Sound off on 204 Board boundaries meeting

It didn't suprise me that the board approved the plan with adjustments. What suprised me was that the board's adjustments made our situation go from bad to worse. I made the assumption that we were Owen, period! Not Owen west or east. Well I now know that we are Owen west and we got "cut off at the knees". My letter to the board.

After just returning from the board meeting, I realize that your decisions were not going to make everyone happy, however you made our situation go from bad to worse. When I say "our" I mean Owen West. Little did I know that Owen East would take up their cause and leave Owen west out to dry.

Four years ago you sent my subdivision, The Villages of Meadowlakes along with Chicory, to Owen, the furtherst school in the district. With your revised boundry, by sending Owen East to Waubonsie, (along with the other subdivisions already slated to go to Waubonsie) you have in essence taken 3/4 of Still and sent them to Waubonsie. Meaning the only students from Still to be sent to Metea are walkers. Everyone bused to Still is being sent to Waubonsie. You have isolated the area bounded by Route 59, Montgomery, Frontenac & 75th, we are an island. We are the only area south of 75 going to Metea, the 3rd farthest school from our homes.

When I asked Board member Vickers to clarify what Owen east meant I was told Brighton Ridge, West Glen, etc. I asked what about Owen west and she stated "we didn't hear from anyone from Owen west. By the time I realized that Owen east had their own agenda and that Owen west was apparently "on their own" it was too late to sign up to be heard.

I believe a huge injustice was done to the families living in this area. It wasn't bad enough that we were being sent to the farthest school in the district (for the 2nd time) and the 3rd farthest from our house, you took the majority of the population of Still and have sent them to Waubonsie. You may not see this as a detrement, however I do. You have no idea what this will do to my children.

You only have to live with this decision for tonight, however my children have to live with "your mistake" until 2014.

Hey, I went to a little Jr. High that was split up into 3 High Schools! Shipped in all different directions! Big Deal, not really. In Naperville, it can be expected as well. I have had neighbors move from our subdivision so they would not "have" to attend a certain Middle School. In addition to attending a certain High School. Guess what, the boundries didn't "work" out for them. Tough break! Schools are only as good as their teachers and programs, it is the Parent's job to take care of other responsibilities, like screening friends and trends. "Nequa or Bust", I don't think so! Go 204. As for the MOVERS, it may be time to relocate so you can go to the only School you will accept. Realtors get ready. Their move may be your GAIN! BK

Big surprise! This whole thing is a joke. The majority of the district disagrees with the site, and the boundaries. I should have never voted yes the second time the referendum came up. I have learned my lesson though. Let's see how many time the referndum to fund this thing is rejected by the people. The boundaries would not have been this big of an issue if the school was placed where the majority of high schhol students live. But that would mean logic an reason would have to be brought into the equation. This school will never open on time and and the board will have a very difficult time staffing it when the funds are not available. Our great super and his administration will be gone in a few years and it will be us having to pick up the pieces. I would put the for sale sign up today but anyone with half a brain looking to buy would certainly stay clear of this district and it's vision (or lack there of) for the future. How many years until more funds are "required" to add on to NV because of over crowding? The school site, the board and the super are a joke. The only problems with a bad joke is nobody laughs.

I think the board did a commendable job at the meeting. They took into account the two adjustments that really needed to be made, and weren't swayed by large attendence from certain subdivisions.

Good job SB.

The meeting went much better than I expected (and much shorter too). Glad I got there early for a seat.

I think everyone was behind the HS adjustment they made. It's too bad more changes couldn't be made, but the simple fact is everyone can't go to Nequea.

And, to you Frybabies, boo hoo!

I think the the meeting last night was a done deal with a few token changes to give the appearance of being reasonable. (I agree with Owen West being "ditched" by Owen East for the sake of their own neighborhoods of Brighton Ridge&WestGlen.)

There was nothing TG could do because it just moved the issue to another neighborhood who would have complained just as loud. I think the Sun incorrectely stated that TG wanted to replace Welch, I believe it was Springbrook. Most of TG is closer to NVHS than most of Springbrook. Maybe TG gains with the smaller school with less competition (due to less kids) academically, athletically, musically, etc.

That was about boundaries last night, but I think the school cost (referendum for operating budget), school site ("unfit")and other (lack of need) are still risks that this may not happen.

No, we stood in the back and people would not move forward. The school board did not provide a big enough place to meet the damands of the all the parents and students. We ended up leaving because we could barely hear the speakers. We are part of Owen East and have always felt that the boundaries did not make sense. We are the furthest East school, so why send us so far west, then north west. 59 was a border for most schools, but what about a larger street 75th? Nequa is so much closer and much safer.

In response to the folks in "Owens West", the Brookdale kids were also an "island" thanks to the previous re-districting. There were many parents at those meetings two years ago extolling the virtues of "meeting new friends" and "expanding the boundaries" when speaking about voting for the proposal to make the Brookdale kids an "island". If any of those parents are the ones currently lobbying against the re-districting now on those very same grounds, I have this to say: "What goes around, comes around".
Karma can be a bitter pill to swallow. Have a nice day.

We attended the meeting last night! But for so many of us that meant a greeting at the door by 'Aurora's Finest' and the news, after a frosty 20 minute wait outside The Crouse Center, that the Fire Marshal was inside counting heads- the building was too crowded. Denied!

I try to be open minded but the not-so-subtle signs that this board is on cruise control made it seem that the comfortable and safe meeting venue was chosen to limit participation. Who knew so many would show up? We did and were still too late to get in. Further, did it ever occur to anyone that a televised meeting would have let so many more see the process and hear the thoughts and concerns of their neighbors?

I know the board has an impossible task and can never please most of the people. But I sense that so many like me are ready to accept a reasonable decision based on the common good. I just have nothing to tell me that the board has ever acted in any other manner than irresponsibly (Brach Brody) and exclusionary. This board has failed to take advantage of opportunities to engage the support of the community by the encouragement of participation in the process. Some open and honest dialog would have won my support- there are a lot of good ideas that fell silent. Round 2: Operational Budget Funding should be interesting. I will be sure to get to The Crouse Center a day ahead of time.

