Rumor has it that the nearly bankrupt Pleasant Dale Park District will be hiring not one, not two, but THREE new full time recreation and management employees in the first week of January.
Didn't they just eliminate the marketing director's position in November in an attempt to trim the budget? Hmmm, that was not a wise move at all. How can they possibly market the new and improved Chalet and their myriad of new programs without a marketing director? Have you seen the last two mailings that have gone out since the marketing director's dismissal? Probably not, since most residents didn't get the Chalet re-grand opening flyer (a full color two sided 16" x 23" spread that cost $$$) because it was only mailed to Countryside. But, check out the Winter leisure guide that you might have received. Maybe instead of a new recreation manager, how about hiring a proof reader? That would make a lot of sense!
Rumor also has it that the bills for the new and improved Chalet are piling up with little to no money to pay them. Is this true? Only time will tell. They have yet to see any of the grant money that was promised last June.
Come on out and meet with park board president Brad Martin for coffee on January 9th at 9 a.m. at the Chalet. Bring your suggestions and input about what you want to see at the park district. Maybe even ask him about the rumors.
Just don't bring any high expectations!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Board Member Email Addresses
At the December 16 school board meeting, one topic of discussion was the PTA school directory and information contained therein. Specifically, the board president, Leandra Sedlack, wanted to know why private email addresses for board members were printed in the directory and where these email addresses came from since they were supposedly "private." Several board members implied this information came from a particular person on the board which was not the case.
First off, there were several reasons this information was included in the school directory. To begin with, it was to maintain a look of uniformity throughout the directory. Secondly, this information was included as a means for parents to communicate with the board members whom they elected to represent them. We all know how important communication is in our school district. Just last spring the communication action committee met for several months to discuss ways to improve communication throughout the district. In addition, email is a less intrusive way to reach someone and since the home phone numbers of board members have always been included in the directory, email provided another means whereby these people could be reached without being intrusive. Finally, the directory was proofread by several people including school board member Beth Tegtmeier and superintendent, Mark Fredisdorf at the November PTA board meeting.
First off, there were several reasons this information was included in the school directory. To begin with, it was to maintain a look of uniformity throughout the directory. Secondly, this information was included as a means for parents to communicate with the board members whom they elected to represent them. We all know how important communication is in our school district. Just last spring the communication action committee met for several months to discuss ways to improve communication throughout the district. In addition, email is a less intrusive way to reach someone and since the home phone numbers of board members have always been included in the directory, email provided another means whereby these people could be reached without being intrusive. Finally, the directory was proofread by several people including school board member Beth Tegtmeier and superintendent, Mark Fredisdorf at the November PTA board meeting.
At least three people were concerned enough to raise objection to and refuse to publish an advertisement they did not like; however, they never made ONE mention or objection to the board members' email addresses being published (which they clearly saw) until now.
In an effort to clear the air on where these email addresses came from, we'd like to show you how easy it is to get a person's email address. It's a little thing called GOOGLE!
Look at the last few entries on this page:
http://us.yhs.search.yahoo.com/avg/search?fr=yhs-avg-chrome&type=yahoo_avg_hs2-tb-web_chrome_us&p=leandra+sedlack
Another board member has a Facebook page that is open to the public. On her information page, you can view the name of the company she owns. Then, if you google the company name, you will come up a supplier directory. A third of the way down the page is her company name and her email address.
Two other email addresses came from a mass email that was sent out last April.
From: CRAZY4CHOC
To: CRAZY4CHOC
BCC: Tegtwins2
Sent: 4/5/2009 6:53:43 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: April 7th Board of Education Elections
Hello, Friends:
As a candidate in the upcoming election, I would like to provide you with some information regarding recent campaign literature that has been distributed. Please take this opportunity to read the following (a duplicate attachment is also included), and forward on to individuals who may be interested. Please don't hesitate to contact Mark Mirabile, Leandra Sedlack, or myself, should you have any questions or require additional information.
Thank you,
Patti Essig
Candidate for Pleasantdale School District 107 School Board
Another email address was found here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rick+rigley&start=10&sa=N but we chose to use a different email address so there would be no confusion between boards that he serves on.
These are just a few examples of how easy it is to get information from the internet. As Superintendent Fredisorf said last year at Internet Safety Night, whatever you put on the internet is a permanent record and available for all to see.
In an effort to clear the air on where these email addresses came from, we'd like to show you how easy it is to get a person's email address. It's a little thing called GOOGLE!
Look at the last few entries on this page:
http://us.yhs.search.yahoo.com/avg/search?fr=yhs-avg-chrome&type=yahoo_avg_hs2-tb-web_chrome_us&p=leandra+sedlack
Another board member has a Facebook page that is open to the public. On her information page, you can view the name of the company she owns. Then, if you google the company name, you will come up a supplier directory. A third of the way down the page is her company name and her email address.
Two other email addresses came from a mass email that was sent out last April.
From: CRAZY4CHOC
To: CRAZY4CHOC
BCC: Tegtwins2
Sent: 4/5/2009 6:53:43 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: April 7th Board of Education Elections
Hello, Friends:
As a candidate in the upcoming election, I would like to provide you with some information regarding recent campaign literature that has been distributed. Please take this opportunity to read the following (a duplicate attachment is also included), and forward on to individuals who may be interested. Please don't hesitate to contact Mark Mirabile, Leandra Sedlack, or myself, should you have any questions or require additional information.
Thank you,
Patti Essig
Candidate for Pleasantdale School District 107 School Board
Another email address was found here: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rick+rigley&start=10&sa=N but we chose to use a different email address so there would be no confusion between boards that he serves on.
Other board members' email addresses were acquired from serving on a committee together.
These are just a few examples of how easy it is to get information from the internet. As Superintendent Fredisorf said last year at Internet Safety Night, whatever you put on the internet is a permanent record and available for all to see.
So next time the school board would like information, maybe they should ask those directly involved before jumping to conclusions and insinuating something without ALL the facts.
Why all this talk of email addresses? It's all about control. Enough said!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Top Ten Gifts the Pleasant Dale Park District Needs for Christmas
10. Eric Anderson's files.
9. A pooper scooper, a muzzle and a voice box.
8. Microphone system to decipher the board president's mumblings.
7. A proofreader for all future resident correspondence.
6. A roof repairman on speed dial for the Chalet.
5. New timepieces for board members ie. watches.
4. An influx of money.
3. Participants for their programs.
2. Robert's Rules of Order Handbook
1. Get out of debt free card.
9. A pooper scooper, a muzzle and a voice box.
8. Microphone system to decipher the board president's mumblings.
7. A proofreader for all future resident correspondence.
6. A roof repairman on speed dial for the Chalet.
5. New timepieces for board members ie. watches.
4. An influx of money.
3. Participants for their programs.
2. Robert's Rules of Order Handbook
1. Get out of debt free card.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Moving Forward!
FYI to the Village of Willow Springs:
Hello Safe Routes To School project sponsors!
THANK YOU so much for your patience over the last few months
as we faced the rescission and the wait for additional funding. I am very happy
to announce that our program has received the additional allocation that we
needed to release the funds for the 2008 SRTS awards, which were announced in
August 2009.
I took the official letters of award, addressed to the
sponsor on record, to our mail room this morning. If your agency is sponsoring
multiple awards, all of your letters are enclosed in the same envelope. The
letters will go out in today’s mail, so if you do not receive your letter within
a week please contact me.
It is imperative that you thoroughly read the letter(s) of
award, as it has important information about the project, upcoming required
webinar, deadline by which you must have a contract/agreement in place with IDOT
that allows you to move forward with your project, deadlines for project
completion, and information on the survey information you must provide before
and after implementation of your project/program.
Please remember that these are letters of award, which
include your next steps as a project sponsor. They are NOT notices to proceed
with work and incur costs. You must have a contract/agreement in place with
IDOT prior to incurring any costs. Any costs incurred prior to the notice to
proceed cannot be reimbursed.
Please see below for the SRTS Webinar Information for
December 11 and December 15. Please note that your attendance at either of
these webinars is mandatory, as outlined in your letter of award. You can
register for either of these webinars by clicking on the appropriate link
below. Each webinar will include identical information, walking you through the
process for getting your contract/agreement in place with the Department.
Please list the organization you are representing when you fill out the webinar
registration form - it will allow me to better track participant
attendance.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via
e-mail or phone.
Thank you again for your patience, and we look forward to
working with you to implement your SRTS project(s)!
Best,
Megan
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
The train is moving...time to get on board!
e School News
eschoolnews.com
Technology News for Today's K-20 Educator
Volume 12, Number 11
November/December 2009
How Social Media Can Enhance School Communications
By Nora Carr, APR, Fellow PRSA
Described by some public relations pundits as the “new word-of-mouth marketing,” social media are still an enigma to most of us tasked with school communications.
Sure, Twitter use has exploded during the past year, but to what end?
Americans may hang on every word twitted by a celebrity, but will soccer
moms really welcome tweets from their child’s teacher or principal?
On the other hand, President Obama’s historic campaign was fueled in
large measure by the strategic use of social media, which galvanized
online communities and reversed decades of youth voter apathy.
Sifting through the hype and the hope, this much is clear: the web has
spawned a new communications revolution, one that shifts the power from
the information producer to the information consumer. Social media
networking sites, in many ways, are just the latest evolution of this
digital transformation.
Empowered citizens also now have new tools to voice their approval—or
their dissatisfaction— with the status quo. In the Wild Wild West of
citizen journalism, truth often gets shortchanged as misinformation is
recycled endlessly in the mash-up between social networks.
Just like consumers can choose which brands they want to engage with
online, parents, potential employees, senior citizens, and other community
stakeholders can choose whether they care enough about public,
private,
and parochial schools to start fan clubs, discussion groups, dialogues, and
other interactive web-based forums.
While I still have more questions than answers at this point, my initial
and admittedly timid forays into social media communications have already
driven home one key lesson: the web communications fallacy of “if you
build it, they will come” holds true in this arena as well.
I’ve been twittering, linking in, and blogging for a few weeks now, and
even people who are trying to find me online can’t. While this is likely a
blessing in disguise— after all, I’m a newbie when it comes to
deploying these tools— communicating to no one makes it hard to justify the
time.
While I intend to keep plugging along, I already suspect that the real
value of social media for school communicators is the unvarnished market
intelligence now available online. It’s fascinating, and sometimes a bit
scary, to see what people care enough about to post online.
For example, the biggest YouTube draw for my school district, North
Carolina’s Guilford County Schools, is a two-year-old “investigative” news
story questioning the accuracy of the district’s annual crime and violence
report to the state. With 1.7 million views, it far outpaces the
superintendent’s strategic plan launch speech, which we posted on YouTube
as part of our new media experiment.
This underscores why asking whether school districts or individual
schools should bother developing a social media presence is a bit like
debating whether to close the barn door after all the horses have
escaped. Chances are your school or district already has an online
presence on Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, or Twitter—it just might not be
the one you want.
Although many social media conversations are banal, others are
insightful. Either way, online chatter could serve as an early warning
system for simmering issues that are ready to ignite into a major
crisis. Increasingly, parents are using personal web pages, blogs, and
other new media tools to share news, discuss concerns, and rally
support for everything from PTAfundraisers to indoor air quality
investigations.
The ultimate “two-way” communication channel, social media requires
listening as well as responding. It is, after all, a conversation. Most
web marketers advise keeping blogs and web pages interactive, allowing
visitors to post comments and ask questions in a public manner.
This can be risky for school superintendents and others who daily
experience the growing lack of civility that such anonymous forums
encourage. A few years ago, the Pinellas County, Fla., superintendent, one
of educational administration’s pioneer bloggers, shut down his site when the
conversation turned increasingly ugly.
That cautionary tale has led many school public relations professionals
to keep the interactive portion of blogs “turned off,” much to the dismay
of the medium’s purists. The compromise position of providing an eMail
address for personalized (and non-public) responses to questions
and concerns works well for many school leaders, but won’t score as many
points on the transparency scale.
As with many communication tools, getting started in social media seems
easier than keeping it fresh, participating regularly, and making sure
people get the answers they’re seeking in a timely manner. Jon Rognerud, a
search optimization consultant in Los Angeles, offers a number of solid tips
on his website, www.chaosmap.com.
