| | November 7, 2006 |
| Boundary Advisory Committee Update
At its next meeting (Nov. 9), the District 41 Boundary Advisory Committee will begin working with boundary adjustment scenarios with the help of Northern Illinois University demographers. The overall District 41 boundaries are not under discussion, only the school attendance area boundaries. By loading the D41 data into a demographic software program, the demographers can show the impact of various adjustments on school enrollment and grade level distribution in real time.
The committee has studied detailed building usage reports, reviewed enrollment projections out to 2013, and heard presentations on the Special Education and English Language Learning programs (ELL). In addition, a sub-group of the committee toured the four elementary schools and the Central Service administrative building to get a first-hand look at space usage.
Demographers from Northern Illinois University have preliminarily updated previous projections based on current enrollment information. After a deliberation on how the projections should take into account the unexpectedly high kindergarten enrollment at Benjamin Franklin and the unexpectedly low kindergarten enrollment at Churchill, the decision was made to treat those numbers as an anomaly and to use an average for projection purposes. Current total enrollment is 3593 (including the students housed in the 26 portable classrooms); by 2013, NIU predicts that enrollment could range from a low of 3820 to a high of 4062, or an increase from today of from 227 to 469 students. However, the demographers have yet to incorporate the most recent information on new developments within the district; if this differs from the information they used when they did their original study in 2004, the projections could change.
The committee learned how delivery of educational services affects space usage. Special Education and ELL programs are mandated, meaning that all children needing services must be served regardless of available money or space. Only one special program offered in the district is not mandated—Pre-Kindergarten for early learners at risk for academic failure; however, Superintendent Dr. Ann Riebock told the committee that the research is clear that this type of program is cost-efficient because it heads off future, more expensive problems, and that it is an asset to have the program within our schools. Most of the Special Education programming is what is called “resource” programming, meaning that children spend most of their time in the regular classroom, with services provided as needed, either in the regular classroom or in another space. There are some dedicated classrooms for Special Ed and ELL programs as well, and staff for these programs also require work space.
The building tour showed facilities that are over capacity, although some committee members questioned whether the schools could further optimize space usage. The committee agreed it will be important to confirm that all available space is being optimized and expects to have further conversation on how this should be done. The committee also asked about converting the Central Services administrative office into instructional space.
Comprised of parents from each elementary school, the committee is examining the question of whether an adjustment in the school attendance area boundaries would help ease overcrowding district-wide, and if so, if the improvement is sufficient to merit taking that action.
The Boundary Advisory Committee meets Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. at Central Services, 793 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn. Members of the public are welcome to come and listen. A public meeting will be held on Thursday, Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m. at Hadley at which possible boundary adjustment scenarios will be shared and discussed. Questions, comments and concerns may be emailed to the committee at boundaries@d41.org
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Please direct your questions or comments to our Communications Director, Julie Worthen at jworthen@d41.org. We ask that you do not reply directly to this email. Thank you! | | |
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