And Without Further Adieu...

The Pleasant Dale Park June 24, 2010 Board Special Meeting!

Enjoy!

More meetings to come!!!

First Grade Update

We missed the July school board meeting last Wednesday night. It was the first meeting we have missed in the last two and a half years.

We contacted board member Mark Mirabile for an update on what transpired with the 2010-2011 first grade enrollment issue. Apparently, board members aren't allowed to discuss what happens at open board meetings with members of the public after the meeting. All information must be filtered through Mark Fredisdorf. Mirabile, who headed up the Communication Committee last year, would not convey any information on what happened at the open meeting and directed us to contact Fredisdorf.

So we emailed Fredisdorf for an update and never heard back from him.

So much for increasing communication in our school district, huh? Actually, we are not surprised. Fredisdorf filters all information in our district. This is exactly why we videotape board meetings. If you're not there to see what transpires, you will get a filtered down version via the board minutes or none at all.

Anyway, a parent was kind enough to contact us to let us know the details of the meeting. We learned that there are currently 93 kids in the first grade class and a fifth section will be added. The classroom will be located adjacent to the library in close proximity to the other first grade classrooms. Preschool teacher Jeanine O'Connor will be moving to first grade and the district is currently seeking a new preschool teacher with experience in special education http://www.d107.org/Administration/Employment.aspx.

This shuffling around of staff leads us to wonder about something...


Fredisdorf stands by the Bright Beginnings preschool program and claims it is the best around. If this program is so stellar, why is he moving an "effective" teacher that has been there for the last 10 years out of the program to teach at another grade level? Hmmm....

Is Fredisdorf is trying to look good on paper? Is he trying to cut costs in this money losing program by hiring a new teacher who will be paid much less? If this is correct, the direct loss for this program will decrease by about $30,000. Hmmm....

Whatever the reasons, we wish Ms. O'Conner and the first grade class the best in the 2010-2011 school year!

Park Board Meeting Recap and Sidewalk Grant Info.

Boy, oh boy, park board president Colleen Pettrone's friend John Wawak must REALLY need a job!

That was more than evident at the July park board meeting. In an effort to bring the Chalet "to the next level," she wants to hire her friend who is an I.T. professional. She thinks this guy is just the ticket to get more people into the Chalet and increase their sponsorships and revenue flow. How about hiring a park and recreation professional? Or better yet, a marketing professional. Oh, wait, they had one that they let go when they needed to free up salaries because they were short on money. Why anyone would dump their one and only marketing professional just as they are re-opening a newly renovated facility is really beyond reason.

Pettrone went head to head with Ernie Moon about the wonders her friend will do if just given the chance. She wants to give this guy a one year contract to work part time from his home to bring the Chalet out of its financial slump. Wasn't that what the renovation was supposed to do?

By charging their main tenant, Brad Martin's sister-in-law Sue Keck, HALF of what other
facilities are charging for court time, they will never get out of their financial slump. The Chalet rents their court space for $25 per hour. The Max in McCook charges $65 per hour. The Chalet is quite a bargain for Keck, don't you think? No wonder she transferred almost all the practice sessions from McCook to the Chalet. Does she pass this savings on to her players?

Presently, there is no one in charge at the Chalet with a park and recreation background. The last manager they hired over there was fired after less than two months. The assistant manager is a political hire who has no experience running a facility or in parks and rec. Now they want to hire an I.T. guy to "fill in the holes?" How about hiring someone that knows what they are doing???

When Colleen brought up a motion to hire Wawach, it was not seconded by either Moon or Burke. This left Pettrone quite stymied and she stated that she will bring this matter up every time they meet until it is approved. Get ready for a secret special meeting in the near future when Brad Martin and Wade Brewer are available for this to pass.

