Changes headed to the Waterford Graded School District are getting mixed reviews among parents, with many asking the school board to reconsider.
Susan Klug, whose child attends WGSD, first shared her concern with TMJ4 about the district's plans for realignment during our Let’s Talk Waterford listening session.
"The sense of community that we had, just keeping siblings together, that's all gone," Klug said.
To address population changes in the area, the school board recently approved a plan in which the district's three elementary schools would no longer serve kindergarten through fifth grade at each school but instead divide the grade levels among the three schools.
The change is drawing criticism from many parents in the community, like mom Justina Duffin.
Watch: Parents share mixed reviews over Waterford schools realignment plan
"I personally hate the realignment, for many reasons," Duffin said. "I'm nervous for the kids. Now my son and daughter will never be in the same school."
"Just logistically, getting children to three different buildings is not going to be easy," Klug also shared. "Even if they are bused, they're going to have longer busing times."
Fellow WGSD parent David Morrow said he understands those frustrations but believes the school board is in a tough spot because new developments are rising quickly.
"There's building all around," Morrow said. "They're not just looking out for their own children. They're looking out for every kid in the district. So every decision comes with consequences."
In February, district officials told TMJ4's Tahleel Mohieldin that they opted for realignment to address population changes in the area because redistricting would be more expensive and would affect families disproportionately.
Klug, however, is still skeptical, expressing alarm over how quickly the realignment was proposed and implemented. She said the process took about four months.
"We're not going to have an overpopulation problem because nobody's gonna want to live here," Klug said. "I never would have moved here if this were the setup when I was moving, and I think a lot of the families feel the same way."
"We feel like essentially we've been hoodwinked," she added.
The realignment plan divides the schools as follows: 4K through first grade at Trailside Elementary, second and third grade at Woodfield Elementary, and fourth and fifth grade at Evergreen Elementary. Then students would attend grades six through eight at Fox River Middle School.
TMJ4 has reached out to WGSD about the latest realignment plan concerns among parents but has not yet received a response.
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