Neighborhood Schools for All

During our last election, I had the pleasure of attending about 20 coffees in the various neighborhoods in Highland Park. Myself and other candidates were approached by several citizens from the Red Oak School area about how their school was treated very differently than other elementary schools in our community.

Unlike all other schools, Red Oak Elementary is 50% neighborhood kids and 50% bused in kids from other parts of the city. What the residents of this area are asking for is to have true neighborhood schools like the rest of Highland Park and I agree.

I believe we should offer neighborhood schools to all the neighborhoods in the city as a first priority. Why this situation exists is the fact that we are living with out-dated boundaries that were created during the 1993 consolidation process. There are not enough kids living in the Red Oak boundaries to fill this school. That has prompted the dual language programs and Fort Sheridan children to be bused to Red Oak.

I am urging the new superintendent and school board for District 112 to look into ways of bringing Red Oak back to the status of a neighborhood elementary school as others are within our community. We need to set a schedule of redrawing new school boundaries every so many years to keep neighborhood schools a reality in the future. I also believe the Fort Sheridan kids deserve a neighborhood school and should not be dispersed throughout our community.

As just another citizen and tax payer, I would suggest the new board and superintendent look at this matter over the summer and create a plan to discuss with our community for a 2010-2011 school year implementation. I think the sooner we start discussing this as a community, the sooner we can come together and provide the same educational community experience to all.