District 204 growth slows

[doctorwho]

dpc said:

lacy said:

I believe there would be some 203 kids going there too, right?

They can't all be 204.

Furthermore, many of them will continue to a private high school.

The drop in enrollment can't be explained away with this line.

All Saints attendance is being fed from its three sponsoring parishes which are St. Thomas (with parishioners split equally between 203 and 204 residents), St. Elizabeth Seton (located in 203 with many Bolingbrook district parishioners) and St. Margaret Mary in Lisle. So it is highly unlikely that the drop in 204 enrollment is being driven by the opening of All Saints. Also, there are several other Catholic high schools in the area other than Benet and St. Francis that can absorb the All Saint kids including Marmion, Rosary, Montini and Joliet Catholic.

So you believe part of the attendance at those schools - all much further away comes from Naperville ? I'm having a real hard time believing anyone here is traveling to JCA or any of the others.

[wvhsparent]

One brother went to Benet and another went to Montini, when we lived in Lisle.

I knew of some from Oakhurst, then from My Subdivision who went to St. Francis. So I could see some people who live on the south end of the Dist going to JCA

[Arch]

The theory was put out there, someone called BS on it, and it was shown that it is pulling some students away. Then it's still called BS. It was said it was a contributing factor, not *THE ONLY* reason.

The faith that they (kids now in All Saints and other K-8 religious schools) will not return to the 204 system reminds me of the same type of faith the school board was chastised for having in a price for a certain piece of property. Just because one thinks it will work out a certain way does not mean it will.

[proschool]

dpc said:

lacy said:

I believe there would be some 203 kids going there too, right?

They can't all be 204.

Furthermore, many of them will continue to a private high school.

The drop in enrollment can't be explained away with this line.

All Saints attendance is being fed from its three sponsoring parishes which are St. Thomas (with parishioners split equally between 203 and 204 residents), St. Elizabeth Seton (located in 203 with many Bolingbrook district parishioners) and St. Margaret Mary in Lisle. So it is highly unlikely that the drop in 204 enrollment is being driven by the opening of All Saints. Also, there are several other Catholic high schools in the area other than Benet and St. Francis that can absorb the All Saint kids including Marmion, Rosary, Montini and Joliet Catholic.

St Thomas is not near 203. I don't think there are many 203 residents at St. Thomas.

[proschool]

archwinsome said:

The theory was put out there, someone called BS on it, and it was shown that it is pulling some students away. Then it's still called BS. It was said it was a contributing factor, not *THE ONLY* reason.

The faith that they (kids now in All Saints and other K-8 religious schools) will not return to the 204 system reminds me of the same type of faith the school board was chastised for having in a price for a certain piece of property. Just because one thinks it will work out a certain way does not mean it will.

Those Catholic High Schools have always been around. There is no reason to think that they will aborbing any more 204 kids in the future than they have in the past.

[doctorwho]

proschool said:

dpc said:

All Saints attendance is being fed from its three sponsoring parishes which are St. Thomas (with parishioners split equally between 203 and 204 residents), St. Elizabeth Seton (located in 203 with many Bolingbrook district parishioners) and St. Margaret Mary in Lisle. So it is highly unlikely that the drop in 204 enrollment is being driven by the opening of All Saints. Also, there are several other Catholic high schools in the area other than Benet and St. Francis that can absorb the All Saint kids including Marmion, Rosary, Montini and Joliet Catholic.

St Thomas is not near 203. I don't think there are many 203 residents at St. Thomas.

There is a section of 203 school district - between Aurora Ave and Ogden - off of River -- that likely would be St Thomas. We are members of St Thomas and come from Watts area - drive up River....

[proschool]

doctorwho said:

proschool said:

St Thomas is not near 203. I don't think there are many 203 residents at St. Thomas.

There is a section of 203 school district - between Aurora Ave and Ogden - off of River -- that likely would be St Thomas. We are members of St Thomas and come from Watts area - drive up River....

Thanks for setting me straight.

[momof3]

dpc said:

All Saints attendance is being fed from its three sponsoring parishes

All Saints accepts children from non-sponsoring parishes as well as non-catholics, although they would not be given priority. I know several 204 residents from Holy Spirit that send their kids there. As well as White Eagle residents (not sure what parish)and 204 residents from St. Raphaels parish that chose All Saints over St. Raphs.

