District 204 Approves New Boundaries Despite Pleas From Parents

NAPERVILLE, IL — Indian Prairie School District 204's school board unanimously approved new boundaries at its meeting Monday night, despite pleas from parents of impacted students. The new boundaries will take effect at the start of the 2022-23 school year.

The boundary plan affects 2,703 students, according to a news release from the district, which asserts that the total number of affected students had decreased with the most recent incarnation of the boundary plan.

Some students will have the option of being "grandfathered in" to attend their current schools. Rising fifth-, seventh-, eighth-, 10th- and 11th-graders will be permitted to stay at their current schools, though transportation will not be guaranteed.

Parents of students impacted by the boundary change will receive a letter with additional details, a news release said. The deadline to decide whether a student will be grandfathered in is Feb. 11.

During the public comment portion of Monday's meeting, more than two dozen people took to the podium, with many parents and students speaking out against the proposed boundary map.

Sachin Sharma, a parent who lives in The Ponds at Ashwood Park subdivision, acknowledged the difficult process of creating new boundaries for the school district. "What's even more difficult is the sudden, unexpected change for Ponds in a process that until then had been transparent and objective."

Sharma said several parents moved to the subdivision within the past "three to four years looking for stability and continuity" following the district's previous rezoning of the area's boundaries. He referred to the current boundary reassignments as "another round of disruption and mental stress for our kids."

Eva George, a sixth-grader at Crone Middle School who lives in Ashwood Park, said, "My siblings and I don't support these changes as we were recently forced to leave Peterson to go to Kendall just three school years ago. We had to make new friends and go through tough adjustments."

"Now we are being told that we will go back to Peterson, then Crone and then go to Waubonsie, essentially breaking us away from all of our classmates," George added, "You are changing our schools in such a short time and that is just not fair."

Before the boundary changes were approved Monday, District 204 Superintendent Dr. Adrian Talley said the new plan met most of the priority board criteria, which included demographic and fiscal considerations, along concerns about building utilization and efforts to keep neighborhoods intact.

"It is never possible to ensure that everyone sees things in a positive way when you're dealing with boundary changes," Talley said.

District 204 Board President Laurie Donahue said, "Each change causes a new set of issues or a portion of our community who objects. This could go on in an infinite loop. Please be assured that we read your emails, your website postings, received your petitions, listened to your public comments and even were aware of all your comments on social media."

"We heard all of you and understand the issues and your desires," Donahue said. "It is just not possible to create a solution that makes everyone happy."

Click the link to view the newly approved District 204 boundary map.

Related:

Parents To Protest 'Last-Minute' Change To District 204 Map Plan

Boundary Change Proposal Concerns Indian Prairie 204 Residents