The Norridge School District 80 Board rejected a proposal that would have divided Giles and Leigh schools — which both are kindergarten-eighth grade buildings — to make one building for kindergartners through fourth-graders, and the other for fifth- through eighth-graders.
Officials had said such a move could have saved the school district thousands of dollars amidst an ongoing financial crisis that has the district facing a $1.8 million deficit in the next two years.
During a Jan. 17 meeting, board members voted in favor of a referendum for the April 4 ballot that will seek voter approval for a $1.25 million tax increase. But board members voted 3-3 on the proposal to split the schools into separate grade level buildings, which defeated the plan.
Board members who voted in favor of separating the schools into K-4 and 5-8 schools were Mike Bellafiore, Pasquale Biondo and board President Srbo Radisavljevic. The change was opposed by Warner DeJulio, Jennifer Paoletti and Cynthia Stec. Christian Giacalone was absent from the meeting.
The plan to change the setup of the schools would have helped stave off imminent cuts to some academic programs while reducing the teaching staff and increasing class sizes, according to District 80 Superintendent Paul O’Malley.
“The motivation was to keep the signature [academic] programs and in the same extent recognize permanent savings,” O’Malley said. “You could put additional students in the classes, and it would give you the ability to maneuver your staff.”
The board could decide to revisit the proposal in the future, O’Malley said.
Board member Paoletti, who voted against the proposal, said it was in the best interest of the community and the teachers whose jobs could be on the line to allow more time for the public to understand the potential outcome of shifting the grades into two separate schools.
“I didn’t feel there was sufficient time for there to be any community involvement in this,” she said. “There were no email blasts or Facebook posts or anything to let people know it would be on [the agenda] unless you walked up to the front doors of the school and read the agenda posted on the window.”
Challenged by an approaching deficit, made worse by what the district has said is a growing list of infrastructure needs at both schools, the school board is tasked with choosing which programs to cut as part of $750,000 in budget cuts that will go into effect next school year. Officials said those cuts were triggered by the failure of a $60.6 million tax increase that was turned down overwhelmingly by voters during the November election.
O’Malley said morale among teachers would go down if the district were to decide to move forward with the new building setup.
“People’s jobs are on the line, and it’s uncomfortable for everyone,” he said. “But financially this is a problem that is not going away.”
An architect from Chicago architecture firm STR Partners, Alan Armbrust, said during the board meeting that out of about 20 studies his firm has been hired to conduct on whether schools should divide their grade levels, about five school districts have decided to move forward with the change.
“If the goal is to save money, it always does, but it’s not always met with universal acceptance,” Armbrust said. “It’s a challenging choice because you’re changing the structure of the school without changing the building.”
More Top Picks Kitchenaid Classic Plus Ksm75wh
Norridge resident Karen Bucaro said she wanted to see the school district separate grade levels into two schools.
“The kids would adapt to the change because sometimes in life you need to go with the flow,” Bucaro said. “Maybe the board isn’t moving on that thought — you have to look forward to the future in order to get something done.”
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.