Private school seeks special zoning to open in Campton Hills; neighbors have concerns

The owners of Headwaters Academy are seeking a special-use zoning permit from the village of Campton Hills to allow a private school in a residential neighborhood, records show.

A zoning hearing on the petition was continued to 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 30, at Village Hall, 40W270 LaFox Road. According to the agenda, the Planning and Zoning Commission is expected to vote on whether to recommend approval.

The school would be located on a farm lot at 42W420 Campton Hills Road that is nearly five acres. It follows a nature-based curriculum described as Montessori-inspired, according to its website, headwatersil.org.

“Headwaters Academy is a nature-based micro-school where each learner’s unique gifts are celebrated and supported by a flexible, individualized learning environment,” according to the website. “We prepare students for a lifetime of discovery by fostering curiosity, empathy, and love for the Earth.”

Tuition and fees are $9,800 for kindergarten through eighth grade, with plans to roll out grades nine through 12 incrementally beginning in August 2027, according to the website.

The intent is for the school to open in August for the 2025-26 school year.

Executive Director Sarah Elliott will be one of the eight teaching staff members at the school, which currently has 25 students enrolled.

Elliott also spoke at a June 18 Planning and Zoning hearing about her three children’s experience with another nature-based Montessori school in Elburn during COVID-19.

“It was an incredibly better fit for the needs of my kids,” Elliott said. “As they grew older, we have found there are very limited private secular options in Kane County and none in our immediate area. In response to this, I set out with three other parents to launch a school.”

Headwaters Academy was established as a 501c3 nonprofit that Elliott described as a small, community-rooted micro-school that will serve about 25 students.

The property has a single-family house, a barn, fenced pastures and gardens, and is an ideal environment for experiential nature-connected learning, she said.

Elliott and her family also live in a house that borders the proposed school property.

“Concerns for traffic and noise are understandable,” Elliott said. “We have added a circle drive to alleviate traffic off of Campton Hills Road. We fully support any right-hand turn requirements out of the drive to alleviate further traffic during pickup and drop off times.”

The distance of the house on the property is more than 300 feet from the nearest neighbor’s house, with natural buffers and open acres in between, she said.

Another private school – the Farmhouse School, a culinary school at 3N369 LaFox Road – was granted a special-use zoning variance to be located in a residential area, she said.

The current proposal faces opposition from neighbors. Diane Bingham, a resident of Farmview Road, said her property backs up to the proposed school.

“I am totally against it,” Bingham said. “I don’t want kids running around screaming. I don’t want to have them using it for events – because they’re advertising that they’re going to be renting the space out for events.”

Bingham also said people will miss the turnoff to the school, go down her street to turn around and create more traffic on a cul-de-sac.

Dee McDuffie, also a nearby resident, said she too is against having a school in a residential area.

“Staff and parents will be pulling in and out of the school on a 50-mph road ... off of a single-car-width driveway,” McDuffie said.

This would present a danger to neighbors who walk, ride their bikes on Campton Hills Road, McDuffie said.

Resident Vince Kelly cited land covenants that state no structure in that area can be used for any business or commercial purpose – except farming – or any use that would create noxious odors, annoyance or nuisance.

“A school in our quiet rural area would be an annoying nuisance,” Kelly said.

But village resident Hollie Bauron spoke in favor of the school.

“When I heard about this, we have not planned to enroll our youngest in this school as yet, but having it as an option was very exciting to me,” Bauron said. “I never imagined there would be people in Campton Hills against this, because it’s just spectacular.”