Board approves Kaneland 302 boundaries

After reviewing recommendations on boundary changes from the Kaneland District 302 administration, the school board Monday voted unanimously to keep existing elementary school boundaries.

The board set middle school boundaries in a separate vote. Students from John Shields Elementary School in Sugar Grove and McDole Elementary School in Montgomery will attend the Harter Road middle school in Sugar Grove, set to open in August. Students from Jon Stewart and Blackberry Creek elementariness in Elburn will attend the present middle school on Meredith Road in Maple Park.

The votes came after five public hearings during which six official options were presented and parents presented their own proposals. Some parents in the Black Walnut Trail and Windstone subdivisions in Sugar Grove favored options that would allow their children to return to John Shields, rather than make the 45-minute bus ride to McDole.

"It is very obvious to us, the whole board, that this is a decision that one way or another is going to make some people unhappy," board member Jonathan Berg said.

"There is nothing to trigger making a move," board President Lisa Wiet said regarding the elementary school options, noting McDole is not overcrowded.

Board member Diane Piazza said when the McDole/Shields attendance boundaries were set, the district was in the middle of a housing boom and expected that would continue.

The board assumed it would be building a fifth elementary school. But with the nationwide building slump, housing starts in the district have slowed considerably.

Superintendent Charles McCormick said the boundaries adopted Monday reflect the feedback from parents through the public hearings and e-mails.

"Parents wanted stability and a lack of disruption to students' relationships," McCormick said. "Parents didn't want children from one elementary school divided. They wanted the entire elementary school assigned to the same middle school."