I particularly like his posts titled “Social Media Marketing Beginner’s
Guide” and “The Five Pillars of Social Media Marketing.” For Rognerud, the
profile or identity you create online (the first pillar) is like an
“expanded business card” that declares your “value, who you are, and
where you can be found.”
According to Rognerud, the focus of this crucial first step should be on
how your site can benefit the marketplace, not the reverse. For educators,
this might mean sharing more information with parents about child and teen
development or how they can reinforce a new reading curriculum at home and
less about the superintendent, school board, or new district
initiatives.
Identity through association, the second pillar of social media
marketing, is like giving parents, employees, students, and others the
opportunity to wear your school or district logo, according to
Rognerud.
By mutual agreement, interested parties get to associate themselves with
you, and you get to associate yourself with them as online “friends” or
“colleagues,” or through social bookmarking sites like
del.icio.us, StumbleUpon, technorati, or BlinkList.
The third step, user-initiated conversation, is probably the most
unnerving for educators, who already find themselves short of time,
energy, and patience. The thought of responding to hundreds of
additional eMails or queries, especially in a public space that opens them
to further criticism, can put leaders over the edge.
Yet before dismissing this opportunity out of hand, school communicators
might want give it a whirl. By serving stakeholders in a new and more
responsive manner, you might win some converts. At minimum, it could give
you the opportunity to set the record straight when misinformation rears
its ugly head online. As with other communication channels, all
groups, message boards, and forums aren’t created equal. Google, Yahoo,
AOL, and MSN Groups are among those most popular and might be a good place
to start.
The fourth pillar of social media marketing, provider-initiated
conversation, is “your chance to find out what your customers think, feel,
love, and hate about your product,” writes Rognerud. “Ask them. Challenge
them. Present yourself to them, but do so respectfully.”
In-person interaction—or good old-fashioned face-to-face
communication—is Rognerud’s fifth pillar. Research has consistently shown
that facial expressions, body language, and other non-verbal cues
account for more than 80 percent of what is communicated when two people
interact.
When it comes to changing hearts and minds, even interactive online
communication is insufficient. People are emotional beings. The silent
majority often needs what the late, great Pat Jackson, one of the
nation’s
pioneering public relations gurus, called a triggering event to get them moving.
pioneering public relations gurus, called a triggering event to get them moving.
Triggering events might start with technology—a text between two
students can create an audience of hundreds in just minutes— but change
tends to happen not only face to face, but one to one. As another PR sage
noted years ago, the web and other new media tools won’t replace other
forms of relationship-building communications, but they will help us
connect with people in new and important ways.
Award-winning eSN columnist Nora Carr is the chief
of staff for North Carolina’s Guilford County Schools.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
How one family won the battle to ban homework
Shelli and Tom Milley were exhausted by the weepy weeknight struggles over math problems and writing assignments with their three school-aged children. They were fed up with rushing home from soccer practice or speed skating only to stand over their kids tossing out answers so they could finish and get to bed.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/how-one-family-won-the-battle-to-ban-homework/article1367357/
Faced with frenzied nights and kids overloaded with work, the Milleys decided to take matters into their own hands.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/family-and-relationships/how-one-family-won-the-battle-to-ban-homework/article1367357/
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Repost: Education scholar, author Alfie Kohn to speak Nov. 18 at Concordia-Chicago on 'deadly effects of tougher standards'
Alfie Kohn is coming to the Chicago area!
http://www.cuchicago.edu/news/story/?sid=798
Oct. 14, 2009 – Internationally recognized education scholar, speaker and author Alfie Kohn will visitConcordia University Chicago Nov. 18 to discuss “The Deadly Effects of ‘Tougher Standards’: Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning.”
Kohn will examine authentic challenges for students as opposed to what he describes as “mindless ‘harder is better’” mentality, and difference between standards as guidelines and standards as lists of facts students should know. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. Audience members are welcome to bring a copy of their book for Kohn to sign.
A nationally known speaker and scholar on human behavior, education and parenting, Kohn has appeared in hundreds of TV and radio interviews including on the Today show and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Time magazine has called Kohn "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores."
The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have profiled him, while his work is discussed and debated by critics, education experts, parents and teachers across the globe. As a frequent keynote speaker, Kohn lectures regularly at universities, for parent groups and for corporations, and conducts workshops and seminars for teachers and administrators.
Author of 11 books including The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing and No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Kohn has also contributed to publications including the Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today.
The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Our Lord at Concordia University Chicago, 7400 Augusta St. in River Forest. Free handicapped-accessible parking is available in the University’s parking structure on Bonnie Brae Street.
Kohn’s talk is co-sponsored by the Concordia University Chicago College of Education, the Northeastern Illinois University College of Education and the Chicagoland Lutheran Education Foundation.
The College of Education at Concordia University Chicago prepares teachers, school leaders, school counselors and directors of Christian education (DCE) at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The University’s doctoral programs offer specialization in early childhood education, public school leadership and nonpublic school leadership.
Recognized as a leader in teacher education, Concordia graduates the state’s largest number of public school teachers among private Illinois colleges. More than 3,000 Chicagoland teachers and administrators seeking their graduate education degrees enroll at Concordia each year.
CONTACT:
Sarah Hickman, Communications Coordinator
708-209-3235 or sarah.hickman@cuchicago.edu
http://www.cuchicago.edu/news/story/?sid=798
Oct. 14, 2009 – Internationally recognized education scholar, speaker and author Alfie Kohn will visitConcordia University Chicago Nov. 18 to discuss “The Deadly Effects of ‘Tougher Standards’: Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning.”
Kohn will examine authentic challenges for students as opposed to what he describes as “mindless ‘harder is better’” mentality, and difference between standards as guidelines and standards as lists of facts students should know. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. Audience members are welcome to bring a copy of their book for Kohn to sign.
A nationally known speaker and scholar on human behavior, education and parenting, Kohn has appeared in hundreds of TV and radio interviews including on the Today show and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Time magazine has called Kohn "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores."
The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have profiled him, while his work is discussed and debated by critics, education experts, parents and teachers across the globe. As a frequent keynote speaker, Kohn lectures regularly at universities, for parent groups and for corporations, and conducts workshops and seminars for teachers and administrators.
Author of 11 books including The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing and No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Kohn has also contributed to publications including the Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today.
The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Our Lord at Concordia University Chicago, 7400 Augusta St. in River Forest. Free handicapped-accessible parking is available in the University’s parking structure on Bonnie Brae Street.
Kohn’s talk is co-sponsored by the Concordia University Chicago College of Education, the Northeastern Illinois University College of Education and the Chicagoland Lutheran Education Foundation.
The College of Education at Concordia University Chicago prepares teachers, school leaders, school counselors and directors of Christian education (DCE) at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The University’s doctoral programs offer specialization in early childhood education, public school leadership and nonpublic school leadership.
Recognized as a leader in teacher education, Concordia graduates the state’s largest number of public school teachers among private Illinois colleges. More than 3,000 Chicagoland teachers and administrators seeking their graduate education degrees enroll at Concordia each year.
CONTACT:
Sarah Hickman, Communications Coordinator
708-209-3235 or sarah.hickman@cuchicago.edu
Thursday, November 12, 2009
November Pleasant Dale Park Board Meeting Summary
First off, congratulations to the park district on a successful weekend volleyball tournament. They earned approx. $3k on concessions but had to forfeit their door proceeds to rent chairs for the tournament. Concerns about having spectator seating was brought up at a previous board meeting back in September and dismissed by Nancy McKenna who stated there were bleachers from the old ice rink that would be used. Hopefully they can dig out those old bleachers for future use to save money.
Since tax bills went out late, the park district won't see the one million dollars they have coming from property taxes until mid to late December. With bond payments due December 1st and no money to pay those, they now have to issue warrants at 2-3% interest which should be paid off within 6 months. The warrants will be issued in $100,000 increments.
The park district is expected to have a summary of all expenses paid out at the Chalet very soon. Let's hope so because we would be very interested in seeing how much money has been put into the Chalet so far.
Once again, the park district board meeting began late, starting at 6:48 p.m. Seriously, this just shows a lack of respect for the community members that attend these meetings. Nearly every meeting for the last several months has started late. Board President and fearless leader, Brad Martin, was absent again, this time due to illness. Martin has been on the park board for seven months. He has missed the last three regular board meetings in a row, and at meetings when he does show up, he often arrives late.
Also absent was commissioner Ernie Moon and note-taker Nancy McKenna. Moon called in at 7 p.m. to participate in the meeting by phone but since there wasn't a phone in the board room, as there sometimes is when board members can't make it, he was unable to participate.
Agendas were present at the meeting, but they were different than the agendas that were handed out at the park district on Monday and were not posted on line at the park district web site. According to the June 9th meeting minutes, when Commissioner Carol McMurray asked that items be added to the agenda, Attorney Cainkar explained that the agenda could not be changed without providing 48 hours notice. So it was a little confusing as to why the agenda changed from Monday to Tuesday. In addition, the park board tends to go off on tangents about things that aren't even on the agenda adding to the confusion.
Former state senator Bob Molaro, who earns $2,500 per month contract with the park district as a lobbyist, attended the meeting and did a presentation on the state of capital funding grants totaling $389,000 that Katherine Parker secured back in May. He reported that the park district will not see that money for approximately 16-18 months. Bummer. Wasn't this the money that was going to pay for the Chalet renovation?
During the consent agenda it was learned that the roofers, who said that they could repair the Chalet roof for $10,000, submitted a bill for $17,000 due to unforeseen problems. Colleen Pettrone asked for the roofer to come to the next board meeting to explain this change. At that point, Carol McMurray inquired that, "We need to know where we are with a total for the Chalet." That certainly would be nice.
During open forum, Dale Deatsch, the business director from Velocity Sports Performance (VSP) made a pitch to the board on how his company would like to partner with the park district to drive additional business to the Chalet. VSP currently partners with 1st Alliance and Lyons Juniors Volleyball Clubs which are run by Martin's sister in law, Sue Keck. Deatsch stated that he has already met with the Chalet staff as well as Parker and mentioned that the Chalet will be upgrading the weight training equipment. Hmm...wonder where that money will come from?
Also at the meeting to make a pitch to the board was Frank Nunez of Unicus Fitness. Nunez stated they would like to run their fitness programs at the Chalet and won't ask for a dime. They want to provide value to the Chalet and share in a percentage of the revenue/profits. Unicus already partners with the Chalet on various programs. A special meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 17 with both companies making 45 minute presentations to the park board beginning at 7:15.
Also speaking during open forum was school board member Patty Essig, who said it best when she told the park district board that they needed to get their act together.
Also speaking during open forum was school board member Patty Essig, who said it best when she told the park district board that they needed to get their act together.
In other Chalet news, the park district owes Sue Keck $11,000 for the volleyball nets that she supplied and they will either pay it off over time or possibly deduct that debt from her rent. Carol McMurray inquired why there weren't any track lines and the response was that they were too expensive even though at a previous meeting it was stated that there would be lines for the track because it is utilized by the current members.
Since tax bills went out late, the park district won't see the one million dollars they have coming from property taxes until mid to late December. With bond payments due December 1st and no money to pay those, they now have to issue warrants at 2-3% interest which should be paid off within 6 months. The warrants will be issued in $100,000 increments.
The park district is expected to have a summary of all expenses paid out at the Chalet very soon. Let's hope so because we would be very interested in seeing how much money has been put into the Chalet so far.
Finally, during open forum, resident Ken Kuehn, who has attended the last several months of meetings, predicted the park district would be bankrupt by July. That could very well be true with their current financial state, lack of money coming in and the expenses they are incurring. It will be interesting to see how this prediction pans out.
The next park board meeting will be on Tuesday, December 8th at 6:30 p.m. at Walker Park.
The next park board meeting will be on Tuesday, December 8th at 6:30 p.m. at Walker Park.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Communication
Friday packet, oh Friday packet, where are you?
Hmmm, maybe communication isn't a top priority after all.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Meet Me at the Corner
FYI: While there is nothing like going on an actual field trip, MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids can take you to meet fascinating people from all over the world.
www.meetmeatthecorner.org
MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, is a dynamic, interactive site, which encourages individual expression and participation through video submissions from children worldwide. Through these video pod casts we hope to create a community of children, who learn the art of self-expression and storytelling through video.
