The Finance Committee of the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board is expected to act tonight on staff recommendations for dealing with rising enrollment at Lincoln Elementary School.
The fastest-growing school in the district is facing capacity concerns that the administration admits cannot be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, but weeks of meetings, surveys, and discussions have culminated in a four-step recommendation for managing enrollment for the next school year.
The first step is to limit enrollment at each grade level based on existing district class size guidelines and available class room space.
Second, the administration recommends filling available seats at all grade levels on a first-come, first-served basis.
Third, kindergarten enrollment will be treated as an exception and will involve a lottery for available seats if the first round of magnet and permissive transfer options does not result in a kindergarten enrollment smaller than 92. Siblings of students currently enrolled at the school would be granted preference in this lottery.
And fourth, remaining kindergarten seats following the lottery would be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
The final recommendations were crafted after a PTA-hosted community forum last week conducted by Superintendent Paul Goren and Peter Godard, chief officer of research, accountability, and data, that was attended by more than 100 family members and teachers.
In the meantime, incoming kindergarten families have already been informed about the possibility of over-enrollment and encouraged to apply for magnet or permissive transfer options, and space in the program for English-language learners has been restricted to those who live in the Lincoln attendance area.
Tonight’s meeting will begin at 6 p.m. at the Joseph E. Hill Education Center, 1500 McDaniel Ave.