Tsk, tsk...Pleasantdale School is not in Compliance with the Law

According to the Illinois Association of School Boards, the single most important job of a school board is to employ a superintendent and hold him or her responsible for managing the schools in accordance with state law and the school board's policies. Is our school board doing its job? You decide...

On August 13, 2009, Governor Quinn signed into law P.A. 96-434, creating new salary reporting requirements for administrative employees. The Act became effective August 13, 2009 and requires school districts to post on their website an itemized salary compensation report for every employee in the district holing an administrative certificate and working in a position requiring an administrative certificate this must be posted on or before October 1 of each year. 

Non-compliance with the state law was pointed out to the board of education and the administration at the school board meeting on October 20. So why is Pleasantdale School District breaking the law? Today is October 22, they are three weeks past the compliance due date.

http://www.d107.org/media/Administration/Public%20Acts%200960434.pdf

Text of Section from Public Act 96-434 signed into law on August 13,2009
On or before October 1 of each year, each school district in this State, including special charter districts, shall post on its Internet website, if any, an itemized salary compensation report for every employee in the district holding an administrative certificate and working in that capacity, including the district superintendent. The salary compensation report shall include without limitation base salary, bonuses, pension contributions, retirement increases, the cost of health insurance, the cost of life insurance, paid sick and vacation day payouts, annuities, and any other form of compensation or income paid on behalf of the employee.

This report shall be presented at a regular school board meeting, subject to applicable notice requirements. In addition, each school district shall submit the completed report to the office of the district's regional superintendent of schools, which shall make copies available to any individual requesting them.

Per Section 10-20.40 of this Code, as added by Public Act 95-707, a school district must post the contract that a school board enters into with an exclusive bargaining representative. The school board must provide the terms of that contract online.
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School Board Elections

While almost every school district in the state including ALL the neighboring districts have posted school board election information on their websites, ours hasn't. Dr. Fredisdorf is perfectly happy with the current board of education puppets and does not want to encourage anyone to run.

But, because the Pleasantdale School Blog Team believes in open government and community involvement, we decided to post the information on our blog so you don't have to call all over begging for it. Good luck to whoever decides to run, but make sure that strings can be attached to your back.

We found this on LaGrange District 105's website and made changes applicable to 107:

School Board Nominations

Three seats on the Pleasantdale School District 107 seven-member Board of Education will be filled at the April 5, 2011 Consolidated Election. The filing period is December 13, 2010 to December 20, 2010. Circulation of nominating petitions can start on September 21, 2010. Anyone interested in running for the Board can obtain an election packet from us kind folks here on the blog. Just email us at pleasantdaleschoolblog at gmail.com and one will be provided.

Interested parties may also go to www.elections.state.il.us or www.iasb.com/elections for more information.

We got this info from the kind folks over in LaGrange School District 102:

April 2011 School Board Elections

School District 107 has a seven-member Board of Education that is elected by voters in the district. In April 2011, the terms of three current members will expire. Three members will be elected for four-year terms.

The qualifications are:

1. Citizen of the United States.

2. Age 18 or over.

3. A resident of Illinois and School District 107 for at least one year immediately preceding election.

4. A registered voter.

The Illinois Association of School Boards has information available about the work school boards do. The following list of characteristics of a good board member is taken from their publication Your School Board and You. (The comments in parentheses are based on observations from sitting in board meetings for the last three years.)

1. Ability to work as a team with an open mind. (Not necessary in 107.)

2. Ability to spend the time necessary to become informed on issues related to the district and education. (No need for this either. The superintendent will call you right before the meeting and tell you all you need to know and how to vote.)

3. Desire to serve children and the community with a strong belief in the value of public education. (This would certainly be nice, wouldn't it? But, again, not necessary in 107.)

4. Respect for others. (Don't worry about it. Definitely never practiced in 107.)

5. Understand that the district is probably the largest business in the area and the Board is responsible for seeing it is run by highly skilled professionals. (That's stretching it...more like puppets.)

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Pleasantdale's Recent Parent Survey Regarding a Uniform Policy

Some parents recently received a survey from the school regarding possibly adopting a uniform policy. We will not discuss our opinion on this for fear Dr. Fredisdorf will do the exact opposite because he does not like our viewpoints. We will, however, raise some questions about surveying district families in general.

We think the idea of gathering information from parents on various topics is a good one. We are, however, leery of the method the administration uses to go about gathering information.

If you look back on previous surveys the district has administered through Survey Monkey, the response rate among school families is always very low. Does the district have email addresses for every family in the school? We know that some families received the survey twice – a survey for the husband and one for the wife. Does every family get two opportunities to fill out the survey, or just certain families? Can each parent fill out the survey, or is it just one survey per family/household? What if the parents are divorced? Which parent gets to fill out the survey?

We really don’t think Survey Monkey is a comprehensive enough way to go about gathering data. Often times people shy away from online surveys for fear of it not being truly anonymous. Dr. Fredisdorf himself said at Internet Safety Night that nothing sent to the school is truly anonymous. Can people really be themselves and express their true feelings without fearing retribution to their children?

Is the survey response rate reflective of the entire school community or just the 60 or so families that usually take the time to fill it out? What other methodologies have been researched in an effort to gather data? We are curious to know if there is a better, more comprehensive way of gathering input from each school family rather than continuing to use Survey Monkey.

We feel this is something the district should look into, but they won't.

If Dr. Fredisdorf and the school board really valued your opinions, they would find a better way to hear from you.

Finally, it is rather interesting that this survey even came about. Over the past several years, parents have come before the board requesting the school community be surveyed on various topics and it is NEVER done. Dr. Fredisdorf picks and choses who he will and won't accommodate.

If he really valued input from the school community, why didn't he survey families on their opinions before he implemented the new standards based grading system?

Interesting...

See Race to Nowhere Tonight!

By Director, Vicki Abeles

Monday, October 4th at 7pm

Venue: McAninch Arts Center at the College Of DuPage

Fawell and Park Boulevards, Glen Ellyn, IL

* SPONSORED BY THE FOUR WINDS WALDORF SCHOOL

Please NOTE: * TICKETS PURCHASED AT THE DOOR WILL BE $15, cash or local checks ONLY. 

No credit cards.

Film Synopsis:

A concerned mother turned filmmaker aims her camera at the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that has invaded our schools and our children’s lives. Race to Nowhere points to the silent epidemic in our schools: cheating has become commonplace; students are disengaged; stress-related illness and depression are rampant; and many young people arrive at college and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. Race to Nowhere is a call to action for families, educators, and policy makers to challenge current assumptions on how to best prepare the youth of America to become healthy, bright, contributing and leading citizens

For more information, please contact us via email

Or call us at 925.310.4242

For additional information on Four Winds Waldorf School, please contactDawn Schulz

EVENT FACILITATED BY: Dr. Sunday Cummins is an assistant professor in the Reading and Language Department at National-Louis University. She has a Doctorate of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, a Master of Arts degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to teaching at National-Louis, Sunday worked in the public schools for 12 years as a middle school special education teacher, a third-grade classroom teacher, a Reading Recovery teacher, and a district literacy coach.