street School in Barrington.
The boundary changes also put the Savannah and Pheasant Ridge subdivisions in Lake Barrington on notice that they could be moved in the future.
That area would move only if a portion of The Woods subdivision in South Barrington that is currently undeveloped is eventually built out.
Roslyn Road Elementary School Principal Paul Kirk said if, or when, the board decides to relocate the students to his school, they will use the same transition plan as is being used now.
School board members said they were impressed with the ideas the principals developed to make sure the new students feel comfortable.
"I think this will make a difference," said board member Tim Hull.