Parting thought: Having been through an equally devisive redistricting in Columbia, Maryland 6 years ago, experience shows that the kids will get over it, the parents- not so much. It will take time to heal but the support and participation of the families is what's necessary to make a school exceptional. We'll get through this eventually. Meanwhile, I'm sure there will be calls to 'circle the lawyers' and fight, but that's America!

I think the board acted with integrity and honor. They incorporated the feedback that they received from the community into their decisions and brought this matter to a close.

In the end, this plan reduces the overall commute distance for the district along with the average bus travel times. This plan has reduced the longest commutes in the district from 6.1 miles(Brookdale at 6.1 miles although there are currently other neighborhoods with commutes in excess of 7 miles) to 5.7 miles (Watts, see link below).

http://tinyurl.com/2fk7pm

The plan is also geographically contiguous and balances enrollment as the requirements stated.

I am happy that the board was not swayed by a small number of very wealthy and influential people in the Fry attendence area. Several times during the meeting last night, people around me were shouting out to move Welch to WV so that Fry could stay at NV. They want to send those people who are literally right across the street from NV (some withing a couple hundred yards) so a small number in their area can say they walk a minimum of 1+ miles to NV. (The majority of Fry is more than 1.5 miles from NV Green) All this when Fry is only 3.8 miles from WV. It is also interesting to me that distance to BB is nearly identical to WV. I makes me wonder why they are now so apposed to being pulled from NV. Is it that they don't want to attend school with as someone from the area said last night "those Aurora kids" (see link below)

http://tinyurl.com/2tq3fg

It was pretty appauling to see people scrambling to throw another area under the bus to satisfy their sense of entitlement.

I am just glad that this chapter is finally closed so that we can move on as a community and do what is best for our kids.

The decision is not easy and not perfect. The administration and board members kept repeating that and I totally agree with that.

However, the decision to craft the boundaries is like a medical surgery except that boundary decisions affect lot more lives. A major surgery is rarely performed on a single recommendation. Even the experts seek a 2nd and at times more independent opinions.

No matter how the boundaries are crafted, some people will be left unhappy. In order to create a sense of fairness and justice for the greater good of district 204, it would have been a better way (IMHO) to defer the decision until board consults external independent experts (preferrably out of area/out of state). If the boundary recommendations by adminstration are good, they would have been reinforced by the recommendations of the independent experts and would bring a better and wider acceptability. If there are weaknesses in the recommendations, we would have benefittted from getting better recommendations and yet a wider accaptability.

Again, my observation was, majority of parents raised the concerns about the proximity and distance not so much about NV v/s WV (that appears to be minority view).

If things are subjective like why FRY and not WELCH should go to WVHS. Why Welch is walking community and not FRY, it is difficult to justify the decisions objectively.

If RT59 is the natural boundary why Tamarac is going to Nequa -- again a very subjective issue.

Any suggestion/recommendation generated within the district is likely to have a specific narrower perspective and an element of bias.

IMHO, the best way to eliminate the element of bias and bring a sense of fairness is to have the inputs from the external (preferrably out of state) independent experts.

I'm sure no matter where our students go, all three High schools will benefit from them.

I hope your children will be able to pull through this tragedy as they attend a brand-new state-of-the-art high school in a town that Money magazine frequently lists as one of the best places in America to raise a family.

I was at the board meeting and was very impressed with all the residents who voiced their concerns. The residents had done a thorough due diligence on their concerns with what information was available to them. The residents were at a disadvantage in the sense that inadequate information was posted by the district on their website to provide all the background information that was used in compiling the proposal - enrollment predictions, transportation quotes and routes information obtained from laidlaw and other information. From the time the proposal was presented to public a week ago to the approval time is not adequate time for a resident to file a freedom act for information.

All the residents asked was to slow down and take time to make sure they had addressed everything that needs to be evaluated. As evidenced by the comment made above by Owen West, this is exactly why they should have not made changes last nite and act in haste when all the board members were not fully educated enough on enrollment impacts now and in future but were computing things very quickly at the meeting to make a decision.

What happened last nite would never happen in a board room in the corporate world. I think just as we hold our corporate board under lot of scrutiny...it's time the school board is held accountable.

I got the impression SB had already decided and the meeting was just a smokescreen. I definitely thinkk that the site of 3rd high school is wrong and the SB did not have any discussions relating to the site concerns that people had. Its wrong to put a HS where there is no population growth, period. The SB is not able to give answers to the public about the debacle they have created with the BB land and now they are acting unwisely again by advancing with the the northern site. Sad that our SB asks for public comments and does not bother to even acknowledge them.

This is exactly what the board wanted...to really turn the community against each other and wash their hands off from any accountability.

TG parents last nite expressed their concerns district wide for middle school splits, longer bus commute and did address the pedestrian bridge issue personal to them. And, as a result the board did review Peterson and Owen situation. In addition, raised the issue of new third high school site - environmental, Canadian railway issue of safety and proximity to hazardous materials being transported (the board itself made a press release on their website of their concerns subsequent to approving the eola rd site), and proximity to student population, open exposure still pending on Brach Brodie lawsuit (mid-March) but going ahead on finalizing the Eola rd site (end of Feb) and what about Board independence in the matter (no independent experienced consultants used and conflict of interest exists).

All the residents affected positively by the proposal do not want to raise the issues but cannot refute that those are valid concerns.

If it helps minimize in your conscious that Brookdale lost out in the last round and now it is TG's turn...that's fine. but two wrongs don't make it right for the community at all the whole situation at question.

The 7 page board proposal dedicated an entire page to the pedestrian walkway issue so you cannot refute that it was a primary reason fry cannot be walkers. The information in the proposal was not accurate and we need to set the facts right.

