A Unite U-46 staff member said the district is proposing large-scale attendance-boundary changes designed to balance enrollment and place students in newer facilities funded by the 2023 bond referendum. "Our goal is to create new attendance boundaries to provide the best opportunities for all of our students here in U-46," the presenter said.

The district said the proposal responds to aging buildings, uneven enrollment and rising maintenance costs across the district's 55 schools, and aims to give nearly 35,000 students "access to modern, safe and inspiring learning environments." The presentation described retiring some older buildings, moving students into newer schools and adjusting zones to even out capacity across the district.

Under the map shown by district staff, two elementary schools on the west side of Elgin — Lowry and Washington — would close and Illinois Park (currently an early-childhood/preschool site) would be converted into a full elementary school. The plan would reassign parts of Century Oaks, Creekside, Highland, Hillcrest and other nearby elementary zones into the new Illinois Park and into neighboring schools to create seats after the closures.

For middle schools, the district presentation said two existing middle schools would close: Abbott on the west side of Elgin and Ellis on the east side of Elgin. The district plans a new Bartlett Middle School at the former Hawk Hollow site; that school's boundaries were previously announced and would not change, according to the presentation. A separate new middle school on Rorson Road next to Hilltop Elementary was described as a future site that will serve students from Elgin and Hoffman Estates.

The presenter said portions of students currently assigned to Kimball, Larson, Taft and other middle schools would be redistributed: some students from Central West Elgin would move to a new McKinley replacement school; portions of Lowry would move to Hough; parts of Abbott's zone would split between Kimball and Kenyon Woods.

District staff also presented a largely unchanged high-school map districtwide. The only proposed high-school change shown would reassign a Wayne-area 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 boundaries.

The presentation noted programming changes as well: the district said it will add dual-language programming to Canton and to Kenyon Woods (one slide also used the name "Canyon Woods" in a separate reference). The presenter said the change would allow dual-language students to stay in their home zones rather than traveling to different schools, increasing Canton’s enrollment by retaining dual-language students.

A parent who described a recent local transition said the district’s supports can smooth moves between schools. "We recently underwent a shift from Hawk Hollow to Spring Trail. The transition to our new school was smooth, and we felt supported throughout the process," the parent said, adding that their children quickly formed new friendships.

District staff said the proposed zones were developed using community-created planning criteria and enrollment projection software that incorporates birth data from the Illinois Department of Public Health and known new housing developments. The criteria the district used include minimizing student travel time, keeping feeder patterns intact, keeping neighborhoods and siblings together where possible, and avoiding multiple boundary changes in consecutive years.

The district presentation did not specify a final adoption date or any formal votes during the session; it presented the map for community review. Next steps were described generally as community review and additional communication and supports for families, but no precise timeline or final decision date was specified in the presentation.