Knoxville CUSD #202 Demographics
School District
Knoxville Community Unit School District #202 (District) is a unit school district serving students pre-kindergarten through the 12th grade. The students are housed in three buildings. The elementary building is located on the south end of town and houses 434 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 4th. The junior high is located on the east side of town near the high school and houses 339 students in grades 5th through 8th. The high school is located in the same area as the junior high, but the buildings are not connected. The high school houses 345 students in grades 9th through 12th. The total District enrollment is 1,181. Special programs in the District include remedial reading and math, gifted, and membership in the Knox-Warren Special Education Cooperative.
The District offers Title I services to students in kindergarten through 3rd grade. The following are the low-income percentages by grade level and District total according to the 2003 school report cards.
Low Income Percentages: (FY04)
There is no significant problem with chronic truancy (1.2%) and the student mobility rate is 12.1% for the District, lower than the state average.
The average teaching experience in the District is 16.7 years, and 34.6% of instructors have a Masters Degree or above. Areas of improvement targeted for all schools in the District have included reading, math, and writing. A “Writing Across the Curriculum” has already been implemented. Alignment of the curriculum with the Illinois Learning Standards has been completed.
School Community
District schools are located in Knoxville, Illinois, a small middle class town of approximately 3,500 people. Made up of 134.7 square miles of territory, the District serves the Knox County communities of Appleton, Dahinda, Delong, East Galesburg, Gilson, and Knoxville.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Knox County (55,836) is decreasing at a rate of 1% per year. Family households comprise 65%, with married-couple households representing 51%. Ninety-six percent of the county’s population is English speaking only. In 1999, median household income for the county was $35,407, per capita income was $17,985, and 11% were below the poverty level.
Reviewing the historical information, the community was settled in the 1800’s by predominantly Swedish immigrants. Farming was the predominant occupation. Over the years various companies have settled within the surrounding area, including Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Butler Manufacturing, Gates Rubber Company, and Maytag.
Residents of the District are primarily involved in agriculture related activities or commute a short distance to Galesburg for employment. Gates Rubber Company is located in our school district, and most of Galesburg’s new industrial park, formed in 2003, is located in our District. Another large employer in Knox County is Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF).
There are various civic organizations and service clubs that are active in the school community. Several church denominations are located either in Knoxville or in nearby communities. Various recreational facilities, museums, and parks are readily available. The Knoxville Public Library is a city tax-supported library that limits free membership to city residents, and is a member of the Alliance Library System. Library services for school community residents that live outside of the Knoxville city limits are available for a fee or through interlibrary loan services provided by the school’s libraries.
School Community Attributes
The school community has many attributes. Parents support their schools through involvement in parent organizations and booster clubs. Pride and hard work best describe community members. The Knox County Economic Development Council is working to improve the economics of the county by attracting medium or large sized businesses to the area, and the city of Knoxville is working to improve the local economy by attracting smaller businesses. The community supported an addition to our elementary school to facilitate all day kindergarten, and committed their time and resources to help in the construction and move.
Living in the school district provides the opportunity of being located in a small town, yet being only 5 miles from Galesburg, a city of 35,000, and 40 miles by Interstate 74 from both Peoria and the Quad Cities. Various colleges and universities are nearby, including Carl Sandburg College and Knox College in Galesburg, Monmouth College in Monmouth, Bradley University in Peoria, Black Hawk College in Kewanee and the Quad Cities, Spoon River College in Canton, Augustana College in the Quad Cities, and Western Illinois University in Macomb and the Quad Cities. Newman School, St. Mary’s Chapel, the Old Knoxville City Jail, and the first Knox County Courthouse are all in Knoxville and are on the Illinois State Historical Register. Carl Sandburg’s birthplace, one of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates sites, and other historical sites are located in nearby Galesburg.
The school community offers many extracurricular activities for children including 4-H, scouts, church youth groups, and the Knoxville Youth League (youth sports for all ages). The Knox Township Youth Council plans activities for children, and sponsors skating parties, a summer swim program, and dances.
The parents of the school community have the opportunity to support the schools as volunteers and as members of the PTO’s, Parent Advisory Committees, Athletic and Music Booster Clubs, and the Knoxville CUSD #202 Foundation for Educational Excellence (FEE).
School Community Challenges
The school community has many characteristics that affect education in a positive way. However, it must be noted that all the family stresses normally associated with the at-risk child also exist in our school community, and have increased over the past few years. Our school community mirrors the state and the nation. Most families with children have both parents employed, but some families have parents who are unemployed. Our mobility rate (10%), while more stable than that of larger districts, has seen an increase in recent years. The degree of community services that are available in convenient form is limited. Manufacturing jobs are shrinking, and the economic strength of the community has declined over the past few years.
Realtors report that historically there is a real housing shortage in Knoxville and that many people would like to move here chiefly because of the good reputation of the school district. The uncertainty of our current economy has temporarily changed the availability of housing, and has placed a cloud over the future of our District. We are hopeful that when the economy improves the District’s future outlook will improve.
Our schools do more than educate children. We help with many sad family cases, such as poverty, divorce, alcohol and drug abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, and other health-related issues. The percentage of low-income students within our school community (30%) is lower than the state average.
School District Attributes
The District is an integral part of the school community. School community and District attributes are very closely interrelated. The District’s contribution to this relationship includes consistently good test scores, a fine instructional and support staff, a dedicated BOE, and many assorted extracurricular activities.
School District Challenges
While the enrollment in our schools has been declining over the past few years, it has seemed to stabilize recently. However, studies have indicated that declining enrollment could be a problem in the near future.
As is the case in most school districts, dollars to support increased budget demands is a critical challenge. Funding of technology has to be viewed as an ongoing expense in order to continue to upgrade and expand opportunities for instructors and students. As technology is expanded, costs for staff development must also be expanded. At this time, it is difficult to meet these needs with the shrinking dollars from the State of Illinois. Another challenge is the ability to attract highly qualified instructors when class sizes are on the increase.