Schools
District 36 Redistricting Plan Nears Final Board Approval
The Winnetka School District 36 board is set to approve new attendance boundaries aimed at addressing imbalances between elementary school.
WINNETKA, IL — The Winnetka School District 36 board is set to give final approval to changes to its attendance boundaries that have been three years in the making. According to district officials, the move is aimed at correcting an imbalance in attendance in attendance between the district's three elementary schools — Crow Island, Greeley and Hubbard Woods.
Superintendent Trisha Kocanda endorsed a redistricting plan at the board's Sept. 24 meeting that would see about 60 students shift from Crow Island to Greeley. Instead of Green Bay Road marking the border between the two attendance areas, all students living east of Chestnut Street and south of Oak Street will attend Greeley. The attendance area for Hubbard Woods School would remain the same when the plan takes effect at the start of next year.
The district plans to phase in the changes to allow some students to stay at their current elementary school after the changes take into effect. According to a consensus among board members at the meeting, Crow Island students who live in the redistricted zone who are presently in second, third and forth grades, as well as first graders with an older sibling at Crow Island, for the 2020-21 school year will stay in place. Any newly enrolled student or first grader who attended kindergarten in District 36 but does not have an older sibling at Crow Island will attend Greeley.
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"The feedback we received from our community and talking to realtors, actually, is: let's attempt to make sure that that easternmost boundary [of Crow Island's attendance area] is as clear as possible," Kocanda said.
Community concerns about the redistricting plan focused on traffic patterns and how the changes would affect students' ability to walk to their neighborhood schools. Winnetka police and village staff have committed to the safety of students during the transition, according to district officials.
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The District 36 board is due to give final approval to a redistricting plan at its next meeting at 7:15 p.m. Oct. 22 at Greeley School.
Watch: Redistricting discussion at District 36 school board's Sept. 24, 2019 meeting
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