District 220 school border change passes
The yearlong process of redrawing elementary attendance boundaries in Barrington Unit District 220 is over.
After numerous committee meetings, open houses and public forums, school board members voted Tuesday in favor of Map G, which will move up to 132 students in four different areas next year.
School board members said immediate relief for Rose Elementary School in South Barrington, which was experiencing the greatest space crunch, is a key reason they supported the map.
"I think the entire board was very pleased with the process," said Brian Battle, school board president. "The result was a map that met all our objectives."
The new plan relocates students from four existing areas next fall and will affect two more areas in the future.
The largest number of students being reassigned, 87, is in South Barrington, north of Mundhank Road, east of Barrington Road and south of Palatine Road. Those students are moving from Rose to Grove Avenue Elementary School in Barrington.Another area being relocated is in Barrington south of Russell Street, north of Hillside Avenue, east of Summit Drive and west of Prairie Avenue. The 29 students there are being moved from Grove Avenue to Hough Street Elementary School in Barrington.Not included in the reassigned areas on the new attendance boundary map is a small area on North Avenue in Barrington. It had originally been slated to move from Hough Street School to Roslyn Road School in Map G, but school board members decided against relocating that section and its 10 students.Among the residents most vocal against the different proposals were those in the new The Woods subdivision in South Barrington.The residents there were worried about plans that had them moving out of the Rose attendance area, which is the closest to their homes.Woods resident John Michon said he was in favor of the map the board chose because it didn't put the sole burden of the overcrowding problem on the new subdivision."I believe this is a communitywide solution to a community problem," Michon said.The map also puts the Savannah and Pheasant Ridge subdivisions in Lake Barrington on notice that they could be moved in the future.That area would move only if a portion of The Woods that is currently undeveloped is eventually built out.Also on Tuesday, board members agreed to let next year's fifth-graders stay at their current school if they live in one of the areas selected to move next year."It makes sense to me to let them finish out their elementary years without having to switch (schools)," said board member Cara Richardson.The board decided against "grandfathering" fourth-graders into their current schools.The four proposals the school board considered were developed by the district's community-based enrollment monitoring committee.The committee was created over a year ago as a way to keep a close eye enrollment changes each year. The committee is comprised of 40 parents, residents and school administrators.