I also like to clarify that TG did not give a suggestion but asked the board take time to vote on the proposal. I was in the first few rows and did not hear anyone say take welch out so please review the video recording of the meeting and make your statement.

The meeting last night was disappointing to say the least. There were many valid points brought up by 204 residents that should have been evaluated before this vote was taken. I will write on 2 points.
1) Transportation issues have been inadequately addressed. The adm. relies on the bus company to come up with both travel times and cost figures. I am a small businessman & would never let a vendor dictate future cost structures for my business. Is it just me or has anyone really looked at the additional miles that are going to be increased on a yearly basis.
2) SAFETY The main issue here is two-fold. A) The railroad (Joliet & Eastern) is the small presently lightly used North to South line that bisects all of district 204.This railroad will impact the following grade schools that will attend WVHS & MVHS,
Longwood, Brookdale, Owen, Watts, Cowlishaw, McCarty, White Eagle, Fry, Peterson. This railroad is presently slated to be developed to carry 3-4 times the freight traffic (10 trains now to 40-45 trains in the future). The problem with this increase is the 204 district area impacted by this has only one bridge at New York street. All other crossing are substandard and on small country type roads ( Diehl, North Aurora, Liberty, Montgomery, and 87th st.). Does anyone in district 204 feel that these roads will be upgraded in a timely fashion when all we have to do is look at Route 59 and see how long it has taken to get any relief. B) Site safety is critical as we do know that there are hydrocarbons in the phase 1 soil sampling at the mvhs site. This was stated to be diesel fuel,lets make sure that this affects only a small area, and if not how long will it take to clean up and who ultimately will be responsible for the condition of the soil.
3) Overcrowding This is an area I feel both the board and adm. has done a great job. We are in great need of a third high school and additional middle school. There seems to be agreement between most 204 residents that new growth and current student population is centered from Ogden-75th streets south. Is it then prudent to even explore a far north location. Have we really exhausted all opportunities at the 75th/Rt59 location?

All 204 families will be impacted by the middle and high school placement for decades to come, lets not rush, lets get it right. Our family is not directly impacted by the current boundary change but like all 204 school families we are impacted by the continual overcrowding at the middle and high school level.
Thank you J.J Ashbury

Can anyone list the changes that were made in the meeting?

Moderator Jim: Check out our updated story on the web site.

I am proud my children live in district 204 because we are blessed with an exceptional schools, all the way around. None the less, I am shocked by the decision by the Board to move ahead with a vote last evening and equally shocked by the comments like Boo Hoo Frybabies made by educated parents.

We are blessed to live in a democracy rich in human and financial resources. Last evening numerous concerned citizens provided information on to why the boundries should be re-considered. Regardless of where one family or subdivision wants their children to go to school, the real issue is were these boundries defined in a scientific and independent fashion by professionals trained to make such recommendations?

The Board asked the Administration to take on a task that is out of their realm of expertise. We are lucky we have fantastic people with experience in education on the Administration. However, they are not scientists, they are not economists, they are not trained nor prepared to take on an analysis of this magnitude. This is the real issue!

Last night's Board set a frigthening precedent. They listened to nearly 70 comments, many of which pointed out flaws in the decision and decision making process and still moved ahead with a vote. This despite the fact that resources for conducting an independent study were given at the meeting.

Whether you are personally pleased with the boundaries as defined or not, YOU should be concerned by the process utilized to make the recommendations. A decision of this magnitude warrents professional dedication to the analysis. In not doing so, we have enabled a Board to make decisions without due dilegence. A precedent I am frightened by...and wonder what other future actions will be taken with the same non-expert approach.

Aadil writes - Why Welch is walking community and not FRY, it is difficult to justify the decisions objectively.

my response - Maybe because I can safely walk across 95th street in a crosswalk to get to Neuqua at 4 if not 5 points within 1/2 mile

and I can see Neuqua from my house. I don't have to sit on my roof with binoculars to state this claim as do TG.

Meeting was packed, but our subdivision (Brookdale) was communicating well, and many of us showed up early to get seats. I think the board did as well as they could, based on the situation.

Funny how on the north side of IPSD building there was plenty of parking and there wasn't a problem getting into the building. When I left I drove to the north side of the building and the majority of the cars were over flowing in the parking lots and on the street. Have you ever been to the IPSD building before last night? Seems to me the majority of you were there last night for the first time, and only there to voice your complaints. For those of you in TG have you ever been west of Rt. 59? Well, time to get used to it!!

I also plan on driving from Fry and Scullen during the times school begins and ends and I highly doubt it will take me over 30 minutes to dirve under 6 miles like so many of the guests last night stated. There are also other routes to drive besides Rt. 59 to 75th to Ogden and I can't imagine that will Regardless, you should be so lucky it is only taking your kids less then 30 minutes to get a amazing education in such a high quality school district. Look around the state and the contry at bus times and be proud of what you have.

I commend the IPSD Board for making the changes they made at the end of the meeting, those were needed changes. Thank you also for doing what is right for the majority. There will always be a minority that will not be happy.

Finally, I'm just thankful the rest of the IPSD can stop hearing the 20% of you (and that is a generous number) stop complaining!!!

This is exactly what the board wanted...to really turn the community against each other and wash their hands off from any accountability.

TG parents last nite expressed their concerns district wide for middle school splits, longer bus commute and did address the pedestrian bridge issue personal to them. And, as a result the board did review Peterson and Owen situation. In addition, raised the issue of new third high school site - environmental, Canadian railway issue of safety and proximity to hazardous materials being transported (the board itself made a press release on their website of their concerns subsequent to approving the eola rd site), and proximity to student population, open exposure still pending on Brach Brodie lawsuit (mid-March) but going ahead on finalizing the Eola rd site (end of Feb) and what about Board independence in the matter (no independent experienced consultants used and conflict of interest exists).

All the residents affected positively by the proposal do not want to raise the issues but cannot refute that those are valid concerns.

