Board of Education

The information gathered here commemorates the history of Community Consolidated School District 15. It represents a tapestry of time, woven from the fabric of our children, parents, educators, and communities. Rich in the diverse threads of the past, District 15 continues to build on the solid foundations of a community which places a high value on the quality education of its children. This proud history celebrates not only past generations of excellence, but also those to come. 

While the facts and statistics were carefully researched, there is still much to be added and learned. We encourage others to continue the work of documenting this important part of our community’s history. 

Special thanks goes to Joseph M. Kiszka, who accumulated much of the volume of historical data. His commitment provides inspiration for the District 15 community to maintain our history for future generations.

We also thank the Palatine Historical Society and Marilyn Pedersen, as well as the Rolling Meadows and Palatine public libraries, and the district’s schools for help in ferreting out their histories. We also are grateful to the following people for their support in gathering the information, photos, and stories: George Auer, Gayle Bozec, Patricia Campbell, Sandy Cramer, Fran Green, Nancy Cooper Glonke, Alice Helgesen, Bernice Helms, Isabel Klopp, Susan Davie Laugal, J.L. Myers, Carol Nelson, Kathy Nelson, Alexis Oppermann, Priscilla Oswald, Charles Oswald, Barbara Sanborn, and Frank C. Whiteley. 

For the 6th edition of the Generations of Excellence, thanks go to Scott Thompson, Sandy Cramer, Julie O’Hara, and June Becker for their work updating names, dates, and historical information from 2016 to 2018.

Photographs courtesy of the Palatine Historical Society, Joseph M. Kiszka, Alexis Oppermann, Gayle Bozec, and Community Consolidated School District 15.

My years in District 15 have served to confirm what I have heard numerous times from parents and students—District 15 has earned its excellent reputation by providing an outstanding education for the children of the community and creating for them a foundation for future success. 

What I didn’t know before I came to District 15 was just how widely our work of providing a world-class school system had influenced others. For instance, during a conference I attended earlier this year, I was singled out from the crowd because I was from District 15, and, noted the speaker, District 15’s work to receive the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in 2003 had transformed his entire state’s approach to teaching and learning. 

Ironically, that’s an accomplishment for which I can take no credit. All praise for that monumental achievement goes to so many outstanding educators who preceded me, and whose efforts to provide our students with high quality educations are recounted in this book. The 72 years of dedication and hard work by prior generations of school boards, administrators, teachers, and community members have provided us an excellent foundation upon which we’re set to achieve further success. For that we are forever grateful.

Similarly, we are grateful that their efforts have been recorded here, in Generations of Excellence. This extensive history of District 15 allows us to celebrate the many triumphs of our past while envisioning an even brighter future for the current generation of students and families served by District 15—and for generations yet to come!

Fondly,

Scott B. Thompson, EdD
Superintendent of Schools

History is a great teacher, the old adage tells us … and that’s certainly true of the history of Community Consolidated School District 15. In this history, compiled here in a single document, the lesson is clear: Throughout all the years that this district has worked to educate the children of the community, nothing less than the best possible education has ever been good enough.

Education was extremely important to the early settlers of this area. The visionary leaders of the past worked hard to respond to the needs of the community, laying a solid foundation for today’s excellent schools. Although the community’s needs have changed and evolved over the decades, today’s Board of Education, administration, and staff continue to provide the same dedicated, responsive leadership that the pioneers of this district modeled for them.

Our history includes fascinating stories of how dedicated staff members and boards of education worked tirelessly - sometimes under less than ideal conditions - to share their best with the students who attended our schools. You’ll find many references to the continuing support district residents have provided to ensure the best possible school facilities and a learning environment that enhances teaching and learning. You’ll read amusing memories from former students that remind us how important our work is by giving a hint of how formative school experiences can be to an individual’s future. 

Reflection on the district’s past accomplishments and achievements can help guide us as we endeavor to shape the future direction of our schools. We will continue to build on the solid foundation our predecessors established for us as we work to fulfill our mission of service to the community. We hope you enjoy the story of our past. We are extremely grateful to Joe Kiszka, a retired member of the district’s administrative staff, for his efforts and persistence in compiling this comprehensive history.

Generations of Excellence was originally authored in 1996 for the District’s 50th anniversary celebration. Twenty-two years and seven revisions later, much has changed within these pages—and within our community!—but the resounding message to be heard from this compilation of 72 years of District 15 history remains essentially the same: Our community values education, and it will work together to overcome the challenges it faces and provide an excellent education for its children. 

As you’ll read here, that tradition began even before the District’s founders achieved consolidation in 1946, and it carried on from one generation to the next as District 15 grew and grew and grew into what it is today—a 20-school system that serves more than 12,000 students from seven different communities. 

Just as we did back then, today, we still face challenges to the fulfillment of our mission to produce world-class learners. If our history is any indication, we will meet them by realizing the second half of our mission statement—our children’s futures depend upon it! We will rise above those challenges and continue the District’s long-standing tradition of excellence by building a connected learning community.
We will be the next Generation of Excellence.

As we recognize the many achievements and accomplishments that make up our school district’s past, we also turn our attention to how we can prepare today’s children for a bright future. 

I think you will find in reading this history of School District 15 that our community has always been looking ahead and anticipating the needs of providing the best education to our children. Yet no one could really imagine when the first schools were organized in our community that we would go through such rapid changes in such a brief period of time. 

For most of the early history of our schools, the ways in which children were taught were similar. Teachers, some of them not well-educated by today’s standards, gathered students in a classroom and talked to them, supporting the lessons with whatever books were available and utilizing rudimentary tools like slates or blackboards. But that’s all changed, and changed rapidly. Today, even our kindergartners use computers with highly complex educational software. Our third-graders create and give PowerPoint® presentations. Our science students study space in a simulated Mission Control facility. Our older elementary children and junior high students broadcast daily television programming within their schools.

Advancements in technology have given our children unparalleled information access and educational resources. The future will provide even greater—but different—opportunities, so it is vital that our children be equipped with the necessary skills to respond. The objective of preparing children to meet the challenges of a changing world is one we share with those who have gone before us.

The early years of what is now Community Consolidated School District 15 created a legacy of excellence. Today, we are committed to a continuation of that legacy. 

The Challenges of Consolidation By Joseph M. Kiszka

As early as 1944, the board members of School District 15, centrally located in the Village of Palatine, had become concerned about the inadequacy of the grade school building and educational program required to serve an increasing enrollment.

The village school board members also realized that a solution to their individual problems was inescapably tied to the educational services provided for every elementary school child enrolled in each of the seven other country schools in Palatine Township.

Excited about the prospect of reorganization, the District 15 Board ordered the completion of a feasibility survey to help determine a workable plan of administrative reorganization of the eight township elementary schools. As a result of the study, a series of meetings was held with all elementary school board members in Palatine Township.

The purpose of the meetings was to critically discuss the implications of the report and the possibility of achieving an administrative reorganization to provide a more effective education of each child attending the schools in Palatine Township. The discussions led to the creation of the Associated Elementary School Board Members of Palatine Township. This newly organized board approved a second exhaustive survey to study the effects of reorganization on the current educational program. The results of that report served as a springboard to myriad meetings and discussions that ultimately led to the consolidation of six of the eight rural schools.

Not everyone favored consolidation. There were those who “liked things as they were” and felt that consolidation would destroy the status quo of the “country school.” An attempt earlier in the 1940s had been defeated. District 12, Deer Grove, annexed to Barrington, while District 18, Highland Grove, chose to remain rural until 1958 when it annexed to District 15 as a result of “parental pressure.”

The Associated School Board and Reorganization Committee met the challenge by holding frequent meetings with individuals and groups to respond to questions and concerns. The Palatine Enterprise’s weekly Friday publication literally bombarded the community with detailed information and statistics about all aspects of the proposed reorganization and consolidation plan.

Two prominent individuals exercising leadership in the reorganization and consolidation were District 15 Board President Gray M. Sanborn and Superintendent Joseph E. Clettenberg. Both were quoted in the first issue of the paper in 1946. Sanborn said: The year 1946 will be one of the greatest years Palatine will have experienced if during that time the reorganization of the elementary schools of the township becomes a reality. Better educational facilities for the children of the village and their rural areas is a crying need. District 15 has been coasting along on school facilities provided 30 years ago when the present building was erected. It is common sense that we can’t ride all the time. We must get out and push a little.

Mr. Clettenberg stated: My New Year’s wish for the community of Palatine is, in the words of John Dewey, that what the wisest and best parent might want for his child, we shall provide for every child.

The consolidation election was held March 2, 1946. The reorganization of the six rural schools into one system received a favorable vote in every district. Nine hundred-sixteen people voted: 744 in favor and 172 against.

THE REST, as the say, IS HISTORY ...

There have been nine superintendents—and two acting superintendents—of Community Consolidated School District l5 since its consolidation. Screened, selected, and appointed by the Board of Education, the superintendent serves as the chief executive officer of the district, responsible for the planning, administration, and operation of the district’s 20 schools and all district employees.

The excellent reputation the school district has gained and enjoys today is in a large part directly related to the quality of leadership exercised by these individuals. Through their efforts, the school district has provided the finest facilities, teachers, and service personnel available in its commitment to help every child achieve his/her highest potential.

The superintendents, associates, and administrative staff have been the pacesetters in dealing with the myriad challenges in continually improving the educational opportunities for children. Although the management style has varied with each of the superintendents, a common goal has been to do what is best for every child in the school district.

Community Consolidated School District 15 has been very fortunate since consolidation to have outstanding, dedicated individuals willing to serve as members of the Board of Education. The school district is governed by a board of seven members who contribute their time, talents, and efforts without any compensation to promote the best interest and welfare of all children in the district. Responsible for making policy decisions, the board employs a superintendent to implement those decisions. 

The board’s continued commitment to educational excellence has succeeded in creating and maintaining one of the finest school systems in the state of Illinois. In the district’s 72-year history, only 80 persons have been elected to serve as board members. Four of those were elected for a second time after having previously served. 

Occasionally criticized but seldom publicly praised, the men and women who have served on District 15’s Board of Education have shown exceptional dedication in providing the best education for all children. Walter R. Sundling holds the distinction of serving the longest, an exceptional 25 years and 7 months, from 1950 to 1976. 
    
Board of Education Membership (April 1946—September 2018 inclusive)

Community Consolidated School District 15 is governed by a seven member elected Board of Education. The Board of Education makes policy decisions and employs a superintendent to implement those decisions. The district has been very fortunate, during the decades since consolidation, to have outstanding, dedicated individuals to serve as members of the Board of Education.

Surprisingly, the Board of Education has experienced a very minimal turnover since the first consolidated Board of Education election on April 13, 1946. This is particularly significant when one considers that board members serve in multiples of seven. Several board members have served duplicate (or interrupted) terms.

As of September 2018, 80 persons have been elected to serve as board members. Their leadership during these last 72 years has translated into a strong commitment in providing one of the finest educational programs in the state of Illinois.

Those board members who have been elected annually by their peers as president of the board are listed below in chronological order: 

* Served as President more than once

In Consolidated School District 15’s first 19 years of existence, no building was dedicated as an administrative building. Staff initially used facilities in Oak Street School, and then later in Stuart R. Paddock School. District-level offices also were located in Walter R. Sundling Junior High, Frank C. Whiteley and Kimball Hill Schools, and Clearbrook Center. 

E. S. Castor Administration Building (1965–1992)
505 South Quentin Road, Palatine

Finally, when student enrollment necessitated the need for more classrooms, a district administration facility was built in 1965 on the site of the Hillside School at 505 South Quentin Road in Palatine. On April 8, 1970, the Board of Education officially named the administration building in honor of E. S. Castor, the third superintendent of the district who served from 1961 to 1970. 

Joseph M. Kiszka Educational Service Center (1992–present)
580 North First Bank Drive, Palatine

The growth of the district and administrative functions demanded more offices, and plans were initiated to expand the Quentin Road building in the early 1990s. The cost of expanding and remodeling, however, was estimated to be approximately $4.6 million, a much greater cost than originally planned. Finding a 19-year-old office building on the market in a more centrally located area in Palatine, the Board of Education approved the purchase of the building for $1.2 million. The district spent an additional $2.6 million to renovate the building at 580 North 1st Bank Drive. District staff moved into the new office space during the winter break of 1992. It was dedicated in June 1993 as the Joseph M. Kiszka Educational Service Center in honor of Joseph M. Kiszka, who served the district for 34 years in many capacities, including principalship of four schools, associate superintendent, and acting superintendent. Then from 1988 to 2008, Mr. Kiszka served another 20 years as the demographic liaison to the superintendent. Joe Kiszka passed away March 6, 2017.

William Tremelling Building
110 N. Harrison Avenue, Palatine

Located near Marion Jordan School, the building is named after William Tremelling, former director of buildings and grounds. He held that position from 1968–1990. The building was a grounds and maintenance facility for several years, until the Technology Department was moved there, from 2003 to 2022 (?).

