DeKALB | Like many other communities in northern Illinois, DeKalb has seen growth in the last ten years. With this growth comes the need for increased schooling and housing.

In the last decade, DeKalb schools have seen a steady increase in enrollment; 4,357 students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade for the 1997-1998 school year and approximately 5,670 students enrolled this fall.

“The trend is that the Hispanic population is going directly to the suburbs,” said Ruth Anne Tobias of the Regional Development Institute at NIU, “The growth is going westward.”

New families move in not just because their kids go to school here, but also for better opportunities in the suburbs such as insurance providers, Tobias said.

There has been consideration of building a new subdivision on DeKalb’s northwest side that would add 2,500 homes over the next 15 years, Tobias said.

Schools, as a result of growth, have needed to expand over the past years and DeKalb has recently seen three referendums to build schools, none of which passed.

At DeKalb High School, the weight room was moved from the second floor for structural reasons. That space was re-configured for the humanities and special education offices, which opened up what the education board called two “much-needed” classrooms.

This year, the DeKalb School District also hired 40 new teachers, 16 of which filled new positions within the district.

“We need something, but we’re not sure what that is yet, whether it’s a middle school, elementary school or high school,” said Andrea Gorla, assistant superintendant of business and finance in the DeKalb School District.

A committee is looking through DeKalb schools to see where additions may be needed, or if an entirely new building is necessary. Their results will be published in the demographer’s report this October, Gorla said.

The DeKalb School District’s English Language Learning (ELL) program has also seen development.

Toward the end of the 1980s, the program served 23 students. Today it serves over 350 students, said Sue Orum, DeKalb district literacy coordinator.

“[English] takes a while to learn,” she said.

As the business community continues to grow, DeKalb’s population will likely follow.

“DeKalb County is poised to grow,” Tobias said. “As one population ages new families will move in.”

Michelle Gilbert is a City Reporter for the Northern Star.