If it helps minimize in your conscious that Brookdale lost out in the last round and now it is TG's turn...that's fine. but two wrongs don't make it right for the community at all the whole situation at question.

The 7 page board proposal dedicated an entire page to the pedestrian walkway issue so you cannot refute that it was a primary reason fry cannot be walkers. The information in the proposal was not accurate and we need to set the facts right.

I also like to clarify that TG did not give a suggestion but asked the board take time to vote on the proposal. I was in the first few rows and did not hear anyone say take welch out so please review the video recording of the meeting and make your statement.

I was at the meeting last night hanging out the door and listening to a monitor that was set at a whisper. I stayed until the end. I walked away thinking what a tragedy for everyone! So many that spoke asked the Board to stop and slow down. I agree. The site of the new high school is not optimal nor is it reasonable for the district. Unreasonable locations create unreasonable boundries. Brach-Brodie although now unattainable was better and what most of us hoped for. And why do we cram into a board room neighbor against neighbor? It is all because bad decisions were made for so long and now the board feels that it has run out of time to make a good decision. And for those unfortunates well just "get over it" was the response from the board. But I feel it is never to late and there is always more time to make things the best they can be. My eyes are wide open and I'm not going to "get over it" anytime soon!

I am one of the "Owen West" parents. I had no problem with the
boundaries before last nights meeting. I was very upset that the board decided and voted upon a change to send the "Owen East" kids to Waubonsie and the "Owen West" kids to Metea. This is unfair to the "Owen West" families. Right now, we are bussed over 5 miles to our school (and 17 of the elementary schools are closer to us than Owen) and now we will be bussed to the farthest high school from us (approximately 6 miles). Why do the families in The Villages of Meadow Lakes/Chicory Place/Stonehaven get shafted every time? We should be able to go to Waubonsie with the "Owen East" kids. We are actually a group of homeowners who want to attend Waubonsie because of its proximity and excellence, as opposed to White Eagle and Tall Grass who do not.

Oh well, I'd better buy some oil stocks and hope that I make some money for all the gas I'm going to be buying in the future to attend school functions. . .

We were told by the school board that an important consideration to the boundary recommendation was to balance academic achievement among the three high schools. Today, NVHS is clearly considered the school of choice when academic achievements is used as a benchmark.

The current boundary recommendations do more to create the negative stigma associated with WVHS and continues to perpetuate the stigma of the good school (NVHS) vs. the bad school (WVHS). This perception is contagious and destructive to Naperville, Aurora and District 204. After further research and evaluation of the ISAT test scores among the 204 elementary and middle schools made accessible on the 204 website, the stigma is more then perception but also reality.

The board had an excellent opportunity to more evenly balance the academic standards of the three high schools by redistributing three of the four title one schools feeding into WVHS to NVHS and MVHS. Instead, Mr. Metzger refused to open the topic for debate as he lectured everyone on his "alleged" research that he claims did not support the multitudes of arguments supporting a more balanced academic equality by redistributing the three title one schools.

Ms. Tyle added that the academic scores/statistics published in the report cards are not a good benchmark for academic achievement. She characterized them as moving targets suggesting them to be unreliable when measuring academic performance.

My response. . . are you kidding? One question we should be asking the board is what measures or statistics did the administration use when they developed a boundary plan that was allegedly designed to "maximize the academic strength of the three high schools..."?

I feel as though we were taken advantage of by the board/administration in so far that we were given little time to respond to their proposal. The accommodations for last night's meeting were scant and not welcoming for this forum of hearing the public. Their arrogance in not openly debating everyone's concern leads me to believe that this boundary proposal was going to pass regardless what the citizens had to say.

Let's sum it all up in its simplest terms:
We still don't know what the final legal costs and payments will be on the location that didn't work out? Or how much money will actually be left for construction of the new school?
We have a new site that was decided upon in a matter of weeks that is a potential safety and environmental hazzard?
We have a large amount of people in the community that will now attempt to vote down the operating budget? Now that's smart!
The question remains if a 3rd school is even needed due to declining enrollment projections and an uncertain real estate market which will dramatically limit the number of new residents moving into the district.
And finally you add in the fact that the location of the new school could probably not have been selected in a worse possible location based on the population and geographic shape of the district? Pick any 10 possible locations in the district for the new school and this one would rank 10th. Pick another 10 possible locations, this one would rank 10th.
We have an abundance of space at the two existing schools that could be added on to for a fraction of the costs of a new school. Does anyone even think about the fact that this option would reduce operating and transportation costs the most? And also have the shortest average drivetimes?
So what do all of the above comments and questions have in common? They all point out the complete stupidity of this entire process without once mentioning the name of any neighborhood, elementary school or middle school.
The real issues here are much more basic and obvious than any of the individual neighborhood issues.

Momof2

You need to remember your link for the 3.8 miles is not the bus route. The bus will not take a left on Montgomery but rather 87th then a right on Eola and it also will not go via Longwood rd when it is not stopping in that area. For a starting point you also need to pick a better spot in TG then the Fry address High School busses do not pick up at the Elem. School. So if you use the google pedometer you can move street by street and see that the average bus route from Tall Grass to WV is 5.6 miles http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ and the avg to NV is 1.8 Mile via Tall Grass Drive and 1.6 by Dearing Bay

The public commment at the meeting was a waste of time and non-impact. They had decided that they were going to do those two little moves before they even came to the meeting.
I am surprised that the Board did not consider one of the alternative proposals that (1)did not split middle schools (2)had lower transportation cost and shorter student commuting times (thus optimal geographics) and (3)still met the test score balancing. They shouldn't dimiss a plan that met their own criteria better than the selected one without explanation besides "this is really hard". It just points to that there were hidden criteria/agendas and deals and bias. And a rush to get this over.

I am still amazed at the negativity towards and name calling of Tallgrass for wanting what they thought was best for their neighborhoods - negativity expressed by those who are now getting what they want, but were as equally whiney when their own personal interests were threatened.