School Nutrition Services
1100 N. Smith Street, Palatine

Located at Walter R. Sundling Junior High, Nutrition Services has a staff of 74 full- and part-time employees working in 19 locations throughout the district. More than half of them have passed the ServSafe examination. Safety and sanitation training is ongoing for all Nutrition Services staff members. These employees were responsible for preparing, driving, and serving more than 1,312,746 meals during the 2017-18 school year—more than 7,500 meals per day!  

What’s For Lunch?
Excluding recess, lunch is probably the thing on most kids’ minds, much of the time. The issue of lunch, whether to brown bag it, provide it hot, or deliver it also has been part of the Board of Education’s agenda over the years.

Priscilla Oswald, a seventh-generation Palatine resident and former substitute teacher in the early days of consolidation, provided a historical perspective of lunches. They took different shapes back in the late 1940s, and she carefully categorized them accordingly. There was the “round” lunch, one that included an onion and a hard-boiled egg, and then there was the “withered” lunch. The “round” lunch, though more odoriferous of the two, provided much protein and energy for these lucky enough to get it. Less fortunate children got the “withered” lunch, a pancake leftover from breakfast, rolled up tightly to fit into a pocket. By the time it and the student arrived at school after the requisite two-or-three-mile trek over farm fields and rural roads, that paltry offering looked mighty appetizing to the hungry walker. Ms. Oswald remembered reminding her charges to save it for lunchtime and not be tempted to devour it immediately upon arriving at school.

In 1963, lunch was part of a lengthy study completed by the Citizens’ Consulting Committee to the Board of Education. Its findings, as reported to the board on November 13, 1963, eventually led to the recommendation to build a central food preparation facility in the district several years later. 
Committee members tracked nutrition, student satisfaction, and wasted food in a sampling of school lunchrooms. One day members reported an alarmingly high ratio of wasted food, versus clean plates. Not surprisingly, that happened to be the day hot dogs and beets were served. Based on its observations, the committee determined that children seemed to prefer raw foods and finger foods to casseroles and cooked vegetables. They also observed that on the day cooked beets were served, 226 children did not eat the beets.

An important milestone in school lunches came on October 9, 1968, with the passage of a motion by Patricia Oakley, a member of the Board of Education. Oakley, a mathematics teacher at William Fremd High School, led the fight to allow children within walking distance of schools to bring sack lunches, provided that both parents worked, or a parent sent a note of explanation. 

In 1971 three schools participated in a pilot program to determine the feasibility of a central kitchen where hot lunches for the entire school district would be prepared. An article appearing in the September 9, 1971, edition of the Daily Herald described students’ reactions to this new school service. One 5-year- old looked suspiciously at what she called “tiger’s teeth” on a bun, more commonly known as barbecued beef. Another was at a loss to describe the quality of the offering, saying simply, “Like they say, it’s hot.” Another student said diplomatically,” Well, it’s better than no hot lunch at all.”

Today, School Nutrition Services serves more than 278,000 breakfasts and 1,300,000 lunches each year. Students at the elementary schools can select from two to five lunch choices daily, as well as three breakfast choices. Junior high students have five to seven lunch choices daily and five breakfast choices daily. A central kitchen facility is located at Walter R. Sundling Junior High school, and breakfast and lunches are delivered for our elementary schools daily via two refrigerated trucks. Each junior high school has its own kitchen. All District 15 kitchens are inspected by their respective village health departments at least three times per year, and the average score is 99%.

All staff must complete continuing education requirements yearly. 53% of our staff have passed the national ServSafe Exam, and the remaining staff has taken a two hour food handler class.

All meals offered meet or exceed Federal and State Nutrition Standards, and all items meet very strict nutrition standards for calories, sodium, sugar and other nutrients. All grains offered are whole grains, including pizza crusts, rolls and pasta. Veggie Boost Bars were introduced in the 2013-14 school year, offering three to four choices each of fresh fruits and vegetables daily. Student taste tests are conducted throughout the school year to assist in determining new menu items.

In 2004, salads were introduced, with a different salad rotating every week. In 2012, vegetarian salads were introduced to students. In 2016, salads were offered twice per week. Flavor Stations were piloted during the 2017-18 school year; and were placed in all schools during the 2018-19 school year. This allows students to shake on additional flavors, such as red pepper flakes, ranch seasoning, garlic and herb, Tajin®, Sriracha and Cholula®.

In 2018, 15 of our schools were selected by the United States Department of Agriculture as Healthier US School Challenge – Smarter Lunchroom schools, a prestigious award requiring rigorous program implementation, strict adherence to Smart Snack regulations, nutrition education and physical education. Our schools are among the elite 4,282 schools across the country receiving this award.

Transportation Department
1100 N. Smith Street, Palatine

Located at Walter R. Sundling Junior High, District 15’s transportation department goal is to provide safe, timely transportation and school-related programming. The Transportation Department operates its own bus fleet, with a total of 162 school buses, making it one of the largest school bus fleets in Illinois. Services include transportation to and from school, homeless transportation, special education transportation, mid‐day routes, shuttles, and field trips, transporting more than 10,700 students 2.02 million miles each year.  

In 2001, one school bus fleet per state was selected by School Bus Fleet for recognition on the basis of excellence in safety, maintenance, driver training, and innovation. District 15’s fleet represents Illinois in the magazine’s annual tribute to exemplary school bus fleets. 

In 2003, District 15’s Transportation Department was selected as winner of the top school transportation award in the nation—the Leland E. G. Larson Quality Student Transportation Award, presented by the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT).

The Transportation Department was recognized by School Bus Fleet magazine in 2004 as having one of the top ten maintenance programs in the nation. 

Maintenance/Warehouse Facility
1001 Rohlwing Road, Rolling Meadows

For many years, the District 15 warehouse was in the basement of Walter R. Sundling Junior High. The district purchased the maintenance/warehouse facility from ABC Metals and began operating out of the new building in 1997. 

Technology Services
530 E. Northwest Highway, Palaitne

In 2022, the district purchased the 2-story building, with a basement, at 530 E. Northwest Highway (formerly >>>>), which now houses Technology Services staff.

Since consolidation, the PTA in District 15 has evolved from a hospitality-oriented, behind-the-scenes organization into a highly visible, integral partnership with the district, working in tandem with school administrators and teachers to strengthen and enhance the schools. The PTA provides support and direct communication through its comprehensive network within the schools. 

Although the date of the charter of the first PTA unit in District 15 is unknown, the Northwest Suburban Council of PTA/PTSAs was established in 1963. Patricia Oakley was the first president of this umbrella advisory council for all of the District 15 schools that began the process of linking the individual units together and to the state and national PTAs. Since that time, the Northwest Suburban Council PTA has become one of the most productive units in the state, drafting resolutions for the state and national PTA legislative platforms and guiding and encouraging individual units to do likewise. 

Six District 15 schools have won the Illinois PTA’s top honor, the Advocates of Children Award, and one school, Winston Churchill (now Winston Campus), won at the state and national levels. All of the unit PTAs in District 15 have been involved in environmental awareness, health education, and child protection legislation. 

The council-sponsored “Resolution to Ban the Sale of Fireworks” was passed at the state PTA convention in 1995. Council PTA established the very successful, ongoing coat closet in 1986, which provides outerwear for needy children in the area. 

District 15 PTAs have initiated many art awareness programs in the schools. The annual Reflections contest encourages participation in the visual, musical, and literary arts. The PTA sponsors Junior Great Books and artist-in-residency programs in many of the district’s schools. The district estimates that during each school year, community residents, most of them PTA members, contribute more than 84,000 hours volunteering in district schools. 
Although the PTA is not defined philosophically as a fund-raising organization, it has been able to raise money over the years to implement many enrichment programs, purchase equipment, and provide parent education programs. Over the years PTA volunteers have assisted in virtually every aspect of the education program, from kindergym to the Science Olympiad. PTA volunteers serve on curriculum committees, the district’s strategic planning and advisory council, and on principal selection committees. 

In 1988, District 15 PTAs were instrumental in helping to pass the $64 million building referendum seen as critical to the district’s growth. PTA volunteers campaigned heavily, poll-watched, held phone-ins, and did mailings. Volunteers from PTAs then served on all of the facility and design committees for school remodeling and new construction. 

More recently, PTA members have lobbied in Springfield for legislation affecting the district and have testified in Senate hearings on behalf of schools. 

The significant contributions of the PTA have been accomplished through much cooperation and encouragement from the district. Because of the district’s “open-door” policy to parents and volunteers, the PTA has achieved enormous growth and become a viable lobbying body and a driving force for excellence in education in District 15. 

If the students and the staff are the heart of the school district, then the PTA is the circulatory system, providing support and direct communication through its comprehensive network within the schools.

In November, 2016, the Board of Education approved Policy 8:90 which recognizes the establishment of a Parent-Teacher Association within each school. The policy is below:

Parent Organizations 
The Board recognizes the establishment in each school of a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA/PTSA) by charter with the Illinois PTA and the National PTA. While Parent-Teacher Associations shall have no administrative authority and cannot determine district policy or building procedures, their suggestions and assistance are always welcome. Membership will be open and unrestricted. The building principal or designee will serve as the adviser to the PTA in his/her school and will serve as a resource person and provide information about school programs, resources, policies, problems, concerns, and emerging issues. Building staff will be encouraged to participate in the organizations. 
—ADOPTED: October 12, 1994 REVIEWED: November 9, 2016  

The determination and courage of the Board of Education, the leadership of the chief executive officer, and the community's support for maintaining a quality educational program is exemplified in the results of referenda held in District 15.

There have been a total of 24 referenda since the school district consolidated: seven requesting an increase in the educational tax rate, 12 requesting the issuance of bonds for the construction of buildings and purchase of school sites, four for the issuance of bonds for new school buildings and the approval of interest-free bonds from the State of Illinois*, and one for the issuance of bonds to build a new school and renovate existing school buildings. The voters in District 15 voted favorably on every referendum until 2005, when an increase in the educational tax rate to maintain student programs and services was rejected by a narrow margin, and two bond referendums were rejected by voters.

*The interest-free bonds were repaid to the State of Illinois over a 16-2/3-year period for each bond. Primarily because of astute planning by the Board of Education and administration, the district managed to maintain a level debt approach in amortizing the bonds.

Listed chronologically below are descriptions of each referendum:

Hillside School
505 South Quentin Road, Palatine

Date opened—1931

This two-classroom rural school was a District 16 school before consolidation. It is listed here in the history of the Schools because it was used by the school district after consolidation; therefore, it was considered the last rural school in District 15. It was razed in July 1965. A new district administration facility was built on the site in 1965. The building was officially named the E. S. Castor Administration Building in April 1970 after the third superintendent, Mr. E. S. (Pat) Castor.

Hillside School, one of two schools in District 16 in pre-consolidation days, served the community well after consolidation. The two-classroom building opened in 1931 and was used as a school until the early 1960s. It was considered the last rural school in Consolidated School District 15. In July 1965, the building, located on Quentin Road, was put up for auction. There was little interest in the modest, two-room frame building; in fact, no one appeared at the auction. The board unanimously agreed to remove all valuable materials and demolish it. 

A new district administration facility was built on the site in 1965. The building was officially named the E. S. Castor Administration Building on April 8, 1970, after the district’s third superintendent, E. S. (Pat) Castor. It remained district headquarters until the district moved to 580 North 1st Bank Drive, Palatine, in December 1993. The property on Quentin Road was put on the auction block and sold for $420,001 in January 1996 to a housing developer. 

The end of World War II also meant the end of rural life for many areas. As families sought affordable housing and expressways shortened commuting time into the city, subdivisions quickly obliterated what was left of rural life in towns northwest of Chicago. By the 1960s, up-to-date schools were replacing antiquated country schools. But some students in Palatine were lucky enough to sample some pleasures of the past. 

We Remember—Special Times at Hillside School by Gayle Carr Bozec 
Mrs. Bozec, now living in Villa Park, remembers Hillside School. 

Most people in Palatine didn’t know there existed a remote two-room school for fourth-and fifth-graders on Quentin Road. I was one of the privileged children to attend this unconventional school taught by fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Edward Kramer, and fifth-grade teacher Mrs. Anne Sexauer.

Our hours were filled with the daily routine of math, science, and reading, but our learning went far beyond the fourth- and fifth-grade curriculum. Our desks were the old- fashioned, wooden style, with attached chairs and inkwells in the upper corners.

While other students had traditional classroom settings, ours was more relaxed. On warm fall and spring days, classes would be conducted out on the front yard, under a large shade tree. We ate our lunches outside when the weather permitted, and if you were lucky, you could catch a spot under one of the porches where the shade would keep you and your carton of milk cool. And keeping watch over all was Blackie, the raven, perched on the wire fence, periodically bellowing out a “hello” to us. 

Unlike the other schools in the district, there was no electric bell to call us into school. Instead, we had a large, shiny brass bell with an ebony black handle. When it was time for us to enter the building, go to recess, or return from lunch, each student took a turn ringing the bell. We would stand on the steps as we summoned our friends back into the building, filled with pride and a momentary feeling of power and importance. 

