Enrollment Up at Hawthorne Elementary, New Students from Carol Stream Apartments to Attend Pleasant Hill

Due to increased enrollment, will add a new kindergarten classroom for the 2012-13 school year, and send new students from a Carol Stream apartment complex to .

District 200 Superintendent Dr. Brian Harris said at a Wednesday board meeting as a "one-year solution" to the school's increased enrollment, any students from the Covered Bridge apartments in Carol Stream who enroll after May 10 would attend Pleasant Hill. All current students will stay, and new students with siblings at Hawthorne will also go to Hawthorne. "Families will not be split up," he said.

Harris said the Covered Bridge apartments were chosen for the change because there are already bus routes to other elementary schools at the complex.

In a letter sent to Hawthorne parents Friday, Principal John Patterson wrote when looking for a solution to Hawthorne's enrollment issue, "priority was placed on only moving students who had not yet started at Hawthorne School and also to take students that would be considered bus students already."

He wrote Pleasant Hill was chosen because it has the most classroom space.

"We've noticed a trend of increased (enrollment) at the Kindergarten and First Grade levels," said Harris. "We're going to watch that carefully... Over the next several months and into the next school year."

He said if administrators decide to make a permanent change, they'll involve parents at the site and move forward with a recommendation to the board.

Click to visit the District 200 website for enrollment and registration information.