I was surprised to say the least that the school board split Owen in two in order to accomodate John Stephen's neighborhood. I guess he was the only school board member not "taken care of" under the administration's boundary plan. Bruce Glawe made sure that Fry was put at WV with White Eagle and the rest of the board members got unsplit elementary schools and equal or improved commute times. I thought the school board had more integrity or at least they wouldn't be so obvious about what their intentions were.

And a comment for the poster who references "karma" as to why Brookdale is now getting a sweet deal. It makes me sad that you are now gloating about being the big "winners" in this situation. I guess that makes the kids that now have longer commutes and split elementary schools the "losers." Good for you, Brookdale, you are now assigned to a high school filled with losers.

MomOf2 and others,

I think the average commute says nothing about what's really happening. What's really happening is about 500-1000 more bus riders are added and the overall district is moving a farther average distance. Of course you will have to go to court to get the actual numbers. The averages provided at the meeting were totally unrealistic. If the overall district's kids are not on buses for more time, then why doesn't the district commit to a 25-30% cut in transportation costs. You will never see that because the cost is going up and so is the reimbursement from the state. Laidlaw has this neat little setup where the district looks the other way, Laidlaw makes the money, and the state (you and me) pick up the tab. Thus, the more kids on buses, the more the district and Laidlaw get from the state. A nice little scheme except for one thing - our children are less safe.

I had asked the board to make Scullen a feeder school, at least, for Waubonsie. They already were making Fry have a huge commute. The least they could do is try to fix a few of the "fixable" problems like they did for everyone else except Tall Grass. The Wheatland/Peterson kids could all go together with Fry to Waubonsie. We all live on the same side of 59th. I don't think the board even tried to consider it. As long as they don't split the other middle schools, they thought it's o.k. to have a vendetta against Tall Grass.

As a typical Tall Grass resident who attended the meeting last night, I cannot believe the anger and outright disgust you showed to the residents of Tall Grass. Calling us Elitist? How can you say that? We supported the last referendum in masses and that took us out of Nequa. We supported it then becuase Metea was an acceptable distance to us even though of course we'd prefer to be at the closer school. This labelling is outrighly supported by the Superintendent who set the tone with his opening statements and is continuing to use that label to his advantage and continue the negativity-Shame on Him.

When the 3 children spoke from their hearts we were all moved- it didn't matter where you lived. But Mark Metzger took that moment to threaten to end the meeting stating "you know, we don't have to do this". Again affirming the approval to continue the negativity against Tall Grass. We knew that we had an uphill battle but we thought it would be a civil and respectful forum. Interesting how Mark allowed the woman who supported the boundaries to continue beyond the 2 minute time limit every other participant had. It was laughable...It was clear very early on that we would be dismissed, ignored, deemed irrelevant but like everyone else, we just couldn't take our eyes off the train wreck.

But to their credit in the last minutes of the meeting they did give us a minute of respect in finally mentioning Fry even though we knew it was a lost cause. Thank you to Jeanette Clark for opening up the dialouge to at least acknowledge that Tall Grass/Fry has every right to be upset and that this was indeed a tough decision. It would have been much more difficult if you had totally dismissed our feelings. As you heard Mark Metzger say, our issues are they same as ANY OTHER SUB-DIVISION that would have been moved. It's very convenient for you all to place labels on our neighborhoood. Everyone of you would fight to keep you kids at the school closest to your house and avoid a 40 minute bus ride. No one is faulting Owen East and they got their way. We did not. I witnessed two women making snide facial jestures and comments every single time someone from Fry spoke. So stop throwing stones from your glass houses! People for Tall Grass supported Owen East's move and those of Peterson. We are not the self absorbed people you profess that we are. We clapped for EVERY speaker.

You claim we were mentioning Welch or SpringBrook- Let's correct that right now-if you are honest and stop the mudslinging you will recall the question of SpringBrook came directly from Mr. Bradshaw? And the mention of Welch came from Kathy Birkett herself and not from Tall Grass!! She mentioned that her decision for Spring Brook over Nequa was because Spring Brook would have to pass Nequa well so does Tall Grass. It was a toin toss that we lost. Plain and Simple.

Speaker after Speaker from TG discussed the proximity issue. Additionally we spoke of our concern over splitting the middle school. In fact, there was moment of excitement when there was the brief discussion of sending White Eagle back to Scullen and we applaud Mark Metzger's suggestion as it did show some acknowledgement of our predicament. Our desire was to stay at Nequa but if that was not possible, then we wanted Scullen to be 100% Waubonsie so the kids would not feel torn- We were getting really jazzed that Scullen could be a 100% Waubonsie feeder but we were deflated again when it was determined it would then cause a 3 way split at Still. I wish that the board coudl re-examine the middle schools to diminish splitting for the entire community. Scullen is now left as the most crowded middle school and the board basically tabled that issue. Please School Board, hear us and make this right.

We understand that someone has to move but if you look at Southwest Naperville, we are on the boarder of a split and its hard to take. Those that are across 103rd from us, west of 59 but east of 248th are going to Nequa. We feel strongly that they should feed to Waubonsie with us if you truly don't want islands. The board and Kathy Birkett mentioned 59 being a natural divide so why are the Plainfield,Wheatland,Tamarack communities remaining at Nequa? We know that won't change now, but really, stop hiding behind the Route 59 divider-it's just not accurate.

You may find it interesting that the gentleman who stood up to support the boundaries was a Tamarack resident who mentioned to us (not realizing we were from Tall Grass) that he was glad they were going to the 'better school'. When we mentioned where we were from he started back pedalling saying 'oh...well I meant closer'..that's not coming from us folks. The 'silent majority' that support the boundaries are the residents of the untouched, uneffected subdivisions. Be honest.

At this point we would be very happy if everyone west of 59 was treated the same way and all fed to Waubonsie. That would truly make us a united community. But alas, that won't be happening.

