April 16 Board Meeting:  Alternate Configurations

The Board of Education is moving forward with deciding on a district reconfiguration plan.  Architects are continuing to develop the middle school campus model, and are concurrently developing other options.  At the April 16 Board of Education meeting, the district's architectural firm Nagle Hartray will present three alternate configuration options, each consisting of two separate middle schools serving grades 5-8, and six K-4 elementary schools.  They will also present updated information related to the middle school campus model.  Additionally, one community member will present an alternate option consisting of a 5-8 middle school campus on the SW/RO site, with five feeder elementary schools: Indian Trail, Oak Terrace, Edgewood, Ravinia and a new elementary school on the current West Ridge site owned by the Park District of Highland Park.

At a special meeting beginning at 5 p.m. on April 21, the Board of Education will discuss the options at the April 16 board meeting, and evaluate them using criteria developed by the SCFFAC committee, along with a decision-making tool developed by the board during a series of workshops in February and March.

Community Proposal Update

Thank you to the community members who submitted correspondence, questions and ideas in response to the Board of Education's call for community proposals to reconfigure the district.  One community member will be sharing his idea with the board at the April 16 meeting (see first item in this article). Other ideas and questions submitted included:

• Is it feasible to construct a middle school campus on either the Sunset Valley or Highland Park Country Club golf courses?  The answer---No, because both golf courses are situated on flood plains which greatly limit the potential building area.  
• Would the district consider keeping its current configuration?  A comprehensive two-year study by a citizen's committee found that maintaining the district's current configuration is not financially viable.  In order to do so, the district would need to ask its residents to support a permanent tax rate increase in its education fund, along with another tax rate increase to support a bond issue to renovate its twelve buildings.  
• Would the board consider merging with District 109? This would require the support of both communities.  It is not something that the board has discussed to date.