I also know 204 residents that send their kids to Sts. Peter and Paul, so there are no absolutes.

[dpc]

momof3 said:

dpc said:

All Saints attendance is being fed from its three sponsoring parishes

All Saints accepts children from non-sponsoring parishes as well as non-catholics, although they would not be given priority. I know several 204 residents from Holy Spirit that send their kids there. As well as White Eagle residents (not sure what parish)and 204 residents from St. Raphaels parish that chose All Saints over St. Raphs.

I also know 204 residents that send their kids to Sts. Peter and Paul, so there are no absolutes.

I agree - I should have qualified my quote to say that All Saints attendance is overwhelming fed by the three sponsoring parishes. This statement was confirmed by the school.

[dpc]

doctorwho said:

So you believe part of the attendance at those schools - all much further away comes from Naperville ? I'm having a real hard time believing anyone here is traveling to JCA or any of the others.

Absolutely! I know of three kids that attended Granger MS in the past few years that are now at Marmion and Rosary. These high schools are much closer for many of the Aurora residents than Benet and St. Francis. As far as JCA, I know of at least 10 kids in south Naperville 204 that currently attend there. I also know 2 kids that take the train to St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago.

There are many excellent Catholic HS options in our area.

[Arch]

dpc said:

doctorwho said:

So you believe part of the attendance at those schools - all much further away comes from Naperville ? I'm having a real hard time believing anyone here is traveling to JCA or any of the others.

Absolutely! I know of three kids that attended Granger MS in the past few years that are now at Marmion and Rosary. These high schools are much closer for many of the Aurora residents than Benet and St. Francis. As far as JCA, I know of at least 10 kids in south Naperville 204 that currently attend there. I also know 2 kids that take the train to St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago.

There are many excellent Catholic HS options in our area.

There are also several around here that went to St. Francis and are now back in 204. Each family's ability to educate their kids where they choose is unique.

[d204mom]

blankcheck said:

I have made other comments aside from just the stock photo. My point is that it was a SALES job on the 204 voters by a very clever 204 PAC committee (along with the help of a marketing firm or at least members of the 204 committee were). They pulled at the heartstrings of the voters with overcrowding, 10,000+ enrollment figures, etc. The enrollment figures speak for themselves. Since 2005, we have been on the decline as far as elementary student enrollment goes. You all do not want to admit that but look at the figures. Since 2005, we are down by 286 students.
So lets see - enrollment down, land price out of sight - ??

Hey blankcheck -
I was reading the archives and finally found the marketing firm you keep refering to.

It's not a marketing firm, it's a firm called Community Opinion.
www.communityopinion.com/news_new.html

They did a phone survey to determine why the first ref didn't pass. It is unclear if they gave any advice on how to pass the referendum, but this little article was interesting:
www.communityopinion.com/news_CCTimes.html

"Or it offers Machiavellian tips on how to manipulate voters. It all depends on who's doing the reading -- parents and educators or taxpayer associations, who recoil at the very notion of professionally run school financing campaigns."

[d204mom]

That above quote refers to a book written by Brad Senden, who delivered the survey results.
www.ipsd.org/newsevents/news_item_detail.asp?id=5362

[blankcheck]

Interesting info d204. Survey of 400 people in our district? Everyone knows that "survey" questions are always chosen to get the response that the person running the survey wants.
For further information on how others feel about all this, go to the Naperville Sun Pot luck blog. You will see comments made by others in our district who feel that the Community Opinion firm did exactly what they were suppose to do.

[Arch]

blankcheck said:

Interesting info d204. Survey of 400 people in our district? Everyone knows that "survey" questions are always chosen to get the response that the person running the survey wants.
For further information on how others feel about all this, go to the Naperville Sun Pot luck blog. You will see comments made by others in our district who feel that the Community Opinion firm did exactly what they were suppose to do.

Check the archives here about the worth and scientific value of Sun polls and how to make single entities appear like multiple participants. One person can cast hundreds of votes in their polls. I would imagine one person could also participate as many posters in their worthless blogs as well.