D15 Takes Closer Look at Boundary Changes, Adding School

PALATINE, IL — School officials in District 15 are working to determine ways to deal with overcrowding as they consider adding a new elementary school on the northeastern part of town. Last month, the District 15 Board of Education heard from the district's Boundaries Task Force, which is made up of a group of volunteers focused on creating new boundaries that address overcrowding in several schools and boundary concerns from the community, according to a District 15 press release. The Task Force proposed four different concepts, and based the new boundary change concepts on feedback received last fall in survey, which listed some of the top priorities for District 15 families as smaller class sizes, full-day kindergarten, and reducing bus travel times.

Among other top priorities is to create a better feeder pattern flow for its schools, and, ultimately, the school board needs to decide if they should purchase property on the northeast side of town for a new elementary school.

The Park Place shopping center, the location District 15 is looking to buy just southeast of Dundee and Rand, includes a shuttered Whole Foods Market and about 80-square-feet of space adjacent to the former grocery store, the Daily Herald reported in May. The space would be renovated to include 32 classrooms for kindergarten through sixth grade students.

During a presentation at its June 12 meeting, members of the task force shared information on the boundary change concepts.

The four boundary change concepts address a variety of possibilities but ultimately are meant to relieve the number of different middle schools the students from one particular elementary school could attend. And, from there, consolidate the number of different high schools the students coming from one particular middle school attend. Currently, students at Stuart Paddock Elementary, for example, could end up at Plum Grove, Winston Campus or Walter R. Sundling junior high schools and those heading to Carl Sandburg could go on to attend one of all three high schools within the district.

The graphic below shows the schools current "feeder pattern."

Two of the concepts regarding possible boundary changes addresses 10 out of 10 priorities noted by those taking last fall's survey. They also, as should come as no surprise, come with the steepest price tag. Concept two, which calls on the addition of 12 classrooms at three existing schools, the conversion of Thomas Jefferson elementary to a junior high and the addition of full-day kindergarten, would cost the district $28 million.

Meanwhile, concept three, which includes the addition of a new Park Place school, two classrooms at Willow Bend and full-day kindergarten, and the conversion of Thomas Jefferson to a junior high school has the heftiest price tag at $45 million.

The most cost-effective concept, concept one, has a $20 million price tag and implements nine out of 10 priorities identified by the task force. Concept four would cost the district $25 million. All of the plans call on district officials to maximize use of its existing space and balance northeast schools to handle the population density.

The shifting of boundaries, addition of classrooms and possible addition of a school is meant to even out the population at the schools and create simpler feeder patterns.

The District 15 school board is expected to meet again in August to discuss the Park Place property. A final vote on whether to purchase it will be made this fall, according to school officials.

From there, the Boundaries Task Force will go back to the drawing board to finalize its concepts and then solicit feedback from the community before making its final presentation to the school board.

The earliest any boundary changes could take effect would be fall 2021, according to District 15.

More via the District 15 website and the Boundaries Task Force Facebook page