New educational, kid-friendly episodes are uploaded every two weeks. Included are links to fun websites, contests and the Learning Corner with follow-up questions. Check out The Big Apple Book Club filled with video book reviews for kids by kids.
www.meetmeatthecorner.org
MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, is a dynamic, interactive site, which encourages individual expression and participation through video submissions from children worldwide. Through these video pod casts we hope to create a community of children, who learn the art of self-expression and storytelling through video.
New educational, kid-friendly episodes are uploaded every two weeks. Included are links to fun websites, contests and the Learning Corner with follow-up questions. Check out The Big Apple Book Club filled with video book reviews for kids by kids.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
TED - Ideas Worth Spreading
A must see! Click on the link below or copy and paste the link into a new browser window.
Are schools killing creativity?
Sir Ken Robinson makes a case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/11/02/ted.sir.ken.robinson.ted
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Are schools killing creativity?
Sir Ken Robinson makes a case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/11/02/ted.sir.ken.robinson.ted
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Sir Ken Robinson: We're born with great natural talents
- He says schools systematically suppress many of those innate talents
- Schools use testing and other systems to narrowly assess students, he says
- He says they devalue forms of creativity that don't fit in academic contexts
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Education scholar, author Alfie Kohn to speak Nov. 18 at Concordia-Chicago on 'deadly effects of tougher standards'
Alfie Kohn is coming to the Chicago area!
http://www.cuchicago.edu/news/story/?sid=798
Oct. 14, 2009 – Internationally recognized education scholar, speaker and author Alfie Kohn will visit Concordia University Chicago Nov. 18 to discuss “The Deadly Effects of ‘Tougher Standards’: Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning.”
Kohn will examine authentic challenges for students as opposed to what he describes as “mindless ‘harder is better’” mentality, and difference between standards as guidelines and standards as lists of facts students should know. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. Audience members are welcome to bring a copy of their book for Kohn to sign.
A nationally known speaker and scholar on human behavior, education and parenting, Kohn has appeared in hundreds of TV and radio interviews including on the Today show and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Time magazine has called Kohn "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores."
The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have profiled him, while his work is discussed and debated by critics, education experts, parents and teachers across the globe. As a frequent keynote speaker, Kohn lectures regularly at universities, for parent groups and for corporations, and conducts workshops and seminars for teachers and administrators.
Author of 11 books including The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing and No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Kohn has also contributed to publications including the Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today.
The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Our Lord at Concordia University Chicago, 7400 Augusta St. in River Forest. Free handicapped-accessible parking is available in the University’s parking structure on Bonnie Brae Street.
Kohn’s talk is co-sponsored by the Concordia University Chicago College of Education, the Northeastern Illinois University College of Education and the Chicagoland Lutheran Education Foundation.
The College of Education at Concordia University Chicago prepares teachers, school leaders, school counselors and directors of Christian education (DCE) at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The University’s doctoral programs offer specialization in early childhood education, public school leadership and nonpublic school leadership.
Recognized as a leader in teacher education, Concordia graduates the state’s largest number of public school teachers among private Illinois colleges. More than 3,000 Chicagoland teachers and administrators seeking their graduate education degrees enroll at Concordia each year.
CONTACT:
Sarah Hickman, Communications Coordinator
708-209-3235 or sarah.hickman@cuchicago.edu
http://www.cuchicago.edu/news/story/?sid=798
Oct. 14, 2009 – Internationally recognized education scholar, speaker and author Alfie Kohn will visit Concordia University Chicago Nov. 18 to discuss “The Deadly Effects of ‘Tougher Standards’: Challenging High-Stakes Testing and Other Impediments to Learning.”
Kohn will examine authentic challenges for students as opposed to what he describes as “mindless ‘harder is better’” mentality, and difference between standards as guidelines and standards as lists of facts students should know. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. Audience members are welcome to bring a copy of their book for Kohn to sign.
A nationally known speaker and scholar on human behavior, education and parenting, Kohn has appeared in hundreds of TV and radio interviews including on the Today show and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Time magazine has called Kohn "perhaps the country's most outspoken critic of education's fixation on grades [and] test scores."
The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have profiled him, while his work is discussed and debated by critics, education experts, parents and teachers across the globe. As a frequent keynote speaker, Kohn lectures regularly at universities, for parent groups and for corporations, and conducts workshops and seminars for teachers and administrators.
Author of 11 books including The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing and No Contest: The Case Against Competition, Kohn has also contributed to publications including the Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today.
The presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel of Our Lord at Concordia University Chicago, 7400 Augusta St. in River Forest. Free handicapped-accessible parking is available in the University’s parking structure on Bonnie Brae Street.
Kohn’s talk is co-sponsored by the Concordia University Chicago College of Education, the Northeastern Illinois University College of Education and the Chicagoland Lutheran Education Foundation.
The College of Education at Concordia University Chicago prepares teachers, school leaders, school counselors and directors of Christian education (DCE) at the graduate and undergraduate levels. The University’s doctoral programs offer specialization in early childhood education, public school leadership and nonpublic school leadership.
Recognized as a leader in teacher education, Concordia graduates the state’s largest number of public school teachers among private Illinois colleges. More than 3,000 Chicagoland teachers and administrators seeking their graduate education degrees enroll at Concordia each year.
CONTACT:
Sarah Hickman, Communications Coordinator
708-209-3235 or sarah.hickman@cuchicago.edu
Thursday, October 22, 2009
ITBS Test Results
At last night's board meeting, administrators told the Board of Education on at least two occasions that the latest ITBS scores are not in yet. They said the school should be receiving them in about two weeks.
We also heard from several others, including parents, that the scores ARE in; they arrived earlier in the week and they are not looking too good. Hmmm...
We also heard from several others, including parents, that the scores ARE in; they arrived earlier in the week and they are not looking too good. Hmmm...
You Won't Find This on a Standardized Test....
Congratulations to Gurrie Middle School on making a difference in the world. You matter!
Click on the link to brink up their video at Every Monday Matters and check out what they are doing.
http://everymondaymatters.com/gurrie-middle-school-rocks/
Here are some other things that the kids from Gurrie are up to. They are so inspiring!
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5445304d5459784e44633d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5445794f4445314e44513d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5445324e6a41794e44553d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown
Kudos to Louise Kulaga at Gurrie Middle School for making a difference!
Would a program like this be more exciting and motivating for our kids in the realm of SEL than the Homeside Activities they are currently doing? We think so!
Click on the link to brink up their video at Every Monday Matters and check out what they are doing.
http://everymondaymatters.com/gurrie-middle-school-rocks/
Here are some other things that the kids from Gurrie are up to. They are so inspiring!
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5445304d5459784e44633d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5445794f4445314e44513d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown
http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4d5445324e6a41794e44553d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown
Kudos to Louise Kulaga at Gurrie Middle School for making a difference!
Would a program like this be more exciting and motivating for our kids in the realm of SEL than the Homeside Activities they are currently doing? We think so!
Dear Anonymous
Thank you for your comments. We appreciate you taking the time to read this blog. It means we are reaching all kinds of people to raise community awareness which has always been our intention, purpose and goal. In addition, when people leave particularly uninformed comments, our readership goes up, so thank you for making yesterday our highest traffic day in over six months!! We’ve had over 17,000 page views and we are growing larger every day.
We’d like to take this opportunity to educate you on some of the things we have done to help, promote, assist and work for the good of these entities. First of all, we attend many, many board meetings each month. By involving ourselves in our community, whether it is at the park district, PTA, school or village we are not sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything is hunky-dory. We are not here to contribute to the “fat, dumb and happy” mentality that permeates throughout our community. How many PTA, park board, school board and village board meetings have you been at in the last 24 months? Collectively, we have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in board meetings, and we are not even sitting members on these boards. We take time away from our families to learn about and get involved in our community without compensation. Secondly, several of us have run for local governing boards such as school boards, village boards and park boards to make a difference. Running for office is not easy. It requires a great sacrifice. It takes time and money - time away from our families and money that many of us do not have to spare. We have volunteered at the schools, at the parks, for the PTA, and in various villages on a number of occasions.
About 18 months ago several of us banded together to form a team of community members that backed the Safe Routes to School Program. We spent many hours conducting meetings, writing grant proposals, tallying surveys, taking photos and creating slideshows to demonstrate the need for safety for the children of our community. It was through our hard work and dedication that the Village of Willow Springs was awarded nearly $400,000 by the State of Illinois to build sidewalks and implement other safety measures such as crosswalks and flashing traffic lights so that the children in our community can SAFELY walk to school. We’ve done a lot, but our work is not finished yet. There is much more to be done. So before you leave comments asking us to embrace these organizations, take some time to educate yourself on what we have done and will continue to do.
You want to talk about squeaky wheels? If we hadn’t squeaked our wheels and raised awareness that the Pleasantdale school district was seriously lacking in the area of technology, do you think our children would be benefitting from the Promethean Active Boards that now grace the walls of 48 classrooms in our schools? Certainly not! It wasn’t even on the horizon according to middle school technology director, Judith Stevens, when we spoke with her last March. Thanks to the squeaky wheels, the children in the Pleasantdale school district are now able to learn their lessons on cutting edge technology. Read some of our older posts to learn about other changes made and victories won as a result of our squeaky wheels.
This blog was started to raise community awareness and so that everyone’s voice would be heard. Our goal is to bring some measure of accountability and transparency to the local governments that are spending our hard earned tax dollars. Not just our tax dollars, but yours as well. We live in an area this is not adequately covered by the print media. A perfect haven, if you will, for wrongdoings to go on unnoticed. We cannot and will not sit by and pretend they don’t happen. Since we began this blog, we have heard and seen things that have raised many an eyebrow. The problem is people like you that want to sweep things under the rug and hope that no one will notice. Ignoring problems do not make them go away; smoke and mirrors will not hide them. When the dust settles, they will always remain.
Next time you wish to comment, please don’t hide behind the mask of anonymity. Come out of hiding and work hand in hand with us to make this the best community it can be.
We’d like to take this opportunity to educate you on some of the things we have done to help, promote, assist and work for the good of these entities. First of all, we attend many, many board meetings each month. By involving ourselves in our community, whether it is at the park district, PTA, school or village we are not sticking our heads in the sand and pretending that everything is hunky-dory. We are not here to contribute to the “fat, dumb and happy” mentality that permeates throughout our community. How many PTA, park board, school board and village board meetings have you been at in the last 24 months? Collectively, we have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in board meetings, and we are not even sitting members on these boards. We take time away from our families to learn about and get involved in our community without compensation. Secondly, several of us have run for local governing boards such as school boards, village boards and park boards to make a difference. Running for office is not easy. It requires a great sacrifice. It takes time and money - time away from our families and money that many of us do not have to spare. We have volunteered at the schools, at the parks, for the PTA, and in various villages on a number of occasions.
About 18 months ago several of us banded together to form a team of community members that backed the Safe Routes to School Program. We spent many hours conducting meetings, writing grant proposals, tallying surveys, taking photos and creating slideshows to demonstrate the need for safety for the children of our community. It was through our hard work and dedication that the Village of Willow Springs was awarded nearly $400,000 by the State of Illinois to build sidewalks and implement other safety measures such as crosswalks and flashing traffic lights so that the children in our community can SAFELY walk to school. We’ve done a lot, but our work is not finished yet. There is much more to be done. So before you leave comments asking us to embrace these organizations, take some time to educate yourself on what we have done and will continue to do.
You want to talk about squeaky wheels? If we hadn’t squeaked our wheels and raised awareness that the Pleasantdale school district was seriously lacking in the area of technology, do you think our children would be benefitting from the Promethean Active Boards that now grace the walls of 48 classrooms in our schools? Certainly not! It wasn’t even on the horizon according to middle school technology director, Judith Stevens, when we spoke with her last March. Thanks to the squeaky wheels, the children in the Pleasantdale school district are now able to learn their lessons on cutting edge technology. Read some of our older posts to learn about other changes made and victories won as a result of our squeaky wheels.
