Original Research by School Decision on Pleviak Elem School
Pleviak Elementary School serves kindergarten only, enrolling roughly a small cohort of students on the verge of significant operational change. The school is located in Lake Villa, a predominantly residential village in northern Lake County centered around the historic downtown along Cedar Avenue and bordered by Cedar and Deep Lakes.
The student body is predominantly Hispanic, with smaller numbers of Black, White, Asian, and multiracial students. The school's enrollment is nearly all Hispanic; data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility, special education, and English learner counts were not available. State assessment results do not apply to kindergarten, as Illinois tests begin in grade 3.
Pleviak is part of Round Lake CUSD 116, a district serving multiple communities in the area. The district has undergone significant reorganization. Effective fall 2024, it restructured its elementary grade model to what it calls a Partner School model and returned students to Pleviak after earlier displacement. This means Pleviak is operating within a new grade-configuration structure district-wide. Round Lake District has also implemented a 1:1 technology program providing iPads to all K-12 students, a shift in daily classroom practice that will shape your child's learning experience.
The district disclosed a major budget forecasting error in its 2024-2025 budget, which it is addressing through reductions in administrative positions, leaving select vacancies unfilled, and limiting overtime across multiple years. This may affect staffing levels and classroom operations going forward. For 2025-26, the district is adopting i-Ready as its K-8 math curriculum, a substantive change in how math instruction is delivered.
Lake Villa itself is a small lake community with modest downtown foot traffic along Cedar Avenue, where civic life centers around the Metra station, a small historic core, and Lehmann Park on Cedar Lake with beach and recreation amenities. The village is in active growth, with new single-family subdivisions and age-restricted apartments under development at its edges and a downtown revitalization process underway. The median home value in the area is moderately above state average, with a rental market that is tightening; the housing market is showing modestly declining inventory but steady price appreciation. The area's job base is dispersed across Lake County and southern Wisconsin, with Metra access to Chicago.
Because Pleviak serves only kindergarten, families using this school do not yet face long-term academic performance data or graduation outcomes. The school's role is entry point to the district's Partner School model. Parents may want to discuss with the school directly how it integrates into that new structure, what the full elementary pathway looks like across the district's buildings, and how the district's curriculum changes and staffing adjustments translate to classroom resources.
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