Nature Ridge parents fed up with trailer classrooms

Enough with the trailers, a group of Nature Ridge Elementary parents told the Elgin Area School District U-46 board Monday.

The Bartlett school uses four mobile classrooms because it has more students than it can accommodate.

About 112 of the school's 800 students attend classes in mobile units, Principal Terri Lozier said.

"Our enrollment has gone up by 300 students in four years," said Darla Towa, who has two children at the school. "It's so crowded we can't even hold an all-school assembly."

With a projected enrollment of 850 students, three more mobile units are expected to be added to Nature Ridge next year.

Beverly Jaszczurowski, who has a kindergartner at the school, pleaded with the board for a "long-term plan." Citing safety concerns about trailers, "we will move before my children are schooled in U-46 trailers," she said.

According to district data, 95 classrooms are set up in 64 mobile units.

Bartlett, Larkin and Streamwood high schools each have mobile units, as do Canton Middle School and 17 elementary schools.

A capital planning study, to focus on space and capacity, hopes to minimize the use and cost of mobile classroom units throughout the district. The study will be completed by December.

"If we do get three more mobiles in next year, we'll just make it work," Lozier said. "We'll do what we have to do for the best of the kids."