During the consent agenda, Ernie Moon brought up the $2500 monthly payment to park lobbyist Bob Molaro questioning if the park is getting any return on the $30,000 per year they are doling out for his "services." Pettrone quickly jumped to Molaro's defense as did a member of his staff in the audience but neither could pinpoint one thing that Molaro actually did other than the $389,000 that was promised to the park over a year ago. None of which has yet to come through. Pettrone stated that they paid Grant Seekers  $1600 per month and got nothing in return. Hmmm, so now they pay almost a thousand dollars per month more and still have seen nothing in return? That makes a lot of sense. It would be understandable if the economy and the financial outlook for that state were different; there might be monies available that Molaro could seize, but that does not appear to be the case at this time. Maybe they should put him on a commission basis instead of a monthly salary. That would surely save the park money and they would only have to pay out based on a return. Just something to think about.

Other issues that came up included a discussion of the 4th of July. The fireworks were again spectacular and if you watched them from a location other than the park district, you really missed on a wonderful ground show and the musical montage that accompanied them. The park is looking for ways to raise funds for 2011 and if you are interested in joining a fundraising committee contact Katherine over at the park district.

As a side note, we had a chance to speak with Willow Springs Mayor Alan Nowaczyk after the park board meeting who assured us that the sidewalk grant has not gone by the wayside. He stated that the village engineers are doing some preliminary work on it. The Village of Willow Springs has less than five months to get this together or they will lose this unprecedented opportunity. If the Pleasantdale School Board and superintendent Mark Fredisdorf reached out to Mayor Nowaczyk in regard to this project, it might help to become a reality. But, hey, this is Willow Springs we're talking about. If it was Burr Ridge, Fredisdorf would be all over it. He has yet to contact the Village of Willow Springs in regard to this grant. Of course that goes both ways. Has Mayor Nowaczyk reached out to Fredisdorf?

We challenge any of the current school board members to add this matter on a future agenda for discussion. It will be a sure sign whether they can think and act independently of Fredisdorf or remain puppets of his. Will they have the guts to put the safety of kids first? Only time will tell.

Tsk, Tsk, Tsk...Park Lobbyist in Hot Water

Ex-lawmaker waives tuition for supporter's family

Molaro OKs $94,000 despite children not meeting requirements

June 01, 2010
By Stacy St. Clair and John Chase, Tribune reporters

Year after year, state Rep. Robert Molaro doled out publicly funded scholarships to the family of a longtime political supporter, ultimately giving the four children more than $94,000 in tuition.

For more info. click on the link below.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-06-01/news/ct-met-new-legislative-scholarships-20100601_1_general-assembly-scholarship-program-southwest-side-district-lawmaker

Shocker!

We received an email from a parent that got a phone call from a board member regarding the enrollment for the 2010-2011 first grade class.

Apparently Superintendent Fredisdorf is going to recommend a fifth section of first grade for the 2010-2011 school year at the July board meeting. Hallelujah!!

While we are happy he is making this recommendation, we are actually quite shocked that he is doing this, as he doesn't like to set precedents. We wonder if this decision will carry through in future years if this class remains large.

We surmise there could be a number of reasons for his decision:

•  This class has a higher percentage of at risk kids (most likely from the overcrowded kindergarten classes) than in previous years as stated at the June board meeting.

• There are less kids entering kindergarten resulting in fewer sections so he is able to move a teacher around without disrupting the "specials" schedule much.

• He doesn't like the opinions on our blog and wanted to prove us wrong.

• There are some pretty influential parents in this class putting pressure on him.

• He is finally seeing the benefits of small classes in the primary grades.

• It is an election year and he wants to make this group of parents happy.

Whatever the reason, we feel this is the right thing for an affluent district such as ours.

Now if only he'd wake up and smell the coffee on the benefits of  a full day kindergarten program...

Paging Brad Martin...Mr. Martin, please come to the park district...

Oh Mr. Maaartinnn, you missed another park board meeting! Let's see, is this the sixth or seventh meeting he's missed in the last 11 months? Honestly, we've lost count.

Didn't Martin change the meeting nights to Wednesday's because they were more suitable to his work schedule when he forced Carol McMurray's resignation  from the board? So why is Brad absent from so many park board meetings?

Why did he even bother running for office if he's never going to come to the meetings? It seems rather convenient that once the half million dollar Chalet renovation to benefit Martin's sister-in-law's volleyball empire was complete, he lost interest in the park district.

