The proposal coming to a Unit 5 school board vote next Wednesday does not close Carlock Elementary School or repurpose Glenn Elementary.
Superintendent Kristen Weikle presented details of the proposal during a virtual meeting Thursday night. Of the original two options presented to the public, one closed and repurposed those two schools and the other did neither. Survey responses favored keeping those schools roughly two-to-one.
Previously, the proposal keeping Carlock open did so by switching the Traditions neighborhood to open enrollment, adding about 50 students to the school northwest of Bloomington-Normal. The new proposal instead does not add any open enrollment areas anywhere within the district, but moves some students from Parkside Elementary into Glenn to relieve student enrollment pressures there.
The proposal cost ranges from $32 million to $45 million, without requiring any tax increases.
"Building projects like this are almost always financed by selling bonds. And so that's what the district would do," said Weikle. "Normally property owners do see an increase in property taxes to pay off those bonds."
"However," said Weikle, "Unit 5 would be able to take revenue from our county facility sales tax and use that revenue to make our bond payments."
Implementation timeline
Changes over the next three years would change school boundaries for up to 287 elementary students, 200 junior high students and 124 high schoolers. Students affected by school boundary changes would be grandfathered in. This means those enrolled at a particular school at the time the boundaries change would have the right to stay at their current school until they are promoted to middle or high school, or until they move to a new residence.
The proposal was otherwise largely unchanged from how option 2 was presented in March. In the 2027-28 school year, Benjamin Elementary boundary changes would move some students to Colene Hoose. A small addition would be made at Towanda Elementary School. Some Sugar Creek students would be switched to Grove Elementary. The western portion of Cedar Ridge would switch to Pepper Ridge. And a Normal Community boundary change with Normal West would take place.
The next school year, Pepper Ridge Elementary students would go to Parkside Junior High when they reach sixth grade, rather than Evans.
And in the 2029-30 school year, a new early learning center would be completed to allow Brigham Elementary to be sold. Also, the 18- to 22-year-olds program at Eugene Field would move to a new or renovated space, but not at the current Glenn Elementary location.
Next steps
Weikle made no guarantees of the proposal passing on Wednesday, but provided details on what the district would do next if it was approved.
The school district would contact all affected households to provide further guidance on their options to make transitions to new schools. It would also submit a Request for Qualifications [RFQ] as soon as June. This allows the district to evaluate potential firms to determine who would be best to help make plans. These RFQ solicitations would be for the small-scale additions at Towanda Elementary and Parkside Junior High, the new early learning center and the new facility for the 18- to 22-year-olds program.
The district would then review responses, study feasibility and community input and then approve bids.
This story will be updated.
