WC_021419

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4 | February 14, 2019 | The winnetka Current NEWS
winnetkacurrent.com
Group calls on school officials to
redistrict southwest Winnetka
D36, Avoca School
respond with initial
statements
Christine Adams
Freelance Reporter
Tuesday, February 19
5 pm to 6:30 pm
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A new community group
called Winnetka United
has formed with the hopes
of starting a conversation
about redrawing school
boundary lines.
Specifically, the group
is addressing the pocket of
southwest Winnetka that
falls within Avoca School
District 37, and is seeking
to allow children in
that area to attend schools
in The Winnetka Public
Schools District 36.
The group, which says
it is comprised of about 70
individuals mostly from
the Indian Hill area, is
reinvigorating a decadeslong
discussion about
these school boundaries.
The current Avoca school
boundary has existed since
the 1870s, but the area under
scrutiny had been unincorporated
territory until
1987, when it joined the
Village of Winnetka and
residents first began discussing
attending the Winnetka
Public Schools.
Now, the 49 households
in that boundary pay their
municipal taxes to Winnetka,
but their school taxes
go to the Avoca District,
which is also comprised
of students from Wilmette,
Glenview and Northfield.
Some of the boundary
lines in this area even cut
through properties, causing
some households to
split their payments across
towns, according to Winnetka
United.
Winnetka United represents the southwest pocket of
Winnetka that attends Avoca School District 37.
Photo Submitted by Winnetka United
Through the years of
pursuing measures to
redraw the boundaries,
residents have found the
confines of a statutory
approach too narrow, so
now Winnetka United is
looking to create an environment
where the superintendents
of the Avoca
and Winnetka schools can
come together and form an
intergovernmental agreement
that can create a solution
without having to
undergo the full statutory
process.
To that end, Winnetka
United has hired a strategy
and communications consultant,
Emily Pevnick, to
help facilitate the conversation
and spread awareness
about the boundaries.
“This is about community
identity and unity,”
said Pevnick, who also
serves as spokesperson for
Winnetka United. “This
group (of residents) is part
of Winnetka in every other
way.”
Some residents cite the
closer proximity to Winnetka
elementary schools
as a motivation for wanting
to redistrict, Pevnick
said, while others are
looking to have all of their
taxes and community support
stay in Winnetka, just
as they do for the park district
and library.
“What makes up a community
is a lot of pillars,
and the biggest is the
school,” Pevnick said.
So far, neither the Avoca
nor the Winnetka school
districts seem ready to seriously
consider a conversation
about their boundaries.
Kate Hughes, communications
and community
relations coordinator for
Winnetka Public Schools,
released a statement regarding
Winnetka United
and its mission.
“We are still early in the
process of learning more
about Winnetka United’s
request and implications
for both Avoca and District
36,” the statement reads.
“It is our understanding
that Illinois School Code
governs this process and
the Regional Office of
Please see United, 8