Our school didn’t have long halls with endless rooms; rather, the fourth-grade classroom was immediately to the right as you entered the building, and the fifth-grade classroom was immediately to the left. There were also cloakrooms just off the entryway; separate (naturally) for the boys and girls. We delighted in the privacy of our own dressing rooms, which were about the size of today’s walk-in closets. 

We had our own freezer that kept guard of Dixie cups filled with milky white ice cream, which we would scoop out with wooden spoons. 
One of our chores as students was to take the garbage out to the incinerator. While many might regard this as nasty work, we were thrilled to take on this task. Gathering up all the trash, we’d stand before a large, silver smoking giant. It felt like standing before the space shuttle on the launching pad. When we opened the door and tossed in the trash, we felt we had accomplished a feat no less dangerous and thrilling than scaling Pike’s Peak. 

Once the snow started falling, we were more confined. To amuse ourselves at recess and lunch, we’d trek down the steep narrow stairs to the basement where we’d listen to records and dance while keeping warm around the furnace. 

The best thing was driving into town with fourth-grade teacher Mr. Edward Kramer to run errands. It was a privilege to sit in the front seat of his Pontiac Bonneville and run to the post office, Ben Franklin, or maybe even the dry cleaners. You really hit the jackpot if there was enough time to stop at the One Horse Shay for a Coca-Cola. For a kid, that stop was like having dinner at the Pump Room. 

We’d finish the year with a picnic in Deer Grove Forest Preserve where we’d celebrate the end of school, the beginning of summer vacation, and freedom from books. 

All the students at Hillside School formed a bond no other District 15 students ever had. How sad for them; how wonderful for us! 

roberJoel Wood School (originally named Wood Street School)
50 East Wood Street, Palatine

1860-1869 Wood Street School (one story, four room wooden framed building, later enlarged to 6 rooms)
1869-1912 Wood Street School (two-story frame building with 4 classrooms and a basement, and in 1888 a 2-room addition)
1912-1979 Wood Street School (all brick building), renamed Joel Wood School in March 1956

The building was closed in 1979 because of structural problems and was razed in February 1983. During the razing process, the lentil above the front door, chiseled with “Palatine School,” was given to Palatine High School.

Date opened in Community Consolidated School District 15—4/17/1946
District enrollment—614

Principals: 

Small settlements of farming families sprouted along the prairie among the area’s wooded groves. Farmers from New England in search of more cultivable land arrived in the 1830s and 1840s, establishing permanent homes in four areas: Deer Grove (now a county forest preserve), Englishman’s Grove, Plum Grove, and Highland Grove. 

Though time has obscured its exact location, the first school was moved within the village from a location just outside the current boundaries in 1855, according to Palatine’s Centennial History and a story appearing in a 1929 edition of The Enterprise. The first school to actually be built within village limits was the Wood Street School. It was built about 1860 on land donated by Joel Wood, a settler from Pennsylvania who came with his brother Darius to the area in 1847. One of the first five trustees elected in Palatine in 1866, Joel Wood made many land donations to the town, the first being the Hillside Cemetery. 

Located on Wood and Benton Streets, that early school was a one-story frame building. The Civil War years (1861-1865) brought more children to the area and that meant crowded conditions for the small building. Older children attended classes on the lower floor of the village’s Masonic building, then located at Bothwell and Wilson. Today the Lamplighter Inn occupies that site. 

After the Civil War, the four-room wooden building was enlarged to six rooms. Those post-Civil War years brought even more families to the area, more school-age children, and the need for a larger school.

In 1869 a two-story frame building containing four rooms and a basement was constructed on the Wood Street site. Now Palatine residents had access not only to a larger, updated school but also to a new educational philosophy: grade-level classrooms. District 15 officially abandoned the one-room school. B. L. Dodge was the first principal of the new school. 

Charles S. Cutting was principal from 1875 to 1880. While principal, he organized Palatine High School, using one classroom on the second floor of the school building. In 1888 a two-room addition on the north side of the school building was constructed.

Eventually the building became too small to adequately serve the growing district’s needs. Additional property was purchased on the block, and the frame structure was razed. An all-brick building was constructed on the site in 1912. 

The Wood Street School offered updated educational opportunities to village residents. In 1928 when Palatine High School was built, administration of the two schools was separated. John J. Reusser became principal of the District 15 school at that time.

By the time consolidation of surrounding rural schools was considered, Wood Street had the largest enrollment of them all—320 with 8.5 teaching positions. It was the only school to have a kindergarten class. Unlike the other rural school districts, it was governed by a seven-member Board of Directors: Gray M. Sanborn, Art Bergo, John Morris, Paul Wilson, Dr. R. Fosket, Ralph Trenchard, and V. Meatheringham.

Joseph E. Clettenberg served as superintendent/principal for 10 months in 1946. The Board of Education officially changed the name of the school to the Joel Wood School in March 1956. The building was closed in 1979 because of structural problems and razed in 1983. During demolition, fireplaces were discovered behind the walls in each classroom. District administrators saved the front entry lintel, chiseled with “Palatine School,” and gave it to Palatine High School. Also preserved was the cornerstone which bears the names of the 1912 Board of Education members. The stone is now visible just outside the main entrance of the Joseph M. Kiszka Educational Service Center.

Wood Street School has left an even greater legacy, however, than two preserved stone mementoes. The solid foundation in education it established over the years exemplified the resolute commitment to excellence of those early, hardworking citizens.

We Remember—Teaching at Wood Street School, by George Auer 
Mr. Auer began his teaching career at Wood Street School, the district’s oldest school. He retired from the district in 1994 after 32 years of teaching. 

Being fresh out of college, I began my teaching career at the oldest school in Palatine, the Joel Wood Street School. Richard B. Shiveley served his first year as part-time principal and fifth-grade teacher. Previously, the school was under the supervision of Harry Olson, principal of the Gray M. Sanborn Junior High School, located a block away. After that year, the school had full-time principals until it was closed in 1979. 

Having grown up in Chicago, I felt the school looked like what a school should look like. It had squeaky wooden floors, high ceilings, large windows, girls’ and boys’ washrooms in the basement at opposite sides of the building. A major part of the playground was covered with pea gravel, and to complete the picture, some no-nonsense white-haired teachers. The building housed four classes for the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade students. What was missing, however, was a gym. 

An empty basement room had to serve as the indoor gym that first year. The room was 23 by 32 feet with a seven-and-a-half-foot high ceiling with fluorescent lights that hung down about six inches. The students got a lot of fresh air with our “extended outdoor program,” as a result. The floorboards in the room were not in the best of repair. Periodically, I would walk into the principal’s office carrying a three or four-foot-long “splinter” and ask if anything could be done about the floor. To my amazement, during the next summer the flooring was ripped out and replaced with tile, and the ceiling and lighting remodeled. Even more to my amazement was learning that it was to become a regular classroom instead of the gym room. In the years after that, students walked to Sanborn School for indoor gym classes.

During that first year, I also worked a couple hours a week at the two-room Hillside School (located at what is now the Palatine Senior Center Building on Quentin Road). The indoor gym room there had a higher ceiling but was very small with a four-inch diameter support post in the center. As long as there was daylight and it was over 20 degrees, we went outside for gym. Though the conditions for teaching were less than ideal, the staff members I worked with were extremely dedicated and the experience I received was invaluable. 

We Remember—Wood Street School in the 1940s by Chuck Oswald 
Mr. Oswald remembers kindergarten at Wood Street School in 1943.

My kindergarten classroom was in the basement across from the girls’ restroom. The custodian used to walk through our room to get to the coal boiler that needed to be stoked many times per day. I seem to recall having as many as four teachers that first year of my schooling. 

What a great privilege it was to be promoted to first grade and have a classroom that was not in the cellar. We had a coat room to hang our coats and store our galoshes. The tin paneled ceilings must have been 20 feet above my head. Our room had either four or six light fixtures to light the room. 

Whenever a light bulb burned out, the school custodian would bring his huge stepladder into our room, whether it was reading, spelling or arithmetic time. I recall sitting under the ladder as he climbed to the top to take down the glass globe. 

Yes, we did have electricity, but no air conditioning. To get fresh air, our teacher or one of the larger boys would take a long stick and open the window on top. This fresh air seemed refreshing, as the room and building often smelled of cleaning compound or oil. The floors throughout the building were all a beautiful hardwood, probably maple. 

What did a shy boy like me think about while sitting in that second-grade classroom? I always wanted to sit near the back, so I wouldn’t be called upon. I loved to gaze out the window and watch the large maple trees along Wood Street that shaded the large three-story schoolhouse with its 12 classrooms—the total number of rooms needed to house all eight grades and kindergarten. There were 34 second-graders in my class—34 bright, intelligent students and one teacher. How did we ever survive with one teacher, or should I say, how did one teacher survive with all of us? 

But we did survive. And rather well, I think. Out of this class there were: four grade or high school teachers, a medical doctor, a Ph.D. college professor of romance languages, a breeder and developer of a special cat breed, a professional football player, an executive of a large corporation, an investor/rehabber of many of our older Palatine homes, a maintenance engineer for the school district, a dress designer, a local real estate professional, and a park board trustee of one of our neighboring communities. 

After four years on the first floor, I finally became an upperclassman. I could now climb three flights of stairs next to the top floor, where grades five to eight had their classrooms. What a thrill to see the tops of the huge maple trees and see the changing color in the fall.

We did not go to the lunchroom for a hot meal. We either brought a peanut butter sandwich or walked home for lunch. Since I lived eight blocks away, I would have to hurry home to eat my sandwich. How much easier it was when my sister and I each got a bicycle. My parents had to make a special request of the ration board during World War II and prove that we traveled over two miles each day to go to and from school to qualify for a bicycle. 

I remember rushing back from lunch to play on the playground. In the middle grades, our main activity was some form of kickball or marbles. We would take the heel of our shoe and dig a hole in the gravel playground to make a pot for our marbles. The older kids were always playing some form of kickball and baseball in another part of the playground. What a harrowing experience it was to see a baseball or soccer ball go into Mrs. Froelich’s yard, and even worse, her chicken coop. The chickens would raise such a ruckus. And, of course, she would come outside to reprimand us. 

Perhaps one of the greatest things about our beloved Wood Street School was the narrow stairway leading to the third floor. Come Halloween, you could just imagine thousands of ghosts and goblins living up there … and maybe a former teacher or two! 

Gray M. Sanborn Elementary School (originally named Oak Street School)
101 North Oak Street, Palatine

Date opened—9/1/1948
District enrollment—773

Principals: 

The instruction from the superintendent to the first Board of Education was to “achieve and administrative reorganization of the township’s elementary schools to make (them) more effective and to enrich the educational program [for] all the boys and girls.” The reorganization process was not without growing pains. Families in the most rural sections questioned every move along the way, favoring more localized control of schools and preferring the rural concept. 

In the fall of 1946, 614 children were enrolled in Community Consolidated School District 15 schools. The board began preparing for an increase in student population almost immediately. The preparations were not too soon. In just one year, from 1948 to 1949, the enrollment shot up from 773 to 941. By 1950 it had increased to 1,086, and by 1955 there were 2,543 enrolled in the district. In February 1947, the district purchased six acres at Wood and Oak streets with plans to build a school. On April 19, 1947, voters once again went to the polls to vote on a $600,000 bond issue to finance the building of the school. By a vote of 675 to 145, voters approved the measure. 

On October 1, 1947, work started on a school that was “the most modern in design and facilities” of any in the state—Oak Street School. At the time of construction, it was thought that this would be the only new school the school district would ever need. It was built to serve kindergarten through eighth-grade students and also housed the district’s administrative offices. Primary grades began attending Oak Street in September 1948. Junior high classes moved into the building during the winter holidays in 1948, and a dedication ceremony was held March 22, 1949. The unique, state-of-the-art, one-story structure became a showplace and the pride of the community. 

Marion Jordan, the district’s second superintendent, was responsible for many of the contemporary concepts incorporated into Oak Street and seven additional schools, built between 1948 and 1961. It was at his direction that the schools’ design included a library or resource center as the core learning center. It was also at his direction that foreign language and instrumental music were included in the school curriculum because he believed fine arts should be an essential part of a child’s education. 

In 1951 Mildred Gallagher became principal, the first woman to head a school in the district. Oak Street and Wood Street Schools provided a campus setting for the downtown Palatine children. Children from Wood Street ventured over to Oak Street for gym classes and lunch, as well as other programs that the older school could not offer because of its size and age. The staff and PTA at both schools maintained a strong bond until 1979, when Wood Street School was closed due to safety considerations. 

In 1963 Oak Street School was renamed Gray M. Sanborn School, in honor of the gentleman who had been called a “visionary” and had served as the first board president of the newly consolidated school district.

