The jukebox and soft drink machine might be plugged in at Bartlett High School, but construction dust still frosts the hallway floors, and the wrestling room is cluttered with unopened boxes.
It has been a Herculean task, preparing the newest school in Elgin-based Unit District 46 for the first day of classes Wednesday.
And during orientation last week, as students registered, fumbled with stubborn locker combinations and roamed the halls searching for that third-period biology classroom, workers could still be found scrambling to put the finishing touches on the controversial $50 million building.
“It has been more hectic than we imagined,” said Dan Kallenbach, the athletic director. “We’ve all had sleepless nights trying to get ready.”
That’s partly because the opening of the school marks the culmination of a tumultuous period in the district’s history, as school officials and the Village of Bartlett wrangled over everything from the school name to the attendance boundaries. Neither side believes setting those differences aside will be easy.
But with the school’s opening quickly approaching, administrators expressed hope that the focus finally will return to education and the positive happenings inside the school.
“The boundary issues are not a concern for me, and I think people know that,” said Principal Rick Hoy. “I’m interested in the kids who are coming here and working with them.”
In addition to Bartlett, several other high schools are opening this fall, including Naperville’s Neuqua Valley High in Aurora’s Indian Prairie District 204 and Prairie Ridge High in Crystal Lake District 155.
And across the country, many more districts might soon follow suit, according to a U.S. Department of Education study.
Last week, the federal agency released a report saying 1.2 million more children will be attending schools this year compared with last year. Many of the new high schoolers are children of the large Baby Boom generation.
Battling the same enrollment surge and space crisis that plagues school districts nationwide, District 46 voters three years ago approved the financing of five new elementary schools and Bartlett High School.
But while the new schools can offer state-of-the-art facilities and much needed breathing room, the controversy over Bartlett High shows how expansion also can upset a school district’s precarious balance.
Many Bartlett residents had expected the district’s fourth high school to be a hometown school that all Bartlett students could attend. When the original boundary plan was unveiled, however, village leaders and parents vehemently objected to the way it instead split the town among Elgin, Streamwood and Bartlett High Schools.
With 32,000 students from 11 communities, District 46 is second only to Chicago’s as the state’s largest unit district, and officials maintain that the one-town, one-school concept was unrealistic.
After studying dozens of plans, board members ultimately considered three criteria: ensuring that students went to the closest school; keeping a consistent racial and ethnic balance throughout the district; and preventing overcrowding.
The school boundary map that finally was adopted sends most students who live in Bartlett to Bartlett High–but not all.
Excluded are several Bartlett subdivisions on the village’s west side and a mobile home park. Students in these areas, such as 14-year-old Jessica Bardsley, will go to Streamwood High School.
“I was very upset and mad,” said Bardsley, who went to Elgin High last year. Most of her friends will either stay at Elgin or transfer to Bartlett.
“They don’t have the same classes (at Streamwood) that I was going to be taking,” she said. “They said they are going to try to give me the same opportunities, but it doesn’t look like they can.”
It has been so aggravating and frustrating for her family that Jessica’s father, Mike Bardsley, a member of Concerned Residents for Community Schools, plans to turn in a petition to run for the local school board in the fall election.
“We felt they should either let her stay where she is comfortable or let her move to Bartlett, where most of her friends are going,” said Mike Bardsley.
“We will have three different buses coming into our neighborhood for three separate high schools this year,” he said. “If I can’t make a change being an active participant and concerned resident, then I don’t know what else to do.”
Bartlett, which passed a resolution in favor of sending the community’s children to the new school, still is pursuing a plan to start a separate school district. It’s an issue that has been studied several times before.
At Tuesday’s Village Board meeting, members are scheduled to discuss what Bartlett Village President Catherine Melchert called “Phase 3” of the proposal, which addresses the legal and financial research that needs to be done in order to break away from District 46.
“The main advantage of splitting is having two districts that aren’t so large, and the administration isn’t so stretched,” said Melchert, who added that she was disappointed with the school board’s boundary decision. “Even if we separate, our new district would be way larger than most school districts in the state.”
For the most part, though, Bartlett students are resigned to their fates and seem eager just to get on with school.
Inside the new high school, signs on the freshly painted walls remind everyone to wear the school colors of blue and green Friday. Since the school opens this year with only two classes, freshmen and sophomores, everyone will have ample opportunity to get involved.
“There’s a lot of energy here,” said Katie Linder, a sophomore and Bartlett High’s first student council president. “It was sad to leave Elgin, but I’m really excited to be here and to get things started.”
