Board OKs mobiles for east-side schools

Residents who live on the east side of Community Unit District 300 will have to wait another day for an imaginative solution to the crowded classrooms in the area's schools.

About 180 students at two Carpentersville schools will learn in mobile classrooms next year after the school board unanimously approved the mobiles Monday night.

Although board President Joe Stevens had earlier voiced reservations about mobiles, he joined his board colleagues in backing the one-year solution.

Four classes at Perry Elementary School and two classes at Golfview Elementary School will be housed in mobiles starting in the fall.

The board decided on the plan to keep class sizes down at the two capacity schools after debating the issue since near the beginning of the current school year.

It will cost the district an estimated $227,202 to install and lease two mobile classrooms at Perry and one at Golfview. Each mobile unit holds two classes.

The cost will be paid by fees developers pay the district to offset the cost of new housing.

The mobile units will be moved from Hampshire Middle and High School, which will gain capacity when it becomes just a middle school next year.

The board approved the mobiles about two months after shelving a plan that would have moved Perry kindergartners to the deLacey Family Education Center, displacing special-needs preschoolers.

The deLacey plan, Superintendent Ken Arndt's original recommendation, was taken off the table when it was met with strong opposition from parents and educators.

A committee of administrators and east-side principals continues to meet to propose long-term solutions to east-side crowding.

The east side committee will return to the board in May with three long-term proposals to address crowding on the east side.

After a series of public hearings on the recommendations, the board is scheduled to vote on a long-term plan for the east side on June 9.