School Board Response

Dear School Board Members,

I am writing regarding the proposed Early Childhood Center Plan involving the conversion of Norfolk Highlands Primary from a neighborhood primary school into a dedicated preschool center.

I support expanding early childhood education. That is not the issue. The issue is that the current proposal appears to remove a walkable neighborhood primary school from Norfolk Highlands without a full public alternatives analysis, without sufficient discussion of neighborhood growth, and without clear answers about the effects on nearby schools, families, transportation, and property reliance.

My family purchased our home in Norfolk Highlands with the expectation that our children would attend Norfolk Highlands Primary. We live across from the school, and its presence was a major factor in our decision to buy here. We are not alone. Multiple families have moved into this neighborhood with infants and young children specifically because of the school. There are also approximately 10 new construction homes currently going up nearby, in addition to the many homes built or replaced in the area over the past two years. In Norfolk Highlands, older homes are increasingly being torn down and replaced with newer, denser housing. A backward-looking enrollment trend does not adequately capture this current and pending growth.

The proposal also appears to shift burdens onto surrounding schools. Community members have already raised concerns about class sizes at Sparrow Road, including reports of classes approaching 30 students. If Sparrow Road is expected to absorb another grade level, and Georgetown is also being reconfigured, the Board should require detailed class-size, staffing, space, and transportation data before allowing the proposal to move forward.

There are also serious building-suitability questions. Norfolk Highlands Primary is a multi-story building. Before converting it into a center for preschool-aged children, CPS should publicly explain how it evaluated stairs, elevator access, fire evacuation, bathroom modifications, classroom suitability, playground suitability, and the cost of making the building appropriate for much younger children. A three-story primary school may not be the best facility for a large preschool population.

The financial presentation also needs clarification. Based on the information presented, the preschool center plan appears to add approximately $1.37 million to $1.53 million in net Year 1 operating cost and approximately $863,000 to $996,000 in ongoing annual net operating cost. If CPS is presenting declining enrollment as a reason to convert Norfolk Highlands Primary, the Board should require a true side-by-side comparison of:

1. Keeping Norfolk Highlands Primary open in its current configuration;
2. Keeping Norfolk Highlands Primary open while co-locating limited preschool services;
3. Using existing CPS schools with available capacity, especially schools closer to the preschool students who would otherwise face longer bus rides;
4. Using a distributed hub-and-spoke model across existing schools;
5. Fully converting Norfolk Highlands Primary into a preschool center.

The current presentation does not appear to identify or evaluate these alternatives. That is a major flaw. The Board should not treat “expand preschool” and “eliminate Norfolk Highlands Primary as a neighborhood school” as the same decision. They are separate issues. CPS can support early childhood education without immediately removing a primary school from an established neighborhood.

CPS should specifically evaluate a distributed early childhood model using existing schools with available space. If preschool-eligible students are spread across multiple neighborhoods, then a closest-available-seat model may reduce bus time, preserve existing staffing structures, and avoid closing a successful neighborhood primary school.

Before any rezoning or conversion proceeds, I ask the Board to require CPS to publish the following:

1. A full alternatives analysis;
2. Current class sizes by school, grade, and classroom for Norfolk Highlands, Georgetown, Sparrow Road, and other affected schools;
3. A clear definition of “capacity” and whether it accounts for actual classroom use, staffing, special education space, and program needs;
4. Updated housing-growth analysis, including recent construction, pending construction, teardown/rebuild trends, permits, and birth-to-kindergarten pipeline data;
5. Transportation impact analysis;
6. Building-suitability and fire-evacuation analysis for preschool use;
7. Bathroom, accessibility, playground, and retrofit cost details;
8. The projected source neighborhoods of the 250 preschool students;
9. A side-by-side cost comparison of keeping Norfolk Highlands Primary open versus partial co-location versus full conversion;
10. A commitment to live public meetings before any rezoning decision, rather than routing community concern primarily through an online form or chatbot.

This proposal would not merely repurpose a building. It would remove a walkable primary school from a neighborhood, alter the expectations of families who bought homes here, change the grade structure of surrounding schools, and place a districtwide preschool program burden on one community.

The Board should pause this plan until CPS has shown its work.

Respectfully,

Ozan Mert Duran

Personal contact details omitted from this public copy.