Bloomingdale School Consolidation May Cost Too Much

Shrinking the Bloomingdale school district may grow the costs of operation, according to a member.

The board has been talking for several years about conducting a cost analysis on whether closing the (SRD) and expanding the to accomodate the SRD children would be beneficial. The topic came up again at Tuesday night's board meeting while the board was discussing district projects that are in need of engineering services.

Board Member Cathy Gurbisz inquired about a committee she is on to examine the feasibility of the SRD closure, which she said has barely met so far. Serving as the liaison to the board's Committee on Finance, Physical Plant and Transportation, Board Member Rich Dellaripa said the consideration of the merging of schools has been somewhat put on hold as it seems as though closing the one school and expanding the other may actually cost more money than the district is currently paying to operate them separately.

"It may turn out to be cost-prohibitive," Dellaripa said.

While the idea is not completely off the table, Dellaripa said the district and are expecting more children to enter the school system with , in , and under-construction on Union Avenue.

"While we're getting more kids in the school district, is now the time to be shrinking?" Dellaripa asked.

Dellaripa said he will reach out to a council member who was also interested in discussing the possible school changes, but that as the board moves forward, it needs to consider whether the changes would benefit the district "five, 10, 20 years down the road."