D113A Considering Options To Address Student Growth
LEMONT, IL — Lemont-Bromberek Combined School District 113A is considering its options as student enrollment is expected to continue to grow at the District.
“We’re one of the few districts in the state that continues to experience a growing student population,” Board of Education President Damon Ascolani told Patch.
Since 2017, the District has grown 25 percent in student enrollment.
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The District reopened its Central School in the 2022-23 school year to address the growth in the community and make space for full-day kindergarten.
And now, just two years later, the District is looking again at both short-term and long-term options to address growth.
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“We knew that it was continuing to grow,” Ascolani said. District 113A and Lemont High School’s District 210 teamed up for a population study earlier this year, and found that an increase of 250 to 450 students are expected in the next four years.
“We want to get ahead of it,” Ascolani said, adding that the Board has been aware of this issue and already considering options for some time now.
In 2022, D113A sold property at 131st Street and Derby Road to the Lemont Park District. The 10-acre parcel will be used for a park, and was sold for $1 million.
Ascolani said that the site was evaluated for a use as a school, but the property was not a good fit and was too small.
“To my knowledge, we don’t own anything else that we’re not using other than the Bromberek building,” Ascolani said.
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One long-term option for the District includes the reopening of Bromberek School. The District closed the school in 2003, and has leased it to St. Alphonsus/St. Patrick Church. Currently, the building is used as a school for the students at St. Alphonsus/St. Patrick’s.
“It’s not the only option we’re looking at,” Ascolani said. The District has been in talks with the church and Archdiocese of Chicago since May on the possibilities of using the space.
Ascolani emphasized that nothing has been decided at this point.
If the District did move forward with the Bromberek option, it would need some work to get the building up to public school standard.
Another long-term option is additions to current buildings. Several of the current buildings do have room to build on, however, Ascolani noted that it’s relatively expensive to do so.
“Short-term, we’re looking at mobile and temporary classroom set-ups,” Ascolani said. “Nobody wants to do that; but it’s growing so quickly.”
Ascolani said he and the Board know that the space issue is no. 1 to the community and District parents.
“We’ve been working on this,” he said.
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