And finally, I cannot got without mentioning at we were ALL appalled at the resident who made the "aurora" comment- as you heard he's new to the neighborhood as does NOT speak for his neighbors. And his research was obviously flawed because when he moved here 8 months ago, we were slated for Metea. If you are honest you would acknowledge that we were booing the loudest when he made that comment!

So let's move past the name calling and personal bashing. We are a diverse and loving family community just like you who did our best to fight for our kids, just like you. Please be honest with yourselves and rise above this pettiness.

The Sun Times needs to investigate the following:

- The Superintendent will benefit from the 3rd high school location.
- The Superintendent children go to NVH instead of WVH as a special treatment.
- Tamarac goes to NVH because a high official at NVH lives there
- All minorities are pushed out of NVH to WVH
- The 3rd high school location is contaminated

Rumors/facts as to what happens next:

1. The petition to halt 3rd HS due to various issues covered in full page ad in Sun. This is going to State Attorney General.

2. A group is exploring the building of a Catholic private school in the SW - where the demand exists, along with securing vouchers on a local or state basis - so your tax dollars can go to the school where your kids attend.

3. Overturning the 2006 referendum - a large group here across the district and has legs. This would force district to listen to the people or lose their 3rd HS - a real possibility if they do not put the school where the students are.

4. People are planning to move completely out of district because of the way they were treated. in other words, who wants to go to NV if you are still in 204 - a district that rolls over its residents to cover up "perceived" academic problems. No Child Left Behind Act was designed to focus resources locally to solve the "perceived" problems, not ship smart kids from other places to dilute the "perceived" problem.

5. Scorched earth group called something like "parents for local schools" is formed and has plans to do whatever it takes to kill the third HS. And expect plenty of damage because these are serious well-funded people.

Any other things going on?

To anonymous at 8:07......

Are you kidding me? I am, what apparently is now referred to as an Owen west parent. You through us under the bus last night! And now after being changed to WV you have the nerve to ask, why not NV?

I attened the meeting. I praise the board for looking at the needs of the entire district. Homes in TG and WE are significantly closer to WV than those in Springbrook where I live. Basic map reading is a major problem with our friends in TG and WE!

Just a thought if we are talking about logic and geography. I don't get it.

Finally, please note the district's own policy was to try and allow students to attend their local neighborhood grade school - that's it.

They had further committed to not turn walkers into bus riders - a lie of course for certain folks.

And they have some how gone further and bastardized the whole process by trying to keep students in lock step going from ES to MS to HS. The more logical thing to do is a top-down approach HS to MS to ES. Feed Matea with 2 MS, Feed WV with 2 MS and feed NV with 3 MS. Likely zero splits. Look at the totally disjointed MS boundary map - a joke, and the product of this bastardized approach.

The district had chosen to move from a north-south structure to a north-central-south structure (not the residents) and should stick to that view. That would mean taking whatever students you need from the new central area, not the south.

Given the district policy related to ES only, why not take a few of the neighborhoods from the farther northern Welch, Clow and others ES area, into Still MS in the farther north that are already bus riders and closer to NVHS than Fry? Example, Aero Estates. They are closer to Still and WV (2 miles closer) than Fry area, and farther than Fry from Scullen and NV by significant distances.

This would preserve all walkers at Welch and Fry and wherever else. Why does the district keep combining some 20 separate neighborhoods as one ES group moving in lock step through the process?

Springbrook and Fry have a lot more students to bus and have only 2-4 individual neighborhoods - so difficult to divide out.

From what I understand the Fry people had many proposals - the HOA has many on their website, but those were developed by a small group of individuals some of who are on the HOA - not representative of all TG people. There were many more proposals from TG individuals.

In the end Spring Brook rides buses today, but is farther from WV than Fry. Fry will be walkers to NV, so very much closer to NV than Spring Brook is farther from WV. Spring Brook has fastest smoother bus ride going against rush hour traffic - so time wise it may be faster than Fry. However, in both cases many more students go on buses for more time and that is unsafe, so neither area should be bused to WVHS.

When the actual traffic situation is realized - that to travel safely, and get to school on time, Fry has to go up route 59 with rush hour traffic to NY Street, then over the RR tracks and back down to WV, the district will have to re-assess the boundaries, and only then will they start pulling over neighborhoods (not whole ES attendees) that are north central - like Aero Estates. Of course Carla Z will fight this because she lives in Mission Oaks - another candidate closer to WV and farther from Scullen than Fry, and closer to Still MS than Scullen - a no brainer.

Good luck getting the operating funds approved when the SB has effectively pitted neighborhood against neighborhood (again). Like the BB fiasco, only the lawyers will win in this fight. True, there is no perfect solution but when the community is 3-1 against the plan something doesn't add up. Let's hope the SB is more effective in getting proper train crossings for the MVHS and WVHS kids when train traffic increases.

I think the board meeting last night was a big joke, they came prepared not to listen to any comments or suggestions from Fry representatives, which is very sad. I think board is elected by the residents of Naperville & they should respect & address every issue that they come across. They completely ignored us as if our concerns & our kids don't even exist to them. According to them Rt 59 is the dividing factor so what about Tamarack ??? why they get to go to Neuqua. Waubounsie will be overcrowded even after the new school is build for first few year... WHAT ??? Kids might have to attend classes in trailers... BIG JOKE
What a waste of our money. I think all board members need to step down & let someelse do the job beacause they for sure don't know what they are doing.

The 3rd high school is a gigantic waste of money and fraud perpetrated on our community. With 2 years of declining elementary school enrollment and the hundreds of seniors attending COD Frontier, we could have built an addition at NVHS for 15,000,000 million and brought in a few additional portable classrooms at the middle school level until the bubble of students had passed. Everyone would have been happy and the addition at NVHS could have been completed by now. Instead, we have a 150,000,000 million dollar boondoggle and no money to operate the 3rd high school. Way to go 204, can't wait for your NEXT tax increase referendum.

