SDU46

U-46 Attendance Boundary Update

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May 23, 2024

On Monday, May 20, the U-46 Board of Education approved the proposed attendance boundaries for the new middle school in Bartlett.  The new boundaries will take effect starting in the 2025-2026 school year.

Throughout this school year, participants in Unite U-46 community engagement sessions have collaborated to develop planning parameters to guide future attendance boundary decisions. On May 8, a draft proposal for the new middle school boundaries in Bartlett was presented during a Unite U-46 community engagement session. Additionally, over 1,500 people completed a community survey about the boundary planning parameters, providing valuable insights.

Below you will find details on the boundaries for the new middle school in Bartlett and districtwide boundary planning. 

Boundaries For New Middle School in Bartlett for the 2025-2026 School Year

The information gathered through the Unite U-46 process and the community survey was instrumental in developing the updated boundaries for the new middle school in Bartlett, which will be constructed on the former Hawk Hollow Elementary School site. 

Starting in August 2025, seventh-grade students from the following areas will attend the new middle school in Bartlett:

• All students from Prairieview Elementary
• All students from Spring Trail Elementary
• All students from Sycamore Trails Elementary
• All students from Wayne Elementary
• Students in the Charter Oaks subdivision, south of Stearns Road, who currently attend Liberty Elementary

If a student participates in a program not offered at the new middle school, they may attend a different U-46 middle school. These program placement decisions are currently in development. 

Please click here to view the recording of the presentation shared at the Board of Education meeting and maps of the new attendance boundary. 

In developing the boundaries for the new middle school in Bartlett, the district focused on creating a contiguous boundary in the south/southeast portion of U-46 that will

• minimize travel times for students and families
• keep students from neighborhoods and communities together
• maintain feeder patterns where students transition from elementary, middle and high school with essentially the same set of peers from the same area of the district
• optimize enrollment to around 750 students when the school is serving all three grades.

U-46’s middle school transition team is working to finalize the plan for the new group of seventh graders who will be attending the middle school in Bartlett. Their focus is on supporting smooth student transitions and determining the best approaches for managing the development of areas such as athletic programs, extracurricular activities, staffing, and more. The team's efforts will support a seamless, enriching experience for all students as they move into the new school.

Attendance Boundary Planning: 2026-2027 School Year

In the Fall, we will move into the next steps of attendance boundary planning focusing on districtwide boundaries that will take effect starting in the 2026-27 school year. 

As U-46 moves into the next phase of attendance boundary planning, the focus is on addressing the facilities needs of several elementary schools identified during the initial Unite U-46 planning effort. 

These elementary schools include McKinley, Glenbrook, Century Oaks, and Illinois Park. Decisions regarding these school building updates will directly impact the development of revised elementary attendance boundaries. They may also impact middle and high school boundaries as the district works to maintain feeder patterns.

Teams of architects and construction managers are currently preparing options for these elementary schools, with recommendations expected to be presented to the Board in the coming months. Once these decisions are finalized, making necessary adjustments to elementary and high school boundaries will continue.

Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, it is anticipated that:

• All updated elementary, middle and high school boundaries will go into effect
• The new middle school in Bartlett will expand to serve sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students from the same areas. 
• The sixth through eighth-grade middle school model will go into effect districtwide. 
• Two middle school buildings (Abbot and Ellis) will be retired
• The new middle school in Elgin will open and 
• Significant additions at Kimball and Kenyon Woods Middle Schools will be completed

Community feedback will continue to be critical to the next phase of planning. Please watch for details on upcoming Unite U-46 community engagement sessions to stay informed on this important work.