As Stan Gozur takes his seat as president of the Unit 5 school board, he said he is pleased with the direction the school district is headed after the enrollment study saga.
Gozur previously served as the board vice president. In his new role, his top priorities include incorporating more stakeholder opinions and organizing finances.
“Finding where we are financially was a key consideration in helping to navigate with the community feedback as to where do we want to proceed based on where we are financially,” Gozur said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
He also wants to focus on staff retention and attraction to Unit 5.
“It is always imperative to continue to retain all the quality individuals, instruction providers that are within the district and look to further attract special skills that don’t always come through our local colleges or communities,” he said.
Unit 5 enrollment study
The final proposal approved by the school board this week resulted in neither Carlock Elementary nor Glenn Elementary schools being closed. Gozur is pleased with that outcome.
“We set out with some very lofty objectives that we knew we wanted to establish or accomplish for the entire district, and, first and foremost, we really needed to make sure that how we were utilizing our buildings, making sure that we aren’t over capacity in any one particular building, was key,” he said.
At the center of resistance to closing either school was parents of students at both schools. Parents celebrated the decision after it was recommended to the board.
“I would say any input from the community mattered from the minute we started receiving it,” said Gozur. “That was information, that was additional data points, additional emotional stories that we wanted to include in the room when thinking through all the decisions prior to unveiling any of the potential plans…”
Gozur said the district’s internal committee, comprised of administrators, educators and school board members including himself, assisted the entire board with understanding the various options before presenting them to the public.
“And so, we kind of created a palette of options, then we took some of those to the community and really found out the community wanted us to invest building wise,” he said, adding “…the Glenn or Carlock community or some of the other areas throughout the county, whether it was parents, PTOs, students had come out, sometimes business representatives, that was all important in the decision-making process.”
Furthermore, Gozur said the process taught the school board how to communicate more effectively, and have clarity moving forward.
Potential for over and undercrowding
While some schools faced a lack of enrolled students to be addressed in the enrollment study, others faced overcrowding. Gozur thinks Unit 5 is in a good position to address potential overcrowding in the future with the final proposal.
“One thing I want the community to recognize is that the district is providing a grace period for this transition, and so there will be opportunities for households that are asked to change buildings eventually, those students have an opportunity to move earlier than the planned date, and the households have the same opportunity to stay in their current home school later than the planned date,” he said.
So, Gozur said it is possible for minor population bubbles to occur in different classrooms leading to a higher capacity.
Still, parents may be fearful that Glenn or Carlock could have their futures addressed again, and worry about continuing their child’s education there due to under crowding. Gozur said this enrollment study was a “one-time major effort.”
“I know the mayor of Carlock and our superintendent, Dr. [Kristen] Weikle, are looking to engage in some long-term understanding of how the city is looking to attract not just population but families,” he said. “Certainly, we want to see the population of all of our towns grow to the point where it’s sustainable, but we’re interested in understanding how families with students are coming in…”
However, Weikle previously refrained from making any promises regarding the school.
Regardless of what action was going to be taken, Gozur said making sure staff and students were safe and primed for growth was top of mind while having discussions with parents and families regarding the different plans "…and that’s what we walked away with.”
Gozur said the plan also properly utilizes each building. Final plans include changing boundaries for multiple schools in the district.
“We looked at early learning opportunities for [pre-K] students ... that will have an opportunity to have a new facility custom designed for their level,” he said. “Likewise, with our 18 through 22 student population, we will have finally [a] new facility for them to truly learn and develop in the way that we really want them to.”
Eugene Field School
With the final proposal, Glenn Elementary was taken out of consideration as the new home of the district’s transitional service program for 18 to 22-year-olds who currently go to Eugene Field School.
Gozur said existing school property will likely be looked at for the new location. The existing location is slated to close in three years due to structural disrepair.
“Are they for either remodeling or building on? Is the land appropriate to be built on? And so that’s going to be one of the things, once the district commits to one or more architecture services to help us with that process from their engineering aspect, we will look at our properties first,” he said.
“Beyond that, we also talked at the table of are there other facilities around town that can be purchased and renovated? Refit to the specific needs of the students.”
While the Field building has a classroom atmosphere, the district would like to retain its realistic job-like applications. A school building may be the best fit for the new facility, but other spaces could work as well.
“It could be other types of community centers that have locker room spaces, kitchens, etc. It might be some more generic office buildings, but are still set up for additional utilities that will come with what we’re looking to do,” said Gozur.
