The Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Board of Education agreed to survey all Carpenter Elementary School families about whether they would consider attending Lincoln Middle School during the 2018-19 school year in an effort to relieve crowding at Emerson Middle School.
Emerson Middle School is expected to have an enrollment of 891 students for the 2018-19 school year, 39 more students than during the 2017-18 school year, according to a report prepared for the District 64 board. Based on current class size limits, that would require 33 home rooms. However, the school has enough space to accommodate only 32 home rooms, according to Joel Martin, assistant superintendent for human resources.
District 64 staff members had proposed surveying 44 Carpenter families with fifth-grade students who live in a triangular-shaped neighborhood created by Dee Road, Busse Highway and Touhy Avenue. However, the board directed Superintendent Laurie Heinz to survey all Carpenter families about the possible boundary change.
That survey is expected to be sent via email to parents by the end of the week, Heinz said.
At least 28 students would have to choose to attend Lincoln Middle School to alleviate the space crunch at Emerson Middle School, Martin said. Lincoln Middle School is projected to have an enrollment of 721 students next school year, but it can accommodate as many as 868 students, Martin said.
If more Carpenter fifth-grade students indicate they want to attend Lincoln than that school can accommodate, spots should be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, board member Rick Biagi said.
Another option presented to the board proposed reconfiguring and renovating Emerson’s large library and learning resource center to include a new classroom, flexible learning space and a maker space, which often feature 3D printers, software and electronics to allow students to invent.
Lincoln Middle School’s learning resource center recently underwent a similar renovation.
Based on population projections, enrollment at Emerson Middle School at 8101 N. Cumberland Ave., Niles — which opened in 1998 — will exceed the capacity of the school for at least the next five years, according to the report. Emerson’s growing population likely means the district will have to renovate the Emerson library to add a classroom eventually, Heinz said.
However, several board members balked at the $638,000 price tag for that renovation, which included $182,000 for new furniture.
“I knew we were going to need more space at Emerson,” said board secretary Tom Sotos. “I didn’t know we were going to get hit with a bill for more than $600,000 for one classroom.”
The board directed Heinz to come back to its next meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 26 at Jefferson School, 8200 W. Greendale Ave., with a revised budget that reflected only the “essentials” for creating more classroom space at Emerson.
Washington Elementary School is also expected to not have enough space for all of the home rooms required by its projected enrollment of 660 students in 2018-19, nine more students than in 2017-18, Martin said. Altering the attendance boundaries for Washington Elementary School is not under consideration, he added.
The options under consideration by the district include turning the current art classroom into a regular classroom, which would require the school’s art teacher to travel to each homeroom for lessons.
If additional space is needed, the auditorium may need to be turned into a classroom, Martin told the board. That discussion prompted Sotos to raise the possibility of freeing up space at the district’s elementary schools by moving all of the district’s kindergarten classrooms to Jefferson School and offering full-day classes.
“That would solve a lot of problems,” Sotos said.
That would require district officials to end its lease of part of the building to daycare provider, Child Care with Confidence, and to renovate Jefferson School at a likely cost of “millions and millions” of dollars, Heinz said.
“That is a massive conversation,” Heinz said. “Right now, it is pie in the sky.”
Heather Cherone is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
