Some Glenwood students being moved to South Campus

Last May officials at the Glenwood School for Boys and Girls talked about how they want to be a larger part of the St. Charles community. On Wednesday, school officials said they’ll have to accomplish that larger sense of community with a smaller student body.

The school has 125 years of history, serving disadvantaged kids by providing them both a safe place to live and a high-quality education they wouldn’t have access to in their home communities. In recent years the Rathje Campus on Silver Glen Road in St. Charles came to cater primarily to students in grades two through eight. A group of high school students also live at the campus but attend St. Edward High School or Westminster Christian School, both in Elgin. In 2010, the campus was operating at only about half capacity. That number will plummet even further this fall.

School officials said all elementary and middle school students will attend the school’s south suburban campus in Glenwood starting this fall. A total of 25 students will make the move. That will leave only the high school students at the St. Charles campus. School officials said the decision was based on tight financial times.

“The economic downturn of the past several years has taken a toll on our revenue and on our investment fund, requiring us to find ways to reduce expenses but still provide all of our students with a Glenwood education,” Glenwood School President Sam Banks said in a written statement. “Transferring our elementary students and middle school children to the South Campus, where there is plenty of room and the same high standard of education, gave us a solution that would address the financial pressures while allowing us to serve all of our kids.”

School officials said they have no plans to reduce the size of the St. Charles campus either through sale or other means to bolster finances. Mothballing some of the residential facilities at the St. Charles campus will create the savings needed right now, they said.

Already moved from their original home environments, school officials said they expect the transition to the South Campus will be mostly pain-free as students from both campuses already interact on a regular basis. The South Campus will host open houses for parents to become familiar with the new location. Bus transportation between Glenwood and St. Charles will still be available for family members when their children visit to ease commuting difficulties.