Glenbard High School District 87 officials are attempting to expand their communications with officials of two villages that have no representatives on the school board in an effort to provide better service in those areas.
The school district has sent a letter to officials of Carol Stream and Glendale Heights, their libraries, fire protection districts, park district and feeder elementary school districts, inviting them to meetings to discuss problem areas. The Carol Stream meeting was scheduled for Sept. 30, and the the Glendale Heights meeting for Oct. 27.
”What we are trying to do is establish close working relationships,”
said District 87 Supt. Robert Stevens. ”This will give us an opportunity to sit down and talk about matters of mutual concern.”
Although the board`s relationships with residents of the two communities are often stormy, Stevens said the district wants to look for ways in which the taxing bodies can dovetail services in an attempt to ease the burden on local taxpayers.
”We are already doing that in Lombard and Glen Ellyn,” he said, referring to other communities within the sprawling high school district. ”We want to look for ways we can share equipment and resources to make sure we are serving the community in the best possible manner.”
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Stevens said that the special meeting with Carol Stream officials was not being held to discuss a longstanding argument between the village and the school district over parking by students on village streets near Glenbard North High School.
”We are scheduled to meet with village officials later this month about that topic,” Stevens said.
As recently as last month, village officials expressed frustration with District 87`s failure to address their concern about parking. Village trustees first raised the issue almost a year ago.
The village has been withholding $4,900 in developer donations from the school district, contending that while such funds are supposed to be earmarked for local improvements, they have in the past been used to benefit schools other than Glenbard North.
Despite the flap over parking and other problems with the board, Carol Stream Village President Ross Ferraro said: ”I`m willing to sit down with them. We`ll see what they have to say.”
For years, some residents of Glendale Heights and Carol Stream have charged they have been treated as ”second class” by District 87 officials, a controversy that surfaced again with new bitterness during recent discussions on how to relieve projected overcrowding.
Among the complaints voiced during that debate were that Glendale Heights students are split among three district high schools and that youngsters from there and Carol Stream, both of which are located north of North Avenue, attend overcrowded schools while counterparts south of North Avenue are in more spacious school settings.
Glenbard North, for example, has been affected by a boom in home construction at the north end of District 87.
After nearly two years of discussions, the school board decided to ask voters to approve a bond issue to build a a fifth high school in Glendale Heights to ease the enrollment crunch.
But last March, voters turned back the bond issue by a 3-to-1 margin.