Parents concerned about overcrowding at Nature Ridge Elementary School in Bartlett will have to wait at least two years before they see a solution, like a redrawing of district boundaries.

At Monday's U-46 Board of Education meeting, parents voiced concerns about overcrowding at Nature Ridge Elementary School, which district research says houses nearly 100 students too many.

“Because of the economy, I can't sell my house, I can't afford private schooling, so I have to fix the school I have,” Beverly Jaszczurowski said to the board.

Jaszczurowski, Bob Skwarek and Dana Weiby spoke on behalf of parents hoping for solutions regarding overcrowding at Nature Ridge for the 2010-11 school year. However, parents were recently told in an e-mail from U-46 that “the earliest that boundary changes can become effective will be at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.”

At the Oct. 20 meeting of the Citizen’s Advisory Council’s Enrollment and Facilities Committee, capacity data for all U-46 schools was presented by Jim Feuerborn, the district’s liaison to the committee.

Although Hillcrest Elementary in Elgin is the most crowded elementary school according to Magellan Consulting’s capacity research completed for U-46 this summer, Feuerborn’s research shows Nature Ridge and Lincoln elementary schools to be more crowded.

Using a student-teacher ratio of 25 to one for primary grades and 28 to one for intermediate grades, Feuerborn’s study shows that capacity for Nature Ridge is 682 while enrollment is 775. Using the same ratios, Lincoln has an capacity of 605 with an enrollment of 691, and Hillcrest has a capacity of 605 with an enrollment of 655.

“Hillcrest showed a red flag because Magellan showed over 130 percent capacity,” Feuerborn said. “They really weren’t severely off, but we saw a relatively simple and positive way to do a quick fix.”

As a result, Hillcrest’s overpopulation problem will be resolved for the 2010-11 school year by moving students in its English Language Learners program to empty classrooms at the adjacent school, Creekside Elementary. Feuerborn said this was a viable solution because the students being moved from Hillcrest to Creekside already live within the Creekside attendance area. They’ve been attending ELL classes at Hillcrest because there had not originally been space at Creekside.

“We try to find a stable site for special programs,” said Feuerborn. “We try to provide them with a site that doesn’t change every year.”

Feuerborn said he looked for a similar solution for Nature Ridge, but it just doesn’t exist. He said the next step is devising a plan for boundary changes, which should take one-and-a-half years to draft with an expected completion date of December 2010.

“I understand it’s frustrating and it seems like a long time, but we want to make sure it’s done for all the best reasons,” Feuerborn said. “We want to make sure all the different options and ramifications were analyzed with all the knowledge.”

Several parents have written letters to Superintendent Jose M. Torres and even created a Facebook group called Parents for Nature Ridge to raise awareness.

To support additional students, Nature Ridge currently has two trailers, consisting of four classrooms. Parents say the overcrowding has resulted in children sitting on the floor during lunch, others not receiving hot lunch and limited time on the playground.

Weiby said she wants the district to keep its promises. At a forum this spring, Torres told parents the overcrowding issues would be resolved for the 2010-11 school year.

"If we keep putting it off and off, you will eventually tell us we missed the deadline again," Weiby told the board.