Parents, community members at hearing speak against closing southwest Illinois school

The Bond CUSD 2 school district returned for its first hearing to consider a school closure since returning from winter break Wednesday night.

The district held two public hearings over the potential closure of Sorento School, a K-8 school, in December. Illinois requires three such hearings before a school board can vote to close a school; the third hearing had been scheduled for Dec. 22, with a vote on the agenda for the meeting later that evening, but the superintendent and board canceled the hearing.

Superintendent Wes Olson gave a presentation before the board and public shared their opinions Wednesday. Overall enrollment in the district — which includes another K-8 school in Pocahontas, and an elementary school, junior high and high school in Greenville — has fallen every year since 2009, when the district hit a historic high of 1,860 students.

While all schools have seen at least a slight decline in that time, Sorento and Pocahontas have seen much steeper drop-offs in enrollment than any of the schools in Greenville. The two also have smaller class sizes and have higher per-pupil expenditures.

Creating more equitable learning environments for students was one of the main reasons Olson gave for closing Sorento. A kindergartener in Sorento this year, for example, is in a class of 13 students and costs the district $16,267, whereas a Greenville Elementary student is in a class of more than 20 students and costs the district $10,719, according to data from the Illinois School Report Card.

Sorento is the smallest school in the district, with 107 students enrolled this year; Pocahontas has 143, Greenville Elementary has 494 and Greenville Junior High has 287, according to data from the Illinois State Board of Education. This year, Sorento and Pocahontas are grade-sharing. All third graders in either school are at Pocahontas and all fourth graders are at Sorento, to avoid having four classes between the two schools with 13 or fewer students.

Most of the people who spoke during public comment were Sorento parents and community members, urging against closing the school. Many cited the small class sizes as a positive, while the discrepancies in class sizes between Sorento, Pocahontas and Greenville is one of the main issues cited by Olson.

“We still have to address the equity across the district,” Board President Randi Workman said. “That’s the job of the board, and it’s the job of the superintendent. It’s not pleasant. Results often won’t be popular. But it is the job.”

In addition to closing Sorento, Olson presented some other options to the board to address class-size inequities including:

• Attendance centers, which would put two grade levels for the entire district in each elementary school

• Attendance centers, but only between Sorento and Pocahontas, with each housing four grade levels

• Creating new boundary lines within the district for elementary schools to help even out class sizes

The board could also choose to do nothing for now, which would allow time for an outside consultant to do a study on enrollment, boundaries and finances if the board members wanted to pursue that, Olson said.

The board took no action Wednesday night. Another hearing will be scheduled.

This story was originally published January 13, 2022 at 8:00 AM.