Enrollment estimates slow Huntley High expansion talk

Huntley Unit District 158 may not need to expand Huntley High School or build a new high school after all, district officials said this week.

Huntley High School, the district's only high school, may have enough space to fit as many as 3,000 students and last beyond the 2013-14 horizon the district had predicted for the building, district officials said.

The district originally estimated the high school would reach its capacity by the 2013-14 school year, when it is expected to have 2,739 students and has already started work on a survey for district residents on expansion options.

But the district's estimate was based on the assumption that only 85 percent of the building's classrooms will be used, according to district documents.

"This entire thing is based on that premise that you can't schedule 90 percent of the classrooms being in use," board member Larry Snow said. "That needs to be seriously looked at."

Other board members and district administrators agreed but said filling more classrooms might create scheduling conflicts and other space issues that would need to be addressed.

"Can we fit 3,000 kids in the high school? Probably, but it will be tight," District 158 Chief Operations Officer Dave Jenkins said Thursday. "We would be using every classroom almost every period of the day."

A key unanswered question that will weigh heavily on the district's decision is whether the high school will have to accommodate a bubble or a long-term enrollment spike.

This year's kindergarten class, which will reach the high school in 2017-18, has about 50 fewer students than the previous year's class; Superintendent John Burkey said Thursday he will look at next year's kindergarten numbers to try to determine if the enrollment dip will be sustained.

Board members agreed to push back the planned survey of district residents until some of these questions can be answered.

"I just think we're ahead of the curve on this a little too far," board Vice President Tony Quagliano said. "I don't want to get results from the community and not do anything for four to five years."