Thirty years later, the 46-year-old Sanborn School benefited from the passage of the 1988 $64 million referendum and became the 12th school to be renovated. Sanborn got a much needed facelift—10 additional classrooms, a new multipurpose room, a renovated resource center, computer lab, administrative office, science room, and community room. Sanborn was rededicated in October 1994. During the 2000-01 school year, another addition of eight classrooms on the south side of the building was constructed.

Sanborn School commemorated its 60th anniversary on January 30, 2009. The all-school celebration included a student-produced video highlighting Sanborn’s 60 years, music supplied by an all-school chorus, and the presentation of a 60-year commemorative banner created by Sanborn parent Dan Armentrout.

In 2018, Sanborn School celebrated its 70th anniversary.

We Remember—The Cloakroom, reminiscences from Barbara Sanborn
The cloakroom was mysterious, magical, sometimes musty-smelling on rainy days, and sometimes daunting back when it was an integral part of every classroom. The smell of damp woolen mittens and egg salad sandwiches waiting and warming to room temperature are still indelibly imprinted in many people’s memories. 

The cloakroom was also the spot where students were sent for a “time out.” It was a place of solitude, suitable for pondering one’s guilt and examining carefully and quietly other kids’ lunches. It was the perfect place for secrets whispered to a best friend and also the best spot for settling scores. 

Ms. Sanborn, a third-generation Palatine resident whose father, Gray M. Sanborn, was the first president of the Board of Education, remembered one incident that was particularly empowering for a young girl of the 1950s. She proved her mettle in an encounter with a classmate who would go on to be on the high school football team. 

“I really don’t know why, I never really had any animosity for this particular boy. He was actually very nice, but for some reason I had a fight with him,” she recounted. “I ended up throwing him over my shoulder. I can’t remember why or how, but whatever happened, I won. I walked out of there, and I had won!” 

Kimball Hill Elementary School
2905 Meadow Drive, Rolling Meadows 

Date opened—9/1/1954
District enrollment—2,100

Kimball Hill School was named in honor of the builder of the City of Rolling Meadows who provided the site and funds for construction.

After 36 years of service, the original building was considered outdated by modern standards, and it was very costly to maintain. In May 1990, groundbreaking ceremonies were held in May 1990 in preparation for a new building. The building was razed in two stages in 1990-1991, and the new building was dedicated in April 1992.

Principals:

Situated on just over seven acres of land, Kimball Hill was the direct result of its namesake’s vision of a community of affordable housing for young families. Makeshift classrooms in four homes located on the northeast corner of Meadow and Campbell comprised Rolling Meadows' first District 15 school until construction was completed in November 1954. 

The design itself was a radical departure from other school buildings in this area, because there were no corridors connecting the five, four-room units—all classrooms opened directly to the outside. Midwest climate notwithstanding, this “California style” structure was cost efficient and constructed in four months. The children, kindergarten through sixth grade, moved from their temporary classrooms into a brand new school by Christmas 1954. In January 1955, seventh-grade students, who had been attending classes at Oak Street School (renamed Gray M. Sanborn School in 1963), were reassigned to Kimball Hill. When the 1954-55 school year began, 100 children were enrolled; when it ended, enrollment had increased five-fold. That summer, 12 more classrooms and a multi-purpose room were added. 

When Kimball Hill School opened, the district enrollment was 2,100. Between September 1955 and the beginning of the 1956-57 school year, the enrollment at Kimball Hill grew from 632 to 976, and the staff increased from 21 to 44. Rolling Meadows was indeed “on the grow,” contributing heavily to the growth of District 15 and necessitating the construction of the second school in the city, Jonas E. Salk, which began in November 1956 and was completed in April 1957.

Thirty years later, Rolling Meadows’ population was aging; so were the schools. In 1988, District 15 taxpayers passed a $64 million referendum, an amount greater than all previous 20 referendums combined. Kimball Hill School’s “California style” was passe, neither practical nor cost efficient for the 1990s and beyond. The east wing of the original building was leveled on April 9, 1990.

To provide the least amount of disruption, the building was razed in stages to make way for a new structure. The east wing of the original building was leveled on April 9, 1990.The community saw history repeating itself. Just as they had been during the construction period in 1954, schoolchildren were housed elsewhere in the community. That spring, kindergarten and first-grade students were relocated to the Community Church of Rolling Meadows; second-and third-grade students were housed in portable classrooms. The following year, 1990‑91, fifth-and sixth-grade students remained in the original building, while first- through fourth-grade students relocated to Clearbrook Center in Rolling Meadows.

After 36 years of service, the original building was considered outdated by modern standards, and it was very costly to maintain. In May 1990, groundbreaking ceremonies were held in May 1990 in preparation for a new building. The building was razed in two stages in 1990-1991, and the new building was dedicated in April 1992.

On August 29, 1991, just over a year after the groundbreaking ceremony and 36 years after the school's doors first opened, students began the first day of class in a brand new school that boasted 29 classrooms, a multipurpose room, art and science room, resource center, and gym. What had been a dream of the 1950s for Mr. Kimball Hill evolved into a vision of the ’90s and beyond for District 15 and the community, and then became a reality.

The Kimball Hill School campus was also home to the Owen K. Garriott Discovery Learning Center and was home to the district’s David Hill Mission Control Center and Space Shuttle. These facilities provided unique opportunities to stimulate student interest in mathematics, science, and technology. Mission Control and the Space Shuttle, launched in May 1997 with a grant from the District Fifteen Educational Foundation and assistance from Northrop-Grumman Corporation, engaged students from across the district in simulated space shuttle missions.

The Owen K. Garriott Discovery Learning Center, named for a former astronaut and dedicated on September 21, 2001, offered space for hands-on earth science and geology studies as well as mementoes of Dr. Owen Garriott’s experiences as a Skylab astronaut and a member of 1998 and 2000 Antarctica expeditions. Sharon Hooper, Plum Grove Junior High science teacher, was also a member of the 2000 Antarctica expedition team, that included retired NASA astronaut James Lovell, NASA scientist Richard Hoover; Harper College professor Paul Sipiera; William Gruber, field scientist of Naperville; David Butts, Redblock vice president of engineering; and Chicago resident James Pritzker, who, along with Gruber, contributed significantly in funding Hoopers part of the $400,000 expedition. The trip took the team to Antarctica's Patriot Hills, South Pole and Thiel not as high as the Rockies, but just as beautiful, according to team members to hunt for meteorites, gather core samples of ice for biological life specimens and perform experiments.

Excerpt from The Daily Herald, February 12, 2000:

Plum Grove teacher Nancy Evans said. "She's [Sharon Hooper] one of the few people I know who could have handled this trip." Hooper was chosen to accompany the team to the Mars-like continent in part because of her enthusiastic use of space science in her classes. It also gave District 15 students a once-in-a-lifetime learning experience. "What makes learning real for kids is tying everything in," seventh grade counselor Diane India said. "To have a teacher being an explorer the kids are living science and living history." Hooper used the trip to perform scientific experiments on rocks, gravity, and temperature, the same experiments District 15 students were doing back home. Hooper relayed data to students in 11 classrooms via satellite phone and e-mail. Other students were able to watch the broadcasts over District 15's Channel 44. "It was pretty fun listening to what kind of answers she got and what we got," Plum Grove seventh-grader Amber Auge said. "The answers were so different that it was funny. We thought we had done it wrong." Hooper's experience taught the students that data can be a little different when performed in a snowy desert with temperatures plunging to well below zero.

(Read the article "Special Topic: An Antarctic Adventure" by John G. Conyers, ASCD Educational Leadership Magazine, December 1, 2000, Volume 58, Number 4.) 

The Mission Control Center and Space Shuttle program were discontinued in 2015, and the shuttle was donated to the Boy Scouts of America Blackhawk Area Council.

Stuart R. Paddock Elementary School
225 Washington Court, Palatine

Date opened—09/01/1954
District enrollment—1,952
First principal—E. Erie Jones
This school was named in honor of the owner and editor of Paddock Publications. Groundbreaking for the renovation of the building took place in May 1989, and the building was rededicated in March 1991.

Principals:

In 1953 taxpayers passed a $706,000 referendum, allowing the school district to acquire a site and build the first school in Palatine in five and one-half years. Selecting a name for the new school was not difficult. At its January 13, 1954, meeting, the Board of Education deemed it fitting that the new building be named in honor of a citizen in the district who had contributed to and promoted excellence in education—Stuart R. Paddock, publisher of The Daily Herald, a community newspaper founded in 1872 by his father. 

When the K-8 school opened September 1, 1954, district enrollment was 1,952. Paddock’s first principal was E. Erie Jones, who held that position until February 1955, when he was succeeded by E. S. Castor, who held the post until June 1959. During his tenure, Mr. Castor saw Paddock graduate its first group of eighth graders. The class of ’57 numbered 33—21 boys and 12 girls. Fourteen years later, in 1971, seventh-and eighth-grade students began attending Plum Grove Junior High, and Stuart R. Paddock became a K-6 school. 

George McKown followed Mr. Castor as principal July 1, 1959. Like every other administrator during the 1960s and early ’70s, Mr. McKown faced incredible demands placed on the school by the burgeoning school-age population. In District 15, between 1960 and 1972, the number of children entering kindergarten exceeded those graduating from eighth grade by an average of 143 percent. 

Laurel Feldman became the sixth principal in July of 1989 and shared the excitement of the students, staff, and community when the Board of Education dedicated an expanded, completely modernized Stuart R. Paddock School on March 6, 1991. Additions included: three new sixth-grade classrooms, a computer lab and office, learning disabilities resource rooms, an expanded cafeteria, additional space for support personnel, a science/art/community room, as well as a vocal and instrumental music room. 

We Remember—Places of the Heart, Paddock School in the 1950s, by Kathy Nelson, Salida, Colorado
I remember growing up in the house my father built, my best friend, and much more. My best friend Bernie Chase, nee Molter, and I started kindergarten in 1955. We would walk together to Stuart R. Paddock Elementary School. I loved the walk across the “little bridge” with all the trees along the creek. Paddock had a huge playground. I was always intrigued by the cemetery at its perimeter, but of course we were not allowed in there. 

My first-grade teacher was Miss Elizabeth Dorris, and she was a very gentle woman. I think every kid in the class loved her. I had Miss Jacqueline Hanley for second grade. She was from the “old school,” and if you acted out, she sat in front of the class on a chair, and you were made to come forward and be laid across her lap for a spanking in front of everyone. How humiliating, but it seemed to work as a deterrent for the rest of us. 
We were fortunate to have a great principal at Paddock. Mr. McKowan was patient and pleasant. He was a large man with graying hair and a friendly face.

The library was almost the exact center of school. It was across from the auditorium where three hallways converged. It was sunken to a lower level and at that time seemed very private.

My first public speaking job was in that auditorium as a representative to the student council. I was in third grade at the time and had to discuss being quiet in the hallways, especially in the library area. I was very nervous, but pulled it off. Miss Dorris, my favorite teacher, complimented me later, and I was elated with her kind words. 

There was some bouncing around between schools for a time, in fifth and sixth grades. We spent time being bused to Salk, Pleasant Hill, and even the new high school, Rolling Meadows, but were kept separate from the rest of the classes. 

Pleasant Hill Elementary School
434 West Illinois Avenue, Palatine

Date opened—12/3/1956
District enrollment—3,240

Principals:

In the early to mid-1950s, the number of children enrolled in District 15 schools was increasing by an average of 216 students per year. The existing schools—Wood, Oak Street (later renamed Sanborn), Paddock, and Kimball Hill—simply could not accommodate such growth. Residents throughout the district were clamoring for the Board of Education to act and in mid-March 1957 passed a four-part bond issue referendum by an overwhelming vote of 815 to 65, or 12.5 to 1. Residents’ staunch support enabled the board to issue bonds for the purchase of sites and construction of schools. One of those schools was Pleasant Hill. 

Named for its location, a subdivision of more than 75 homes in the southwest area of Palatine, Pleasant Hill School opened December 3, 1956. E. S. Castor was the first principal.

Joanne Rooney served as Pleasant Hill’s principal during the “lean years,” when District 15’s enrollment was decreasing. Yet she also had the pleasure of being the school’s principal when the Board of Education dedicated a renovated, modernized school on January 17, 1991. Those long months of trying to maintain “normalcy” during the 1989-90 school year, when Pleasant Hill was undergoing a $3.9 million renovation and construction project, paid off. The new building included additional classrooms, a music complex, special instruction centers and resource centers. 

Pleasant Hill earned the prestigious U.S. Department of Education’s Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award in 2000-01, closely followed by being named a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School in 2003-04. Pleasant Hill celebrated its 50th year of service to the community in December 2006.

Today, more than 500 kindergarten through sixth-grade students attend Pleasant Hill, a school whose structure, staff, and students work to fulfill the current theme, “Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow.” 

Jonas E. Salk School
3705 Pheasant Drive, Rolling Meadows

Date opened—9/1/1957
District enrollment—3,775

This school was named in honor of Jonas E. Salk who was instrumental in discovering a vaccine for polio. The school closed in June 1981 due to a severe decline in enrollment, and was sold to the Rolling Meadows Park District under a lease/purchase agreement in 1989.

