Continued discussion about one of the hottest topics among the school board at Monday’s meeting has prompted another meeting regarding redistricting.

Scheduled for 7 p.m. on April 29, the school board will continue to analyze long-term and short-term ideas to maximize and create space within all schools in the district. One such measure is redistricting; however, there is opposition from both citizens and school district officials concerning such a measure.

Redistricting likely would work as a cut-and-paste kind of method that would send some students who attend school close to home to a school farther away in order to make sure classrooms at all grade levels don’t get overcrowded.

“I think it’s important we keep this discussion moving forward so that we have a decision on how to handle growth at the elementary level for next year,” Superintendent Brian Ali said.

The importance of the redistricting meetings is for the school board to consider all options on how to accommodate students for next year on. Other options include part of the past referendum proposal that included the kindergarten through fifth grade realignment and the overall idea to install a middle school concept with sixth through eighth graders occupying Huntley and Clinton Rosette middle schools.

Another possibility is the utilization of the vacant Malta High School, which could open numerous possibilities in the effort to clear space within existing schools minus referendum dollars.

Discussion with the city and the Growth Summit involving the use of TIFF dollars for such schools in the TIFF district is another alternative to provide funding that could either improve or expand schools.

Ali stressed the importance of sticking to the status quo in terms of the schools being K-4 for the 2003-2004 school year and that the school board needs to increase the pace of making certain determinations in terms of how many seats are available at each school next year. Doing so would provide parents with a definitive answer as to what school their students would attend next year.

“I like to see how we’re doing just to next year,” said school board member Holly Wallace. “Maybe we can get a little more [feedback] from principals around the district to see what numbers there are [for each school] for next year.”

Ali said another thing to look at in relation to the city is to establish some sort of conversation regarding current projects and developments that may threaten the school board’s desire to maintain at most a 2 percent growth. Ali added that without the successful referendum these numbers could cause an even worse situation for the school to handle.

School board member Suzanne Lambrecht said she’d like to consider the potential for Spring Break to be aligned with NIU in future years.

The board also discussed the summer school plan that would allow summer school sessions to be held at both DeKalb High School and Brooks Elementary. Wallace suggested keeping all summer classes within the district inside DeKalb High School, but Ali said that would be too large a facility for elementary schools to take on.

Finally, the school board approved the hiring of new DeKalb High School coach Dan Jones to take effect immediately. Jones spent last year as interim coach.

“He’s excellent with students in the classroom because football is a class itself, and he has the ability to motivate students,” said DeKalb High School Principal Larry Stinson.