Elgin's Good Shepherd School to close

After 50 years in downtown Elgin, Good Shepherd Lutheran School is closing — at least for now.

Because of declining enrollment, the school, which serves students in kindergarten through the fifth grade, will suspend operations at the end of the 2010-11 school year.

Church leaders and parents said the school has been affected by the economic climate that has forced many other parochial schools in the suburbs to close their doors, or mount heroic efforts to stay open.

“All Lutheran schools are struggling,” said the Rev. Martin Balzer, pastor at the church. But Good Shepherd is somewhat worse off than other area Lutheran schools, such as Immanuel Lutheran in East Dundee and St. John's in Elgin, because of its size, he explained. “They are larger so they're in a little bit better position to deal with these issues.”

Balzer estimated that Good Shepherd had more 150 students through grade eight as recently as 10 years ago. This year, only 36 students are enrolled at the school, which stopped offering grades six through eight last year.

“Ideally, I wish we would not have to do it,” Balzer said. “It's a way to provide a Christian education ... but realistically, I understand why we have to do it.”

When the Good Shepherd school closes, it will be bittersweet for Sue Beebe, an Elgin resident who sent three children to the school.

“I thought my children got one of the best educations around,” said Beebe, who is also a secretary at Good Shepherd's preschool. “You felt like a family. You felt like you belonged.”

While enrollment is declining at the school, Good Shepherd's preschool is thriving. The preschool recently moved to a new building on Nesler Road, on Elgin's west side. Balzer estimated almost 200 children are enrolled in the preschool, crediting the staff and word-of-mouth for strong interest in the program.

“We're in a great area,” said Peggy Kellerman, a preschool assistant who also has a son at the Good Shepherd school. “We just have a lot of houses, a lot of young families.”

If interest picks up, Good Shepherd may reopen its elementary school, Balzer said, in the new building on Nesler Road.