Terrance Sanders Wants Flossmoor 161 to Become a Destination District

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 12:00:00 GMT

Correction (September 30, 2026): An earlier version said the most recent published year added 30 students, or 1.3 percent, and that the district ended 2025-26 just 11 students, or about half of one percent, below its 2014-15 size. Those comparisons mixed two differently defined state counts. Measured on the same state count for both years, the most recent year added 15 students, or 0.7 percent, from 2,302 to 2,317. On the report card count, which runs through 2024-25, the district was 41 students, or 1.8 percent, smaller than in 2014-15, while Illinois enrollment fell 10.0 percent.

Terrance M. Sanders took over a district that ended a decade nearly the same size as it started.

Flossmoor School District 161^↗ enrolled 2,317 students last school year, 2025-26, the most recent year in the state's published record, on the state's fall count. The longer record comes from the state's report card count, a separately defined series that runs through 2024-25. On it, the district enrolled 2,328 students in 2014-15 and 2,287 in 2024-25, a difference of 41 students, or 1.8 percent. Over the same span, enrollment across Illinois fell 10.0 percent.

"I became the proud superintendent of Flossmoor 161 on July 1, 2026," Sanders wrote in response to questions from The ILEdTribune.

The flatness is the finding. Every report card year from 2014-15 through 2024-25 sits inside a band of 83 students, and the largest single-year move in that record is 2.8 percent. That held-steady line sits against a statewide total that fell 10.0 percent over the same period. Had Flossmoor 161 simply tracked the statewide rate of decline from its 2014-15 base, its 2024-25 enrollment would have been about 2,095 rather than 2,287, a difference of 192 students.

None of that is Sanders's doing, and he does not claim it. He started on July 1, 2026, after every year in the record above.

What he inherits is a district whose total moved through a pandemic-era low and back toward its starting point. On the report card count, Flossmoor 161 reached its low point of 2,245 students in 2020-21 and was 42 students higher by 2024-25. The state's fall count, which records each student under the home district responsible for them and begins with 2020-21, carries the record into 2025-26: the most recent year added 15 students, or 0.7 percent, its second-largest annual gain in that series after a 30-student rise in 2022-23. The two counts do not agree even for the same year, so the chart above draws them separately and this article never subtracts one from the other.

Asked what drew him to the job, Sanders pointed at people rather than numbers.

"What drew me to Flossmoor School District 161 was the people," he wrote. "Throughout the interview process, I experienced a community that cares deeply about its students and believes in the power of public education. I met dedicated educators, engaged families, thoughtful students, and a Board of Education committed to continuous improvement. It became clear that District 161 is a special place, and I knew it was a community where I wanted to invest my time, energy, and leadership. From the moment I accepted this opportunity, I have been ALL IN for District 161."

His stated priorities before the first bell were operational rather than programmatic.

"Between now and the first day of school, my priority is ensuring we are ready to welcome every student back for an outstanding year," Sanders wrote. "That means supporting our staff, learning the district's systems and traditions, and working alongside our leadership team to ensure a smooth opening. I am also spending time in our schools and throughout the community because strong relationships and visibility are essential to effective leadership."

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Stability across a district total can hide movement inside it, and in Flossmoor 161 the grades do not line up evenly.

The district serves prekindergarten through eighth grade across five schools. Last school year, 2025-26, its kindergarten class numbered 187 students. Its eighth-grade class numbered 285. That is 65.6 kindergartners for every 100 eighth graders.

This is a snapshot of the published 2025-26 grade counts, not a forecast. The enrollment file does not explain the gap or show how those classes will change over time. But the gap is a planning signal beneath a district total that otherwise barely moved through that year.

Sanders framed the district's next chapter as a matter of raising its profile rather than defending its size.

"I believe District 161's greatest opportunity is to build on its strong foundation and become a destination district recognized for exceptional student achievement, outstanding educators, and meaningful partnerships with families," he wrote. "The talent and commitment already exist within this community. By maintaining a relentless focus on teaching and learning while working together around a shared vision, I believe there is no limit to what our students can accomplish. I am excited to partner with our students, staff, families, and community as we move forward together because the future of District 161 is bright, and I am ALL IN for every student, every staff member, every family, every day."

"Destination district" is a claim about the future, and the enrollment record cannot confirm or refute it. What the record does show is that the Illinois statewide total spent the last decade moving down while Flossmoor 161 held nearly still. The district hands its new superintendent a foundation rather than a hole.

Enrollment figures come from the Illinois State Board of Education: its report card count through 2024-25 and its fall enrollment count for 2020-21 through 2025-26. Illinois did not publish a 2017-18 figure in the report card series, so that year is absent from the charts and no year-over-year comparison crosses the gap. Sanders responded in writing; quotations are reproduced as he wrote them.

Detailed code that reproduces the analysis and figures in this article is available exclusively to EdTribune subscribers.

Flossmoor School District 161 - EdTribune IL - Illinois Education Data

Terrance Sanders Wants Flossmoor 161 to Become a Destination District

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