Local Education

DeKalb is home to Northern Illinois University, the second largest university in Illinois with an enrollment of 22,082 students, offering both undergraduate and graduate programs. Kishwaukee Community College in nearby Malta and easy access to the excellent higher education resources of metropolitan Chicago, coupled with a pleasant rural flavored ambiance, make the DeKalb, Cortland and Malta communities of approximately 45,000 residents unusually attractive places to live.

Diversity

District #428 has long enjoyed a reputation for serving diverse communities with traditional values and high support of their schools.  The international flavor of the university, drawn from more than 1000 college students from other nations, adds exciting dimensions to the cultural richness of the School District.  Schools are important to the communities and have enjoyed solid financial support over the years.  A wide range of religious, medical, and hospital services and facilities are readily available.  Local library and park district resources and programs are exceptional.  Local retail districts, shopping centers, and commercial outlets provide ample shopping sources.

Staff

DeKalb Community Unit School District #428 employs 372 certificated personnel, 23 administrators, and 300 support staff.  Among the certificated staff are music and physical education instructors, counselors, psychologists, speech therapists, nurses, transitional program of instruction teachers, and librarians.  Fifty-two percent of the teachers hold Master's or above degrees and have an average of 13 years teaching experience. A new five-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified in August, 2008.

Four thousand, four hundred eighty three pre K - 12th grade students are enrolled in the District's schools.  Forty-three percent of the students attend elementary school, 32% are in the middle schools, and 28% in the four year high school.  The increasing enrollment in the primary grades is reflective of the growing student population.  Class sizes generally average 19-24 for Kdg. 19-25 in grades 1-3, and 23-28 for grades 4-8.  High school class sizes vary according to the subject area.  District #428's student population is 81.0% White, 7.7% Black, 8.4% Hispanic, 2.9% Asian/Pacific Islander, and .1% Native American.

DeKalb Community Unit School District #428 has nine elementary schools (two Pre K-5 and seven K-5), two middle schools (6-8), and one high school (9-12).  Administrative offices are located at the Education Center.  Transportation services are provided by Laidlaw/Vancom Transportation.  The main food services operation is located at the High School and Clinton Rosette Middle School with satellite cafeteria programs offered at each school.  The District is a member of the Kishwaukee Education Consortium and the DeKalb County Special Education Association.

Voters overwhelmingly approved a $110 referendum for five projects in February, 2008. These projects are all designed to provide additional classroom capacities at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The largest project is to construct a new 300,000 square foot high school that will be located on Dresser Road and Wildflower (just west of Katz Park). The groundbreaking will take place in early spring of 2009, with the anticipated opening of the school in fall, 2011. The second project is the construction of a new elementary school to be located in Cortland, just south of Rt. 38 and east of Somonauk Road in the Chestnut Grove subdivision. The groundbreaking ceremony will be during the third week of September, 2008, and is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. All three of the remaining projects will take place prior to the start of the 2011-2012 school year. The third project is the conversion of the existing high school for use as Huntley Middle School. The fourth project is the conversion of the current Huntley Middle School building for use as Chesebro Elementary. The final project of this phase of Facilities updates will be the conversion of the existing Chesebro Elementary School for use as the District Pre-K and Early Childhood Center.

A community and district-based Facilities Planning Committee is continuing their work studying future facilities needs as originally outlined in the ten-year plan released in 2007.