DeKalb School District 428 received three redistricting plans for the district’s eight elementary schools Tuesday night.

The school board will decide on the division of the elementary schools with consideration of the proposals from a committee of 52 parents, educators and community leaders.

The board decided to hold an informational meeting and public forum within a few weeks. Board President Tom Teresinski said details of the forum will be decided this week and announced shortly afterward.

The forum will allow parents to give additional input on the proposals, Teresinski said.

The meeting also will give parents who are considering to send their students to the NIU partnership school, recently named Paul T. Wright Elementary School, the opportunity to weigh their options.

The deadline for applying to the partnership school is March 15 and likely will influence many parents’ decisions on where to send their children, Teresinski said.

Currently, English language learning resources are concentrated where the Spanish-speaking students are: Littlejohn and Chesebro elementary schools, said Linell Lasswell, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

As part of the redistricting effort, the committee worked to obtain ethnic diversity across all schools, which would dilute the population and stretch the English language learning program, Teresinski said.

That issue will be just one of many others to be considered, including student busing.

All three proposals include busing students from University Apartments and The Knolls subdivision to Malta Elementary School.

“I don’t live in Malta. I didn’t buy into Malta,” DeKalb parent Gina Ostenburg said. “[Busing DeKalb children to Malta] just doesn’t seem right.”

Parents crowded the meeting to voice their opinions before learning the board will schedule a forum to distribute specific information on the proposals and take comments.

The board also considered approval of a tax abatement measure for the Park 88 industrial development, but had not reached a decision by press time.