Even with all 225 students, most staff members and a handful of parents inside, the Nellie Stone Johnson Community School’s gymnasium was far from packed during a recent assembly. Yet the space buzzed with the kids’ excited whispers.
Such lively energy is heartening for the staff who try not to focus on the other empty, quiet rooms in the North Side elementary school, built as a K-8 building to accommodate more than three times as many students. The entire third floor largely goes unused during the school day.
Nellie Stone is one of the district’s most under-enrolled schools, and it doesn’t stand alone. Overall, the district has the building space to serve an estimated 45,000 students. Current enrollment hovers around 28,000, with further declines expected in coming years. That’s prompting district leaders facing a looming financial crisis to ask about next steps — including the possibility of closing or consolidating schools.
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