Principals:

School closed June 1981

Building leased to Rolling Meadows Park District July 1983–June 1989
Building sold to Rolling Meadows Park District June 1989

In an 18-month period between mid-March 1956 and early August 1957, taxpayers in the district passed two referendums. The first, for $500,000, authorized District 15 to issue bonds to acquire sites, for construction of Pleasant Hill and Jonas E. Salk schools and to purchase the Winston Park site.

The second, for $775,000, enabled the district to finish building and equip Salk and Winston Park schools. 

That District 15 chose the name Jonas E. Salk was not surprising. In the early 1950s, poliomyelitis, a highly infectious disease whose victims were predominantly children between the ages of 5 and 10, was rampant. Dr. Jonas E. Salk, an epidemiologist and physician, developed the first vaccine against the disease. Mass inoculation began in 1954. 

When the first wing of Rolling Meadows’ second school opened in September 1957, Joseph M. Kiszka was named its first principal, after serving two years as Kimball Hill’s first principal. Salk opened that fall with an enrollment of more than 300 children. In addition to 12 classrooms, the school had a combination gym-auditorium which, according to an article in the Herald in June 1958, was the largest in the entire district. The following spring, a second wing was constructed for junior high students, adding 13 classrooms to the building. The most unique room was the “cafetorium”, a combination auditorium and cafeteria. By fall 1958, 4,931 students were enrolled in District 15 schools, and 967—nearly 20 percent—attended Salk. 

By the early 1970s, the school district’s enrollment had peaked and was starting to decline. Simultaneously, Rolling Meadows’ population was aging. District 15 was faced with difficult fiscal decisions that produced a myriad of emotional responses. In June 1981, Jonas E. Salk School became only the third school in the district’s history to close. Three years later, in 1984, the Rolling Meadows Park District entered into a lease/purchase agreement. Today, the building houses the park district’s administrative offices and offers program activities for all ages, from preschool to senior citizens. School bells may be a thing of the past, but the former school building continues to serve the community well. 

We Remember—A Moving Experience, by Nancy Cooper Glonke 
Both Mrs. Glonke and her children attended District 15. She remembers the years from 1958 to 1965 as an exciting period of growth as the district adjusted to the onslaught of development and a burgeoning enrollment. 

I began the year in Mrs. Lucene Pennington’s (the best teacher in the world!) fifth-grade class at Jonas Salk School. Part way through the year, construction was completed on the new Carl Sandburg Junior High. Due to a lack of seventh- and eighth-grade students, my fifth-grade class was chosen to complete the year at Carl Sandburg. 
One day as we began the school day at Salk, we were told to pick up all our belongings from our desks and line up at the door. We then followed our

teacher like little lambs all the way down Pheasant Drive (almost a mile) to Martin Lane, and eventually, to Carl Sandburg. By the time we arrived at the junior high, our desks were being unloaded from a truck and were being carried into our new classroom. Within an hour, we were unpacked and settled into our usual routine. We loved our new school and felt very lucky to be its first tenants.

The bad news came when we learned that we had to go back to Salk for sixth grade. By the time we made it to seventh grade, the school was no longer “new,” and the glow had worn off. It was back to business as usual. Life was never dull in Community Consolidated School District 15! 

Winston Campus Junior High (prevously named Winston Campus, Winston Park Junior High, Winston Park School (K-8))
120 N. Babcock Drive, Palatine

Date opened—11/1/1958
District enrollment—4,931

1967—Winston Churchill Elementary was built, and Winston Park School (K-8) became Winston Park Junior High

May 27, 1992—a little over four years after taxpayers passed a $64 million referendum, Winston Park and Winston Churchill broke ground for what would become Winston Campus, a kindergarten through eighth-grade facility. A large hallway simultaneously separated and connected the two. Structurally, each maintained its identity although there was shared usage of some spaces. Educationally, they shared activities and programs that benefitted both. 

1993—Winston Churchill Elementary and Winston Park Junior High combined into one K-8 school now called Winston Campus.
Groundbreaking for Winston Campus was in May 1992, and the new facility was dedicated in January 1994.
Date opened (after renovations into a K-8 school)—8/26/1993
District enrollment—12,217

2012—Winston Campus was separated back into two schools, Winston Campus Elementary and Winston Campus Junior High

Principals:

March 14, 1956, three days before taxpayers’ passed a four-part bond issue referendum, the Board of Education received a state visitation report. The state report was complimentary, except in one area: buildings. In short, District 15 needed more schools.

The referendum, which was overwhelmingly supported, allowed the district to purchase a parcel of land on the east side of Palatine and construct its sixth post-consolidation school. Like several other schools in the district, Winston Park was named for the area in which it was built. 

The school opened its doors November 1, 1958, with John Prihoda as principal. At first Winston Park was a kindergarten through eighth-grade facility. Five years later, during the 1963-64 school year, 1,584 children from 897 families attended Winston Park. Growth in the northwest suburban area was robust. Between 1960 and 1965, the number of children entering the school system exceeded the number leaving for high school by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio. Clearly, the area needed another school. The need was there, the land was available, and taxpayers approved a state, interest-free loan for the construction of an elementary school, Winston Churchill, right next door. That solved the issue of overcrowding, and Winston Park became a junior high school in 1967.

In 2012, Winston Campus Junior High and Winston Campus Elementary were reconfigured again, a new entrance was created for the junior high, and the schools were once again separated into two buildings: an elementary school and a junior high school.

July 2019—Martín Da Costa announced as a finalist for Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership 2021.

Cardinal Drive School
2300 Cardinal Drive, Rolling Meadows

Date opened—9/1/1960
District enrollment—6,318
Principals:

Closed June 1976. This building was sold to the Church of Christ in 1978 due to costly maintenance and enrollment decreases.

A small, 12-classroom school located on four acres in a residential Rolling Meadows neighborhood, Cardinal Drive School was built quickly during a period of extraordinary growth in the district. The need to purchase a site and construct a building in a short period of time did, indeed, contribute to its demise 15 years later. In a news analysis in a local paper, one columnist noted that Cardinal Drive, besides being located near Salt Creek, had the added problem of an underground geological stream and silt base for the school. 

Rolling Meadows’ third school in six years opened in September 1960 with an enrollment of 388. 

If the Cardinal Drive School site was a minus, its small size was a plus, fostering closeness among students, staff, and parents. Nevertheless, the cost to bring the school in line with minimum construction standards for health and safety would almost have equaled the school’s original cost of $385,630. District enrollment was declining; monies for education were tight. Such a project would have been fiscally imprudent. As a result, the board decided to close Cardinal Drive School. 

One individual, Debbie Regnier, was especially sad about the closing because she had been both a student and a teacher there. Yet, as Principal David Noonan observed in an article appearing in the June 11, 1976, edition of the Herald, “The physical building does not make a school. It’s what we do inside that counts.” For 15 years, this school served the community well.

School was out forever at Cardinal Drive in June 1976, although it housed Thomas Jefferson students for a few months until that new school was ready for occupancy in January 1977. On May 4, 1978, Cardinal Drive School was sold to the Des Plaines Church of Christ. It is now called the Cardinal Drive Church of Christ. 

Central Road Elementary School
3800 Central Road, Rolling Meadows

Date opened—11/28/1960
District enrollment—6,350

Principals:

Between 1955 and 1961, enrollment in District 15 more than doubled, from 2,543 to 6,261. During that time period, five new schools opened, three in Rolling Meadows. The last of those, Central Road, was the first state-financed school in this district. The 12-classroom facility, located on more than 9 acres, opened its doors November 28, 1960, the Monday after Thanksgiving, and just two-and-one-half months after its neighboring school, Cardinal Drive, had opened. Six years later, because of continued growth in the area, the district built a 14-classroom addition to Central Road. 

Getting to the new school wasn’t easy when the school opened in 1960, because neither the road to the school nor the permanent footbridge over Salt Creek were completed, and the school parking lot wasn’t paved. Consequently, buses dropped students off at the corner of Owl and Central. 

During its 58-year history, the school has had 14 principals. Marion Omiatek opened Central Road, serving during the 1960-61 school year. In September 1964, the Board of Education adopted a resolution for an addition to the building. Construction began in June 1965 and was completed in August 1965. During George Edwards’ tenure, Central Road grew from crowded to comfortable, with the opening of a new wing in 1966. 

The late 1970s through the mid-80s were trying years, because District 15 had to do more with fewer dollars. Between 1979 and 1982, three schools closed. Central Road was one of eight schools under consideration for closing in 1981. However, because it was almost fully occupied, Central Road was the least expensive to operate, at $110 per student. Consequently, it remained open, and another Rolling Meadows school, Jonas E. Salk School, closed. 
The enrollment pendulum began to swing back the other way a few years later with new growth, especially in the north and west areas of the district. For the first time in a decade, the area needed to build a school instead of closing one. Passage of the $64 million referendum on March 15, 1988, allowed the district to build a school, raze and rebuild two others, and renovate the other 16. The project took eight years. 

For two school years, 1994-96, Central Road, then called the “Roadrunners,” was housed in nine portable classrooms, referred to as “the village,” and rented classroom space at Clearbrook Center, three blocks east of Central Road. The project was challenging, because the school is located on a flood plain. After careful analysis, it became apparent that razing the old school and building another made more fiscal sense than renovating it. 

This building was razed in June 1995, and a new building was constructed on the same site, completed in August 1996. The walls came tumbling down June 22, 1995, and work on the $4.7 million project began. The new two-story building opened in time for the 1996-97 school year. In the exact middle of the building is the resource center, a configuration designed to promote team teaching. Clusters of three classrooms with removable walls surround the center. 

When construction was completed, the Central Road School community did not see a phoenix rising from the ashes, but rather a roadrunner rising above a flood plain. (Later the school changed its mascot from the Roadrunners to Wolves.) Then, in school year 2000-2001, construction began again with the addition of six new classrooms.

Carl Sandburg Junior High School
2600 Martin Lane, Rolling Meadows

Date opened—9/1/1961
District enrollment—6,405

This school was named in honor of the poet, Carl Sandburg.

Principals:

Located on more than 10 acres of land in Rolling Meadows, Carl Sandburg School is named for one of Illinois’ poet laureates. The 12-classroom school, originally a kindergarten through eighth-grade facility, was constructed and occupied in the same year, 1961. 

Sandburg was the third school in Rolling Meadows to open in a 12-month period. District 15’s enrollment continued to grow, as did the assessed valuation of the district. This enabled the school board to approve construction of a 16-classroom junior high wing, plus library and gymnasium facilities for the school in 1962.

The rooms and hallways may have been unfamiliar to the students who entered Carl Sandburg School in September 1961, but the principal’s face was not. For the third time in seven years, Joseph M. Kiszka opened a Rolling Meadows school. He also promoted and served as a director of a special program for teenagers, sponsored by the park board of Rolling Meadows and the school district, that began in summer 1962 at Carl Sandburg and Jonas Salk schools. During Kiszka’s tenure, the students celebrated their namesake’s birthday, according to the January 3, 1963 edition of the Herald by participating in a “penny parade” to help finance maintenance of Sandburg’s birthplace in Galesburg, Illinois. It was reported that students proudly collected 1,331 pennies and sent off a check for $13.31 to the Carl Sandburg Birthplace Association.

After Mr. Kiszka left Sandburg, Melvin Spence became principal, a position he held from September 1964 to June 1968. Perhaps one of the most interesting events of his tenure occurred in June 1967. A tornado struck Rolling Meadows, and eighth grade graduation exercises had to be relocated to Forest View High School because the winds and rain had damaged Sandburg’s roof so severely that the building was deemed unsafe for occupancy. 

The next principal, E. Daniel Vucovich, had the distinction of serving the greatest number of years as principal in a single District 15 school: 25. During his quarter century at Sandburg, from 1968 to 1993, Vucovich saw District 15’s enrollment at its zenith and its nadir. He was principal when the school was a K-8 facility, as well as when it became a junior high in the early 1970s. 

Barbara Karll became Sandburg’s fourth principal, succeeding Mr. Vucovich. Her first year as principal, during 1993-94, was especially memorable. That is when ground-breaking for renovation of the 33-year-old building began. For the next 14 months, students, staff, construction workers, and contractors co-existed until February 14, 1996, when the Board of Education dedicated the renovated and refurbished school. The $6.9 million project included a multi-purpose room that is also used as a cafeteria, gym and stage, enlarged classrooms, computer labs, and an expanded resource center. 

Carl Sandburg was named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education during the 1999-2000 school year.

We Remember—“Mr. Everywhere” by Susan Davie Laugal 
Ms. Laugal remembers two teachers with a consistent presence in the community.

Al Hopkins seemed to be everywhere. He was a physical education teacher at the time I attended Carl Sandburg Junior High in 1967, and in the summers he was the manager of the Rolling Meadows pool. 

I went on to attend college as an education major. When it came time to student teach, I was assigned to Hunting Ridge School. You guessed it—Al was there too! He was principal of Hunting Ridge. What amazed me most was that he remembered me from junior high.

