U-46 presented a monthly update on the district's transition to new attendance boundaries and the move of sixth grade to middle school, including timelines for family notifications, staffing, curriculum and operations needed for implementation in the 2026–27 school year.
Deputy Superintendent of Instruction Lola Maestroovich and Griselda Pirtle, director of multilingual and multicultural education, said most families would receive school assignments by October via mail and that families of students assigned to satellite sites for specialized programming would be notified before winter break. The district designated November 1 through November 13 as the official residency‑exception request window for families.
The presentation described four primary work streams: student and family engagement, staffing, curriculum and instruction, and finance and operations. On family engagement, administrators said two in‑person parent sessions are scheduled—Sept. 15 at Abbott Middle School and Sept. 23 at Ellis Middle School—to explain boundary changes, new school structures and program information. To support consistent messages, the district said it will provide communication toolkits to principals and teachers, including FAQs and suggested talking points.
On staffing, administrators said principal positions for the new middle schools in Elgin and for Illinois Park are posted with the goal of filling them by winter break; additional administrator postings would follow in October. The district worked with the Elgin Teachers Association on an earlier staffing process and said the earlier hiring window is intended to give school leadership time to plan instructional programs and build school culture.
For dual language and English learner programming, the district proposed a sixth grade language allocation designed for secondary dual language requirements: social studies and Spanish language arts ("Arte del lenguaje en español" or ALE) would be taught in Spanish and math would be taught in English. The district will implement an integrated ESL model for sixth grade ELA in the middle schools; newcomers who need intensive language support will continue to have a dedicated ELA/ESL class and will not be integrated into general education ELA classes.
Curriculum teams said they have drafted sixth grade curriculum over the last two-and-a-half years and previewed middle school elective offerings that will align with the middle school model, including Spanish language arts, fine arts, rotation electives and career and technical education courses. Operations staff said transportation routing, curriculum materials procurement, and other operational readiness tasks are planned to be completed before August 2026.
Administrators said they will return with monthly updates; October's update will focus on special education programming and family engagement progress, and November will cover course selection guidance for rising sixth and seventh graders and staffing updates. Board members had no substantive questions during the presentation.
Less critical details: district plans include "hype sheets" to spotlight each school for families, and some professional learning and collaborative instructional planning time will be scheduled for newly hired administrators and teachers.