Darien School Boundaries Split Friends; Parents Want Choice

DARIEN, IL – When students leave Darien School District 61's Eisenhower Junior High, they are split between two public high schools – Hinsdale South and Downers Grove South.

Some Darien parents want the option for their children to go to Hinsdale South.

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"Hinsdale South is less than one mile from my house in the town that I live in, and my kids can't go to that high school," parent Lisa Schmidt, who lives on Grant Street, told the Darien City Council on Monday.

"When they're forced to go because of district lines to Downers Grove South, that's a school of 3,000 kids, and they don't really have friends there," Schmidt said.

The council was given a petition drafted by Darien resident Dave Isaacson. Nineteen residents signed it.

The petition asks for parents' right to send their children to Hinsdale South.

It further requests that the city review the appropriate steps to explore the possibility.

The two high schools are in different school districts with separate elected boards – Hinsdale South with Hinsdale High School District 86 and Downers Grove South with District 99.

At the meeting, city officials said district boundaries were out of their hands. And they cast doubt that the lines would change.

"District 86 would have to basically change the boundaries in cooperation with District 99," Alderwoman Mary Sullivan said. "And typically schools don't want to surrender parts of the district because that means students and money to another district."

Darien Alderwoman Mary Sullivan on Monday explains why it would be difficult to change school district boundaries. She is next to Mayor Joseph Marchese (left) and City Administrator Bryon Vana. (David Giuliani/Patch)

Mayor Joseph Marchese agreed.

"Your question is not new," he told Schmidt. "I've lived in Darien for over 40 years, and it has come up over and over again by residents like you whose children are going to Downers Grove South, where all their friends are going to Hinsdale South."

He and Sullivan said it would be easier to transfer students within a district than between districts.

They also noted it was even difficult to consolidate districts in Illinois. The state has 850 districts, far more than in similarly sized North Carolina, which has 115.

Years ago, Marchese said he was on a local committee that explored merging two local elementary school districts. Then the school boards weighed in.

"One said yes, the other one said no – after one year of work," he said.

Marchese and Sullivan advised Schmidt to approach the District 99 board.

Hinsdale South and Downers Grove South get a roughly equal split of Eisenhower's students, according to Darien District 61.