This blog was started to raise community awareness and so that everyone’s voice would be heard. Our goal is to bring some measure of accountability and transparency to the local governments that are spending our hard earned tax dollars. Not just our tax dollars, but yours as well. We live in an area this is not adequately covered by the print media. A perfect haven, if you will, for wrongdoings to go on unnoticed. We cannot and will not sit by and pretend they don’t happen. Since we began this blog, we have heard and seen things that have raised many an eyebrow. The problem is people like you that want to sweep things under the rug and hope that no one will notice. Ignoring problems do not make them go away; smoke and mirrors will not hide them. When the dust settles, they will always remain.
Next time you wish to comment, please don’t hide behind the mask of anonymity. Come out of hiding and work hand in hand with us to make this the best community it can be.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Quote of the Day and Park Board Highlights
"I don't keep track of money, I just spend it!" ~ Joe Jura, Chalet Renovation Project Manager
Seems like some people at the Pleasant Dale Park District need a lesson on timeliness.
Tonight's meeting started late again.
Joe Jura arrived for the 7:30 meeting at 8:20, well after the discussion on the Chalet renovation was to take place. This discussion was tabled until later in the meeting as they waited for Joe to arrive. When Joe finally did arrive, acting president Colleen Pettrone tried to postpone the Chalet discussion until after executive session. Was she afraid of what he might say in front of an audience?
Park board president, Brad Martin, arrived at 9:00 p.m. How convenient... He got there after the board meeting had ended but just in time for executive session. Last week he didn't even show up at all and the meeting was cancelled.
Marc Poulos, the executive director from the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting (III FFC) attended tonight's meeting because he has received several complaints in regard to non competitive bidding and prevailing wage on the Chalet renovation project. He indicated that he sent a FOIA request to the park district last week and is waiting for the information he requested. (Thank God he didn't send it to the Village of Willow Springs or he'd never get it!)
During open forum, Mr. Poulos gave a short presentation on what the III FFC is and asked some pointed questions in regard to the bidding practices and paying prevailing wages on the Chalet renovation project.
The highlight of the night came during Joe Jura's update on the Chalet renovation. Park commissioner Ernie Moon asked Joe some questions about the expenses and budget for the project at which point Joe stated, "I don't keep track of money, I just spend it!"
When Joe was asked a question about the bidder selection process that was used, he said that he saved the park distinct thousands of dollars; they showed him the bids and he picked which guys to use and who not to. Colleen Pettone quickly cut Joe off from talking any further and referred Mr. Poulos and his questions to the park district attorney.
In other news, the park distinct held a hearing this evening on the proposal to sell non-referendum bonds. They owe $1.2 million dollars this year and will only be able to pay off $628,947. Yikes!
The next park board meeting (another special meeting) will be held on Tuesday, October 27 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss fee structures and rental proposals.
Seems like some people at the Pleasant Dale Park District need a lesson on timeliness.
Tonight's meeting started late again.
Joe Jura arrived for the 7:30 meeting at 8:20, well after the discussion on the Chalet renovation was to take place. This discussion was tabled until later in the meeting as they waited for Joe to arrive. When Joe finally did arrive, acting president Colleen Pettrone tried to postpone the Chalet discussion until after executive session. Was she afraid of what he might say in front of an audience?
Park board president, Brad Martin, arrived at 9:00 p.m. How convenient... He got there after the board meeting had ended but just in time for executive session. Last week he didn't even show up at all and the meeting was cancelled.
Marc Poulos, the executive director from the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting (III FFC) attended tonight's meeting because he has received several complaints in regard to non competitive bidding and prevailing wage on the Chalet renovation project. He indicated that he sent a FOIA request to the park district last week and is waiting for the information he requested. (Thank God he didn't send it to the Village of Willow Springs or he'd never get it!)
During open forum, Mr. Poulos gave a short presentation on what the III FFC is and asked some pointed questions in regard to the bidding practices and paying prevailing wages on the Chalet renovation project.
The highlight of the night came during Joe Jura's update on the Chalet renovation. Park commissioner Ernie Moon asked Joe some questions about the expenses and budget for the project at which point Joe stated, "I don't keep track of money, I just spend it!"
When Joe was asked a question about the bidder selection process that was used, he said that he saved the park distinct thousands of dollars; they showed him the bids and he picked which guys to use and who not to. Colleen Pettone quickly cut Joe off from talking any further and referred Mr. Poulos and his questions to the park district attorney.
In other news, the park distinct held a hearing this evening on the proposal to sell non-referendum bonds. They owe $1.2 million dollars this year and will only be able to pay off $628,947. Yikes!
The next park board meeting (another special meeting) will be held on Tuesday, October 27 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss fee structures and rental proposals.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Park Board Meeting Postponed
Tonight's park board meeting was postponed until Tuesday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m. due to a lack of quorum. In other words, there were not enough park board commissioners present to conduct the meeting.
The meeting, which was scheduled for 6:30 p.m., was postponed today just before noon. We were informed that, "one commissioner has a wake, another is sick, and another just called because her mother is being transported by ambulance." We hope they will all soon be on the mend.
Two park board commissioners showed up tonight for the meeting...Carol McMurray and Ernie Moon.
Interestingly, today's meeting was postponed shortly after the park district received a letter from a local union informing them that the union would be attending this evening's meeting seeking answers to questions in regard to the Prevailing Wage Act and the Chalet reconstruction project.
Several union members showed up at the park district tonight only to hear that the meeting had been postponed.
We strongly encourage you to attend next week's park board meeting for the next chapter of "The Adventures of the Pleasant Dale Park District."
The meeting, which was scheduled for 6:30 p.m., was postponed today just before noon. We were informed that, "one commissioner has a wake, another is sick, and another just called because her mother is being transported by ambulance." We hope they will all soon be on the mend.
Two park board commissioners showed up tonight for the meeting...Carol McMurray and Ernie Moon.
Interestingly, today's meeting was postponed shortly after the park district received a letter from a local union informing them that the union would be attending this evening's meeting seeking answers to questions in regard to the Prevailing Wage Act and the Chalet reconstruction project.
Several union members showed up at the park district tonight only to hear that the meeting had been postponed.
We strongly encourage you to attend next week's park board meeting for the next chapter of "The Adventures of the Pleasant Dale Park District."
Saturday, October 10, 2009
The Village of Willow Springs and Their Mixed Up Priorities
A recent inquiry to Village of Willow Springs Administrator Bill Murray in regard to the Safe Routes to School Sidewalk Grant has yielded no response. That is pretty much par for the course over there.
We continue to hear rumblings throughout the community that mayor Alan Nowaczyk and village board members Annette Kaptur, Mario Imbaratto, Kathy Stanphill and George Bartik intend to turn down the $400,000 in grant money they were awarded to build sidewalks to Willow Springs School and Pleasantdale Elementary School.
Yeah, you heard right, they don't want the money. They don't want to put in sidewalks so kids can walk to school. The safety of children is just not a priority in the Village of Willow Springs.
We asked Administrator Murray why there is no mention on the village web site of being awarded $400,000 to build sidewalks so that kids can safely walk to school. We would think this would garner more attention than local teen, Kirby Kaptur being named to a swim team. Again, we got no response. Seems like their priorities are a bit mixed up.
This grant will benefit the entire community, both north and south of the river, so we are curious as to why it is not mentioned on the village web site. Will this grant award be mentioned in the next village newsletter that is due out soon? Probably not.
For what it is worth, Pleasantdale School District 107 made no mention of the awarding of this grant in any of their Friday packets or on the district web site. They never even reached out to the Village of Willow Springs when they heard this grant was awarded and they were a direct beneficiary. Guess they really don't care about the safety of kids either or maybe their priorities are mixed up too.
In April, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski came out to School Street to discuss funding roadwork and safety measures there. The Village applied for federal stimulus assistance to fund a full reconstruction of the School Street. Lipinski was photographed along with principal Matt Vandercar, mayor Nowaczyk and trustees Katur and Bartik. It is funny that the two staunchest opponents of the sidewalk grant and repairing School Street, Kaptur and Bartik , are in this photo. Why wasn't former trustee Mesec there? After all, he was the biggest supporter and the only trustee to get the ball rolling on this grant application. It seems odd that the Village would apply for federal stimulus assistance yet not take advantage of the FREE grant money that it was awarded to construct sidewalks so the neighborhood children can walk to school.
We continue to receive inquiries in regard to the construction of sidewalks that were awarded to our community in the Safe Routes to School Grant program and we would like to be able to give people some answers.
So tell us, Mayor Nowaczyk, what is going on with the sidewalk grant?
An email we received:
Gina,
Thank you for the info concerning the sidewalk grant. Your letter was very concise and accurate. It is very aggravating that this Village being in a state of financial difficulty can not take advantage of monies that will benefit the safety of the children in Willow Springs. To compromise their welfare is ludicrous. A Mayor and a Village Board that can not realize the importance of this grant is certainly not looking out for the betterment of the community. The attitude that the Mayor is taking towards the sidewalk grant program is not serving his constituents as he should. To brush this under the table as if it never existed is not serving the tax payer of Willow Springs and is doing an unjust to those who will benefit from the sidewalk program.
This grant program is separate from the stimulus program in which, the village probably have not received any funds for as of today.
It is my understanding that duration of the grant is a three year period, why in the world would they not want to move forward on this program? Is it the work involved in implementing the process of the grant? Everything was put in place for the village to move forward on this worthwhile program.
When this was proposed to the Mayor and the Board all were in agreement in moving in a direction to secure the funds available for the sidewalk program. A directive was given to staff to move forward and put the grant together and send it on to the state.
Why should the children's safety of Willow Springs be put in jeopardy? Is it to much work? Is there a political hidden agenda for some reason for not moving on this program?
The Administrator of Willow Springs should act now and forward the letter of intent to the state so the residents of Willow Springs can receive grant money for the sidewalk program. A copy of the letter of intent should be inserted in the next newsletter for residents to share. This is a three year program and there is no reason why the village can not initiate these grant funds from the state. A community that has excessive financial problems should use all resources at their disposal to bring in all available funds necessary that will enhance the improvement of the community.
The SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL GRANT PROGRAM is necessary for the safety of the children in Willow Springs and should not be discarded due to lack of village management.
James Chevalier,
Former Director of Public Works of Willow Springs
We continue to hear rumblings throughout the community that mayor Alan Nowaczyk and village board members Annette Kaptur, Mario Imbaratto, Kathy Stanphill and George Bartik intend to turn down the $400,000 in grant money they were awarded to build sidewalks to Willow Springs School and Pleasantdale Elementary School.
Yeah, you heard right, they don't want the money. They don't want to put in sidewalks so kids can walk to school. The safety of children is just not a priority in the Village of Willow Springs.
We asked Administrator Murray why there is no mention on the village web site of being awarded $400,000 to build sidewalks so that kids can safely walk to school. We would think this would garner more attention than local teen, Kirby Kaptur being named to a swim team. Again, we got no response. Seems like their priorities are a bit mixed up.
This grant will benefit the entire community, both north and south of the river, so we are curious as to why it is not mentioned on the village web site. Will this grant award be mentioned in the next village newsletter that is due out soon? Probably not.
For what it is worth, Pleasantdale School District 107 made no mention of the awarding of this grant in any of their Friday packets or on the district web site. They never even reached out to the Village of Willow Springs when they heard this grant was awarded and they were a direct beneficiary. Guess they really don't care about the safety of kids either or maybe their priorities are mixed up too.
In April, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski came out to School Street to discuss funding roadwork and safety measures there. The Village applied for federal stimulus assistance to fund a full reconstruction of the School Street. Lipinski was photographed along with principal Matt Vandercar, mayor Nowaczyk and trustees Katur and Bartik. It is funny that the two staunchest opponents of the sidewalk grant and repairing School Street, Kaptur and Bartik , are in this photo. Why wasn't former trustee Mesec there? After all, he was the biggest supporter and the only trustee to get the ball rolling on this grant application. It seems odd that the Village would apply for federal stimulus assistance yet not take advantage of the FREE grant money that it was awarded to construct sidewalks so the neighborhood children can walk to school.
We continue to receive inquiries in regard to the construction of sidewalks that were awarded to our community in the Safe Routes to School Grant program and we would like to be able to give people some answers.
So tell us, Mayor Nowaczyk, what is going on with the sidewalk grant?
