Lancaster homeowners ask to switch school districts
A group of Waukegan-area residents want to switch school districts so their children can attend classes closer to home.
Residents of the Lancaster neighborhood, which is in unincorporated Warren Township on the east side of O'Plaine Road and south of Route 120, now are part of Woodland Elementary District 50 and Warren Township High School District 121.
They've filed formal paperwork with the Lake County Regional Office of Education requesting they be separated from those districts and incorporated within neighboring Oak Grove Elementary District 68 and Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128.
The proposal has been opposed by officials from two of the districts involved. The other two haven't taken stances yet.
The regional school board will hold a hearing on the request Jan. 5.
About 40 school-age children would be affected, said Francesca Wickremesekera, one of the Lancaster residents requesting the boundary changes.
Jim Bakk, attorney for the petitioners, say the homeowners want to change school districts because Oak Grove School in Green Oaks is much closer than the Woodland schools, which are in the Gurnee area. The Oak Grove campus is only about a mile away from the neighborhood.
Additionally, many of the petitioners attend church in Libertyville and now send their children to St. Joseph Catholic School in Libertyville, Bakk said.
The homes in the neighborhood have Libertyville addresses, too, despite being surrounded by Waukegan.
"It has nothing to do with the school districts that we're currently in," Wickremesekera said.
Separation requests are fairly rare. One arises "every couple of years," said Regional Schools Superintendent Roycealee Wood.
Attorneys representing all of the school districts involved in such requests typically attend the regional board's discussions.
The Oak Grove board has formally opposed the proposal.
"We don't feel it's beneficial to our district," Oak Grove Superintendent Janice Matthews said. "It would put a strain on our budget, in terms of educating these children."
Warren officials don't support the request, either. They don't want to lose the neighborhood's property-tax revenue.
"It's a financial decision, as far as we're concerned," District 121 board President John Anderson said. "Nobody has money to give away at this point."
District 128 board members have discussed the plan but haven't taken a stance. District 50 officials were scheduled to discuss the proposal Wednesday night but were not expected to take action.