Yorkville School District Y115 projects enrollment to increase by more than 700 in less than 10 years; eyes second middle school

YORKVILLE – Student enrollment in Yorkville School District 115 is projected to increase by more than 700 students in less than 10 years.

By the start of the 2031-32 academic term, total enrollment is expected to reach 7,455, climbing steadily each year from the current 6,732.

Those numbers have Superintendent Tim Shimp taking a long look at how the school district is utilizing its classroom buildings and making conceptual plans for construction of a second middle school.

“We’re not there yet, but this is something we’re going to have to talk about,” Shimp said.

The superintendent outlined some possibilities last month before a Yorkville Chamber of Commerce luncheon crowd.

“Our facilities are going to get tight,” Shimp said of the projected enrollment increases.

Currently, the district’s sixth-grade students attend classes at elementary and grade school buildings.

Shimp is considering a plan in which the district’s elementary and grade schools would become K-5 buildings, while the sixth graders would attend one of two middle schools, along with seventh and eighth grade students.

A second middle school, with an enrollment of about 675, would be constructed on the north side of the city and would absorb the sixth grade classes from Bristol Bay, Grande Reserve and Autumn Creek schools.

Meanwhile, sixth grade students from Yorkville Intermediate School and a portion of those from Autumn Creek would attend the existing Yorkville Middle School on the south side of the city.

The intermediate school, now a grades four to six center, would become a kindergarten through fifth grade school like the others.

Yorkville Middle School currently serves all the district’s seventh and eighth graders, with an enrollment of about 1,080. The school’s student count, like the new middle school, would be about 675 under Shimp’s scenario.

Yorkville Academy, now a center for high school freshman, would become the East Campus of Yorkville High School as a grade nine through 12 building.

Across Game Farm Road, the Yorkville High School building would become the West Campus, also serving grades nine through 12.

The West Campus would have a capacity of 1,400 students, while the East Campus would hold up to 400 students.

Shimp said he wants to move the district away from the traditional classroom model to more collaborative and innovative learning environments with open floor plans.

“We need to move forward to give kids a choice and some flexibility,” Shimp said. “The days of students sitting in rows should be over.”