If you have been around Bloomington-Normal lately, you may have seen signs outside of homes reading “Save Glenn Elementary.”
Glenn Elementary is a school in Normal located between Illinois Wesleyan and Illinois State University.
The school has a self-represented mission to “provide a safe, respectful learning environment for children and to recognize and appreciate the diversity in students in terms of culture, language, ability, and learning style.”
Glenn Elementary is highly regarded by parents and community members for having attentive staff
and academic success.
According to the Illinois Report Card, this school is ranked as “Commendable,” meaning that it has no underperforming student groups and has a graduation rate over 67%.
They spend less than the district average per student and have a 48.5% low-income student population.
They also have higher average scores in English Language Arts than the state average.
Yet, the elementary school is at risk of being shut down, so the facility could house the district’s transitional services program for 18 to 22-year-olds.
The transition program is for graduating high school students with disabilities that make the transition to
adulthood challenging.
The program’s main targets are improving daily living, self-advocacy, community, leisure and employment skills.
The current location of Eugene Field is inaccessible and does not have an elevator available for the program’s members who cannot take stairs.
The location of Glenn Elementary would make it an ideal home for the program due to its proximity to
bus stops, Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan and businesses.
Many parents and residents are in support of the transitional services program but do not want to sacrifice their beloved elementary school.
Teachers and parents have come together to save the school and ask that the transitional service program be in a different location.
One of the primary arguments is the inconvenience it would place on local residents who attend Glenn Elementary.
The school is currently in a highly walkable area for the residents. This walkability is likely a large factor in why the school only has a 23.4% chronic absentee rate.
If Glenn Elementary closed, many students would be forced to start using the bus every day to commute to Sugar Creek Elementary, the proposed new home for Glenn students.
Additionally, the staff (cleaners, cooks, educators and more) em- ployed at Glenn Elementary would lose their jobs.
All of these people would be forced to find new employment if the school closes. If this plan were implemented, it would also close Carlock Elementary, meaning even more employees would be without work.
There is another proposal for the transitional services, which would include adjusting Carlock’s enrollment and redrawing boundaries for Fox Creek.
This proposal appears to have less information available compared to the plans with Glenn Elementary in Proposal 1. However, it appears that many schools would be affected by the proposed plans.
One Illinois Wesleyan student shared their thoughts on the matter, stating, “I think it’s a good idea to have the transitional program.
However, I think it would be better to have it in a space like Community or West, as that would be a similar age demographic.”
Another said that “even though this program can be useful for adults with disabilities, they should really reconsider relocating it because now it’s causing an inconvenience for teachers, students, and even parents who might have to take time out of work to drive them to school or to drop them off at the bus stop.”
The ongoing debate over the location of the transitional services and the protection of Glenn Elementary School reveals the community’s desire to care for its youth.
Both sides of the debate simply want to see the success of different age groups.
The Normal Town Council has little control over the outcome of this decision, but it is clear that its constituents are deeply passionate about the outcome.
