River Trail Dist. 26 may reconfigure schools

River Trail Elementary District 26 officials will host a public meeting Thursday, Oct. 1, on a proposal to turn the district's schools into grade-level centers, where all district students in the same grade would attend the same school.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. at River Trails Middle School, 1000 N. Wolf Road, Mount Prospect.

People attending can ask questions that will be researched by Jim Warren, the consultant studying the idea. He'll also outline the scope of the study and timeline for its conclusion.

One possible scenario would have all prekindergarten through second-graders at one school and all third- through fifth-graders at another school, with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders remaining at River Trails Middle School.

Thursday's meeting will be part of a series on the configuration issue, with another planned for Dec. 10. A meeting scheduled for Jan. 25, 2010, will seek to answer questions raised at the two earlier meetings.

Superintendent Dane Delli said the consideration of grade centers is part of the district's strategic plan implemented in 2004.

Delli said the district is approaching this as a fact-finding mission so that the school board can make an informed decision on whether grade-level centers are appropriate for District 26.

He said there are both advantages and drawbacks to grade centers, demonstrated by the mixed bag of e-mails he's received from parents about the issue, with strong opinions on both sides.

Delli hopes for a large turnout at the meeting because this issue "affects a large part of the community."