An email we received:
Gina,
Thank you for the info concerning the sidewalk grant. Your letter was very concise and accurate. It is very aggravating that this Village being in a state of financial difficulty can not take advantage of monies that will benefit the safety of the children in Willow Springs. To compromise their welfare is ludicrous. A Mayor and a Village Board that can not realize the importance of this grant is certainly not looking out for the betterment of the community. The attitude that the Mayor is taking towards the sidewalk grant program is not serving his constituents as he should. To brush this under the table as if it never existed is not serving the tax payer of Willow Springs and is doing an unjust to those who will benefit from the sidewalk program.
This grant program is separate from the stimulus program in which, the village probably have not received any funds for as of today.
It is my understanding that duration of the grant is a three year period, why in the world would they not want to move forward on this program? Is it the work involved in implementing the process of the grant? Everything was put in place for the village to move forward on this worthwhile program.
When this was proposed to the Mayor and the Board all were in agreement in moving in a direction to secure the funds available for the sidewalk program. A directive was given to staff to move forward and put the grant together and send it on to the state.
Why should the children's safety of Willow Springs be put in jeopardy? Is it to much work? Is there a political hidden agenda for some reason for not moving on this program?
The Administrator of Willow Springs should act now and forward the letter of intent to the state so the residents of Willow Springs can receive grant money for the sidewalk program. A copy of the letter of intent should be inserted in the next newsletter for residents to share. This is a three year program and there is no reason why the village can not initiate these grant funds from the state. A community that has excessive financial problems should use all resources at their disposal to bring in all available funds necessary that will enhance the improvement of the community.
The SAFE ROUTES TO SCHOOL GRANT PROGRAM is necessary for the safety of the children in Willow Springs and should not be discarded due to lack of village management.
James Chevalier,
Former Director of Public Works of Willow Springs
Busy Day Week!
It has been a very busy couple of days on our blog! Thanks to all who stopped by to check out our administrator salary spreadsheet and to read about the ridiculous antics going on over at the park district. Stay tuned for an upcoming post on what is happening in the Village of Willow Springs!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
More Park Shenanigans
The shenanigans never seem to end over at the Pleasant Dale Park District.
On Tuesday evening, the park board held another "special meeting" to discuss who knows what. There wasn't an agenda, so anything goes.
In addition, this "special meeting" was held in a BAR with several TVs blaring, customers chatting and a few members of the park board as well as its infamous director, Katherine Parker, imbibing alcohol...and lots of it.
The park board, minus one, and its director, Katherine Parker, note-taker Nancy McKenna and project manager, Joe Jura were huddled around two tables discussing park district business. Once again this "SECRET special meeting" was not disclosed to the public nor posted on the park district website. In addition, there was no seating set aside in case the public wanted to attend. Of course there wasn't...because THEY DON'T WANT ANYONE THERE!!
Some of the discussion included increasing fees and dropping the rental space price from $1 a square foot to a measley .50¢ PER SQUARE FOOT to attract a tennant. Nothing like giving the park away, huh? And this place is supposed to make money?? We wonder what park board president Brad Martin will be charging his sister-in-law Sue Keck to lease the space for her volleyball leagues. No doubt you will be seeing a "FOR SALE" sign there in no time at all.
Shortly before the meeting ended, park commissioner Ernie Moon had had enough of the shenanigans, and stormed out of there before the meeting was over. The problem with this "SECRET special meeting" is that the park director, a supposed recovering addict, was tanked along with a few others as they were discussing financial matters involving the public's money!!
Seriously, we don't care if you drink, but rap the gavel, end the meeting and then have at it...but don't do it during a public meeting while you are deciding what to do with OUR money!
SCARY is all we have to say!
Wade Brewer was smart to stay home.
On Tuesday evening, the park board held another "special meeting" to discuss who knows what. There wasn't an agenda, so anything goes.
In addition, this "special meeting" was held in a BAR with several TVs blaring, customers chatting and a few members of the park board as well as its infamous director, Katherine Parker, imbibing alcohol...and lots of it.
The park board, minus one, and its director, Katherine Parker, note-taker Nancy McKenna and project manager, Joe Jura were huddled around two tables discussing park district business. Once again this "
Some of the discussion included increasing fees and dropping the rental space price from $1 a square foot to a measley .50¢ PER SQUARE FOOT to attract a tennant. Nothing like giving the park away, huh? And this place is supposed to make money?? We wonder what park board president Brad Martin will be charging his sister-in-law Sue Keck to lease the space for her volleyball leagues. No doubt you will be seeing a "FOR SALE" sign there in no time at all.
Shortly before the meeting ended, park commissioner Ernie Moon had had enough of the shenanigans, and stormed out of there before the meeting was over. The problem with this "
Seriously, we don't care if you drink, but rap the gavel, end the meeting and then have at it...but don't do it during a public meeting while you are deciding what to do with OUR money!
SCARY is all we have to say!
Wade Brewer was smart to stay home.
P.A. 96-0434 Visual
In case you want to know where some of your tax dollars are going...
Below you will find a spreadsheet of the following Pleasantdale school district 107 administrator salaries: Mark Fredisdorf, Catherine Chang, Kelly Voliva, Matt Vandercar, Meg Pokorny and Kim Freislinger.
It is broken down into a total annual salary and a per day salary. These figures do not include vacation, personal or sick days that are paid out. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Below you will find a spreadsheet of the following Pleasantdale school district 107 administrator salaries: Mark Fredisdorf, Catherine Chang, Kelly Voliva, Matt Vandercar, Meg Pokorny and Kim Freislinger.
It is broken down into a total annual salary and a per day salary. These figures do not include vacation, personal or sick days that are paid out. Click on the image to enlarge it.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
In Case You're Still Looking...
Pleasantdale's administrative salaries can be found using the following route.
1. Go to http://www.d107.org/
2. Click on the link at the top of the page titled Administration. Pointing to it will only produce a drop down menu. You must actually click on the link.
3. Look for P.A. 96-0434 Reports which is buried in the middle of the page.
4. Click on the first link titled P.A. 96-0434 Report. There you have it!
For a much easier time finding it, copy http://www.d107.org/media/Administration/Public%20Acts%200960434.pdf and paste it into your browser.
If you want to see the collective bargaining agreement between Pleasantdale School District 107 Board of Education and the Teacher's Association of Pleasantdale IEA/NEA, click on the link just below P.A. 96-0434 Report or copy http://www.d107.org/media/Administration/NEGOTIATED%20CONTRACT.pdf and paste it into your browser.
1. Go to http://www.d107.org/
2. Click on the link at the top of the page titled Administration. Pointing to it will only produce a drop down menu. You must actually click on the link.
3. Look for P.A. 96-0434 Reports which is buried in the middle of the page.
4. Click on the first link titled P.A. 96-0434 Report. There you have it!
For a much easier time finding it, copy http://www.d107.org/media/Administration/Public%20Acts%200960434.pdf and paste it into your browser.
If you want to see the collective bargaining agreement between Pleasantdale School District 107 Board of Education and the Teacher's Association of Pleasantdale IEA/NEA, click on the link just below P.A. 96-0434 Report or copy http://www.d107.org/media/Administration/NEGOTIATED%20CONTRACT.pdf and paste it into your browser.
Are school districts really going for transparency?
By Kerry Lester
DAILY HERALD 10/03/2009
The aim is increased transparency. But for taxpayers in a number of suburban school districts, the effect is anything but.
A new state law, passed in August and effective Thursday, requires all school districts in the state to post administrators' salaries on their Web site.
While almost all suburban districts were in compliance Friday morning, a number required a scavenger hunt of sorts to unearth the information.
The law mandates districts must post an itemized salary compensation report for every employee with an administrative certificate who is working in that capacity.
That means superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals and assistant principals. The report must include each individual's base salary, along with bonuses, pension contributions, retirement increases, health and life insurance costs, paid sick and vacation days, annuities and any other types of income they might receive.
The law does not get into specifics on how - or where - information should be posted. There is also no specific state penalty for districts that do not comply. However, state board of education attorneys pointed out that county regional offices of education are able to take action against districts that willfully refuse to comply.
A Daily Herald analysis found that by noon Friday, 80 of 82 local districts had information on their Web sites.
Wheeling Township District 21 had plans to post salary information as of Monday, officials said. Calls to Woodland Elementary District 50 were not returned about where its information might be.
Of the districts that had salaries posted, a few made things simple.
District 207 had a link right on its Web site's home page, along with a note explaining just why it is now posting the information.
Elgin Area School District U-46 sent out a news release announcing the move and its decision to go a step further and provide information on noncertified administrators as well as all teachers' salaries.
Kane County's nine school districts met together, looked at different forms, and discussed how to post them, Kane County Regional Office of Education Superintendent Doug Johnson said.
"We wanted to make this as easy as possible for the public," he said.
After all, he said, "districts don't have anything to hide."
But elsewhere, finding information was trickier. Nine of 29 DuPage County districts checked, including Salt Creek Elementary District 48, used a maze of drop down tabs and links to access salary information.
"It was handled with our finance people in cooperation with information services. They grouped it where they felt it was appropriate," Superintendent Janice Rosales said.
Kildeer Countryside Elementary District 96 also made things difficult. After clicking through several pages, administrator salaries could be accessed, but no names were posted. Assistant Superintendent Beth Dalton said she felt their posting was both logical and accessible.
Disparities, she said. "May come from fact that their isn't clear direction from the state on how this should be labeled," she said. "School districts have different interpretations."
Editor's Note: Can you find the adminstrative salaries on Pleasantdale's website? We did, but it wasn't so easy.
DAILY HERALD 10/03/2009
The aim is increased transparency. But for taxpayers in a number of suburban school districts, the effect is anything but.
A new state law, passed in August and effective Thursday, requires all school districts in the state to post administrators' salaries on their Web site.
While almost all suburban districts were in compliance Friday morning, a number required a scavenger hunt of sorts to unearth the information.
The law mandates districts must post an itemized salary compensation report for every employee with an administrative certificate who is working in that capacity.
That means superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals and assistant principals. The report must include each individual's base salary, along with bonuses, pension contributions, retirement increases, health and life insurance costs, paid sick and vacation days, annuities and any other types of income they might receive.
The law does not get into specifics on how - or where - information should be posted. There is also no specific state penalty for districts that do not comply. However, state board of education attorneys pointed out that county regional offices of education are able to take action against districts that willfully refuse to comply.
A Daily Herald analysis found that by noon Friday, 80 of 82 local districts had information on their Web sites.
Wheeling Township District 21 had plans to post salary information as of Monday, officials said. Calls to Woodland Elementary District 50 were not returned about where its information might be.
Of the districts that had salaries posted, a few made things simple.
District 207 had a link right on its Web site's home page, along with a note explaining just why it is now posting the information.
Elgin Area School District U-46 sent out a news release announcing the move and its decision to go a step further and provide information on noncertified administrators as well as all teachers' salaries.
Kane County's nine school districts met together, looked at different forms, and discussed how to post them, Kane County Regional Office of Education Superintendent Doug Johnson said.
"We wanted to make this as easy as possible for the public," he said.
After all, he said, "districts don't have anything to hide."
But elsewhere, finding information was trickier. Nine of 29 DuPage County districts checked, including Salt Creek Elementary District 48, used a maze of drop down tabs and links to access salary information.
"It was handled with our finance people in cooperation with information services. They grouped it where they felt it was appropriate," Superintendent Janice Rosales said.
Kildeer Countryside Elementary District 96 also made things difficult. After clicking through several pages, administrator salaries could be accessed, but no names were posted. Assistant Superintendent Beth Dalton said she felt their posting was both logical and accessible.
Disparities, she said. "May come from fact that their isn't clear direction from the state on how this should be labeled," she said. "School districts have different interpretations."
Editor's Note: Can you find the adminstrative salaries on Pleasantdale's website? We did, but it wasn't so easy.
Friday, October 2, 2009
How tax dollars are spent should not be kept secret
Rockford Register Star
rrstar.com 09/28/2009
A spokesman for the state’s largest teachers union says public disclosure of teacher pay and benefits “is not an issue that makes all of our members happy.”
On behalf of the people who pay your salary, we say: Too bad.
We couldn’t be happier about new laws that make it easier to get information about educators’ salaries and other forms of compensation. In the past, if you wanted to know the salaries of school officials, you would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request through the State Board of Education.
In an age of electronic records and real-time information, that’s ridiculous.
