With the Oxford Schools Board of Education preparing to receive the formal area attendance adjustment recommendation during the regular meeting April 8, a few Lakeville Elementary parents are preparing their children to attend Leonard instead.
“I’ve talked with my children about it and taken them for a visit,” said Lake Villa resident Jim Moore, who has two children at Lakeville Elementary. “My son recognized some names and realized the art teacher’s the same, the music teacher’s the same – he saw a lot of similar pictures and could see that they are doing the same things there.”
“I like the principal,” said Moore’s daughter Teresa. “And Friday morning they’re going to slime her!”
Lake Villa resident April Spencer, who has one child already at Lakeville and one getting ready to enter kindergarten, has also taken her children for a visit.
“The school is very nice,” she said. “They were very friendly.”
Spencer and Moore are both of the opinion that moving is not an attractive choice, but believe that all of the students will benefit from the change.
“We live in Oxford School district, not Lakeville,” said Moore. “If they want to move us they can and I think our children will be okay.”
“The kids are resilient,” added Spencer, “they’ll survive.”
Moore said he is looking forward to the smaller school environment where everybody will know everybody and his daughter can get more one-on-one attention.
Spencer agrees that the redistricting will help to make both schools better.
“This will add diversity to Leonard, giving more options with two sections,” she said, “and all students will benefit from the smaller school sizes. Smaller schools are better.”
Both Moore and Spencer agreed that Lakeville is highly overcrowded. Spencer described how the hallways are jammed during winter mornings with students trying to take off their coats and boots.
“You can hardly walk down the hallway,” she added.
Opponents of the current redistricting proposal, which will shift 150 students from Lakeville to Leonard, have argued strongly against the idea. Just a few arguments include the length of the bus ride, the splitting up of the Lake Villa Mobile Home Park and the lack of qualifications on the parent representative committee. Many people against the proposal have suggested hiring an outside firm to look into the redistricting.
Spencer wondered if people would actually accept the decision of an outside firm or if they would still be unsatisfied with the results, especially if the company returns with a similar proposal. Moore added that he would rather see the district spend the money elsewhere.
“We need another elementary here,” he stated. “Save the money up and find a way to do that instead.”
Also, neither sees a difficulty with the bus ride, and both have made the drive themselves.
“It’s only a 15 minute ride there after pick ups,” said Moore, “and there are already kids in the district who ride further than that.”
Moore added that he sees a lot of parents in his neighborhood currently driving their kids to school.
“I think they’re afraid they’ll have to drive their kid the 15 minutes instead of down the road,” he said.
“We have the wonderful advantage of busing,” said Spencer. “The busing is great and we’re lucky to have it.”
Spencer and Moore both stated that they feel like the minority opinion on the issue, although there are other parents who agree with them.
“We’ve been receiving fliers almost every week now on this,” said Spencer. “It’s been crazy.”
Aside from fliers in their doors, the Lake Villa residents have also seen them posted by their mailboxes, at the clubhouse and had individuals come door to door with petitions. Meeting notices have also been sprouting up around the community.
“There are better things to worry about in the world right now,” said Spencer. “I really feel the board and the committee have bent over backwards for those unhappy with this.”
This reporter contacted several individuals who have been publicly against the redistricting proposal, but was told that there is currently no organized group distributing the fliers or holding the meetings.
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