District 300 updates boundaries for Jacobs, Hampshire schools

Some Hampshire High School students will be moved to Jacobs High School in Algonquin in the next school year as part of attendance boundary changes approved by Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300.

District 300 school board members unanimously approved the boundary changes Tuesday. District staff, with the help of a boundary committee, found that Hampshire High is expected to reach capacity in four years, according to district documents.

“We should take this proactive step now to alleviate our capacity concerns,” District 300 Chief Financial Officer John Hummel said.

The K-12 district, which has 20,000 enrolled students, expects to see an increase of over 4,000 students over the next decade, Hummel said.

With that increase, along with other Illinois districts seeing a decline in their enrollment numbers, District 300 has the potential to become the fourth or fifth largest school system in the state. Currently, District 300 sits at the sixth largest.

The expected influx of students is a result of 27 residential developments in progress within the district, Hummel said.

Hampshire is growing the most, with even more areas that have development potential in the future, Hummel said. Officials found moving a piece of Hampshire students to Jacobs would relieve capacity concerns.

Neighborhoods south of Huntley Road, west of Randall Road and north of Interstate 90 will be affected by the change.

Originally, the boundaries extended further south and west to the Dunhill Estates and Indian Trails subdivisions, but they were ultimately not included in the new boundaries.

The approved change will go into effect for the 2026-27 school year.

Current juniors will have the option to remain at Hampshire, while current eighth graders affected by the change will attend Jacobs. All affected families will be contacted by the district to discuss next steps, Hummel said.

The district also originally suggested changing boundaries between Eastview Elementary and Algonquin Lakes Elementary schools, but staff decided to table that vote. In the future, the board could consider changes to those schools’ boundaries, depending on the populations of the new housing developments, Hummel said.

Other future concerns remain, as Hampshire Elementary and Middle schools still face capacity issues due to the upcoming developments. Boundary changes were made to Hampshire about three years ago when Big Timber Elementary was built to help alleviate capacity problems the district was already facing.

The district will need to examine how to fund future building expansions or create new schools, Superintendent Martina Smith said.

“That will happen through our Master Facility Plan process and needing to time out what that looks like in our future based on our capacity and enrollment concerns for those two buildings,” she said.

Last month, multiple parents spoke out with concerns about the proposed boundary changes, many asking that students be grandfathered into their current schools.

One of the affected areas from the boundary change is The Meadows of Winchester Glen neighborhood in Carpentersville.

Parent Ryan Keller said it would be “devastating” for his daughter, who is a freshman, to switch schools.

“My daughters have been looking forward to the possibility of playing high school softball and flag football together and not against each other,” he said.

Parent Andie Anderson said some families will be happy with the change, but she would like the option to be in the students’ hands.

“I’m sure there’s going to be some families in our neighborhoods who are going to be very happy to move over to the Jacobs High School from Hampshire High School,” she said. “I am just begging you to consider those of us who would like just the option to be able to be grandfathered” in.