Dist. 95 outlines boundary options
Lake Zurich Unit District 95 parents got a chance Thursday to see which elementary school their children may attend next school year.
Officials unveiled two options for boundary changes to consolidate the district's six elementary schools into five, thereby closing Charles Quentin Elementary School in Palatine this fall.
District 95 Superintendent Brian Knutson recommended only one of the two options, though both had advantages and weaknesses.
Under that recommendation, the roughly 350 Charles Quentin students in kindergarten through fifth grade would be split between Isaac Fox and May Whitney schools.
The neighborhoods of Chestnut Corners, Ponds of Kildeer and Hunter's Creek would attend May Whitney, with the rest attending Isaac Fox.
Claudia Mall, principal of both Sarah Adams and Charles Quentin elementary schools, tearfully acknowledged closing Quentin School would be a painful and arduous task taking several months.
"Yes, we are sad that our community of learning is closing and will be disbanded," she said. "Yet, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It might be scary right now, and it might be hard, but you will fall in love with your new family too."
The redistricting was prompted largely by projections of declining student enrollment, the age and condition of Quentin School and its repair cost, and other district buildings being underused.
The preferred option would slightly improve the socio-economic balance of the five elementary schools, keep students in neighborhoods together, and maintain the current numbers of student walkers versus those being bused, officials said.
It would also maintain a maximum class size of 21 students for kindergarten through first grade, and 25 students for second through fifth grades, and allow for limited flexible space at all five elementary buildings.
Unlike with past redistricting, students forced to change schools will not automatically have the option of being "grandfathered" into their current school.
However, Knutson said the current school board policy of evaluating student transfers on a case-by-case basis can alleviate any issues.
"We did not make the recommendation for absolute grandfathering because we did not just flat out have enough space," he said.
Knutson added, not many parents took advantage of the grandfathering option with the last boundary changes.
District officials said they did not want to create a "mega school" with more than 600 students at any one building.
With the housing market slump, no new homes have been built in the district forcing officials to move more students into the district's newest elementary school, Spencer Loomis, which opened in 2003 to accommodate future growth.
"One of our goals was to get as many students into Spencer Loomis as we could because it had the largest floor space and it was underutilized since the last boundaries," Knutson said.
Under the current recommendation, the district's middle school boundaries would remain relatively similar with 40 additional students at Middle School North than South.
Though the advisory boundary study committee had 6 months to whittle down 25 different options, the school board only has two meetings to consider the final boundary option before voting on Feb. 26.
Parents in the audience Thursday were asked to submit their questions in writing and online or via e-mail and at three public hearings, Jan. 28, Feb. 3 and 9.
Plans: Grandfathering won't be an option
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/d95summary.pdf">District 95 executive summary </a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/newd95boundary.pdf">Boundary receommendation </a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/d95boundoptions.pdf">Boundary options 13,22 </a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>