Crystal Lake Dist. 155 mulls Cary boundary changes

Starting next year, Cary teenagers may not have to drive seven to 10 miles out of their way to get to high school.

Crystal Lake High School District 155 is considering boundary changes that would have all kids who live in Cary attend their hometown Cary-Grove High School instead of the more distant Prairie Ridge High School in Crystal Lake.

Superintendent Jill Hawk recommended the change to the District 155 school board this week, with a final decision expected in November.

Because of past enrollment growth, Cary-Grove has been at or near capacity, prompting District 155 to shift Cary students to Prairie Ridge when Prairie Ridge opened in 1997. That was the last time the district changed attendance boundaries.

As growth has slowed in recent years, student enrollment has decreased in District 155 and the districts that feed into it; Cary-Grove is no exception. The high school's population is expected to decline by about 80 students by the 2014-15 school year, according to District 155.

That is more than enough to accommodate an estimated 45 students who live in Cary and currently attend Prairie Ridge High School.

"That trend of decreasing enrollments is likely to continue," Hawk said. "We will have space at Cary-Grove if we want to bring those kids to (their local) high school."

As proposed, the high school attendance boundaries would change starting in the 2011-12 school year. But students who are already in high school or have a sibling at Prairie Ridge would be able to stay at the Prairie Ridge until 2014, according to the district.

"We don't feel we need to change a young person's high school once they've started or split up families," Hawk said.

Besides allowing Cary students to go to the same high school, the boundary changes would also free up space at Prairie Ridge for growth - forestalling the need for a Prairie Ridge addition, which district officials contemplated a few years ago.

District 155 will gather feedback on the proposed changes at Cary-Grove and Prairie Ridge, as well as other attendance boundary changes, at public meetings in the fall. The engagement meetings are tentatively set for Oct. 5 at Cary-Grove and Oct. 7 at Prairie Ridge, both in the evening.