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Parents and teachers urge Belvidere council to oppose proposed closure of Perry Elementary
Summary
Two Perry community members told the Belvidere Committee of the Whole that a small, neighborhood elementary school should be kept open and criticized a recent 400-person poll and district decisions that they say favor closure over investment.
Fort Zachary, an ESL teacher at Perry Elementary, asked the Belvidere City Council Committee of the Whole on March 23 to oppose any move to close Perry Elementary, calling the school "a neighborhood school worth saving" and a "cornerstone of small-town America." He said the district has diverted students away from Perry, deferred maintenance year after year and reassigned $500,000 that community members understood would finance Perry’s roof to unrelated high school projects.
"Perry is worth saving," Fort Zachary said. "It's at least worth a fair debate." He told council members that a recent poll of 400 people in District 100 should not override a prior public process that resulted in a 6–1 board vote to keep Perry open two years earlier.
Mike Speak, a Perry parent, also spoke during public comment and challenged the methodology and representativeness of the district’s 400-person Morse Leatherman survey. Speak noted the survey showed a high share of older respondents and said the questions and follow-ups appeared biased toward the district’s proposal to build an early childhood center. He questioned a widely circulated estimate that Perry would need $14 million in repairs, saying some of that work (about $7 million) had already been allocated in the district’s capital plan.
"If we don't get more information, it sure seems like they're placing a study in favor of closing Perry without providing all the facts," Speak said, urging the council to request more detail and for residents to attend upcoming district hearings.
Why it matters: Perry, built in 1897, is described by speakers as a neighborhood school that provides walkable access and local social ties; parents and a teacher warned that once a neighborhood school closes it is difficult to restore. Both callers asked the city council to register support and urged the community to attend the district's public hearings scheduled in two weeks.
Next steps: Both speakers said the school board will hold public hearings in the coming weeks and may vote immediately after the final hearing. Council members did not take formal action on the request but heard the comments during the meeting’s public comment period.
