Crystal Lake D155 approves boundary changes

Being late to school because of traffic won't be an excuse for Cary Elementary District 26 students who will now have the option to matriculate to their hometown high school.

The Crystal Lake High School District 155 board on Tuesday approved boundary changes that will eventually have all Cary students attending Cary-Grove High School instead of the more distant Prairie Ridge. The school board voted 6-0 in favor of the changes that will take effect for the 2011-2012 school year. Board Vice President Gary Oberg was absent.

“After looking at the strategic plan over the past couple of years, going through the committee process and getting community input, the board believes they have come up with a way to transition the kids in Prairie Ridge from the District 26 area to bring them back to Cary-Grove High School and allow them to attend with their classmates,” school board President Ted Wagner said. “We have some students driving past Cary-Grove on their way to Prairie Ridge.”

The changes are the first since Prairie Ridge opened in 1997.

District 155 Superintendent Jill Hawk said the new boundaries will allow the district to better align the curriculum for students from kindergarten through high school.

“This was not done to resolve an enormous problem,” Hawk said. “This was a proactive, student-centered decision by the board that will have a positive effect.”

Hawk said the 45 current students affected by the boundary change will have the choice to transfer to Cary-Grove High School, a 1½-mile commute, or they may decide to remain at Prairie Ridge. In addition, the board added a concession that would allow a younger sibling to attend Prairie Ridge as long as the siblings attended the school concurrently. Hawk said parents were concerned with having siblings attend different high schools.

Students currently in the seventh or eighth grades also will have the option to choose their high school. But students in the sixth grade or below for the 2010-2011 school year who reside in District 26 will attend Cary-Grove High School unless the sibling exemption applies.

The changes will ease space needs at Prairie Ridge, where there is potential for future housing developments, board members said.

“For the first time in 20 years, population at Cary-Grove is on the decline,” Wagner said. “We can absorb students back to Cary-Grove and alleviate the strain at Prairie Ridge. We can expand without going to referendum and that's smart planning.”