Elmhurst Mail Problems Affected School District

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst School District 205 mailed postcards to all residents late last month about the opportunity to take part in an online survey.

But some apparently failed to reach residents in time. This situation may be related to mail delivery issues in Elmhurst.

"Unfortunately, we have had reports of them being delivered quite late," district spokeswoman Tonya Daniels said in an email to Patch on Thursday.

Daniels said she received confirmation that the postcards were delivered to the post office March 24 and that they would be in the March 25 deliveries.

She said they were bulk-mailed to every mail customer in the local ZIP code.

"It should have been a simple delivery to a home," Daniels said.

In Patch's comment section, one resident indicated receiving the postcard Thursday, nearly two weeks later.

The deadline for taking part in the survey was last Friday, but because of the apparent delivery issues, the district extended it by a day, Daniels said. The district could not extend any further because it had to start compiling results, she said.

On Wednesday, Patch reported that a number of residents recently said they have gone days at a time without mail service. But the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday denied a local problem existed.

On Thursday, it acknowledged the issue.

"The Elmhurst Post Office has been challenged with vacancies in their office, but have reported that all mail has been delivered daily in Elmhurst this week. They are in the process of filling vacancies in their office," Tim Norman, a Chicago-based Postal Service spokesman, said in a statement to Patch.

Over the past year, residents have complained at times about a lack of mail service. In each of those instances, the post office confirmed having staffing problems.