Dec. 08--In a nod to concerned parents, School District 46 board members opted during a special meeting Monday night to tweak the long-awaited boundary change plan set to be voted on next week.
The board directed staff to exclude proposed changes affecting Nature Ridge Elementary School in Bartlett, a proposal that would have relocated 107 students and one which parents claimed would break apart the school's community.
After about 10 parents voiced their opinion on various aspects of the boundary change plan, and after board members saw Citizens Advisory Council and district staff presentations on the plans and impact, the board asked CEO Tony Sanders to bring a plan for vote Dec. 14 that would remove Nature Ridge from the relocation proposal, the district's first adjustment since 2004.
Board members also asked that the plan be altered so as to include a grand fathering of sixth graders and the attendant transportation costs the district would incur with such a move.
The plan is proceeding alongside an initiative to provide all-day Kindergarten throughout the sprawling district.
It would affect nearly half of the district's 40 elementary schools if approved.
A Citizens Advisory Council report assessing boundaries for the district's middle and high schools is expected in about a year.
The meeting was held in the auditorium of South Elgin High School, and the seats were roughly a quarter full.
Board member Traci O'Neal Ellis garnered loud, approving applause when she suggested near the meeting's end that the district could accommodate Nature Ridge "just as it is now."
When asked by board member Jeanette Ward whether Nature Ridge could be left as it is, district Chief Operations Officer Jeff King said that would require a continued use of mobile classrooms.
Sanders noted keeping things as is at Nature Ridge could yield unanticipated results.
"Nature Ridge could potentially be OK," he said, "but it could also potentially not be OK."
The Citizens Advisory Council assessment found Nature Ridge currently at about 90 percent utilization, with attendance expected to fall over the coming years.
School Board President Donna Smith said that enrollment and attendance at schools can fluctuate, sometimes quickly and unexpectedly.
If Nature Ridge is spared this boundary relocation, she warned, that wouldn't exclude it from future consideration.
Smith said she hoped "the community would understand" if the board needed to reassess Nature Ridge in the future.
"If we don't make changes, please don't think we won't have to revisit this very soon," she said.
O'Neal Ellis echoed that warning.
"We might have to revisit this," she said. "This might all fall apart."
When asked why the district doesn't just build on to Nature Ridge, King said the school is built on "very poor" soil and is held up by poles bored into the ground, making any additions difficult.
Roger Wallace, the Citizens Advisory Council's enrollment and facilities committee co-chair, acknowledged the difficult votes facing the board next Monday night.
"We're glad we don't have to be the ones making the final decision," Wallace said.
Several parents and educators who spoke at Monday's meeting expressed support for the implementation of all-day Kindergarten, and asked the board to spare the Nature Ridge community.
Parent Debbie Pangilinan said Nature Ridge could support all-day Kindergarten as it now stands, and that kids don't care about learning in mobile classrooms.
"Their education experience was not minimized," she said. "They just enjoyed the classes."
Many of the affected students live in the Herons Landing subdivision, and parents moved there so their kids could go to a neighborhood school, Pangilinan said.
Nancy Blondin noted the Nature Ridge community had already endured years of overcrowding issues before.
The Citizens Advisory Council study finds that the school's numbers should decrease in the coming years.
Bev Jaszczurowski said the Nature Ridge community is a cohesive one, and that the school should be allowed to remain whole.
"The numbers will work," she said.
geoffz@tribpub.com
