Why is the enrollment at Peotone going down? Is the area still not nice?
Peotone, when it joined the I-8 with Manteno in the fall of 2002, was 550 kids football enrollment (Manteno was a severely rounded up 479 fb enrollment, actual just under 400 - Plano & Dwight (non-coop) were both actually sub-400 kids then).
The Lincoln Way-Peotone-Manteno-Beecher-Bourbonnais-Bradley area had the biggest impact from the housing boom of the late 90's to 2008. Lincoln Way went from one high school to four in less than 10 years. Peotone built a new high school about 10 years ago (late 60's hs building became ms). Wilmington built a new high school about 10 years ago (71 hs became ms). Manteno did a first addition to the 72 high school in 98 (to 700 kids), and the next in 2004 or so (to 1500); doubled the ms capacity to 1000; built a new elementary in 98, then added on to the new elementary and tore down the 1928 primary building about 2013. Beecher did a big hs addition about 10 years ago. Bourbonnais elementary built a new 5/6 building about 10 years ago...Bradley elementary didn't have to do much, as most of the Bradley new housing was in the St. George elementary district - which did a significant addition about 10 years ago.
Then the housing bubble popped in 2008...Wilmo got up to the 520's, now down to 466. Manteno peaked at 695, down to 651 now. Lincoln Way I discuss above.
Peotone was fb enrollment 670 for 2011, after a couple of 669's. 12- 654; 13- 654; 14- 611; 15- 567; 16- 545; 17- 530. Has the community fallen apart? Not exactly. But the size of the district, with three communities included in it, has had its issues for the school board. For years, Peotone was called the largest (area wise) non-consolidated school district in the state. Is that true? I don't know. But this much I know (went to Peotone elementary for 4 & 5 grade in late 70's): Peotone had three elementary buildings forever. Peotone Elementary was the "big" school, about the size of Wilton Center elementary & Green Garden elementary combined. Green Garden was best known for its country club for years, just east of Rt. 45 south of Frankfort. Green Garden, when the housing boom hit, grew mansions...lots of mansions & horse farmettes (huge tack shop opened a few years ago). Route 52 splits from Rt. 45 and runs straight west to Wilton Center, and at the corner where the school is 52 turns 90 degrees north to Manhattan. Wilton didn't get a lot of development. Peotone added lots of $200-250k houses in traditional subdivisions. Needless to say, it was a lot of "move up" housing.
Peotone, having always been anti-third airport, was always wary of development - thinking that approving subdivisions and commercial development would indicate some sort of third airport approval. So the Green Garden part of the district, south of Frankfort, got mansions approved by the County on 10 acre lots, and has kept their own little elementary school for now...K-6 for a while, then K-5, then K-4 when the new high school opened. Wilton Center, however, didn't get the development any where near as much. Wilton Center, then, when the enrollment started dropping was closed...the howling from that part of the district was deafening. But enrollment continues to drop...I read an editorial a couple of days ago in the Kankakee Daily Journal about the district which indicated total district enrollment is in the 1400's, down from the high in the 2200's. The editorial discusses how one group wants to raise taxes, another group wants to shut down the Green Garden elementary to save money...rut roh...Another group wants to shut down the 5th grade building (former jh, pre-1970 hs...scoreboard clock still has a clock face instead of digital)...There has been little new commercial development in Peotone, and their downtown has become extremely dated...the warehouse developments skipped Peotone for Manteno, Monee, Elwood & Wilmington. More stress results for the taxpaying homeowner, who can't sell their "move up" house at a loss, so the district's residents get older with fewer small kids, so the shrinking enrollment starts in the lower grades...There is no solution to the Peotone vs. the hamlets elementary buildings argument, even though the elementary grades are shrinking first...
This is the background on Peotone's I-8 history, from 550 to 670, back down to 530...