Upon graduation, I went searching for a teaching job. Al didn’t have a position for me, so I headed over to Kimball Hill School. Once again, a teacher from my past popped up. Corbite Henry, who had been my eighth-grade core teacher at Carl Sandburg, was principal there. 

Plum Grove Junior High School
2600 Plum Grove Road, Rolling Meadows

Date opened—09/01/1962
District enrollment—7,186
First principal—Gene Shull
This school was named for the community in which it was located. Groundbreaking for renovation of the building was in May 1993, and the school was rededicated in April 1995.

Principals:

Plum Grove School was named for the community in which it was built. The area, which was heavily wooded, was an established Potawatomi Indian camp for many years. In the mid-1830s, settlers arrived. The first schoolhouse in Plum Grove was located approximately one-half mile south of the present-day school. 

On October 22, 1960, voters approved a $1.1 million referendum to build an addition to Carl Sandburg School and to buy a 10-acre parcel of land to build another school, a kindergarten through eighth-grade facility that would become known as Plum Grove School.

Two years later, on September 1, 1962, the district’s 10th new school in 14 years opened. Designed to accommodate 360 students, the school’s enrollment was 420 during its inaugural year. Within two months of Plum Grove’s opening, voters went back to the polls and approved another referendum that would enable the district to build two more elementary schools. 

During the next few years, growth continued to soar, District 15 continued to modify boundaries to accommodate enrollment, and Plum Grove continued to be crowded. In August 1966, voters approved a $1.9 million referendum, part of which was used to build an addition to Plum Grove that opened in fall 1968. 

Gene Shull, the school’s first principal, served seven years—September 1962 to June 1969. Shull opened both the new facility and the addition. Charles Atkison was principal for the following eight years; September 1969 to June 1977. It was during his tenure that Plum Grove became strictly a junior high school in 1970. In the process, staff members from Paddock merged with Plum Grove. It was a smooth, easy transition, according to staff members. 

District enrollment peaked in 1972; that was also the first time since 1946 that the number of children in eighth grade exceeded the number of children in kindergarten. When Richard Schmidt became principal in September 1977, the number of junior high students was still high, but total district enrollment was dropping. Schmidt remained principal at Plum Grove for the next 11 years. 

During that time, voters passed two referenda. The first increased the educational tax from $1.61 to $2.51, allowing the district to continue to offer fine education in fiscally challenging times. Continuing its staunch support of education, on March 15, 1988, voters overwhelmingly granted District 15 its $64 million wish: to renovate the existing 18 schools and build a kindergarten through eighth-grade facility.

Plum Grove would benefit from that referendum five years later. The school’s $6.5 million renovation began in 1993, and on April 12, 1995, the Board of Education dedicated the school. Plum Grove Junior High received an additional 24,000 square feet of space. Students lost playground space, but gained a large multi-purpose room for use as a cafeteria, theater, and sometime-gymnasium. Other features include: additional classrooms, computer labs, music rooms, a learning resource center, elevators, lockers for all students and carpeting throughout the building. 

Plum Grove also expanded in other ways that year. The Illinois State Board of Education awarded Plum Grove a grant to participate in the “Museum in the Classroom” project and link with Adler Planetarium via the Internet. As noted in the Chicago Tribune on December 21, 1995, “A lunar rock, an 18th century telescope and an image of Jupiter are just some of the out-of-the-world space objects students will learn and write about.” 

(Read about Plum Grove Junior High science teacher Sharon Hooper's Antarctic Expedition in 2000.)

As it has grown along with the community it serves, Plum Grove Junior High has continued to demonstrate excellence in preparing students for high school and beyond. That excellence was recognized nationally when Plum Grove Junior High was named to receive the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award during the 1997-98 school year.

We Remember—District “Boom” Days
The late 1950s and 1960s were a time of incredible growth for District 15. The land south of the Village of Palatine was developed as the City of Rolling Meadows, and new home construction in the northern section of Palatine brought in post-World War II couples looking for homes where they could raise their families.

District enrollment figures alone tell the story. In 1946 the district had 77 enrolled in kindergarten, a decade later the number was 587. Ten years after that, in 1966, there were 1,298 kindergarten students. Between 1960 and 1965, the number of children entering the school system exceeded the number leaving for high school by nearly a 2-to-1 ratio. In 1962, the four most crowded schools were Oak Street, Paddock, Pleasant Hill, and Winston Park; enrollment was 7,186.

The district’s greatest challenge lay in building schools fast enough, in finding space somewhere—anywhere—to put students. In 1962 to accommodate the robust and challenging growth, classes were held in 216 regular school classrooms, 11 rented rooms in churches and civic buildings throughout the district, as well as in two libraries and one music room in schools. In a letter to residents, the district estimated that in two years enrollment would be 8,400. In fact, in 1964, enrollment reached 8,680. Students were bused and split shifts were common; there were half-day school sessions without gym and recess. 

Many meetings held by the Board of Education gave parents an opportunity to voice their views. And voice they did. In November 1964, parents jammed into a board meeting with a petition signed by 130 parents of second-grade children at Jane Addams objecting to the scheduling of double sessions. The board responded at the same meeting, directing the administration to convert storage space and a library into classrooms.

Recalling those frantic years of growth, Fran Green, a Palatine resident who also taught at Wood Street School for one year, said, “Of course, we didn’t like double sessions or our kids bused all over the place. We weren’t happy with the situation, but we knew we caused it.” 

Marion Jordan Elementary School
100 North Harrison Avenue, Palatine

Date opened—9/1/1963
District enrollment—7,822

Named for—This school was named in honor of Mr. Marion Jordan, the second superintendent of Community Consolidated School District 15 who passed away on November 25, 1988. 

Principals:

Marion Jordan School was named for Community Consolidated School District 15’s second superintendent, a tribute to the man who sat at the helm of the district for 14 years from 1947 to 1961. In the fall of 1962, 7,200 students were enrolled in District’s 15’s 11 schools—an increase of 800 from the previous year. Such growth created a requirement for additional bonding power to meet the problem of financing additional classrooms. The proposed $975,000 bond issue was critically needed for two new schools. One of them, the Harrison Street School, as Marion Jordan was then called, was designated for additions because of its large 14-acre site.

The 14-classroom facility officially opened January 6, 1964. Because of its location—in a sparsely populated neighborhood in west Palatine—virtually three-fourths of the student body were bused. Noon time was an adventure for those who wanted to buy a hot, 35-cent lunch: they had to ride a bus to Gray M. Sanborn School. It wasn’t until January 3, 1967, that the school had its own lunchroom. 

Throughout its history, Marion Jordan School has been involved in several special programs. In the mid-1960s, students participated in a language education pilot program conceived by Encyclopedia Britannica that involved using a child’s experiences and thinking process for reading education. In the mid-90s, the school was one of fewer than 100 throughout the state awarded a grant from an Illinois State Board of Education program known as the “Museum in the Classroom” project. Fifth graders at Marion Jordan were linked up with the Chicago Academy of Sciences to work on an endangered species project using virtual reality. 

In 2005, Marion Jordan was recognized by the U. S. Department of Education for excellence in student achievement when the school received the 2005 No Child Left Behind Award for performing in the top 10 percent on state testing for five consecutive years.

Marion Jordan’s principals have helped guide countless students into and out of the kindergarten through sixth-grade school at 100 North Harrison Avenue. Wilma Watkins, the first principal, served for 10 years, from September 1963 to June 1973. 

During her tenure, Dr. Woelfel, staff, and students learned to deal creatively with disruption. For three years, in the mid-and late ’80s, they contended with asbestos removal— a problem that confronted 13 other district schools— as well as with building renovation and construction. They relied on cooperation, patience, and humor. A special logo—a cartoon character pulling out its hair—became an unofficial mascot during the renovation process and portable classrooms were referred to as “Little House(s) on the Prairie.” That August, Dr. Woelfel and Shirley Gyenes, Marion Jordan’s secretary since 1975, began preparing for the 1989-90 school year in an office with no furniture, no intercom, and plywood on the windows. In a welcome-back-to school notice, students were reminded to wear mosquito repellent. Some classes were housed temporarily in the old gymnasium, and a few times the “sounds of music” emanated from the parking lot as one music instructor held classes from his car trunk. Looking back, school staff acknowledged that the renovation process wasn’t always pleasant, but it promoted camaraderie, cooperation, and good senses of humor and community. 

The Board of Education dedicated the newly renovated $4.2 million facility December 6, 1989, just 19 months after the groundbreaking ceremony. Although Marion Jordan did not live to attend the dedication ceremony, the school that bears his name continues to exemplify Jordan’s belief that, “Education is a journey that never ends.” 

Marion Jordan was also recognized in 2005 as a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education.

Jane Addams Elementary School
1020 Sayles Drive, Palatine

Date opened—11/12/1963
District enrollment—7,900

Principals: 

On November 17, 1962, voters in District 15 approved a $975,000 referendum to issue bonds to build two new schools. Within 12 months, both were completed and opened—one in the west Palatine area and one in the Winston Park area. The latter, located on seven acres, was named after Jane Addams, the American social reformer and Nobel laureate who founded Hull House in Chicago. Addams championed the role of education in the quality of American life, and she developed a vision of a society in which all people, regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic status, would have a chance to develop individual talents and interests.

When Jane Addams School opened November 12, 1963, it was the epitome of a neighborhood school. The students, all of whom walked to school, came from single-family homes in the immediate area. The Spinnaker Cove subdivision, directly north of the Jane Addams and now within school boundaries, was farmland at that time. 

During the elementary school’s history, 13 educators have served as principals. Robert Craig opened Jane Addams in 1963. John Myers served from 1975 to 1981, an especially challenging time in the school’s history. 

In the fall of 1975, district enrollment had experienced its second year of decline and that trend was expected to continue. Four years later, Jane Addams was one of eight schools in District 15—four in Rolling Meadows and four in Palatine—being scrutinized for possible closure. Location was a critical factor in determining school closings, according to an article appearing in the May 21, 1980, edition of The Daily Herald. Addams was considered because it was more centrally located, so students could be absorbed more easily into other schools. It was also one of the more expensive to operate—approximately $156 per student. After spending several months analyzing all the data, the board decided not to close the Palatine school. For Larry Stilgebauer, who became principal in the fall of 1981, that was good news, because it enabled the Jane Addams family—students, staff and parents—to focus on education instead of extinction. 

In September 1986, enrollment in the district was beginning to show signs of modest growth. Nevertheless, state appropriations to education were not increasing. District 15’s cost per child was already the lowest of all the neighboring northwest suburban elementary school districts, and the schools were in dire need of repair and renovation. The solution: a 90-cent increase in the tax rate. That translated to $64 million. Just as they had done in every other referendum, the voters approved the request. That meant a facelift for Jane Addams.

Four years later, in May 1992, groundbreaking for the renovation of Jane Addams School began. The dedication ceremony was held on October 13, 1993. As heralded in its dedication program, “the end (was) just the beginning” of Jane Addams School’s vision for children. 

Charles Accardi served as principal from 1998 to 2001. Because of increased enrollment, a 9,154-square-foot addition was constructed, adding six more classrooms to the east side of the Jane Addams building. 

In 2004, Jane Addams was recognized by the state of Illinois with an Academic Achievement Award, for being one of the few schools in the state that demonstrated significant academic progress during the previous school year.

Virginia Lake Elementary School
925 North Glenn Drive, Palatine

Original address—925 North Rohlwing Road (address changed September 1993 after renovation of building). 
Date opened—4/12/1966
District enrollment—9,701

Principals:

“Where are you, Virginia Lake School?” inquired a headline in the December 9, 1965, edition of the Herald. Weather and a shortage of workmen delayed the opening of the district’s thirteenth school by almost four months. “Glory be,” was Superintendent E. S. Castor’s response when the general contractor informed him of the completion date. 

Located on 8.5 acres just north of the Winston Park subdivision, Virginia Lake was one product of a $1.195 million bond referendum approved on October 10, 1964. As reported in the Palatine Enterprise, the 4-to-1 margin of victory represented “twice the favorable turnout that the district received for a similar referendum two years ago.” 

Until Virginia Lake opened April 12, 1966, students attended class at four other schools: Joel Wood, Gray M. Sanborn, Jane Addams, Winston Park, and three Palatine area churches. Over 9,000 children, an increase of nearly 8 percent over the previous fall, headed back to District 15 schools that September. The sheer number of students in the district overwhelmed and outstripped the number of classrooms and schools. Winston Park, for example, where most of Virginia Lake students attended, had eight classes on a double schedule. The spring opening of the new 25-classroom facility alleviated the overcrowding and helped end those double sessions. Richard Shiveley, the principal who opened Virginia Lake, served from April 1966 to June 1971.

In April 1992, Virginia Lake began its renovation as part of the district’s $64 million referendum plan. At the ground-breaking ceremony, the school honored four staff members who had been there since Virginia Lake opened its doors 26 years earlier: George Auer, Darlene Fiocca, Nikki Hefty, and Sue Schwartz. 

