Parents Angry Over Plan to Change School Enrollment Areas in Glen Ellyn, Wheaton and Lombard

Parents expressed their anger and frustration over a proposal to change District 89 enrollment boundaries in Glen Ellyn, Wheaton and Lombard next school year. About 250 people packed into the gym at Arbor View Elementary for a two and a half hour meeting on Wednesday Night.

Board of Education President Mike Nelson and Superintendent Dr. Emily Tammaru started off the meeting by explaining that 97 students in the district are bused out of their neighborhoods every day due to space constraints at some schools. Projected increases to enrollment would only exacerbate the problem.

Board of Education President Mike Nelson and Superintendent Dr. Emily Tammaru

If the current enrollment areas remain, the district projects that by the 2020-2021 school year 240 students will need to be bused to different neighborhoods at an annual cost of $114,000.

An Enrollment Committee of parents and district staff met four times since the end of October 2016 to formulate the proposed shift in enrollment areas.

“This is by no means easy. None of us necessarily want to be doing this right now, but it’s something that we have to look at,” Superintendent Tammaru said. “There is no easy solution where there is no change.”

The mood in the gym was tense at times as parents voiced numerous concerns about the plan. They cited compromising the school’s sense of community, potential errors in enrollment projections and the impact of changing schools on their children.

Some parents signed a petition against the proposal outside the meeting

A point of contention for some parents was a boundary change that would remove the nearby Scottdale neighborhood and add the distant International Village neighborhood to the Arbor View Elementary enrollment area.

“You’re taking a huge portion of the community out, but you’re putting in another community across the district,” parent Keri Poi said. “I understand that geography isn’t everything, but it’s significant when you’re trying to build relationships with families and other students.” Poi has a child in 3rd grade and another in Kindergarten.

Wheaton resident Karren Daniels explained that her grandson, Maddox, had spent six years at Arbor View, but the proposed change would send him to a new school after the third grade.

“You’re expecting him to welcome a move, and he’s not. I’ll be honest, he’s devastated,” Daniels said.

Karren Daniels

Daniels also asked why the proposal was coming at a time when four of the seven school board members would be leaving the board. Board President Nelson rejected the idea of any collusion by the board members to time the change to be at the end of their terms, but the discussion turned into a short argument at that point.

Several parents asked if there would be alternative proposals or if there would be an option to increase taxes to maintain the current enrollment areas. Nelson and Tammaru said they couldn't speak for the district board, but they were receptive to the comments and questions from the parents.

“This isn’t a done deal. We’re at a point where we’re getting input from the community,” Board President Nelson said.

Superintendent Dr. Emily Tammaru expressed gratitude for the community’s input.

Superintendent Dr. Emily Tammaru

The proposal will be formally presented to the board of education on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 8 a.m. at Glen Crest Middle School. The board could vote on the proposal as soon as their meeting on Monday, Feb. 13.

More information about the proposed changes can be found here.

Photos and videos by Patrick Martin