New middle school in Hoffman Estates a big step forward for District 15

Palatine Community Consolidated School District 15 has officially moved forward.

Improvements at all 12 buildings targeted by the successful $93 million Moving 15 Forward 2022 referendum are complete, on time and on budget.

The district celebrated one of the projects, the building addition to Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Hoffman Estates and its conversion to a middle school, with a ribbon cutting Thursday.

Following the first day of school, district officials and the school’s new principal, Tamara Byrne, were on hand to show off the additions, which included a state-of-the-art gymnasium, a multipurpose room, a cafeteria, art and STEM areas and a new track.

“Our new middle school is more than just a building,” Byrne said. “it’s a symbol of hope, opportunity and limitless possibilities.”

Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod was happy that finally there is a middle school in the village, calling it “something we dreamed about for decades.”

The new Thomas Jefferson Middle School clears up some boundary issues that had put a strain on Hoffman Estates residents.

“So one of the goals of this project was to have children at their neighborhood school and not have them busing all over, to have them with friends that they could play with after school, be able to walk to after school programs with or back home afterward,” District 15 school board President Lisa Szczupaj said.

She said Hoffman Estates children previously attended Jefferson from kindergarten through sixth grade, then most of them then went to Carl Sandburg Junior High School in Rolling Meadows and continued at Fremd High School, while some of their friends would move on to Rolling Meadows High School.

“So two really tough transitions,” she said.

Now, Hoffman Estates children who would have gone to elementary school at Jefferson will go to Frank C. Whiteley Elementary School in Hoffman Estates before moving on to the new Jefferson middle school and then to Fremd after graduation.

“It was long overdue,” one Jefferson parent, Hoffman Estates resident Jessica Weir, said. It will make a difference for her children, who live nearby.

Last year, her 13-year-old son Elliott, an 8th-grader at Jefferson, went to Sandburg. That meant a 50-minute bus ride up and another one back, resulting in lost homework and free time.

“The days were very long for the students due to the bus ride, and that was before you figure in any after school activities,” she said.