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

NAPERVILLE, IL — A group of parents from two subdivisions in Naperville say they feel "alienated" by "last-minute changes" to Indian Prairie School District 204's most recent rezoning concept plans. The residents are set to protest outside district headquarters Wednesday at 12 p.m.

The parents, who live in Ashwood Pointe and Ashwood Heights, told Patch they did not find out about the District 204 boundary committee's most recent concept, which excludes their neighborhoods from attending Neuqua Valley High School, until after the committee's Dec. 8 meeting.

If this proposal were adopted, Param Vijay told Patch, his oldest daughter, who is in 8th grade at Scullen Middle School, would have to attend Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, while many of her friends from Scullen would attend Neuqua Valley.

Vijay said that amid the ongoing boundary map planning, which began in spring, his daughter has asked him repeatedly where she will go to high school.

Vijay told Patch his daughter cried when he told her she may end up attending a different high school than many of her classmates at Scullen.

"This is a big thing for our family," he said. "We do not know what we are going to do."

Mrudulatha Matukumalli, who has two children in District 204 schools, told Patch she is concerned with the "social and emotional wellbeing of the kids."

"Parents are going through so much turmoil," Matukumalli added.

She told Patch the district did not communicate the proposed change to her and her neighbors ahead of time, which "made us feel mistreated."

“With these [most recent] changes there has been no voting and no opportunities for residents to be heard,” she said.

Supriya Reddy, another District 204 parent who lives in the Ashwood Pointe, said parents would not have felt the need to protest if the changes had not come at the last minute.

Related: Boundary Change Proposal Concerns Indian Prairie 204 Residents

Reddy said that in addition to the children's social and emotional wellbeing, she's also worried about the logistics of the proposed rezoning. Reddy said she hopes the district will consider alternatives that weigh bus routes and times and "impact the least number of kids."

Matukumalli, Vijay, Reddy and other district parents told Patch they hope Wednesday's protest will bring attention to their concerns and prompt District 204 to adopt a different rezoning map when it makes its final decision in January.

"Nobody is happy with how the decisions are going now," Matukumalli added.