The idea of a magnet/charter school has come back to life in Elgin School District U46 — from inside the district’s own administration.
The leaders of U46’s Enrollment and Facilities Committee say that two of the approaches they have been eyeing that could ease the pain of major attendance boundary changes and possible school closings wouldn’t work. But CEO Tony Sanders told the U46 Board of Education Monday that the administration might support the idea of a closed elementary-school building being turned into a magnet school, apparently somewhat similar to the proposed Elgin charter school that the U46 board and a state board shot down last year. And the enrollment and facilities committee’s co-chairs also said the attendance changes might be phased in over two years.
During a discussion of the district’s proposed new five-year strategic plan during the board meeting, Sanders revealed that administrators have begun talking about possibly turning an empty school, if one or more ends up being closed, into a magnet school.
Sanders said that is one example of how the proposed strategic plan’s comparatively vague objectives — such as partnering with the community, making efficient use of resources and advocating for government financial aid — could be practically applied.
The enrollment and facilities committee, made up of volunteer members of the citizens advisory council, has been looking at whether the district could save money by closing one or more underused elementary schools. The committee especially has been looking at the 10 schools in the district’s southeastern corner, in Hanover Park, Bartlett, Wayne, Carol Stream and far-southeast Elgin — that now have far fewer students than they could hold.
“What if, instead of closing a building, we were to repurpose it, apply for a federal magnet school grant, and partner with some community members who already have put together proposals that have been brought to the board before, to create an internal magnet school program?” Sanders asked.
He apparently was referring to the Elgin Charter School Initiative committee, which last year put together a detailed plan to start a charter elementary school with a different sort of curriculum, called the Elgin Math and Science Academy. The board of education rejected that proposal by a 6-1 vote, in part because it would have aimed mainly at students only from the City of Elgin, not from all over School District U46, and because board members considered the school’s proposed finances questionable.
At least one board member endorsed Sanders’ idea Monday, though she had voted against the charter school.
“I loved, loved, loved the work the charter school people did,” said Board Member Traci O’Neal Elllis, who would go on to be re-elected to the board in Tuesday’s election. “To take the hard work they did and possibly bring it to life within District U46 is thrilling to me.”
Sanders said the strategic planning draft will come back to the board for approval at its next meeting, on April 20. He said efforts are being made to get comments about it from more Spanish-speaking residents and from church leaders.
Meanwhile, the enrollment and facilities committee also met, on Tuesday. But Co-Chairs Roger Wallace and Sue Kerr said the group won’t start looking at specific scenarios for possible boundary changes and school closings until April 21.
Wallace said he, Kerr, demographer Bruce Silva and Chief U46 Operating Officer Jeff King have been analyzing figures and have concluded that two proposals made by members at the last committee meeting to improve school usage wouldn’t work.
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One idea was to pair elementary schools that would have dual-language classes with adjoining schools that would have English-language-only classes. But “there aren’t many schools that would work for, unfortunately,” Wallace said.
The volunteers on the enrollment committee – most of them parents — also had suggested putting all-day kindergartens in each school. But Wallace said it turns out that that too “wouldn’t work without moving a lot of kids around.”
Wallace said the committee’s scenarios will aim to get every school’s enrollment at less than 85 percent of building capacity, so each surviving school has room to grow without changing the attendance areas yet again.
Kerr said Thursday that the committee members were excited on Tuesday to hear about the magnet-school idea and decided they will put off deciding on whether to close a school, concentrating for now on how to shift attendance areas so as to relieve overcrowding in several elementary schools.
Wallace said the committee may recommend that the changes go into effect over two years rather than doing all the boundary changes and any school closings in fall 2016 as the administration had requested.
Wallace said the district could change some boundaries in fall 2016 to relieve current overcrowding at several elementary schools. “That is the urgent thing that can’t wait,” he said. But then other changes could go into effect, including any changes made to the attendance areas for middle schools and high schools, in the fall of 2017.
If the two-phase approach becomes reality, Kerr said, it is unclear when a school closing or the conversion of a school into a magnet school would take place.
Kerr was elected a member of the board of education on Tuesday, so a new co-chair will have to be chosen for the enrollment and facilities committee.