Taxpayers pay the salaries, health benefits and pension contributions for school employees. The information should be available with a couple of clicks of the mouse.
We want to be fair. Illinois Education Association spokesman Charles McBarron said some teachers get the point of full disclosure. “Some people are comfortable with it. Others are not,” McBarron said. “On the other hand, I think everybody understands the concept of public employees and tax dollars.”
Certainly, state lawmakers understand. The pair of measures that assure more information — and more timely information — about educator salaries and benefits passed without a single no vote. Legislators said they were motivated by a desire for greater transparency in government. It’s about time.
Lawmakers were also angry over reports that Chicago-area school boards quietly awarded large perks to top administrators. When those perks can lie behind a large stack of Freedom of Information Act requests, it’s not surprising these sweet deals exist.
This is how GateHouse News Service describes the function of the two new laws: By Oct. 1 of every year, every school district must post on its Internet site “an itemized salary compensation report” for every employee who holds an administrative certificate and who works in that capacity. The report must include such details as base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, the cost of health insurance and any other form of compensation.
The report also has to be presented at a school board meeting.
By every July 1, starting in 2010, school boards must report the base salary and benefits of the district superintendent, all administrators and teachers. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be sent to the State Board of Education.
Just as sure as leaves turn and the seasons change, we predict foot-dragging and technical hang-ups with both of these laws. We hope they can be minimized.
For years, the Family Taxpayers Foundation downloaded the salaries of school employees in the state and made them available on the Web. The searchable database was moved in the last several years and is now available at www.championnews.net.
Look in the upper right corner of the home page and click on “Teacher & Administrator Salary Database.”
Both Champion News and the Family Taxpayers Foundation were founded by entrepreneur and businessman Jack Roeser, a longtime advocate of education reform. It’s good that people like Roeser have stepped up to provide the salary information, but it should have been government’s job all along.
The Illinois Association of School Administrators said its group has been successful in getting the word out among educators about the new laws. So much for ignorance being an excuse.
Executive Director Brent Clark called it “part of the new culture, or alleged culture, of transparency. We’ve not had a lot of that in Illinois.”
Which is to say that we really deserve it. Now show us the salaries.
rrstar.com 09/28/2009
A spokesman for the state’s largest teachers union says public disclosure of teacher pay and benefits “is not an issue that makes all of our members happy.”
On behalf of the people who pay your salary, we say: Too bad.
We couldn’t be happier about new laws that make it easier to get information about educators’ salaries and other forms of compensation. In the past, if you wanted to know the salaries of school officials, you would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request through the State Board of Education.
In an age of electronic records and real-time information, that’s ridiculous.
Taxpayers pay the salaries, health benefits and pension contributions for school employees. The information should be available with a couple of clicks of the mouse.
We want to be fair. Illinois Education Association spokesman Charles McBarron said some teachers get the point of full disclosure. “Some people are comfortable with it. Others are not,” McBarron said. “On the other hand, I think everybody understands the concept of public employees and tax dollars.”
Certainly, state lawmakers understand. The pair of measures that assure more information — and more timely information — about educator salaries and benefits passed without a single no vote. Legislators said they were motivated by a desire for greater transparency in government. It’s about time.
Lawmakers were also angry over reports that Chicago-area school boards quietly awarded large perks to top administrators. When those perks can lie behind a large stack of Freedom of Information Act requests, it’s not surprising these sweet deals exist.
This is how GateHouse News Service describes the function of the two new laws: By Oct. 1 of every year, every school district must post on its Internet site “an itemized salary compensation report” for every employee who holds an administrative certificate and who works in that capacity. The report must include such details as base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, the cost of health insurance and any other form of compensation.
The report also has to be presented at a school board meeting.
By every July 1, starting in 2010, school boards must report the base salary and benefits of the district superintendent, all administrators and teachers. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be sent to the State Board of Education.
Just as sure as leaves turn and the seasons change, we predict foot-dragging and technical hang-ups with both of these laws. We hope they can be minimized.
For years, the Family Taxpayers Foundation downloaded the salaries of school employees in the state and made them available on the Web. The searchable database was moved in the last several years and is now available at www.championnews.net.
Look in the upper right corner of the home page and click on “Teacher & Administrator Salary Database.”
Both Champion News and the Family Taxpayers Foundation were founded by entrepreneur and businessman Jack Roeser, a longtime advocate of education reform. It’s good that people like Roeser have stepped up to provide the salary information, but it should have been government’s job all along.
The Illinois Association of School Administrators said its group has been successful in getting the word out among educators about the new laws. So much for ignorance being an excuse.
Executive Director Brent Clark called it “part of the new culture, or alleged culture, of transparency. We’ve not had a lot of that in Illinois.”
Which is to say that we really deserve it. Now show us the salaries.
Now, This is an Award!
Three local schools, Madison, Hinsdale Middle and Clarendon Hills Middle, earned the 2009 National Blue Ribbon School status by the U.S. Department of Education.
Only 314 schools, 254 public and 50 private, received the national honor. Sixteen were in Illinois, including thirteen public and three private schools.
Congratulations to all the Illinois Blue Ribbon Award winners:
Arcadia Elementary School
Olympia Fields
Central Elementary School
Wilmette
Clarendon Hills Middle School
Clarendon Hills
Clifford Crone Middle School
Naperville
Deerfield High School
Deerfield
Hinsdale Middle School
Hinsdale
Ira Rupley Elementary School
Elk Grove Village
Madison Elementary School
Hinsdale
New Trier Township High School
Winnetka
Peoria Christian Elementary School
Peoria
St. Joseph School
Libertyville
St. Raymond School
Mount Prospect
Stevenson Elementary School
Bloomington
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School
Chicago
Windsor Elementary School
Arlington Heights
Woodlawn Middle School
Long Grove
Only 314 schools, 254 public and 50 private, received the national honor. Sixteen were in Illinois, including thirteen public and three private schools.
Congratulations to all the Illinois Blue Ribbon Award winners:
Arcadia Elementary School
Olympia Fields
Central Elementary School
Wilmette
Clarendon Hills Middle School
Clarendon Hills
Clifford Crone Middle School
Naperville
Deerfield High School
Deerfield
Hinsdale Middle School
Hinsdale
Ira Rupley Elementary School
Elk Grove Village
Madison Elementary School
Hinsdale
New Trier Township High School
Winnetka
Peoria Christian Elementary School
Peoria
St. Joseph School
Libertyville
St. Raymond School
Mount Prospect
Stevenson Elementary School
Bloomington
Whitney M. Young Magnet High School
Chicago
Windsor Elementary School
Arlington Heights
Woodlawn Middle School
Long Grove
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Schools face new pay-disclosure requirements.
R.R.STAR.COM
By Adriana Colindres
GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Posted Sep 28, 2009 @ 11:43 AM
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois school officials have extra things to contend with this academic year besides test scores and unruly students. They also must comply with a couple of new laws requiring them to more readily provide information about educators' salaries and other forms of compensation.
The lawmakers who pushed the pair of measures, which sailed through the General Assembly without a single "no" vote, say they were motivated by a desire for greater transparency in government. Some also said they were inspired by news reports about how some Chicago-area school boards were quietly awarding large perks to top administrators.
"We were finding that a number of superintendents would be given huge bonuses and huge boosts on their final salaries, and that would increase their pensions - sometimes doubling it, almost," said Rep. Monique Davis, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored one of the plans.
"This is just a small stab at giving the public the opportunity to have that information," Davis added. "You don't have to go through a big Freedom of Information fight."
Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican who co-sponsored one of the new laws, said the public needs to know "the total cost of a superintendent."
"I have a sneaking suspicion that some school districts, not all, hide the true perks and compensation package for their superintendents," he said. "Teachers are not as much of a mystery, and they don't have all the perks that administrators have."
The two laws impose different sets of rules, and they have different implementation dates.
Under the plan previously known as Senate Bill 2270, every school district must post on its Internet site "an itemized salary compensation report" for every employee who holds an administrative certificate and who works in that capacity. The report must include such details as base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, the cost of health insurance and any other form of compensation.
The report must be posted by Oct. 1 of every year, starting on Thursday. It also must be presented at a school board meeting.
Under House Bill 2235, every school board must report the base salary and benefits of the district superintendent, all administrators and teachers by July 1, starting in 2010. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be sent to the State Board of Education.
Public universities and community colleges must report similar information about their administrators, faculty members and instructors to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
The State Board of Education already makes existing salary data for educators available to the public through Freedom of Information Act requests, said spokeswoman Mary Fergus. The expanded data also will be accessible, but the agency hasn't decided yet exactly how that will be done through FOIA requests, through its Web site or in some other manner.
Information about public university employees' salaries presently may be obtained through the individual institutions. Once that data is reported to the Board of Higher Education, the agency hopes to post it on the Web for easy access, said spokesman Don Sevener.
The new laws have generated a mixed reaction from the education community.
A spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, a teachers' union, said disclosing information about compensation "is not an issue that makes all of our members happy."
"Some people are comfortable with it. Others are not," said spokesman Charles McBarron. "On the other hand, I think everybody understands the concept of public employees and tax dollars."
Individual teachers who were contacted in the past few days said they recognize that they're public employees and that taxpayers provide the dollars used to compensate them.
"I don't see a problem," said Bob Darling, who teaches at Peoria Richwoods High School.
But he said salary numbers for teachers can be misleading because they don't spell out how many hours teachers work or what extra duties they handle.
While information about educators' pay already is available to the public, the new laws are meant to offer extra details that are easier to obtain.
"Personally, I believe in transparency," said Rep. Sandra Pihos, R-Glen Ellyn. "I think it's important that we be accountable to our public."
The Illinois Association of School Administrators has been working to get the word out about the new laws, and by now their existence is "pretty well widely known in educator circles," said executive director Brent Clark.
"It's part of the new culture, or alleged culture of transparency," he said. "We've not had a lot of that in Illinois."
Some questions remain, though, about how to comply with the new requirements.
"That's the biggest concern that I'm hearing," Clark said. "They want to do it right."
Jacqueline Wernz, an associate at the Chicago law firm Franczek Radelet P.C., which advises school districts throughout Illinois and the rest of the country, said the two new laws are similar in intent.
But she added: "There a number of little differences in the laws which are leading to district confusion."
One issue is whether the information due in July should deal with the just-ended school year or the upcoming school year.
"We've said there's a very good argument both ways," Wernz said.
State Board of Education officials have alerted school districts that they should consult with their own attorneys about meeting the requirements that take effect Oct. 1. ISBE says it will provide guidance later about the data-collection due in July.
Davis said it shouldn't be difficult for school districts to put together the information about their employees.
"I don't foresee any obstacles because all school systems, no matter how poor they are, they have to use computer technology," she said.
By Adriana Colindres
GATEHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Posted Sep 28, 2009 @ 11:43 AM
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois school officials have extra things to contend with this academic year besides test scores and unruly students. They also must comply with a couple of new laws requiring them to more readily provide information about educators' salaries and other forms of compensation.
The lawmakers who pushed the pair of measures, which sailed through the General Assembly without a single "no" vote, say they were motivated by a desire for greater transparency in government. Some also said they were inspired by news reports about how some Chicago-area school boards were quietly awarding large perks to top administrators.
"We were finding that a number of superintendents would be given huge bonuses and huge boosts on their final salaries, and that would increase their pensions - sometimes doubling it, almost," said Rep. Monique Davis, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored one of the plans.
"This is just a small stab at giving the public the opportunity to have that information," Davis added. "You don't have to go through a big Freedom of Information fight."
Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican who co-sponsored one of the new laws, said the public needs to know "the total cost of a superintendent."
"I have a sneaking suspicion that some school districts, not all, hide the true perks and compensation package for their superintendents," he said. "Teachers are not as much of a mystery, and they don't have all the perks that administrators have."
The two laws impose different sets of rules, and they have different implementation dates.
Under the plan previously known as Senate Bill 2270, every school district must post on its Internet site "an itemized salary compensation report" for every employee who holds an administrative certificate and who works in that capacity. The report must include such details as base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, the cost of health insurance and any other form of compensation.
The report must be posted by Oct. 1 of every year, starting on Thursday. It also must be presented at a school board meeting.
