District 95 tackles boundary changes
More than 100 people filled the May Whitney Elementary School gymnasium Wednesday night to ask questions and share concerns about proposed boundary changes within Lake Zurich Unit District 95.
Transportation issues, the future of the district's campuses and the socio-economic changes the realignment would bring were among the topics discussed during the first of three public forums dedicated to the proposal.
Despite the audience's size and the community's anxiety over the planned changes, the meeting was remarkably cordial.
"We know it's an extremely charged issue," District 95 spokesman Jim Jennings said at the start of the forum.
A committee spent months studying nearly two dozen realignment options. Of those options, Superintendent Brian Knutson has brought one to the board.
There was no perfect solution," Knutson told the crowd Wednesday. "If there was a perfect solution, we would've come up with it."
Realignment is needed because the district is closing Charles Quentin Elementary School in Palatine before the 2009-10 term begins this fall.
Under the plan Knutson is promoting, the roughly 350 students who'd normally attend Quentin would be split between Isaac Fox School in Lake Zurich and May Whitney School in Lake Zurich.
Additionally, some students from Isaac Fox, May Whitney, Spencer Loomis, Sarah Adams and Seth Paine schools would relocate to other campuses, too.
The boundaries for the district's two middle schools would change slightly, Knutson said. The high school boundary would be unaffected.
Quentin Elementary's staff will be absorbed by the other schools, although districtwide staff cuts are expected as part of planned budget cuts, Jennings said.
Although no students will automatically be exempt from the boundary changes, Arthur Gora was among the parents who were relieved to hear exceptions will be considered on an individual basis.
Gora's daughter, Alexis, is a fourth-grader at Spencer Loomis who's anxious about relocating to May Whitney for just one year.
"That's a lot of anxiety that I don't think is necessary," Gora said.
Additional public forums are scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 3, in the Middle School South gym and Monday, Feb. 9, in the Middle School North cafeteria. Both schools are in Lake Zurich.
The school board is scheduled to vote on the proposed boundary changes Thursday, Feb. 26.
More information about the boundary proposal, the public forums and updates can be found online at the district's Web site, lz95.org.
District 95:
Schools propose boundary shifts