Prairie Hill Closes, Staff Looks Toward Future

Prairie Hill School closed its doors Tuesday, June 7. Cary School District 26 voted May 3 to close the school due to the district’s financial hardships.

Prairie Hill is the second school to be closed; Maplewood School was closed at the end of the 2010 school year as part of $6 million in cuts.

Balancing the budget has been one of the main goals of the Board of Education. The board needs to cut $3.4 million to balance the budget for fiscal 2012. The board has asked the teachers’ union to take $2.5 million in wage and benefit concessions, but with no deal met in May, the board voted to close Prairie Hill.

“Sadness, it’s a great community, it’s a great school,” said Prairie Hill Principal Matt Bohrer. “It has grown so much. The teachers that have been here really had worked hard at making this school a very special place.”

He added, “To see it change so rapidly and disappear, for these teachers and students and this community, it’s really a hard thing to watch. That’s just difficult. But you know, you pick up and move on, that’s all you got left.”

Bohrer, who came from a family that has moved a lot, has worked in West Chicago, DeKalb, Indiana and now will join Arlington Heights District 59.

The administrative team for the past four years has been amazing, Bohrer said. “The board has given me the opportunity to serve Cary for the time I’ve been here.”

Prairie Hill teachers are packing up their classrooms and preparing for their next move as well.

“It was sad, because it was the last time I would be teaching in this building, I’ve enjoyed being here for the last 10 years,” sixth-grade teacher Kathy Englund said. “It was also kind of cool, because I’ll be seeing my students next year because I will be at the junior high.”

Cary Junior High School will host sixth, seventh and eighth grade during the 2011-12 school year.

To help with some of the cleanup and packing, the Cary-Grove Neighborhood life has volunteered many hours this week.

“We wanted the teachers to know we love them and appreciate them,” said Sue Dunn, of CGNL.