Kankakee School District 111 is weighing whether to shut down Mark Twain Primary or Steuben Elementary as part of a broader plan to reshape its elementary schools into neighborhood K-5 buildings, with a board vote expected Nov. 9. At an Oct. 13 meeting, five of the board's seven members said they would prefer to keep Steuben open as a K-5 building, while two members said they weren't ready to make a decision.
The district presented two boundary scenarios at that meeting: one that would close Mark Twain Primary and another that would close Steuben Elementary, according to Shaw Local. Under the current recommendation, Kennedy, King and Taft would become K-5 schools, joined by either Steuben or Twain, while the school not chosen would close. Kankakee Junior High, which now serves grades 7-8, would expand into a middle school for grades 6-8.
Board members Tracy Verrett and Darrell Williams said they were not ready to determine which school should close. The board took no vote on the matter at Tuesday's meeting; Superintendent Teresa Lance instead asked members to indicate where they stood so the district could gauge consensus heading toward next month's decision.
Why the Recommendation Keeps Shifting
The plan on the table now is not the same one the district floated weeks earlier. A proposal presented in September would have made Steuben a preschool-only facility while Kennedy, Taft and Mark Twain became the district's K-5 buildings, per the earlier report from Shaw Local. Lance attributed the changed recommendation to staff and community feedback about where preschool students should be placed, and said an additional entire building is likely unnecessary to house them.
Instead, overflow from the district's Proegler preschool site would go to the Avis Huff Student Support Services Center, which has space to accommodate those students, rather than to Steuben. District 111's Preschool for All program already serves three- and four-year-olds at sites including Mark Twain and Steuben, according to the district's early childhood page. An earlier version of the plan had also proposed making Steuben a second preschool location alongside Proegler while Twain became one of the four K-5 schools.
Comparing the Two Buildings
Each school has features cited in the debate. Steuben has three more student restrooms than Twain, along with a newer playground and newer boilers and HVAC system, the district's facts show. Steuben is also located centrally within a neighborhood, which backers say would let more students walk to school, and its classrooms are considered better suited to a K-5 setup.
Mark Twain, meanwhile, was designed for younger children, while Steuben was built for students of varying ages. Twain has more parking and a larger land area that could allow for expansion, and sits on the east side of town in a location that would enable a K-5 school there. Online polls have shown a strong community preference for keeping Steuben open, the same report notes. Mark Twain Primary and Steuben Elementary together need an estimated $7 million in repairs.
Board Members Raise Safety and Equity Concerns
Williams expressed concern about student safety tied to transportation changes under the neighborhood-school model, warning that hundreds more children could end up walking to and from school and facing potential route hazards. District officials have said neighborhood schools could mean more families living within walking distance and fewer students needing district transportation overall.
Verrett questioned why the Lincoln Cultural Center's Montessori program, located on Warren Avenue just south of Court Street in the center of the community, wasn't considered for conversion to a K-5 school. She said she saw no equity in excluding one school from consideration. The Lincoln Cultural Center's K-8 Montessori magnet program will remain unchanged under the current plan, as will Kankakee High School.
The Enrollment Numbers Driving the Debate
District officials point to shrinking enrollment as the central problem. The district's enrollment was 4,389 students in 2022 and is projected to fall to 3,731 students by 2035, an anticipated decline of 658 students over 13 years, according to Shaw Local's reporting. The district lost 232 students between 2022 and 2023 alone.
Lance said declining enrollment and underused building space mean the district's enrollment and available capacity no longer align, and that the district hopes to attract more families if it becomes what she called a destination district. MGT Consulting presented an enrollment and boundary study to the district, reviewed by administrators using fall 2025 enrollment data, that pointed to declining birthrates in Kankakee County as a factor in the gradual enrollment decline contributing to underused school buildings. The district selected MGT after completing a request-for-proposals process to conduct a comprehensive facilities study examining building use, instructional space needs, projected enrollment and boundary recommendations, according to the district's facilities study page, which the district says will be updated regularly with documents, reports and timelines.
The restructuring push follows a curriculum audit completed in the 2024-25 school year that recommended the district review its organizational patterns. It also comes after the board previously closed Edison Primary during the 2025-26 winter break because of pressing structural issues — Edison was the first building identified for closure amid the district's declining enrollment.
Magnet Programs on Pause, Next Steps Ahead
Separately, the district plans to pause all magnet programs except Montessori for up to two years, using that time to establish access parameters, placement criteria and neighborhood equity controls. The Montessori program will be excluded from the pause specifically to avoid disrupting students' developmental progression, and Lance said the district wants to clarify its long-term vision for magnet and gifted programs.
District officials say they've received more than 90 community inquiries about the proposed restructuring. Board member Bohlen said the issue had generated many questions from the board, administration and the public, and urged staff and community members to email the board with questions and concerns before the Nov. 9 meeting. By Nov. 6, the district plans to share an FAQ document on its website, per Shaw Local.
If the board approves a closure plan next month, the changes would not take effect until the 2027-28 school year, giving the district time to finalize which building closes and how students will be reassigned. Under the current framework, students would attend K-5 schools based on their residence attendance zone, with the school not selected to become a K-5 building slated for closure.
