Enrollment in Mokena Elementary School District 159 has exceeded predictions.
Students in kindergarten through 8th grade at Mokena Elementary School and Mokena Junior High School totaled 2,215, surpassing the projected 2,150, Supt. Roger Reardon said at a school board meeting last week.
“I said we would only grow at 3 percent. We’re at 4.7 percent,” Reardon said.
Despite the increasing number of students, the district has been able to maintain relatively small class sizes, averaging 23 in primary classrooms, 25 in the middle grades and 27 in the junior high, he said.
New space is still under construction, and growth can be expected to continue, he said.
A new junior high school being built in the Grasmere area should be under a roof by winter, said construction manager Robert Neilson.
“We’re looking real good for the August date next year,” he said.
In other business, Reardon defended the school district’s support of retail development at U.S. Highway 30 and Wolf Road.
Plans to build big-box stores, including a Kohl’s, a Target and a Home Depot, have angered some residents, who say it will bring traffic congestion and detract from Mokena’s quiet, rural atmosphere.
Those in favor of retail development say it will expand the local tax base and ease the tax burden on homeowners.
“That gives us a commercial revenue base that we don’t have now,” Reardon said.