Community urges Normal Town Council to oppose Glenn closure

Image taken by Bella Marello

NORMAL, Ill. – The community urged the Normal Town Council to do what it can to stop Glenn Elementary School from closing. The council stood with the community.

McLean County Unit 5 School District is proposing the closing and repurposing of Glenn Elementary School to serve as the 18-22 transition program currently at Eugene Field School. The transition program is a special education school for young adults with disabilities who have completed high school requirements but need additional training to transition to adult life.

While the council does not control school district decisions, seven public commenters asked elected officials to voice opposition ahead of the district’s expected final proposal.

Kevin Bersett, the first to address the council and associate director for strategic communications at Illinois State University, described Glenn as a pillar of the neighborhood and said the school was a major reason his family moved from Bloomington to Normal’s central corridor in 2017.

“It’s not just me, it’s a whole community of people that have come here tonight to kind of bring this to the town council’s attention just to reinforce how important this school is to our community,” Bersett said.

Bersett’s younger daughter is currently enrolled at Glenn, and his older daughter graduated last year.

“While alternative education is surely a worthy program, it would not fulfill or match the current role Glenn serves for parents and the community at large,” Bersett said. “Glenn provides stability not only to the south of Uptown, where a lot of our neighborhoods feed into the school, but also Old North Normal as well.”

Bersett criticized the district’s timeline for feedback and warned of broader impacts if the school closes.

“Proposal 1 would move our kids halfway across town to Sugar Creek, ending those walks to school and the sense of community they bring. It would also scatter the 100 open enrollment students that come to campus each day and contribute to the diverse and vibrant student body at Glenn,” Bersett said.

Natalie Shad, who said she moved back to Normal from Los Angeles in 2020, told council members Glenn’s reputation influenced her family’s decision to buy a home within walking distance of the school.

“When communities begin closing elementary schools, it sends a clear message, and it’s not one of growth. Across the country, school closures are widely recognized as red flags. They often signal financial strain, population decline or disinvestment,” Shad said.

Shad urged the council to communicate directly with Unit 5 leadership that “closing Glenn Elementary should not be on the table.”

Several other residents echoed those concerns.

James Connett, a more than 50-year Unit 5 resident, said he believes the council should be invested in the issue because the closure of a neighborhood school affects the town’s quality of life.

“Glenn School is the community for the surrounding neighborhood,” Connett said. “I suggest the students at Glenn, the families at Glenn, the teachers at Glenn, the staff at Glenn and the Town of Normal are all healthier with Glenn as a vibrant, well-functioning, diverse neighborhood school.”

Molly Derby, a parent of two Glenn students, called the potential closure short-sighted.

“A walkable elementary school in the heart of a downtown district is something that many communities work intentionally to create, not eliminate,” Derby said. “It supports foot traffic. It supports mixed-use housing. It allows families to live close to work, to campus, to restaurants and to civic life. It contributes to the kind of density and vibrancy that Uptown Normal has invested in over the past two decades.”

The final speaker, Glenn Elementary student Avery Lewis, drew smiles from the room and council members while she urged the council not to close her school.

Council members acknowledged residents’ concerns about Glenn. Council member Andy Byars said he was surprised to see talk of closures following recent tax referendums.

“I’ve been pretty surprised and also concerned in the last couple of weeks and months, seeing all these yard signs coming to the community, because as I recall, we had a sales tax referendum and we also had a property tax referendum in the last two election cycles,” Byars said.

Council member Scott Preston thanked public speakers for sharing their voices while emphasizing that the council does not have much say in the issue.

“So, while I don’t know exactly what there is we can do, I would share the sentiment expressed by Mr. Byars that if there is anything that I can be of help with, I’ll be glad to reach out and do what I can for you, but again, not sure exactly what that would be,” Preston said.

The Normal Town Council meets on the first and third Monday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for March 16 at 7 p.m. on the fourth floor of Normal City Hall.