Elementary attendance boundary proposal remains unpopular in St. Charles District 303
After months of discussion, St. Charles School District 303 board members appear set to move forward with high school and middle school attendance boundaries, but they continue to weigh proposed changes to elementary school boundaries.
Board members discussed the boundaries for nearly three hours last week during a meeting of their Learning and Teaching Committee meeting. Final action on the proposed high school and middle school boundaries could come when the board meets Feb. 12. That proposal would not change the high school boundaries.
But community members remain unhappy with the proposed changes for elementary schools, with the relocation of the dual language program and the addition of mobile classrooms at Richmond Intermediate School being the major concerns.
The concept maps for each grade level, demographer presentations and survey results can be reviewed online at district.d303.org/boundary-updates.
Under each scenario, the district’s Dual Language Program will be moved entirely to Richmond Intermediate, and all dual language students will be removed from their current schools
St. Charles resident and educator Dana Halper raised concern to the concentration of free and reduced lunch students at Richmond Intermediate.
“Segregating students who live below the poverty line or speak multiple languages does not provide support,” Halper said. “I encourage you all to go back to the drawing board and not move forward with any of these concepts in elementary, and really look at how we can provide equitable experiences for all of our students in D303.”
Multiple residents of the Anthem Heights neighborhood cited concerns that their children would be moved from Ferson Creek Elementary to Richmond Intermediate School.
Anthem Heights resident Chris Walden said he has personal experience learning out of a mobile classroom.
“At the elementary level I was in a mobile classroom for two years. I can tell you it’s awful,” Waldon said. “It’s not up to par with what should be an acceptable learning environment for our children.”
Board President Heidi Fairgrieve calculated that under the proposed changes, nearly 60% of the district’s dual language students would be relocated, and would have to be bused to Richmond Intermediate.
“The poverty level at Richmond is really hitting me hard,” board member Becky McCabe added. “We talk about equity and equal. If we’re going to have a school that’s going to have the highest level of poverty, then this board and administration should be looking at what does it require in order for those kids to get the same quality of education.”
Board member Thomas Lentz said the biggest challenge is finding a solution that improves the education of the few concentrated areas of lower income in the district.
“Why would we take an area that has challenges and break them up and bus them across the district?” Lentz said. “That makes no sense to me, and I don’t want to play math games with it. If we know that we have a challenge at the school, get the resources to that school.”
The board will continue to discuss the placement of students in Anthem, Regency Estates, and Dillonfield neighborhoods, and the district will continue to collect community feedback on all options being considered.
The board is expected to finalize a recommendation for elementary boundaries by its Jan. 29 meeting, and potentially take action at its Feb. 12 meeting.