Elm Place And Lincoln Closing, Ravinia Elementary Staying Open Under District 112 Plan

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — North Shore School District 112 plans to to close Lincoln Elementary School and Elm Place Middle School in 2018 under a plan to go before the board on Oct. 3, Pioneer Press reports. Attendance boundaries after the closures have not been finalized, and district officials said early childhood and administrative offices will remain at the site of the former Green Bay School until at least the 2018-19 school year.

At a board meeting Tuesday and in a letter to parents and staff, District 112 officials said they were also likely to begin offering full-day kindergarten throughout the district, according to Highland Park News. Currently, expanded kindergarten is only available at Oak Terrace Elementary, thanks to a federal grant connected to the school's number of low-income students.

Ravinia Elementary School will remain open under the current plan, according to Pioneer Press. Under previous reorganization plans, it had been due to close this year along with Lincoln and Elm Place, but the plans were postponed after Superintendent Michael Bregy announced he was leaving in December. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Highland Park — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

According to a Pioneer Press report, the district is likely to consolidate dual language classes (a mix of Spanish speakers learning English and English speakers learning Spanish) at Red Oak, with students in English-only classes sent to Sherwood.

District 112 Board President Eric Ephraim said the board took advantage of the work completed by the Reconfigeration 2.0 Community Team and feedback from the NSSD112 community during the past year, Pioneer Press reported. He said 80 percent of survey respondents believe the district should have two middle schools and that the district cannot manage to keep all of its 12 buildings open, while most members of the community see full-day kindergarten as a benefit.

Ephraim said he hoped the Oct. 3 vote would provide a chance for the district to move past its years focusing on budget and facilities issues and allow administrators to focus on educating students, according to Pioneer Press.

"I believe this will be a real opportunity for the community to come together and move forward positively and productively," Ephraim predicted.

» Read more from Highland Park News

_{Top photo via Patch archive}