U-46 foes say there's a common thread at work: District is too big

It's been more than three years since Bartlett residents voted overwhelming in favor of disconnecting from Elgin Area School District U-46.

And more than three years since a racial bias lawsuit was filed against the district.

The two battles aren't directly related, Village President Catherine Melchert said Tuesday.

She calls them "parallel."

"There are several issues both that the Elgin families who filed the lawsuit have and we have here," she said. "We have complained for 20-plus years about our kids being bused all over the district. About crowded classrooms. And certainly we have had our share of mobile units. Our issues kind of parallel theirs."

The lawsuit, stemming from 2004 boundary changes, charges that the district violated the rights of black and Hispanic U-46 students by placing them in older, more crowded schools; forcing them to ride buses longer and more often than their white peers; and providing them with inferior educational opportunities.

Both the lawsuit, granted class action status by a federal judge last week, and the disconnection fight, Bartlett residents say, can be blamed on one fact: U-46 is too large.

"We would say that these things are happening because of the district's size," Melchert said.

"And to that point, had the district been smaller, and less bureaucratic, many of those issues would not have arisen."

Bartlett resident Joe McCain, who spearheaded a referendum campaign for disconnection in 2004, agreed with Melchert's assessment.

"I don't think this is just a racial issue," he said. "It's a districtwide issue. The size of enrollment and the physical size of the district... it's almost impossible to meet everyone's needs."

Melchert pointed to a recent district decision to remove a majority of teacher aides from Channing Elementary's dual language classrooms.

With 72 percent of students coming from low-income homes, and nearly 85 percent identified as minorities, the majority of Channing students have been labeled "at risk" of educational failure.

High test scores from a site specific program helped bump Channing off the state's academic warning list in 2005. It has not returned since.

Channing's dual language program has featured full-time aides in its 25-student classrooms since the program's inception eight years ago.

The decision to remove aides, Assistant Superintendent for Administrative Services Lalo Ponce said, was made shortly before the start of the school year. Ponce said the program does not meet the standard of a 27-to-1 student-teacher ratio for bilingual programs.

"Think about that for a minute," Melchert said. "They've got a program, it's working well. But it's a large district and they feel that they have to treat everyone the same. As a consequence, where good programs aren't the same, you have to get rid of them. The point is, one size can't always fit all."

While Melchert says village officials remains steadfast in support of disconnection, they face an increasing number of roadblocks.

At the forefront is inaction in Springfield.

A House bill that would make it easier to split from the state's second-largest school district missed an April 2007 deadline for floor action and has been on the back burner ever since. A similar state Senate bill was killed last year before even reaching a committee discussion.

Adding to that is continued opposition from U-46 officials, and OK needed from all 11 U-46 communities.

Bartlett's disconnection - removing about 10,000 mostly white students from this district - would leave the U-46 largely minority and more economically stressed.

The lawsuit's class-action status will also likely make it harder for the village to disconnect in the near future.

"It would be hard to imagine a scenario where Bartlett disconnecting would not impact the rights of the 17,000 or more class members," said Carol Ashley, a lawyer for Futterman Howard, the law firm representing the plaintiffs.

"The court at some level would have to review any attempt by Bartlett or any other community to try to disconnect at this point," she said.