Or maybe, just maybe, he no longer lives in the district he represents.

Quick Update

Pleasant Dale Park

• New board member appointed - Kevin Burke. Let's hope he can stop the runaway train and turn things around at the park.

• June Special Meeting recap: Board members Moon and Burke absent. Board president Colleen Pettrone wants to appoint a friend of hers named John Wawack to be a consultant at the Chalet. John Wawack  wants $42,000 plus full benefits in return for 80 hours per month consulting the park district on how to improve the Chalet (that's 20 hours per week of work and it was indicated that many of these hours would be worked from his home). Guess that renovation is not as successful in bringing in much needed revenue as they thought it would be. Pettrone wanted to approve this consultant's "contract" though nothing specific was in writing much to the dismay of park district attorney Michael Cainkar. The matter was tabled until the July 14th meeting so the park attorney can draw up a contract. Oh, and there was not going to be anything specific in regard to what this consultant was actually going to do or get accomplished because they don't want to limit his potential. And one more thing, John Wawack is an I.T. professional with no experience running a park and rec facility. We know this may seem hard to believe, but it is all on video tape if anyone wants to see the lunacy that transpired at that meeting. 

• Actual documents pertaining to a contract or rental agreement between park board vice president Brad Martin's sister-in-law Sue Keck and the park district still have not been tendered in a Freedom of Information request. This most likely means that no actual agreements or contracts exist between the two parties in regard what monies are being exchanged for court time. All those taxpayer dollars that went into this renovation to benefit Martin's family and the park district has nothing to show for it. Oh, but the parking lot is crowded every night. So why won't they show us the money!!

• The next board meeting is July 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Pleasantdale School District 107

• On the agenda for the July meeting will be the 2010-2011 enrollment of the first grade class. Many parents feel that the current enrollment of 93 students is too high for four classrooms. They'd like to see a fifth class added. We say don't count on it. It will be too much of a disruption for Superintendent Fredisdorf to deal with. He won't set this precedent. He hasn't done it in the past when enrollment was as high, and he won't do it now. Some excuses will be that enrollment dropped, the classes aren't that big compared to other schools in the area, he will find some research study supporting this decision, he will add some aides to   make things better, blah, blah, blah. Five parents showed up at the last board meeting to express their concern. Five parents. When he had a room packed with parents, many of whom had to stand, he did not sway on a previous issue. Five moms certainly won't sway him either. We'd like to think Fredisdorf puts kids first, but he just won't. We hope he proves us wrong at the July meeting.

• The next board meeting is July 21 at 7 p.m.

Village of Willow Springs

• Still no word on beginning construction in regard to the Safe Routes to School Sidewalk Grant - but don't hold your breath. Why Mayor Nowaczyk would forfeit $400,000 in money to benefit the children in our village is beyond us. It is almost like political suicide. A recent visit to the village hall was quite an eye opener on this issue. When asked what was going on with the grant, village clerk Adena Baskovich stated the village was "waiting for the money to come through." Umm, hello?? This is a reimbursement grant!! If village officials would get their heads out of the sand, they would go through a state letting process to garner the money needed for this project. The mayor keeps stating that a on a previous project they were never reimbursed and that is why they are leery of this one. The reason they were never reimbursed is because village officials never filled out the required paperwork and that is why the money never came through. Why would Nowaczyk give the go ahead to apply for this grant and waste all that time and money if they never planned on following through? Maybe the mayor should start surrounding himself with smarter people to get things done for the benefit of the residents of this village.

• The next village meeting is scheduled for July 22 at 7 p.m.

2nd Annual Family Camping Weekend

A great time was had by all! Thanks to everyone that attended. 

Just some of the kids that were there!

Late night movies at the campsite.

Hanging out.

Getting ready for a slumber party!

Adiós

We apologize for the lack of updates. We are working on some posts and will publish them shortly.

In the meantime, we wish to bid a fond "farwell' to Pleasantdale Park board vice president Brad Martin. His house is under contract and he will be moving.

Let's hope his reign of error at the park district will soon be over.