Lawsuit may follow grade level center plan approval in Dist. 303

Davis and Richmond Elementary Schools will become grade level centers next fall under a plan that sparked extreme emotions in local parents but was still approved Thursday night by the St. Charles Unit District 303 school board

The school board hosted several meetings to collect public comment during the past six weeks. Those comments revealed a heated division. Some parents opposed the plan in fear of losing community schools that allow siblings to walk to and attend the same school. Parents in favor of the plan embraced the idea of a 40-minute-longer school day and enhanced literacy, science and foreign language programs.

Much of the community emotion centered on the true need for the grade level centers. Davis has crowding problems, and Richmond is experiencing an exodus because of a failing-school stigma that came with several years of not making Adequate Yearly Progress under No Child Left Behind rules. District staff has said Richmond now has unrealistically small classes with unmanageable demographics that do not reflect the district as a whole.

The school board approved the plan with a 5-2 vote. Jim Chimienti and Steven Spurling cast the “no” votes.

Chimienti cited a lack of confidence in the district’s ability to measure the progress of students at the grade level centers and, thus, the success of the plan as part of his “no” vote. He also said he didn’t feel sure the district could either sustain the grade level center setup or extend it to the rest of the district schools because the longer school day may prove to be unaffordable long-term. Chimienti also said he wasn’t sure the change would save the district as a whole from population problems or the need to close a school.

“It is not a matter of if we will have to redistrict, but when,” Chimienti said.

Davis will host K-2 students in the new setup. Richmond will host students in grades 3 to 5. The board also voted 7-0 to allow parents from outside the Davis and Richmond attendance areas to opt in to either Davis or Richmond if space allows. A third vote to allow Davis and Richmond parents to opt out of the plan and attend another school in the district failed by a 2-5 vote. Chimienti and Kathy Hewell cast the “yes” votes. Opponents of the opt-out provision largely saw it as a backdoor kiss of death that would result in some or all of parents opposing the plan leaving the two schools. The majority of the board said that could have resulted in both overcrowding at other schools in the district and a lack of a critical mass of students at the grade level centers.

The question now will be if those votes will be allowed to stand. Tim Dwyer, an attorney representing several Davis families opposed to the plan, told the school board there “is a very good chance” that his clients will challenge the grade level center plan in court.

“It’s absolutely clear that this proposed policy change is a result of No Child Left Behind,” Dwyer said. “Clearly, if the failing AYP scores were not present at Richmond, this policy would not have to come to be. This restructuring is a major restructuring under the act. As of right now, what the district has before it does not comply with the act.”