Residency
BOUNDARIES OF THORNTON FRACTIONAL DISTRICT 215
Thornton Fractional Township High School District #215, was organized as a legal township high school district on April 12, 1926. It was organized and is governed under the township high school laws as set forth in the statutes of the State of Illinois.
Thornton Fractional Township High School District #215, Cook County, Illinois, incorporates portions of the Village of Burnham, City of Calumet City, Village of Lansing, and the Village of Lynwood. The district boundaries are:
North: Northern city limits of the Village of Burnham
East: State Line
South: Center line of 201st Street
West: Center line of Torrence Avenue
District #215 also includes the part of the District 205 which was annexed on January 4, 1960 which is bounded on the north by the right-of-way of the Kingery Expressway, to the Calumet Expressway, on the southwest by the north side of the right-of-way of the Grand Trunk Railroad, on the west by the center line of Locust Street, and on the south by the center line of 186 Street from Locust Street to Torrence Avenue. The 1996 annexation extended the center line of the Locust Street west boundary to the center line of Stony Island.
Beginning with the school year 1960-61 and hereafter, students whose residence lies north of the Little Calumet River, will attend the Thornton Fractional North High School; and all students whose residence is south of the Little Calumet River, and attend the Thornton Fractional South High School.
STUDENT RESIDENCY
Residents who live within the District 215 boundaries have the right to attend Thornton Fractional High Schools tuition free. For general education students, residence is generally based on the residence of the adult with legal custody of the student.
A student does not have the right to attend school tuition-free solely for the purpose of attending a specific school.
For students, legal custody exists in the following situations under the Illinois School Code:
- The student resides with a natural or adoptive parent who has custody of the student.
- The student resides with a person other than a parent for reasons other than to have access to the educational programs of the District, and that person has been granted custody (not guardianship) by a court of competent Jurisdiction.
- An adult who has been granted short-term guardianship, so long as the student is not living with the adult for access to the educational programs of the District. The adult is required to obtain a court order granting permanent guardianship within three hundred sixty-five days.
The student resides with an adult caretaker relative receiving aid under the Illinois Public Aid Code for the student, as long as the student is not living with the adult for access to the educational programs of the District.
Students may also attend school tuition-free in the following circumstances:
- Students who are wards of the state and are placed with a foster parent or in another type of child care facility in the district will be permitted to attend school on a tuition-free basis. Tuition-free attendance will also be permitted if the Department of Children and Family Services has guardianship of a student who no longer resides in the District and that agency determines that it is in the student's best interests to continue enrollment in District 215.
- Students whose change of residence is due to the military service obligation of a person who has legal custody of the student will be considered to be residents of the District in which they resided immediately before the change of residence caused by the military service obligation upon the written request of the person having legal custody of the student. A school district is not responsible for providing transportation to or from school for a student whose residence is determined under this provision.
- If at the time of enrollment, a dependent of United States military personnel is housed in temporary housing located outside of the district, but will be living within the District within 60 days after the time of initial enrollment, the child will be allowed to enroll and will not be charged tuition.
- Foreign students accepted into a District 215-approved foreign exchange program and subsequently accepted by District 215 through a prior agreement with the foreign exchange agency may attend school tuition-free if domiciled in the District.
- The reason is part of an intergovernmental agreement.