After hearing from angry parents over a proposal to realign boundaries to balance enrollment at two middle schools, the Barrington Community School District 220 board has decided to table the issue until March 22.
The realignment would affect 27 5th graders from North Barrington Elementary School and another 15 from Barrington Hills’ Countryside Elementary School.
Next fall, they are expected to attend the Barrington Middle School Station campus, 213 Eastern Ave. But with the proposed changes, they would be bused to the Barrington Middle School Prairie campus, 40 E. Dundee Rd.
Most pupils who move to new housing developments in the attendance area of South Barrington’s Rose Elementary School would be required to attend the Station campus.
The board agreed Monday night to reconsider the controversial part of the proposal that would have required 6th and 7th graders who live in the recommended new attendance areas to switch next year to the Prairie campus. They currently attend Station.
Those pupils would have an opportunity to request a transfer to remain at their middle school, but they might have to pay a bus fee or provide their own transportation.
“I don’t support the proposal to force existing students at Station to go to Prairie next year,” said Janet Agnoletti Lykke, who has a 6th grader at the Station campus, at Monday’s board meeting.
“Adolescence is a trying time for children,” she said. “They are trying to get through it in one piece, physically and emotionally. I think it would derail the success of the student.”
Said parent Cindy Grossman, who lives in Lake Barrington: “I urge you to allow the kids that are already here (at Station) to stay here,” she told the board. “For my daughter, changing to Prairie would be like attending a whole new school. . . . It would be very hard on her.”
Board member Thomas Krettler strongly recommended that those 7th graders be “grandfathered” into the boundary change and have transportation provided. He urged board members to allow the parents of current 6th graders at Station to request permission to let their children remain at their current school.
Krettler proposed that their transportation costs be paid if it turns out the pupils are transferred to a new school.
“If they attended a middle school for two years, let them finish their third year. It’s an emotional issue, and I feel the parents are right on this one,” Krettler said.
Associate Supt. Mary Herrmann said it would cost $113,000 for two years to provide bus service to pupils living in the proposed attendance areas.
“It’s really important to keep our middle schools as close in size as possible,” Herrmann said. “It’s always tough to make a change, and we sympathize for the students who will make a change. If we didn’t do anything, we would have a much larger number at Station than Prairie.”
Board President Nancy Nemec agreed that the currently enrolled 7th graders should remain at their school and have transportation provided, but wondered where the money would come from.
“We are a growing district,” she said. “There are a lot of large parcels of land out there ready to pop, that will bring in a lot of students. . . . There will be redistricting in the future. We have to keep our school balanced.”