Under House Bill 2235, every school board must report the base salary and benefits of the district superintendent, all administrators and teachers by July 1, starting in 2010. The information, including vacation and sick days, bonuses and retirement enhancements, will be sent to the State Board of Education.
Public universities and community colleges must report similar information about their administrators, faculty members and instructors to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
The State Board of Education already makes existing salary data for educators available to the public through Freedom of Information Act requests, said spokeswoman Mary Fergus. The expanded data also will be accessible, but the agency hasn't decided yet exactly how that will be done through FOIA requests, through its Web site or in some other manner.
Information about public university employees' salaries presently may be obtained through the individual institutions. Once that data is reported to the Board of Higher Education, the agency hopes to post it on the Web for easy access, said spokesman Don Sevener.
The new laws have generated a mixed reaction from the education community.
A spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, a teachers' union, said disclosing information about compensation "is not an issue that makes all of our members happy."
"Some people are comfortable with it. Others are not," said spokesman Charles McBarron. "On the other hand, I think everybody understands the concept of public employees and tax dollars."
Individual teachers who were contacted in the past few days said they recognize that they're public employees and that taxpayers provide the dollars used to compensate them.
"I don't see a problem," said Bob Darling, who teaches at Peoria Richwoods High School.
But he said salary numbers for teachers can be misleading because they don't spell out how many hours teachers work or what extra duties they handle.
While information about educators' pay already is available to the public, the new laws are meant to offer extra details that are easier to obtain.
"Personally, I believe in transparency," said Rep. Sandra Pihos, R-Glen Ellyn. "I think it's important that we be accountable to our public."
The Illinois Association of School Administrators has been working to get the word out about the new laws, and by now their existence is "pretty well widely known in educator circles," said executive director Brent Clark.
"It's part of the new culture, or alleged culture of transparency," he said. "We've not had a lot of that in Illinois."
Some questions remain, though, about how to comply with the new requirements.
"That's the biggest concern that I'm hearing," Clark said. "They want to do it right."
Jacqueline Wernz, an associate at the Chicago law firm Franczek Radelet P.C., which advises school districts throughout Illinois and the rest of the country, said the two new laws are similar in intent.
But she added: "There a number of little differences in the laws which are leading to district confusion."
One issue is whether the information due in July should deal with the just-ended school year or the upcoming school year.
"We've said there's a very good argument both ways," Wernz said.
State Board of Education officials have alerted school districts that they should consult with their own attorneys about meeting the requirements that take effect Oct. 1. ISBE says it will provide guidance later about the data-collection due in July.
Davis said it shouldn't be difficult for school districts to put together the information about their employees.
"I don't foresee any obstacles because all school systems, no matter how poor they are, they have to use computer technology," she said.
Friday, September 25, 2009
A Class Act
Superintendent of Elgin District U-46 Rejects Salary Increase
From District 100 Watchdog
The superintendent of Illinois’ second largest school district informed administrators and non-union staff members that he will not be accepting the 3.7 percent salary increase that is called for in his contract for the 2009/2010 school year.
In a message to U-46 administrators and non-union employees, Dr. José M. Torres wrote, “Due to the difficult finances that we find ourselves in as a country and as a state, I have informed the Board of Education that I will not be accepting the salary increase for the 2009/2010 school year that I had negotiated with the Board when I was hired last year.”
In the same message, Torres announced that he will also not be recommending salary increases for administrators and non-union employees for the upcoming school year.
“The decision regarding salary increases for employees who do not have negotiated salary increases has been very difficult to make. I think we can all agree, though, that foregoing our salary increases at a time when so many families in our communities and across the country are struggling is the right thing to do,” Torres wrote.
The savings from not providing salary increases for administrators and non-union employees is estimated at $1.5 million next school year. “While this savings will not fix our fundamental revenue problems, it will help,” says Torres.
In his e-mail, Torres emphasizes that he, and the U-46 Board of Education, value the commitment of all staff members to the district, its students, and communities. He further notes that he and the Board will remember that administrators and other non-union employees sacrificed a salary increase.
Under the terms of his original contract, Torres is to receive an annual pay increase equal to the average annual percentage received by teachers. Had the raise been accepted, Torres’ annual salary would have increased from $220,000 to $228,140 next school year.
From District 100 Watchdog
The superintendent of Illinois’ second largest school district informed administrators and non-union staff members that he will not be accepting the 3.7 percent salary increase that is called for in his contract for the 2009/2010 school year.
In a message to U-46 administrators and non-union employees, Dr. José M. Torres wrote, “Due to the difficult finances that we find ourselves in as a country and as a state, I have informed the Board of Education that I will not be accepting the salary increase for the 2009/2010 school year that I had negotiated with the Board when I was hired last year.”
In the same message, Torres announced that he will also not be recommending salary increases for administrators and non-union employees for the upcoming school year.
“The decision regarding salary increases for employees who do not have negotiated salary increases has been very difficult to make. I think we can all agree, though, that foregoing our salary increases at a time when so many families in our communities and across the country are struggling is the right thing to do,” Torres wrote.
The savings from not providing salary increases for administrators and non-union employees is estimated at $1.5 million next school year. “While this savings will not fix our fundamental revenue problems, it will help,” says Torres.
In his e-mail, Torres emphasizes that he, and the U-46 Board of Education, value the commitment of all staff members to the district, its students, and communities. He further notes that he and the Board will remember that administrators and other non-union employees sacrificed a salary increase.
Under the terms of his original contract, Torres is to receive an annual pay increase equal to the average annual percentage received by teachers. Had the raise been accepted, Torres’ annual salary would have increased from $220,000 to $228,140 next school year.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Pay vs. Performance: Is the money right for your superintendent?
By Annie Reed and Brian Hudson
Suburban Life Publications
Wed Sep 23, 2009, 12:20 PM CDT
In many communities, school district superintendents are among the highest-paid public employees, pulling in close to $200,000 or more in salary and benefits.
Yet despite a decade-old law, some taxpayers are still hindered from seeing how their school boards review superintendent job performance, according to a recent review of contracts.
Three months ago the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the public has the right to see superintendents’ contracts, including the goals that school districts are required to set for them.
After the court’s decision, Suburban Life Publications collected and reviewed some three dozen superintendent contracts from suburban Cook, DuPage and Kane counties. The analysis suggests that in many districts, the contract’s performance goals — which Illinois schools boards must set according to a state law — do not have the teeth lawmakers intended.
Since 1998, a state law has required that multi-year superintendent contracts be “performance based” and set goals. The idea was that salary and compensation should be closely tied to improvements in the district.
While many school boards use the goals to chart a clear course for the district’s chief administrator, at least several set only broad or vague objectives — in some cases one or two sentences that amount to little more than a job description.
Measuring superintendent performance against such indistinct goals can be difficult, at least for observers. School boards regularly review superintendent performance, but it is done in closed-door meetings — which means in some cases taxpayers can be shut out of directly evaluating their schools’ head administrator.
EVALUATION
Given that superintendent contracts all achieve essentially the same purpose, the districts’ agreements can be considerably distinct. After all, the contracts tend to be written by different lawyers and legal counsels, and even in the rigid confines of a legal document, an author’s pen can show through.
Likewise, the 34 districts that Suburban Life Publications looked at take varying stance on superintendent performance goals.
The most common approach was to list roughly a half-dozen goals, ranging from the broad — “curriculum review” appeared often in some form or another — to specific district initiatives.
Some districts were more precise than that and included a dozen or more specific goals, indicators and the actions taken toward them, updating the goals each year and making them accessible to the public.
In St. Charles Community Unit School District 303, officials compiled Superintendent Donald Schlomann’s goals for 2008-11 in a report that details how a goal has been met or what plans are underway to meet them in the future.
Some districts’ contracts, however, were scarce on goals.
Sandra Doebert is superintendent of Lemont High School District 210. When her five-year contract was signed in 2007, it included both a performance goal and an indicator of success. But neither are very specific.
The 19-word, one-sentence goal says Doebert must implement and evaluate curriculum improvements “determined to foster improved academic achievement.” She must report to the board on those improvement programs by June 2011.
In Glen Ellyn’s Community Consolidated School District 89, Superintendent John Perdue has just three goals in his contract. He is required to evaluate student performance, review both the curriculum and instructional services and report his findings on all of them. The goals are completed with the last requirement — the report to the school board.
District 89’s school board president, Lori Gaspar, admits that the contract goals are nebulous. But that does not mean the board doesn’t regularly define and direct Perdue’s job, she said.
At several points during the year, Perdue and the school board meet to discuss job performance, Gaspar said. Once a year, the board members each offer a list of critiques. The lists are compiled and, after synching them with the objectives for the entire school district, lead to the superintendent’s yearlong goals.
Administrators in Lemont District 210 also create yearly goals, which are compiled in an operational plan, which defines the district’s work for the upcoming year, School Board President Beverly Marzec said in an e-mail. In addition to Doebert’s end-of-the-year review, the board checks up on the plan twice each year.
The year-to-year process is more flexible than creating goals just once when the contract is signed, Gaspar said. Being too specific could hem in the superintendent.
“It’s not really practical to put every goal in the contract,” said Mike Kiser, a Downers Grove-based education lawyer.
While it might be more flexible, it also allows for less public scrutiny.
Most districts conduct an annual or quarterly review of their superintendent, but it is done in closed-door meetings. Discussions about personnel are not covered by open meetings laws — regardless of whether the contract includes specific goals, Kiser said.
Still, detailed contract goals give insight into superintendent progress.
In Downers Groves’ Maercker School District 60, for instance, Superintendent Catherine Berning’s contract last year included, in an appendix, a spreadsheet listing 15 goals and what steps were taken each quarter to address them.
But it would be difficult for the public at large to review superintendents directly, said Gaspar, the school board president in District 89, because so much of it is based in interaction with educators, administrators and the elected officials.
Instead, she said people should sound off on the schools and the district as a whole — as well as their elected officials.
“How are they going to evaluate John Perdue? They don’t work with him on a daily basis,” she said. “But they certainly can rate the district and the schools. … If the school district wasn’t doing well, it would reflect on John Perdue.”
ACCOUNTABILITY
The 1998 “performance-based contract” law gives school districts wide latitude in how to define a performance goal, said U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-13th, of Hinsdale, who co-sponsored the bill when she represented the 81st district in the General Assembly.
She said the goal of the contract was not “vague or watered-down performance measures” but to ensure that top administrators are being held accountable.
So is that happening? Education attorney Kiser said he’s not so sure. “The law doesn’t make a lot of difference in my opinion.”
This year, Illinois lawmakers passed another law requiring transparency for superintendent contracts, this one targeting compensation. By Oct. 1 each year, districts must publish reports online showing not only salary, but also benefits, perks and bonuses for all administrators.
“We are trying to demand greater accountability,” said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-24th, of Hinsdale, who co-sponsored the bill, “to make the evaluation of a superintendent’s worth and cost more transparent to taxpayers and school board members.”
Dillard, who is running for governor, said he might also push for further changes to the 1998 legislation.
“If we determine there is no basis for a good evaluation of a superintendent’s goals or values, we will do what we often do, which is massage or enhance the law we passed,” he said.
“One mandate I will give (school boards) is to make them more accountable.”
VIEW CONTRACT AND GOALS CREATED FOR YOUR LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS
COMPARE COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS OF TOP DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS
READ Q&A WITH YOUR SCHOOL BOARD OFFICIALS ON HOW THEY SET GOALS
Suburban Life Publications
Wed Sep 23, 2009, 12:20 PM CDT
In many communities, school district superintendents are among the highest-paid public employees, pulling in close to $200,000 or more in salary and benefits.
Yet despite a decade-old law, some taxpayers are still hindered from seeing how their school boards review superintendent job performance, according to a recent review of contracts.
Three months ago the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that the public has the right to see superintendents’ contracts, including the goals that school districts are required to set for them.
After the court’s decision, Suburban Life Publications collected and reviewed some three dozen superintendent contracts from suburban Cook, DuPage and Kane counties. The analysis suggests that in many districts, the contract’s performance goals — which Illinois schools boards must set according to a state law — do not have the teeth lawmakers intended.
Since 1998, a state law has required that multi-year superintendent contracts be “performance based” and set goals. The idea was that salary and compensation should be closely tied to improvements in the district.
