Kirby School District 140 announced on May 19 that Friday, May 22, will be a half-day for all district schools. Elementary schools are scheduled to dismiss students at 11:10 a.m., while middle schools will dismiss at noon. Early Childhood and Preschool programs have specific dismissal times: AM Early Childhood at 9:20 a.m., PM Early Childhood at 11:10 a.m., AM Preschool at 9:10 a.m., and PM Preschool at 10:40 a.m. Report cards will be available in the Infinite Campus Parent Portal starting at noon.
The announcement affects families across the district as they prepare for the last day of school and plan accordingly for adjusted schedules. The district serves grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade and is located in Tinley Park within Cook County, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Kirby School District 140 represents several schools including Christa McAuliffe School, Fernway Park Elementary School, Helen Keller Elementary School, John A. Bannes Elementary School, Millennium Elementary School, Prairie View Middle School, and Virgil I. Grissom Middle School; it enrolled approximately 3,606 students during the 2019-2020 school year according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
The district’s student body is composed of about 79.5 percent White students, with smaller percentages identifying as Black (3.3 percent), Hispanic (8.2 percent), or Asian (4.4 percent) according to the Illinois State Board of Education. In terms of staffing, there are currently about 258 teachers earning an average salary of $68,179 before pension contributions; most teachers are women and none have more than ten absences per year according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Financially, Kirby School District spent $20,628 per student in fiscal year 2020 with total expenditures reaching $74 million according to the Illinois State Board of Education. The chronic truancy rate was reported as low as half a percent during that same period—significantly below statewide averages—reflecting attendance patterns among its students according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
