District 204 Signs Contracts for Land
Parents Still Mixed on District 204’s Decision

Contracts are signed for 84-acres of land where Metea Valley High School will be built.

While almost every board member for District 204 came to the conclusion that the land along Eola Road in Aurora from St. John’s African Methodist Episcopal Church is the right location, some had reservations. Board member Christine Vickers did not want to sign the contract.  Vickers said, “Everyone’s priorities are different and I cannot support this endeavor tonight.”


AME Church offered to sell their property after Midwest Generation backed down from selling their 37-acres of land off of Eola Road.  Fred McCluskey, Vice President of Midwest Generation, wrote a letter to Superintendent Stephen Daeschner saying they are pulling out of the deal. 

 “Midwest Generation hereby provides this written notice that it will not execute a contract for sale of the property at this time, pending our ongoing assessment of community sentiment,” McCluskey said in the letter.

Midwest Generation feels there are serious public oppositions within the community about their land and a deep division within District 204’s community.  

Despite the district’s decision, nearly two-hundred parents are still filing their lawsuit against District 204.  The group of parents call themselves Neighborhood Schools for Our Children and have hired attorney Shawn Collins to represent them.

The group NSFOC says they are filing the lawsuit against District 204 for a number of reasons.  They are frustrated and feel that they have unanswered questions.   NSFOC member Mike Crockett said, “In 2005 the referendum failed because the people wanted to know where the new high school would be built and what the boundaries would be.  The board came back and selected the site and the boundaries before the voter’s votes.”  

The 2006 referendum passed.

“Then, when the Brach-Brodie jury came in with the land value, the current administration and the Board threw everything out the window,” Crockett said.   

These parents are trying to rationalize how the Board went from one property to another.  They say most of the children who will be attending Metea Valley High School live too far away and only 12% of students reside there.

Crockett and NSFOC members want to understand how the board is planning to deal with the continued growth in the south where there is still open land and undeveloped housing.  

District 204 board members are not worried about the lawsuit because it does not directly impact their final decision.  They are also planning on selling the Brach-Brodie property they originally used to build Metea Valley High School. 

NCTV17’s Shannon Coughlin Reports.