Will St. Charles Get a New Middle School on Silver Glen Road?

Photo credit: District 303

Voters within the boundaries of St. Charles School District 303 may be asked this November for a tax hike so the school district can either expand Thompson Middle School or build a new middle school altogether.

Before that can happen, school board members will be tasked with detailing the exact changes they want done ”before attaching a price tag to the November referendum,” the Daily Herald reports. Some of the options currently being considered include expanding and renovating Thompson Middle School at its current location on 7th Street, tearing down Thompson and building a new middle school in the same location or building a new middle school on property owned by the school district on Silver Glen Road, according to the newspaper.

These ideas are being hashed out following a vote last month against the immediate closures of Lincoln, Wasco or Haines schools -- options that were all on the table to deal with the possibility of getting less in state funding, a property tax freeze and the costs of shifting teacher pensions from the state to the district, the Kane County Chronicle reports. Instead, the school district is exploring the gradual closure of Haines.

Moving forward, the school board is expected to meet with architects to learn more about the logistics, and costs, of the different options, and public meetings will likely starting in mid-March, according to the Daily Herald.

More via the Daily Herald

Read More on Patch

• School Board Votes to Keep St. Charles Schools Open ... for Now
• St. Charles District 303 Explores Closing Schools to Deal With Shrinking Enrollment, Budget Cuts