Sandridge School District 172 is an elementary school district based in the unincorporated southern Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 suburb of Chicago Heights

Chicago Heights, Illinois

Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 31,373 at the 2005 census. Chicago Heights is nicknamed 'Crossroads of the Nation'.-History:...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 on the Cook County

Cook County, Illinois

Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...

 side of boundaries with Will County, Illinois

Will County, Illinois

As of the census of 2000, there were 502,266 people, 167,542 households, and 131,017 families residing in the county. The population density was 600 people per square mile . There were 175,524 housing units at an average density of 210 per square mile...

 and Lake County, Indiana

Lake County, Indiana

Lake County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. In 2010, its population was 496,005, making it Indiana's second-most populous county. The county seat is Crown Point. This county is part of Northwest Indiana and the Chicago metropolitan area. The county contains a mix of urban,...

; Sandridge School District serves students in Chicago Heights and the surrounding communities of Lynwood

Lynwood, Illinois

Lynwood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 7,377 at the 2000 census.Lynwood was founded in 1959. The Village is surrounded by Lansing to the north, Glenwood to the west, Sauk Village to the south, and Munster and Dyer, Indiana to the east. The Indiana state...

 and Sauk Village

Sauk Village, Illinois

Sauk Village is a village in Cook County and small parcel south of 231st St. in Will County, Illinois. The population was 10,411 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Sauk Village is located at ....

. The district is composed of a single facility that handles all students below and including those in grade eight. This school, known as Sandridge Elementary School, is headed by principal Cheli Thomas and the superintendent, Dr. John Sawyer III. The school and district were named for the geography of the school when it was initially constructed, as it was built upon a sandy ridge.

History

Sandridge School was founded in a previously rural area in 1863; the original school cost $82.50, and required a year of construction. The school gradually expanded from that point; a two room schoolhouse replaced the original schoolhouse in 1925, and that schoolhouse replaced by another schoolhouse that was twice its size. The district could not keep up with the growing student body population, and seventh and eight graders had to attend school in nearby Glenwood

Glenwood, Illinois

Glenwood is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 9,000 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Glenwood is located at ....

. In 1994, the school began to crowd again and expansion became a necessity; in the next fourteen years, Sandridge added a gymnasium, a cafeteria, and up to ten additional classrooms; in 2008, a computer lab was opened in the district as well. As of 2008, the district was working on expanding extracurricular activity options and facilitating travel to and from the school.