McLean County Unit District No. 5 (legally Community Unit School District No. 5, usually shortened to Unit 5) is a

unit school district A unified school district (in the states of Arizona, California, Kansas and Oregon) or unit school district (in Illinois), in the United States of America, is a school district that generally includes and operates both primary schools (kindergarten ...

McLean County, Illinois McLean County is the largest county by land area in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 169,572. Its county seat is Bloomington. McLean County is included in the Bloomington–Normal, IL Metropolit ...

and a small portion of

Woodford County, Illinois Woodford County is a county located in the state of Illinois. The 2010 United States Census listed its population at 38,664. Its county seat is Eureka. Woodford County is part of the Peoria, IL, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its name comes fro ...

. A public election on 8 May 1948 created the school district. The district covers 11

congressional township A survey township, sometimes called a Congressional township or just township, as used by the United States Public Land Survey System, is a nominally-square area of land that is nominally six U.S. survey miles (about 9.66 km) on a side. E ...

s, including all of the communities of Carlock, Hudson,

Normal Normal(s) or The Normal(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Normal'' (2003 film), starring Jessica Lange and Tom Wilkinson * ''Normal'' (2007 film), starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Zegers, Callum Keith Rennie, and Andrew Airlie * ''Norma ...

, and Towanda. It also covers parts of Bloomington not in Bloomington Public Schools District 87. , the district has around 13,000 students and 1,850 full- and part-time staff across 17 elementary, 4 junior high, and 2 high school buildings. The two high schools are Normal Community High School and

Normal Community West High School Normal West High School is a public high school in Normal, Illinois. The mascot is the wildcat and school colors are black and silver. The school opened in 1995 and its current student body numbers roughly 1,600. Extracurricular activities Sp ...

. As of 2022, the district faces a multimillion dollar debt. The district has attempted to remove popular student programs to attempt to pay the debt. One of which is the 5th grade band program - at the board meeting intending to remove the program, extreme backlash and 75 public speakers caused the meeting to last well into the next day and evoke the cancellation. Job positions are also being cut. Many students and parents are concerned about the nature of these decisions as they seem to be irrational and target the artistic side of the district rather than the sports side, where many teams exist.

Schools

Elementary schools

*Benjamin Elementary School *Brigham Elementary School *Carlock Elementary School *Cedar Ridge Elementary School *Fairview Elementary School *Fox Creek Elementary School *Glenn Elementary School *Grove Elementary School *Colene Hoose Elementary School *Hudson Elementary School *Northpoint Elementary School *Oakdale Elementary School *Parkside Elementary School *Pepper Ridge Elementary School *Prairieland Elementary School *Sugar Creek Elementary School *Towanda Elementary School

Junior high schools

* Chiddix Junior High School * Evans Junior High School * Kingsley Junior High School * Parkside Junior High School Kingsley Junior High School is a public school in Normal, Illinois that opened in 2003. It was used as Normal Community High School until they moved across town in 2003. The mascot is the Cougars and the school colors are orange and black. The mascot was changed from the Cavaliers to the Cougars in the 2021-22 school year, on the grounds that the Cavaliers does not represent everyone. However, students have not embraced this change, and still wear Cavalier merchandise. Though unknown who chose the new mascot, it is likely that the Cougar mascot was selected by students due to its alternate meaning. The school made an attempt to change every Cavalier logo, but multiple sources note this is not the case. Although all Cavalier murals were painted over, hallway signs and sports chairs still bear the former mascot's logo. This is likely due to the Unit 5 budget cuts / Unit 5 debt struggle which removed 8th grade foreign language and nearly removed 5th grade band. They have won one state title in 8th Grade Volleyball in 2006 and the 2007 8th Grade Basketball team were the runners-up in the State Tournament. The 2008 8th Grade Girls Cross Country team also made it to State. The 2008 6th and 7th Grade Girls Basketball team were the runners-up in the State Tournament. In 2009 the 8th Grade Girls Basketball team placed 4th in state. Their cheerleading and poms team are well known as well. The poms team placed 7th in the nation after competing in Orlando, Florida for the U.D.A. National Championship 2010. In the 2010–2011 school year, Kingsley had their 8th grade boys baseball team get 3rd in state. The 7th grade girls basketball team won the state championship. Next to continue, the boys 7th grade basketball team also won the state title. Finally, the 8th grade boys basketball team won the state championship and gave Kingsley the record for most state championships in basketball for one year. In the 2011–2012 school season, the 7th grade girls basketball team won 2nd in the state tournament, and the 8th grade girls earned back to back state titles as the 2011 champions. The 8th grade boys have a chance for repeat titles as well, as they return to once again meet up with Bolingbrook Jane Adams for a repeat championship game match up to take home the 1st place title again. But now that the state championship is over, we can proudly announce that KJHS 8th grade boys basketball DID win 1st in the state.

High schools

* Normal Community High School *

School Hours

Elementary Schools Regular Daily: 7:45 am to 2:30 pm Late Starts: 8:45 am to 2:30 pm High Schools Regular Daily: 8:30 am to 3:30 pm Late Starts: 9:30 am to 3:30 pm Junior High Schools Regular Daily: 8:45 am to 3:45 pm Late Starts: 9:45 am to 3:45 pm

References

{{reflist School districts established in 1948 Education in McLean County, Illinois School districts in Illinois 1948 establishments in Illinois