D-112 Board Wants Focus on Single Middle School Campus Model

North Shore School District 112 board members have directed administrators to focus on a model that would include a single middle school campus as part of district reconfiguration.

The “middle school campus plan” is now slated to cost $198 million and is likely headed for a March 2016 referendum, according to the Highland Park News.

The plan - which would close four elementary schools and one middle school in the district - calls for creating a single middle school for all fifth thru eighth grade students on the sites of the current Red Oak and Sherwood elementary schools. If approved by voters and implemented, the plan will include a building with two wings to separate the school’s fifth and sixth graders from the seventh and eighth graders.

As part of the plan, Red Oak, Sherwood, Lincoln and Wayne Thomas elementary schools, as well as Elm Place Middle School, will close.

Ravinia, Braeside and Indian Trail elementary schools, along with Edgewood Middle School and Northwood Junior High, would be renovated and retrofitted to serve kindergartners thru fourth graders.

The board was unanimously behind the plan.

“This plan not only gives us a sustainable financial option, but it gives our kids state-of-the-art facilities where they will get the tools to navigate an ever-changing future,” said board member Jacqueline Denham.

more via the Highland Park News