School District U-46 unveils proposed attendance-boundary map to rebalance enrollment

School District U-46 presented a draft districtwide attendance-boundary map at a public meeting, proposing reassignments meant to balance enrollment across 55 schools and better align students with newly funded facilities.

"Our goal is to create new attendance boundaries to provide the best opportunities for all of our students here in U‑46," a staff member representing the district said. District presenters said the map is the product of the Unite U‑46 planning process, which began in 2022 and included community-developed planning criteria used to shape the scenarios shown to the public.

The proposal follows the district—s 2023 bond referendum, which presenters said provides funding to upgrade older schools and construct new buildings. A staff member said many U‑46 buildings are aging—some more than 100 years old—and that maintaining older buildings has become increasingly costly; the plan calls for retiring some of those buildings and reassigning their students to newer facilities.

Key elements of the draft map include:

- School reassignments and closures: Presenters said Hanover Countryside School will close; students from that zone would be split among Bartlett Elementary, Oak Hill and Glenbrook. Two middle schools on the district—s list for closure are Abbott (west Elgin) and Ellis (east Elgin); Abbott—s students would split between Kimball Middle School and Kenyon Woods, and Ellis students would be reassigned primarily to the new Elgin middle school on Rorson Road and to nearby schools. A Bartlett-area middle school will open on the site previously serving Hawk Hollow; that school—s previously announced boundaries are not changing and it will serve seventh graders next school year. (Details on exact addresses and household-level assignments were presented on maps.)

- New and future schools: Presenters described a future Rorson Road middle school that will serve primarily Elgin students and some from Hoffman Estates. The Bartlett middle school replacing Hawk Hollow was presented as already announced and unchanged.

- Elementary- and middle-school boundary adjustments: The districtwide map would change zones across most neighborhoods. Examples cited by presenters include small adjustments in Ontarioville and Parkwood, the reassignment of a southern Hanover Countryside section to Bartlett Elementary, a northern portion to Glenbrook and a central portion to Oak Hill. Other changes shift portions of Timber Trails, Hilltop and Liberty elementary attendance zones; several neighborhoods currently crossing major roads would be reassigned to reduce walking距离 and align feeder patterns.

- Dual-language programming: Presenters said the proposal adds dual-language programs at Canton and Kenyon Woods so students in those zones would no longer need to travel to other schools for dual-language instruction. District presenters said Canton—s enrollment would increase as a result because it could retain dual-language students within its zone.

- High school map: Presenters said the high-school map is largely unchanged; the only proposed change noted was reassigning a Wayne-area elementary section (west of Route 59 and south of Stearns Road) from South Elgin High School to Bartlett High School to align with the new elementary and middle boundaries.

District presenters described the technical process used to create scenarios: they said community priorities—minimizing student travel time, preserving feeder patterns, keeping neighborhoods and siblings together and avoiding multiple boundary changes for the same students—were combined with enrollment projections, building capacities, declining birth-rate trends and anticipated new housing to produce draft maps. Presenters displayed a districtwide map with household-level student dots and said they used a Vancouver-based mapping and enrollment-analysis firm to run scenarios and projections.

A parent spoke during the meeting, describing a recent household transition (from Hawk Hollow to Spring Trail) and saying the family felt supported and that their children adapted quickly to a new school community.

Presenters said the next step is community review of the draft maps; they emphasized transitional supports the district intends to offer, including staff assistance and communication resources for families. No final board action or binding vote on the boundaries was recorded in the presentation portion of the meeting notes provided.

Why it matters: District presenters said the proposal is intended to provide more equitable access to programs and extracurricular opportunities across the district by balancing enrollment and modernizing school assignments following the 2023 bond. The plan would move students among schools and close or retire older buildings, decisions that would affect families— school assignments, transportation and neighborhood feeder patterns if adopted.