Unlike the original construction process, the $5.25 million renovation proceeded without a hitch. On December 8, 1994, the Board of Education dedicated the newly renovated school. Among the additions were three classrooms, special education classrooms, a multipurpose-purpose room, and a community room. On the dedication program was a photo of George J. Wischhusen, a retired AT &T engineer who became a bus driver for District 15 and was a “grandpa” to countless children at Virginia Lake for more than six years until his death in July 1993. 

In 2000, six new classrooms were completed at Virginia Lake to provide additional space to accommodate new students.

“Where learning and friendship count,” Virginia Lake’s motto, extends beyond the school’s walls.

Winston Campus Elementary School | Winston Churchill Elementary School
900 E. Palatine Road, Palatine

Date opened—9/2/1967
District enrollment—10,189

1967—Winston Churchill Elementary was built (Winston Park became a Junior High)

May 27, 1992—a little over four years after taxpayers passed a $64 million referendum, Winston Park and Winston Churchill broke ground for what would become Winston Campus, a kindergarten through eighth-grade facility. A large hallway simultaneously separated and connected the two. Structurally, each maintained its identity although there was shared usage of some spaces. Educationally, they shared activities and programs that benefitted both. 

1993—Winston Churchill Elementary and Winston Park Junior High combined into one K-8 school now called Winston Campus.
Groundbreaking for Winston Campus was in May 1992, and the new facility was dedicated in January 1994.
Date opened (after renovations into a K-8 school)—8/26/1993
District enrollment—12,217

2012—Winston Campus was separated back into two schools, Winston Campus Elementary and Winston Campus Junior High

Principals:

The 15th school in District 15, Winston Churchill opened its doors September 2, 1967. While the district paid for costs of constructing the gym area and offices, the Illinois School Building Commission footed the bill for all 21 classrooms. Churchill shared a 21-acre site with Winston Park School. Although some were skeptical about locating two schools so close together, Charles Atkison, the first principal of Winston Churchill, was not. As reported in a local paper, Atkison said, “The advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages.” 

It was a symbiotic relationship. Of the more than 1,500 students combined, approximately 700 kindergarten through fourth-grade children filled those Winston Churchill classrooms, while fifth-through eighth-graders attended Winston Park. Both schools shared the same playground, Churchill students ate lunch at Winston Park, and some physical education classes from Winston Park walked the short distance to Winston Churchill to use its gym. 

Teachers, parents, and administrators were committed to this unique partnership of the two schools.

One teacher, Wilma Crase, began teaching at Winston Park in 1958, when it was a kindergarten through sixth-grade school. In 1967 she moved next door to Winston Churchill. And when the two schools combined in 1993 and became Winston Campus, Crase moved back to the classroom, where she had originally begun in 1958. Mrs. Crase retired in 1997.

From 1993 through 1996, there was one principal for elementary and another for junior high. The name of school and the address were changed to Winston Campus, 900 E. Palatine Road, Palatine, when Winston Churchill and Winston Park Junior High Schools were combined into a kindergarten–grade 8 facility in 1993. John L. Myers became K-8 principal.

From 1996-97 to 2003-04, the school was considered a single school with one principal for both elementary and junior high grades (K-8). In 2001, eight new classrooms were completed to provide space to accommodate new students.

Beginning with the 2004-05 school year, separate principals were again appointed for elementary and junior high grades. 

In 2012, the two schools were reconfigured again, a separate entrance was created for the junior high, and the schools were separated into an elementary and a junior high school.

We Remember—Photographs and Memories 
If a picture is worth a 1,000 words, Winston Churchill PTA photo albums speak volumes—three, to be precise. The albums are large, measuring 24 by 18 inches, with a combined weight of 34 pounds. More than 1,000 historical photos are preserved on laminated pages between rigid, canvas-backed covers.

This pictorial history begins with Volume I, which was officially presented to Winston Churchill School at the November 30, 1982, PTA general meeting. Years of photos depict countless PTA-sponsored program and activities—Market Day and Motor Moms, flag raising and groundbreaking ceremonies, Halloween parties with pumpkins and “things that go bump in the night,” science fairs and craft fairs, and Winston Churchill’s 25th anniversary party. The colorful candid shots captured the Winston Churchill family and preserve its memories for future generations. 

Hunting Ridge Elementary School
1105 West Illinois Avenue, Palatine

Date opened—9/2/1969
District enrollment—12,018

Principals: 

Hunting Ridge School owes its name to the neighborhood of homes surrounding it. As housing in the northwest suburbs expanded westward, it became obvious that another school was needed to accommodate families moving into the area. A school was first proposed for the nine-acre site on Illinois Avenue in October 1967. Financed through state funds, the 24-classroom school had the same design as Lake Louise, planned for the northern section of the district. Both were modified versions of the Winston Churchill school design.

Inspired by the rolling, wooded terrain which brought hunters in search of pheasant and other small game and a ridge said to be running through the north side of the area, the housing developer named the sprawling new neighborhood Hunting Ridge.

The new subdivision quickly attracted buyers from the Chicago area in search of larger homes for growing families. Construction of homes was brisk. Construction of the school was not. Despite delays, Hunting Ridge School was completed with staff and district personnel pitching in to make sure doors opened on time. 

The Thursday before opening day, teachers eager to prepare their classrooms and students eager to register for the coming school year clamored into the school. Over the weekend, construction workers and a cleaning crew swept out debris and made room for district personnel moving in furniture. In two days, 280 students were registered and classrooms were ready. 

Despite the fact that the building was still a “work-in progress,” doors opened to enthusiastic staff and students on September 2, 1969. The first months were a mud-filled medley of challenges. Workmen remained in the building until November, laying tile and painting. Playground construction was delayed because fill was needed to stem the flow from a creek running through the area. There were no bus routes until later in the fall, no parking lots until late October, no playground and no lunchroom. But there were plenty of parents eager to make the best of this challenging situation. With children eating in classrooms until late November, the PTA provided a weekly boost with once-a-week treats from McDonald’s. 

Perhaps it was this rollicking beginning that laid the way for the smooth years to come. With a very active parent group providing substantive support in services and fund-raising events, Hunting Ridge has enjoyed some very productive years. By May 1972, with adversities behind them, Hunting Ridge enrollment reached 720 and the school’s stellar reputation was firmly in place.

The school’s expansive site and active PTA have provided some unique opportunities for students. Many former students remember the day in October 1976 when a helicopter from the Chicago Fire Department landed on school grounds. Throughout the years, the PTA has initiated many programs that have spread to other district schools.

Hunting Ridge’s first principal was Al Hopkins, who led the school from 1968 to 1976. 

Hunting Ridge was not immune to District 15’s renovation fever. But because its renovation was not as large as many district schools, it was spared major construction headaches. The design process began in November 1989, construction began March 1990, and a formal groundbreaking was held May 23. Although children were upset about losing their sliding hill on the east side of the building to the new addition, construction went along without a hitch. The updated, reconfigured building was dedicated October 30, 1991. Four new classrooms were completed in 2001 to provide space to accommodate new students.

The school's original mascot was the Ridge Runner—a variation of a road runner—but the present mascot is the hawk, and the school respect plan centers on “Hawk Habits” and the “Hawk Pledge.” During the 1998-1999 school year, Hunting Ridge was nationally recognized with the Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence presented by the U.S. Department of Education.

Lake Louise Elementary School
500 Jonathan Drive, Palatine

Date opened—10/6/1969
District enrollment—12,018

This school was named after the lake north of the school site. The lake has been renamed Lake Heatherstone after the contiguous subdivision. 

Principals:

In the late 1960s, Palatine and surrounding northwest suburbs were, indeed, boom towns—baby boom towns. The post-World War II generation poured into the suburbs, building homes for their growing families, posing challenges for the district. Simply providing enough physical space for the children became a major test for educators. The community was only too aware of those needs, and in December 1967, voters passed a $1.6 million referendum to build not one, but two elementary schools, one of which was Lake Louise. District enrollment at that time was 12,018. 

On September 27, 1968, construction began on the 24-room facility which would serve the Winston Park, Lake Louise, Pinehurst Manor, Capri Village subdivisions and surrounding areas of Rand and Dundee roads. The school’s boundaries included Lake-Cook Road on the north, Palatine Road on the south, and Wilke Road on the east. 

The community was actively involved in the building of this critically needed school. Construction on the 9.998-acre site proceeded slowly. Before the contract was awarded for the building of Lake Louise School, it was difficult to find the site, because Winston Drive stopped at Everett Drive, and there was no road from the frontage road. In fact, between the frontage road and Everett Drive, there were no homes at all. With no roads and utilities, the general contractor had to pay for emergency power lines from neighboring homes and had to get approval to construct a temporary road, one that was frequently lost after heavy rainstorms. In addition, despite the fact that the new school was adjacent to a lake, the general contractor was forced to use a tank truck to cart in water.

On an October weekend in 1969, 13 months after construction began, Principal Gene Shull, teachers, and volunteers moved furniture into Lake Louise School. The following Monday, 32 staff members and one principal welcomed 714 “Lake Louise Lions” into the new school. Shull holds the distinction of being the only principal in the district to serve the longest in a school that he opened. He retired 21 years later, after 35 years in education.

In July 1990, Charles Atkison became principal and oversaw renovation that would add more than 40,000 square feet to the original 30,000 square feet. On April 14, 1993, the Board of Education dedicated the new facility. Though the school’s building has changed, Lake Louise’s commitment to “building learners for life” remains unchanged. 

Lincoln Elementary School
1021 Ridgewood Lane, Palatine

Date opened—8/30/1971
District enrollment—12,145

Lincoln School was named in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. 

Principals:

September 1971 was memorable for many reasons. District 15 celebrated its silver anniversary. Lincoln, the district’s 17th school since consolidation, had just opened and was already crowded. That month, Richard Martwick, Cook County Schools superintendent, visited Lincoln and praised the architecture which, as reported in the September 14, 1971, Daily Herald, permitted “a great deal of flexibility.” Larry Stilgebauer, the school’s first principal, couldn’t have agreed more, replying, “Lincoln was built around a program rather than a program built around a building.” 

The “PepperTree School,” as Lincoln was called during its construction period, was one product of a $3.3 million referendum voters had passed on November 15, 1969. It was built on slightly more than six acres of land in an area of Palatine that was ripe for growth. On opening day, August 30, 1971, the enrollment was approximately 600. Children living in the PepperTree Farm, Heatherlea, and Reseda West subdivisions could finally attend school closer to home. Lincoln drew its students from Jane Addams, Virginia Lake, Winston Churchill, Lake Louise, Paddock, and Hunting Ridge. By spring of the next year, Lincoln’s enrollment had mushroomed to more than 900. The increase reflected incredible growth in the area, transferred corporation employees, and available land for housing construction. 

Reminiscing about that first year and the challenge of keeping pace with the rapidly changing community, Stilgebauer recalled registering 40 children in one day in the middle of the school year. 

One of the unique ways Lincoln coped with such a large student body was through a paraprofessional program District 15 piloted there. The brand new school opened with 26 classrooms and fewer instructors, yet there were more adults in those classrooms. The district’s carefully crafted program incorporated certificated teacher aides and clerical aides into the education process and actually reduced the student-to-teacher ratio. 

Lincoln’s enrollment of 804 in May 1973 placed it third among schools in the district. Plum Grove had the highest enrollment at 936, but the facility was 11 years old and had an addition built in 1971. Winston Park’s enrollment was 821, but it was 15 years old and in the process of getting its second addition. By contrast, Lincoln School was only in its second year of existence. 

The first principal, Larry Stilgebauer, served 10 years, from August 1971 to June 1981. Mary Beth Knoeppel, who was serving as Lincoln’s assistant principal for the prior six years, was appointed to the position in July 2011 and is the only principal whose mother, Kathleen May Voigt, also served as a principal in District 15 (at Frank C. Whiteley School)!

During Victoria Kiviranta’s tenure, Lincoln underwent a $3.25 million renovation that began in 1991 and culminated in late 1992. Additions included six classrooms, a music room, a new gym, a community room, a refurbished multi-purpose room, and air conditioning. On February 10, 1993, nine months after the groundbreaking ceremony, the Board of Education dedicated the new facility, a tangible representation of three qualities that encircle the Lincoln Lion logo: respect, responsibility, and cooperation. During the 2002-03 school year, Lincoln experienced its largest enrollment since 1972, with 888 students enrolled. To accommodate the growth, two sixth-grade classes were housed in portable classrooms that year. Since then, Lincoln's enrollment has held relatively steady at or just about 800 students each year. 

Willow Bend Elementary School
4700 Barker Avenue, Rolling Meadows

Date opened—8/31/1971
District enrollment—12,145

This school was named for the apartment development contiguous to the school site called Georgetown of Willow Bend. 

Principals:

In early December 1967, voters passed a $1.6 million referendum that included the approval of a state interest-free loan to build and equip a new school on a more than seven-acre parcel of land in the southeast section of Rolling Meadows. Named for a nearby subdivision, Willow Bend became the district’s 18th school since consolidation.

