Lyons Township High Hits Enrollment Low; Teacher Count Near Record High

LA GRANGE, IL – Last school year, Lyons Township High School enrolled the fewest students in the last couple of decades.

At the same time, it hired a near record number of teachers.

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Last week, the state released enrollment statistics for Illinois' 850 school districts.

Lyons Township High's number fell by more than 60 students to 3,582. As recently as 2019, more than 4,000 students attended, dropping 10 percent since then.

Two decades ago, the school had 3,826 students.

According ot the Illinois Report Card, Lyons Township High employed 270 full-time teacher equivalents last school year. That's nearly the most since the state started publishing the number in 2006. (Only 2024 was higher, at 273.)

Last year, the high school had one teacher for every 13 students. That's up from 2006, when the school had 233, or one for every 16 students.

Enrollment decreases are not unusual for wealthy schools in the area. Hinsdale Central, Hinsdale South and York High are seeing a similar trend.

In the early 1960s, the high school was expecting a long-term increase in enrollment. That was during the baby boom, when many families moved to suburbia.

At the time, the school board bought land in Willow Springs in two phases in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

The property was expected to be used for a third campus. But enrollment dropped in the late 1970s and then stabilized, elminating the need for another building.

Next week, the school is opening bids for the land.

These days, drops in enrollment around the area are blamed on falling birth rates and people leaving the state.

Source: Illinois Report Card