While many school boards use the goals to chart a clear course for the district’s chief administrator, at least several set only broad or vague objectives — in some cases one or two sentences that amount to little more than a job description.
Measuring superintendent performance against such indistinct goals can be difficult, at least for observers. School boards regularly review superintendent performance, but it is done in closed-door meetings — which means in some cases taxpayers can be shut out of directly evaluating their schools’ head administrator.
EVALUATION
Given that superintendent contracts all achieve essentially the same purpose, the districts’ agreements can be considerably distinct. After all, the contracts tend to be written by different lawyers and legal counsels, and even in the rigid confines of a legal document, an author’s pen can show through.
Likewise, the 34 districts that Suburban Life Publications looked at take varying stance on superintendent performance goals.
The most common approach was to list roughly a half-dozen goals, ranging from the broad — “curriculum review” appeared often in some form or another — to specific district initiatives.
Some districts were more precise than that and included a dozen or more specific goals, indicators and the actions taken toward them, updating the goals each year and making them accessible to the public.
In St. Charles Community Unit School District 303, officials compiled Superintendent Donald Schlomann’s goals for 2008-11 in a report that details how a goal has been met or what plans are underway to meet them in the future.
Some districts’ contracts, however, were scarce on goals.
Sandra Doebert is superintendent of Lemont High School District 210. When her five-year contract was signed in 2007, it included both a performance goal and an indicator of success. But neither are very specific.
The 19-word, one-sentence goal says Doebert must implement and evaluate curriculum improvements “determined to foster improved academic achievement.” She must report to the board on those improvement programs by June 2011.
In Glen Ellyn’s Community Consolidated School District 89, Superintendent John Perdue has just three goals in his contract. He is required to evaluate student performance, review both the curriculum and instructional services and report his findings on all of them. The goals are completed with the last requirement — the report to the school board.
District 89’s school board president, Lori Gaspar, admits that the contract goals are nebulous. But that does not mean the board doesn’t regularly define and direct Perdue’s job, she said.
At several points during the year, Perdue and the school board meet to discuss job performance, Gaspar said. Once a year, the board members each offer a list of critiques. The lists are compiled and, after synching them with the objectives for the entire school district, lead to the superintendent’s yearlong goals.
Administrators in Lemont District 210 also create yearly goals, which are compiled in an operational plan, which defines the district’s work for the upcoming year, School Board President Beverly Marzec said in an e-mail. In addition to Doebert’s end-of-the-year review, the board checks up on the plan twice each year.
The year-to-year process is more flexible than creating goals just once when the contract is signed, Gaspar said. Being too specific could hem in the superintendent.
“It’s not really practical to put every goal in the contract,” said Mike Kiser, a Downers Grove-based education lawyer.
While it might be more flexible, it also allows for less public scrutiny.
Most districts conduct an annual or quarterly review of their superintendent, but it is done in closed-door meetings. Discussions about personnel are not covered by open meetings laws — regardless of whether the contract includes specific goals, Kiser said.
Still, detailed contract goals give insight into superintendent progress.
In Downers Groves’ Maercker School District 60, for instance, Superintendent Catherine Berning’s contract last year included, in an appendix, a spreadsheet listing 15 goals and what steps were taken each quarter to address them.
But it would be difficult for the public at large to review superintendents directly, said Gaspar, the school board president in District 89, because so much of it is based in interaction with educators, administrators and the elected officials.
Instead, she said people should sound off on the schools and the district as a whole — as well as their elected officials.
“How are they going to evaluate John Perdue? They don’t work with him on a daily basis,” she said. “But they certainly can rate the district and the schools. … If the school district wasn’t doing well, it would reflect on John Perdue.”
ACCOUNTABILITY
The 1998 “performance-based contract” law gives school districts wide latitude in how to define a performance goal, said U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert, R-13th, of Hinsdale, who co-sponsored the bill when she represented the 81st district in the General Assembly.
She said the goal of the contract was not “vague or watered-down performance measures” but to ensure that top administrators are being held accountable.
So is that happening? Education attorney Kiser said he’s not so sure. “The law doesn’t make a lot of difference in my opinion.”
This year, Illinois lawmakers passed another law requiring transparency for superintendent contracts, this one targeting compensation. By Oct. 1 each year, districts must publish reports online showing not only salary, but also benefits, perks and bonuses for all administrators.
“We are trying to demand greater accountability,” said state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-24th, of Hinsdale, who co-sponsored the bill, “to make the evaluation of a superintendent’s worth and cost more transparent to taxpayers and school board members.”
Dillard, who is running for governor, said he might also push for further changes to the 1998 legislation.
“If we determine there is no basis for a good evaluation of a superintendent’s goals or values, we will do what we often do, which is massage or enhance the law we passed,” he said.
“One mandate I will give (school boards) is to make them more accountable.”
VIEW CONTRACT AND GOALS CREATED FOR YOUR LOCAL SUPERINTENDENTS
COMPARE COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS OF TOP DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS
READ Q&A WITH YOUR SCHOOL BOARD OFFICIALS ON HOW THEY SET GOALS
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Chalet Renovation a Waste
Letter to the editor
The Doings Western Springs
September 22, 2009
I see by the paper (The Doings Sept. 17) that Pleasant Dale Park District is going to pump in another $270,000 to renovate the Chalet.
What a waste of money!
It was a mistake to buy the Chalet in the first place; it has consistently lost money and now the park district is going to spend more.
It is time to sell it or shut it down. Divest.
Dolores Cizek, Countryside,
former Burr Ridge village trustee
Renovations set to begin at the Chalet
September 14, 2009
By ROB SIEBERT rsiebert@pioneerlocal.com
The Pleasant Dale Park District's Chalet fitness center will undergo roughly $270,000in renovations before the end of September.
Using $100,000 in capital funds, and revenue funds set aside for the Chalet, 19,000 square feet of the 66,000-square-foot facility will be altered.
Some community members have demanded that the Chalet be shut down or sold, as the park district has struggled to maintain it in recent years. However, park district Director Katherine Parker said the board is determined to keep the facility open.
"Transforming most of (the Chalet's) space into a family oriented sports facility seems to be the one avenue to ensure that it will go forward without draining more tax dollars," Parker said.
The racquetball courts in the back half of the building will be torn down to make room for a new indoor multipurpose field, which may be used for soccer, basketball and volleyball.
The flooring for the field will be done by Sport Court, a company which specializes in athletic flooring that resists impact shock, thus creating a safer turf for athletes. The park district has high hopes for the new field.
"It is hoped that the facility will bring in revenue from tournaments, as well as classes," Parker said.
Lighting is also expected to be installed above the field.
The Chalet's weight room equipment and exercise machines have already been moved on to its basketball court, which will become its new gym and weight room.
The district also hopes to paint the interior walls surrounding the new construction, as well as the facility's female restroom. The district is looking for companies to donate 55 gallons of eggshell-colored paint and finish to the Chalet.
Chalet manager Nancy McKenna said construction is expected to begin this week, and end by the first week in October.
"We want people to know that there's room for everybody, and we're going to make use of all the space we have," McKenna said.
McKenna said after the talk about the Chalet in the community and in board meetings, to see change finally coming to fruition is a good feeling.
"To finally see it all come together is truly gratifying," McKenna said.
The Doings Western Springs
September 22, 2009
I see by the paper (The Doings Sept. 17) that Pleasant Dale Park District is going to pump in another $270,000 to renovate the Chalet.
What a waste of money!
It was a mistake to buy the Chalet in the first place; it has consistently lost money and now the park district is going to spend more.
It is time to sell it or shut it down. Divest.
Dolores Cizek, Countryside,
former Burr Ridge village trustee
Renovations set to begin at the Chalet
September 14, 2009
By ROB SIEBERT rsiebert@pioneerlocal.com
The Pleasant Dale Park District's Chalet fitness center will undergo roughly $270,000in renovations before the end of September.
Using $100,000 in capital funds, and revenue funds set aside for the Chalet, 19,000 square feet of the 66,000-square-foot facility will be altered.
Some community members have demanded that the Chalet be shut down or sold, as the park district has struggled to maintain it in recent years. However, park district Director Katherine Parker said the board is determined to keep the facility open.
"Transforming most of (the Chalet's) space into a family oriented sports facility seems to be the one avenue to ensure that it will go forward without draining more tax dollars," Parker said.
The racquetball courts in the back half of the building will be torn down to make room for a new indoor multipurpose field, which may be used for soccer, basketball and volleyball.
The flooring for the field will be done by Sport Court, a company which specializes in athletic flooring that resists impact shock, thus creating a safer turf for athletes. The park district has high hopes for the new field.
"It is hoped that the facility will bring in revenue from tournaments, as well as classes," Parker said.
Lighting is also expected to be installed above the field.
The Chalet's weight room equipment and exercise machines have already been moved on to its basketball court, which will become its new gym and weight room.
The district also hopes to paint the interior walls surrounding the new construction, as well as the facility's female restroom. The district is looking for companies to donate 55 gallons of eggshell-colored paint and finish to the Chalet.
Chalet manager Nancy McKenna said construction is expected to begin this week, and end by the first week in October.
"We want people to know that there's room for everybody, and we're going to make use of all the space we have," McKenna said.
McKenna said after the talk about the Chalet in the community and in board meetings, to see change finally coming to fruition is a good feeling.
"To finally see it all come together is truly gratifying," McKenna said.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Fireworks!
Looks like we spoke too soon...
You don't have to wait until the 4th of July to see fireworks, they are going on almost daily at the Pleasant Dale Park District.
Apparently things are not going so smoothly with their renovation plans. There was another special meeting on September 15 and again on September 16. What's going on over there?
Here are some questions we have for our park district leaders:
You don't have to wait until the 4th of July to see fireworks, they are going on almost daily at the Pleasant Dale Park District.
Apparently things are not going so smoothly with their renovation plans. There was another special meeting on September 15 and again on September 16. What's going on over there?
Here are some questions we have for our park district leaders:
- Who exactly is in charge over there?
- Why, oh why isn't Katherine Parker's name listed on anything?? It's not on your website, it's not on the community needs assessment survey that Katherine herself sent out and it's not on your brochure. Why are you trying to hide her?
- Why are your employees not informed of board meeting dates and times? On two different occasions we contacted the park district and spoke to two different employees to inquire about the special meetings and neither person could give us any information. Why don't you tell your employees when you have special meetings scheduled? Don't you want the public to know?
- Why doesn't the park district post all their special and continued meetings on their marquis? Don't you want the public to attend them?
- Why all the secrecy, and story changing and half truths about this renovation project?
- Why is your one and only confirmed tenant pulling out of the Chalet renovation? Who do you have lined up to replace this loss of projected income?
- Isn't there a conflict of interest when board president Brad Martin plans to spend $300,000 on a renovation project to house his sister-in-law Sue Keck's volleyball leagues and programs? Spending tax dollars to directly benefit a family member doesn't sound right. Doesn't she already have signed contracts elsewhere for this year?
- Why is your website not current? Why isn't the Chalet renovation project on the website? In some areas Rosalyn Wendt is still listed as the director, the Extra Innings after school program is still listed at the Chalet and Savoy Park is non-existent. Rather than renovate the Chalet, why not start with your website?
It's great that you are trying to make things better, but be honest, forthright and on the up and up!
Remember, you were elected to serve your community, not yourselves.
Brad Martin can be reached via email at martin8210@comcast.net. Try emailing him to get some answers.
Friday, September 11, 2009
A Shame
According to the Board of Education Meeting Minutes from August 19, 2009
Action Item:
By a vote of 5-1, (1 abstention) the Board approved upholding the Superintendent’s disposition to Mrs. Campos dated June 4, 2009; upholding the decision of the Superintendent requiring H1N1 testing of Mrs. Campos’ daughter; and to upholding the denial to reimburse Mrs. Campos for medical expenses relating to influenza H1N1 testing of her daughter.
Watch out folks, your kids could be next!
Action Item:
By a vote of 5-1, (1 abstention) the Board approved upholding the Superintendent’s disposition to Mrs. Campos dated June 4, 2009; upholding the decision of the Superintendent requiring H1N1 testing of Mrs. Campos’ daughter; and to upholding the denial to reimburse Mrs. Campos for medical expenses relating to influenza H1N1 testing of her daughter.
Watch out folks, your kids could be next!
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