Could they possibly be any more incompetent?

I guess all the self-centered YES voters from Tallgrass and White Eagle got what they deserved. They knew the 3rd high school wasn't needed but they voted for it anyway out of greed.

I hope the contribution Bruce Glawe's bank gave to the YES propaganda machine was money well spent.

Overcrowding my ass.

Enjoy your skyrocketing property tax bill.

Not that many comments.... everyone must be meeting with their lawyers.

I am pleased the meeting was held under control by Mr. Metzger, and the board unlike last years boundary meeting where some parents were acting like unruly adolescents. I am also pleased that the decision came out as it did, and once again, I think the last boundary decision was probably influenced by money and politics. We are all people of the same school district and the same country, and yes sacrifices are made everyday all over. The last boundary decision required sacrifices too but the handling of the land was a complete and total disaster. In fact, I think the legal fees of that waste of money should be paid by the one individual who no longer heads heads up this district, because the tax payers are already burdened enough. Lets concentrate on moving forward with a great school district with 3 SUPER high schools in terms of education, tradition, cultural diversity, sports, and having dedicated parents to back up their students and their school district.

"It was pretty appauling to see people scrambling to throw another area under the bus to satisfy their sense of entitlement."
-- MomOf2

Please, this must stop here. I was at the meeting last night and in my opinion the FRY community represented itself well and provided professional arguments and detail. Absolutely, none of the FRY speakers talked about tossing one sub-division under the wheels of a bus. (Yes, I am ignoring the one resident who spoke the was brand new to the area. He went way off the resevation.) FRY came with charts and graphs and did the best to provide their view point. You can not fault them for trying.

When I say this must stop I mean this must also stop in the media as well. The comment in this morning's Sun article in my opinion was incorrect.

"A large majority of the speakers during the public comment were parents of students in the Fry attendance area that wanted to keep attending Neuqua Valley. Instead they suggested moving students from Welch Elementary to Waubonsie."

We can all review the video together, but I did not hear the above from any speaker.

(And no I am not from the FRY community. I am just getting pretty tired of seeing the same posts over and over again.)

>I hope your children will be able to pull through this tragedy as they attend a brand-new >state-of-the-art high school in a town that Money magazine frequently lists as one of the >best places in America to raise a family.

Aurora?

Aadil, thanks to SB, my child WILL NOT be attending a brand new state of the art high school in a town that Money magazine has recognized as one of the best places to raise a family. Thanks to the poor way the SB has handled this process, they, did, though, get to help vote on the school colors and mascot for the new school. They, though, will be going to an older school, farther away from home in a different town. Nothing like getting kids excited for something and then taking it away. It's not just many parents who are upset about this. There are a lot of disappointed kids too.

Anyone having any input as to whether an evironmental impact study has been conducted on the newly proposed Metea HS site. Previous bloggers have indicated the site may have hazardous waste and ground contamination issues....if they exist how serious are these problems.

Thanks

The School Board definitely had to make a difficult decision in solidifying the boundaries last night as they had to make in 2006 - there will always be a portion of subdivisions/areas that get impacted more than others. However, the accelerated time to make these decisions and the manner in which the 2008 site selection and boundary proposal recommendations took place were absurd. The best solution to making such decisions should have been conducted by a third and unbiased party in a realistic timeframe.

There are still too many outstanding questions in the development of the 3rd high school that need to be answered -
1) How safe is the Eola Road location? Only time will tell and hopefully it will be safe and there will be no issues.
2) How much will the development of Metea cost taxpayers after all is said and done? Brach Brodie proceedings in March will provide some insight in addition to the commencement of construction in the spring/summer pending environmental cleanup and EPA approvals.
3) How will traffic and safety be truly impacted by the new school locations?

To those on the blog making comments and calling out subdivisions, please do us all a favor, grow up and provide commentary regarding the priniciple of the matter. Otherwise do not bother to waste disk space on this site.

I agree with the majority of you that the SB did a commendable job considering the circumstances. I think that everyone needs to realize that we live in a very good school district, no matter what school our kids end up attending. The biggest issue for me is that the schools are all balanced fairly, in income levels, test scores, etc and I think that was accomplished as well as could be expected. And most importantly a third high school should mean overall more attention and less competition to your children.

District 204 elementary school enrollment has declinded the last 2 years in a row for a 284 student decline. This fall as many as 600 seniors may enroll at COD Frontier campus instead of WV or NV.
Peterson is half empty, even after Wheatland was closed. The community is aging and already built out. Overcrowding is a myth and where the 3rd high school is built makes no difference as it isn't needed anyway.

You should have pushed for an addition to be built at NVHS if you wanted more space despite the now apparent lack of need. That and a couple portable classrooms at the MS level could have solved the bubble by now and for a lot less.

Maybe next time you will listen to your neighbors who told you about other options and suggested a NO vote.

You voted YES and now you don't like the outcome. Too bad.

from 204 Proud Parent-..."For those of you in TG have you ever been west of Rt. 59?"...

for your driving expedition from Fry to WV, let me help you by informing you that TG, Remington Townhomes, Signature Townhomes, Penncross Knolls, & Mandalay Club are ALL part of FRY, and are located south of 95th, north of 103rd, east of rt 248, and

WEST OF RT 59;

there are many ways to cross the tracks... 111th; by the YMCA fielhouse (up over the hill- 91st, i think- i don't know the street name, i just look for the HUGE water tower); and Left on Montgomery and over the tracks. i would not suggest the Left on Montgomery...unless you want a thrill.. by all means, try it!!

From Your TG guide to the the many routes to the eola area(du page swim club, rush copley gym, Parkside Bowling, The drive- in (now it's gone.. but have seen many movies there, etc)

To the anonymous person above,
The first part of your post appeared so immature I almost stopped reading. Grow up (Fry babies) come on. I did continue reading and the end part sounded like two different people were writing your post. I absolutley agree with you regarding how scarey it is that our board came to their decision. I think we should all be concerned.

