Despite pleas from passionate parents, the Summit Hill District 161 School Board on Wednesday reaffirmed its December vote to close two elementary schools.
Parents collected 1,128 signatures asking the school board to rescind its Dec. 20 vote to close Arbury Hills Elementary School in Mokena and Frankfort Square Elementary School in Frankfort.
The district has seen a decline in enrollment for 15 consecutive years, which is one of driving factors to close the schools, Superintendent Paul McDermott said. While the district once handled more than 3,600 students, it now enrolls 2,433.
“These are inarguable numbers,” McDermott said during a presentation Wednesday that was often interrupted by frustrated parents. “This change has been occurring for years. It just hasn’t been addressed.”
Looking ahead to the 2029 school year, the district anticipates about 2,100 students, which would be a 20-year decline of 1,621 students, McDermott said.
Arbury Hills and Frankfort Square are the oldest and smallest schools in the district and have the lowest student populations, McDermott said.
“What cannot be argued is that our district is at a crossroads, a pivotal point in time,” McDermott said.
Parents have said the decision to close schools was made too quickly and without their input. Students with special needs were not given enough consideration in transition plans, and the closures are going to negatively impact property values, parents said.
They said they are frustrated by the lack of information from the district, citing a fall 2023 newsletter that made no mention of the school closures. Rather, parents said they learned about the closures in an October news article and the vote was taken about two months later.
McDermott said the district has been transparent and has posted answers to 128 frequently-asked questions on its website. Residents, however, said that information was not easy to find and not every community member visits the district’s website.
Residents on Wednesday were angry the public comment period was limited to 30 minutes and not everyone who signed up to speak was given an opportunity. A vote to extend public comment beyond 30 minutes failed.
Lisa Brace, who presented the board with a petition signed by more than 1,100 residents, said many people were unaware the schools would be closing when she walked door-to-door. While a handful of residents didn’t want to sign the petition because they didn’t have children or didn’t want to get involved, most people were shocked, Brace said.
The school district is financially in good shape, and doesn’t need to close the buildings to save money, Brace said.
“It’s a shame,” she said. “You just took the best thing about my community and shut it down. You are going to drive people out of the community. We are going to lose good people. It’s a darn shame.”
Brace said the community cares about its children and its schools.
The district’s meeting room has a stated capacity of 135 people, and others spilled over into an overflow area.
“If the community didn’t care, this would be an empty room,” Brace said.
Samantha Padilla said declining enrollment figures should not outweigh the voice of parents and taxpayers.
“Residents without children currently attending our schools expressed as much outrage and solidarity as parents did, emphasizing the deep-rooted community support for maintaining our educational institutions,” Padilla said. “The closures of schools carry more profound implication beyond mere numbers. It can disrupt the social fabric of our neighborhoods, diminishing the unity that holds us together. Schools serve as pillars within our communities. When schools close, the community’s foundation is weakened.”
School Board members Amy Berk and John Winter, who voted against closing the schools, said they had too many questions and felt the decision was in haste.
Board member Matthew Carey, who also voted against closing the schools on Dec. 20, recently resigned because he moved out of the district. The board is expected to appoint a candidate to fill the seat no later than the March 20 meeting.
Winter said he felt misled and believed that discussion on closing the schools would continue into 2024 and not be decided right before the holidays. He said he’s concerned that staff feels like they are “gently shoved out” and are afraid to speak out to district officials.
“It’s not just a building,” Winter said. “It’s memories that were made with the teachers.”
Berk said she still has questions about projected class sizes and whether all options were properly explored.
“I walked those buildings,” Berk said. “There was not this glaring empty space that the numbers convey.”
Board member Stefanie McCleish, who voted to close the schools, disagreed.
“I walked those buildings and I saw the stark contrast of the amount of kids that are in those buildings versus our other buildings. And we can be utilizing our educational resources, your taxpayer money, to serve the kids in our district better,” she said.
“You can use every classroom in the school and that doesn’t change the amount of kids that are in it, unfortunately. The reality is there is just not enough kids there.”
Arbury Hills parent Patrick Oliphant said the community feels as though it is reliving Lincoln-Way Community High School District 210’s decision to close Lincoln-Way North High School, which was shuttered in June 2016. That former school was temporarily reopened in the fall after a ceiling collapsed at Lockport Township High School’s Central Campus.
“This Board of Education did not account for the amount of scar tissue this (community) carries from 210,” he said. “Bridges need to be built between that podium and the people.”
The School Board voted 4-2 against rescinding the vote to close the two schools.
McDermott said the closed buildings will not remain vacant, and the district has received interest from potential buyers.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