Trying to finish Willow Bend for the start of the 1971-72 school year posed all sorts of challenges. Just two weeks before the 26-classroom school was scheduled to open, architects and school administrators worried that a fire earlier that summer in the gymnasium would seriously delay the opening. In addition, Barker Avenue, where the school is located, was under construction and closed to all traffic. That meant students would have to be dropped off and picked up at the intersection of Central Road and Barker Avenue three times each school day. Building Barker Avenue would also affect the school hours, including lunch and recess. All students were permitted to remain in the school for lunch, a novelty for that time. They had to remain indoors for recess during those early school days. 

It took real team spirit to open Willow Bend School on August 31, 1971, one day after the official opening of the school year. But teachers and even administrators from the district’s central office all pitched in over a late August weekend to move furniture and materials into the school. Today, that team spirit is still evident and now extends well beyond the classroom. 

With students coming from homes where nearly 30 different languages are spoken, Willow Bend has the district’s most varied population. That rich diversity has contributed to the school’s innovative programs—many of them community-oriented.

In 1992, for example, Willow Bend opened a parent learning center to provide a link between home and school that would address family living skills. It was the only facility of its kind in Illinois at the time. Today, many schools model parent education facilities after Willow Bend’s center. 

The first principal, Michael Zawacke, opened the school and served 20 years. 

Along with the rest of the Willow Bend “family,” Mrs. Kappel eagerly watched the $3.3 million renovation process, which officially began with a groundbreaking ceremony on November 9, 1994. 

The school was made 8,962 square feet larger with improvements including an enlarged gym, a new cafeteria, a multi-purpose room, and air conditioning. An additional $500,000 was allocated to make it District 15’s model “technology school,” and in December 1995, Willow Bend was one of nine schools selected nationwide to receive a $10,000 grant from the National Foundation for the Improvement of Education for a program to complement the school’s advanced technology. 

(Read the article "How Technology Can Transform a School" by John G. Conyers, Toni Kappel, and Joanne Rooney, ASCD Educational Leadership Magazine, February 1, 1999, Vol. 56, No. 5.)

When the board dedicated the newly renovated school in May 1996, it was clear to observers that Willow Bend had once again expanded those classroom walls and opened a new “Window to the World” of the 21st century. In March 2001, an addition on the south side of the building creating three new classrooms was completed.

The Willow Bend community—staff, students, and families—joyously celebrated the recognition long overdue when the school was named a 2007 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by the U. S. Department of Education for student scores that were in the top 10 percent of Illinois on state achievement tests.

Walter R. Sundling Junior High (originally named Palatine Hills Junior High School)
1100 North Smith Street, Palatine

Date opened—5/1/1973
Renamed Walter R. Sundling Junior High School—August 1977 
District enrollment—12,095

This school was named in honor of Walter R. Sundling who served as a member of the Board of Education for 26 years, from 1950 to 1976. Mr. Sundling was selected by his peers as president of the board for 21 of those years. The building was renovated in 1994, and was rededicated in the fall of 1995.

Principals:

The early 1970s was a transitional period for District 15 as the community matured and enrollment declined. Walter R. Sundling Junior High, originally named Palatine Hills Junior High, was built in 1973 to accommodate a quickly maturing student population.

The school’s design initially duplicated that of Carl Sandburg Junior High. Plans were eventually changed, however, to accommodate a larger number of students—a projected 960—and also to include an updated, flexible space concept. 

Financing the new school became a real concern when bids came in well over the $2,060,000 available for construction. Faced with the prospect of building a school with limited physical potential along with plans to construct two new elementary schools in the west and northeast sections of the district, the Board of Education requested approval for a $3 million referendum, according to the September 10, 1971, edition of the Daily Herald. On October 30, 1971, voters approved the request to issue bonds to build and equip the new junior high and prospective elementary schools, thus allowing the behind-schedule construction on the junior high to continue. 

In a move that turned into an adventure, students and staff moved into the building in the spring of 1973. Everyone got lost in the maze of open rooms. Classrooms had no doors. Three rooms on the second floor were separated only by portable curtains. Junior high students coming from traditionally rival schools—Sanborn and Winston Park—converged on not-yet carpeted cement floors. Construction dust was everywhere. One can almost imagine the cacophony of sound and stress. But everyone survived … and in style. 

Renamed Walter R. Sundling Junior High in 1977 for the Board of Education member with the longest tenure (26 years), the school has established an enviable reputation. It has consistently garnered some of the highest assessment scores in the district. In May 1996 students and teachers traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the 1995 U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Award for Excellence in Education. The first school in District 15 to receive the award, Sundling also received the 1995 Blue Ribbon Award for Technology. 

When the school was renovated in June 1994, the Sundling staff once again performed admirably amid the chaos. Teachers dismantled classrooms in just two days, storing most of the furniture and equipment in the gym, while workers moved in immediately and, with clockwork timing, completed the project in seven weeks. Of course, days before school was to open, there was a snag—in the carpeting, of course. But installation occurred in the nick of time, and Sundling staff and students began the year in “plush” new surroundings that included an expanded learning resource center, two new computer rooms, five new classrooms, and wider hallways. The dedication ceremony was held October 10, 1995. 

When Palatine Hills Junior High opened in 1973, it sat amid fields and vacant land; hand-held calculators had just been introduced to consumers. Today, the school is surrounded by Palatine Hills Golf Course and many subdivisions and in place of calculators, students use sophisticated computer programs. Students are continually challenged to use technology effectively as they reach for academic excellence, with laptop carts bringing computers readily into any classroom, a technology lab that utilizes mathematical and scientific concepts as a basis for technological application, and instructors who use ceiling-mounted LCD projectors to reinforce lessons.

Donald Stipe, the first principal, devoted 17 years to the school.

Throughout the life of Walter R. Sundling Junior High, teaching and learning initiatives have centered around the educational needs of the students. Students and staff have chosen “Partners in Learning” as the school’s guiding philosophy. Recently, a building initiative to purchase technological tools was put into place with the goal of furthering student understanding of all curricular concepts by using technology to achieve the highest possible levels of student achievement. Teachers continue to be committed to refining the process by which students learn and to maintaining high expectations for all students.

Thomas Jefferson Elementary School
3805 Winston Drive, Hoffman Estates

Date opened—1/4/1977
District enrollment—11,317
First principal—Alan Hopkins
Students assigned to the new Thomas Jefferson School were housed at Cardinal Drive School for the 1976-77 school year until the building was ready for occupancy. The building was renovated in 1994, and rededicated in February 1995.

Principals:

Built to meet the burgeoning population growth on the western boundaries of the district, Thomas Jefferson School was a welcome anomaly during this period of the district’s history. A steadily declining enrollment within the rest of the district forced the closing of two schools in Rolling Meadows. But as builders, young families, and move-up buyers discovered the “greener pastures” of the western portion of Palatine Township, schools in that area became overcrowded. 

The need for a new school was so great, in fact, that the shuttered Cardinal Drive School in Rolling Meadows became a temporary home for some students when Thomas Jefferson was not completed in time for the September opening. Others attended Hunting Ridge and Pleasant Hill. Two construction delays pushed the opening date back several months. When students and staff were finally able to walk into the 30-classroom school on January 4, 1977, they were awe-struck. According to the January 5, 1977 edition of the Daily Herald, sinks that spouted water with the touch of foot pedals, water fountains that turned off automatically, and wall-to-wall carpeting in every classroom were especially impressive to children. 

The $2 million school was named in honor of one of America’s greatest statesmen as the United States celebrated its bicentennial anniversary, and it incorporated a contemporary design. The open floor plan facilitated a more interdisciplinary approach to teaching. The building also provided plenty of growing space. Built for about 900 students, there were 700 students that first year with five classrooms empty.

Formal dedication for the school was held on June 5, 1977. The president of the village of Hoffman Estates, Virginia Hayter, gave the dedication address titled, “Joint Venturing.” The dedication brochure said, “Thomas Jefferson School was designed and constructed with a strong commitment that the educational program should focus on the individual child; it should be flexible, changing as new knowledge, techniques, and equipment become available; and the facility should serve the needs and interests of the community.” As evidenced by the many special programs that have been implemented, that has been the case. 

Its first principal, Alan Hopkins, also Hunting Ridge’s first principal in 1969, served as principal even before the official opening. Thomas Jefferson has been a site for technological innovations. In the 1980s, the “Writing to Write” program was successfully piloted. Later, the school implemented a three-year technology plan that focused on the integration of technology with the curriculum. Jefferson was one of the few schools in the state to receive an IlllinoiSpin technology grant from the Illinois State Board of Education. 

The school was renovated and enlarged in 1994 and dedicated February 8, 1995. A new music department and new special education offices were the highlights of the addition. Later, two complete playgrounds were constructed. The renovations brought this bicentennial baby into the 21st century and underscored the distance teachers and students have come and the direction they are going.

Thomas Jefferson School was selected by the U.S. Department of Education as a Blue Ribbon National School of Excellence winner in 2000–2001. For the Thomas Jefferson community, it has been and continues to be “One Terrific Journey.” 

Frank C. Elementary Whiteley School
4335 Haman Avenue, Hoffman Estates

Date opened—8/30/1989
District enrollment—10,380

This school was named in honor of Dr. Frank C. Whiteley, the third superintendent of schools in District 15. Dr. Whiteley who retired in 1985 passed away on September 29, 2002. Groundbreaking for the new school took place in July 1988, and the building was dedicated on November 1989.

Principals:

Team spirit defined this school even before its doors opened to students and staff. Built in 1988, immediately following the successful $64 million referendum, it was the first new school in the district in 11 years and generated much excitement. Named for former superintendent, Frank C. Whiteley, who led the district for 15 years before retiring in 1985, the $6.2 million school was built to serve students in the burgeoning western portion of the district. 

Because the school brought in students from Stuart R. Paddock, Thomas Jefferson, Marion Jordan, and Hunting Ridge, teachers worked diligently to create a unified, cohesive atmosphere at Whiteley, even before the physical building was completed. Aware of the students’ need to feel part of this exciting, unfinished project, teachers and other staff members visited every student’s home—more than 500 families—before opening day, providing a unique, personal orientation to the new school. 

Administrative work also began well before the doors opened. Most was accomplished at the district administration office, but much of the work was done within the very heart of the neighborhoods the school serves. Linda Clear, then secretary of Whiteley School, remembered doing student room assignments from her dining room table while the building was under construction. The PTA put the call out for volunteers. With the building still a “work in progress,” teachers, administrators, and 100 parents, led by Principal David Corbett, moved equipment and furniture into the school on a Sunday in late August 1989. 

Recalling that first day, former Whiteley building assistant Roland Johnson said, “They rolled the carpet out for us as we moved furniture into the building. I mean literally—the building wasn’t completed and workers were still laying carpet as we moved in.” 

Ann Marshall, a fourth-grade teacher held the distinction of working in both Wood Street, the district’s oldest school, and Whiteley, its newest school, recalled a feeling of unparalleled excitement and anticipation. “Like teachers everywhere on the first day of school, we couldn’t wait to begin. We had the chalk in our hand while they were putting up the chalkboards.” The experience created a unique sense of unity. July Ryan, then a second–grade teacher at Whiteley, explained simply, “We all started out together carrying boxes.” 

Students were just as excited as they entered the new school. They recognized they were creating a “new tradition.” And there have, indeed, been many traditions created at Whiteley school, all initiated by or involving students. At the dedication on November 15, 1989, students buried a time capsule containing items handpicked by each classroom that they felt best represented their lives and interests. When the school opened, student enrollment was 700, nearly 97 percent of its capacity. Today's enrollment is approximately 600 students. 

Frank C. Whiteley School was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School in 2003.

John G. Conyers Learning Academy | (originally named The Learning Academy)
3800 W. Central Road, Rolling Meadows 

Date opened—8/30/1995
District enrollment—11,958

Principals:

The district’s newest school is an alternative school, the John G. Conyers Learning Academy. This school provides highly intensive programs for students from 3 to 15 years of age who are eligible for special education or are at risk for educational failure. Opened in 1995 in a building that had originally been part of the Clearbrook Center, the school initially served behavior disorder/multiple needs students. A separate Early Childhood Center was opened to students in 1996, but the two programs were soon combined to become The Learning Academy.

This school provides highly intensive programs for students from 3 to 15 years of age who are eligible for special education or are at risk for educational failure. Originally opened as The Learning Academy, the facility was extensively renovated and reopened in 2003-04. The facility was renamed the John G. Conyers Learning Academy in May 2003 in honor of Dr. John G. Conyers, who served as superintendent of the district for 18 years, and retired in 2003.

The Conyers Learning Academy now houses a variety of special programs including: early intervention, assessments and play groups, early childhood program, ACES (Anger Control, Character Education, Empathy Training, and Social Skills) program, multiple needs program, second chance program, and alternate suspension program. All of these programs provide special needs students with a highly structured educational environment in which they can learn and be safe.