I agree that the district would have been better served with a larger venue or a closed circuit feed so that more people could hear the forum. Does it surprise people that there was such a large turnout, with a concentration of subdivisions who feel they got shafted?

I live in TG which has been verbally hammered from all angles. It's sad to see the insults hurled at this fine subdivision. The SB had NO choice but to select one of three subs: Fry, Welch, or Springbrook to move out of NV. They selected Fry, probably much to the relief of Welch and Springbrook. If it were Welch or Springbrook chosen for WV, would the bloggers be so quick to hurl insults at these subs, who would understandably be disappointed just as we are? I guess it's just too much fun to hate TG.

I agree that the round two site recommendation was conveniently selected by the SB without public input. I also believe the southwestern sites focused too much on the disadvantages, even though they do make more sense when considering the growth is concentrated in the south part of #204. Do we really need to open in 2009?

However, for now, I accept the fact that we are going to WV. I have NO problem with WV itself; it is a fantastic school with fantastic staff and clubs! Proximity is our issue, like many other district families. MomOf2 was creative enough to send a link showing the distance from Fry to WV being 3.8 miles. The shortest route uses Normantown to Montgomery. That's nice when you're in a Honda Civic and driving off hours. A school bus making a left turn from Normantown onto Montgomery, no traffic light, during the busiest times of the day is entirely out of the question. How much influence can the SB have on funding to upgrade the public transportation infrastructure? I can only speak for the needs of this area: such as adding traffic lights (Normantown and Montgomery), widening alternate routes (Normantown and/or Wolf's Crossing) which are desperately needed to support significant increased traffic of cars and buses? We live near 103rd, not 95th; the estimated 33 minute bus ride is severely understated as is Owen's commute to Metea. (Oh yeah, the board "agreed" to split Owen, so it's now only West Owen going to Metea).

If the real estate market were not so depressed, I'd willingly consider moving closer to WV (Yes, Aurora). However, with 5 kids (3 teens, 1 soon to be), it will be hard to give up the # of bathrooms and extended garage space. That is NOT a snob statement either - we chose a house with the things that worked for our HUGE family. So we will stay put and hope the back roads can support the additional car and bus traffic, and support the Warriors.

Re: Transportation, I don't think a left turn on Montgomery is very safe, or for that matter, any left turns over grade level crossings especially when the additional 45 trains per day on an additional track start rolling. That was the route for the south developments going to WV. They left out that little detail, because they know it's unsafe and don't really care about that.

Dr Y,

Go ahead, try and file lawsuits. There are no grounds for ANY lawsuits. Spend all the money you want. The lawyers you get will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Everyone needs to just calm down. The school board is doing its best to try to figure out the best scenario for all parties concerned. The biggest issue with all of this is the Waubonsie vs. Neuqua ordeal - one that needs to be put to rest. And to those who are now getting on a high horse about Aurora not being Naperville? You are the reason kids today are not accepting of others. I am a Waubonsie Valley graduate, and I could not be happier with my experience throughout high school. Every child has the same opportunities at the different high schools, and each child will make or break their own future. So just relax, let the school board do what they need to do. They are attempting to benefit YOUR children.

The funniest part, is the Fry area supposedly had several proposals and reasons why they should stay at NV, but would never mention who should get the boot out of NV.

I think the board did a good job with the meeting last night. At the least, they made some sensible adjustments. Let's all move forward now and get this 3rd HS built!

To Heading West?

re: If the real estate market were not so depressed, I'd willingly consider moving closer to WV (Yes, Aurora). However, with 5 kids (3 teens, 1 soon to be), it will be hard to give up the # of bathrooms and extended garage space. That is NOT a snob statement either - we chose a house with the things that worked for our HUGE family.

I understand the TG issue with distance to WVHS. However, there are some fine neighborhoods up Northeast in Aurora (Oakhurst, Oakhurst North and Stonebridge) with the square footage housing your family requires. I personally know many families with 4 children and living comfortably in 3000+ sq.ft. houses, 4 bedrooms and 2-4 bathrooms in these areas. Some of these neighborhoods will still attend WVHS and some will attend MVHS. Best part about it is you're closer to I-88, the train station and to downtown Naperville with little traffic east. Heck, you might even save some money moving into a one of these homes?Anyway, those were the factors I looked at and why I built my house in this area along with the fact my kids would attend IPSD...instead of building in TG.

"Maybe TG gains with the smaller school with less competition (due to less kids) academically, athletically, musically, etc."

And the light bulb goes on!!!! THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT OF THIS EXERCISE, FOLKS!!!! :)

Heading West wrote:
>I live in TG which has been verbally hammered from all angles.
>It's sad to see the insults hurled at this fine subdivision.

TG and WE were huge supporters of the 3rd high school. You voted YES because you thought that would benefit you financially, not because you actually thought the school was needed. Did you ever stop to think what your YES vote would do to people on fixed income, the elderly, and the single parent moms struggling to get by?

No, you only thought of yourself

But when the location changed, you came unglued.

People don't hate TG or WE, what we dislike is your self centered attitude at the expense of others.

What would make district 204 a great place to live?

Quality schools operated by a school district that was fiscally responsible and provided a good value for their dollar. Savvy buyers can get that elsewhere.

You voted yes, now live with your declining property values which are diluted by your skyrocketing property taxes.

Ridiculous. Folks, they are not shutting down the schools and sending your kids to be tudored with the prisoners in Joliet; they made boundry line choices - tough choices because the school at Brach-Brodie could not be built for a reasonable number.

to those threatening to move: good luck selling your house; to those threatening more legal action: please don't waste my money or yours. If you really want you kids in NV - then by all means, move. But enough. This argument has been going to for months; the elected representatives made a decision; move on.

This blog should be shut down; I'm down this it.

Moderator Jim: Blog's not being shut down, so get over it.