Schools

Parents and District Discuss the Fate of MIS

At a public forum Thursday night, District 159 parents and officials discussed what to do with Mokena Intermediate School in the face of a budget crunch and declining enrollment.

Superintendent Steve Stein said he was walking through , thinking about the debate over whether to close the fourth- and fifth-grade school when it hit him.

Every room in that building was being used.

While talks on what to do about extra space and not-enough money had previously centered on closing MIS or renting out part of the building, this revelation led Stein to come up with a third option: renting out part of , which does have about six extra rooms.

Find out what's happening in Mokenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Stein and the district's Building and Ground Committee pitched all three options to a collection of about 35 parents and district staff at a special forum Thursday night.

Find out what's happening in Mokenawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Committee chairman Mike Ford said he's leaning toward keeping MIS open and renting out part of MES.

"I think it was a good compromise because it will generate some revenue and still give us flexibility in terms of dealing with declining enrollment," Ford said.

that and had talked with 159 about renting part of one of the buildings.

But in response to a parent's question during the forum, Stein said no one he knows about is interested in renting an entire school building.

While talks once centered on closing MIS to close a budget gap, the budget crunch isn't as crunched anymore, with cuts . But declining enrollment is an issue, so it's still costing the district to maintain rooms there aren't students to fill.

One benefit to keeping MIS would be having more space should enrollment return. Parent Kristin Welsh, , said she's not sure that will happen in a school district with the reputation D159 has.

In the last few years, the district has had , , and .

"I don't know that younger families are going to be drawn to Mokena," Welsh said. "I myself with four young children put my house up for sale after the second referendum didn't pass."

Some parents at the meeting said they wanted the intermediate school kept open for what it offers the students. One parent who did not wish her name used for this article praised the team teaching concept in particular.

"MIS is a really good transitional spot for kids to take those different classes and then go to junior high. That's a really good transition for them," the parent said.


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