Quote of the Day...

"More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them."

~ Harold J. Smith

Pleasantdale Superintendent Highest Paid Per Student

The New Math: Adding up a Superintendent's Salary

Patch explains all the elements that go into a school superintendent's compensation.

By Michael Adain Carroll | May 17, 2011

Education funding remains one of the singularly most debated public policy issues of the day, with salary and benefits headlining the discussion. Patch surveyed 12 local school districts to shed some light on just how much our superintendents are being paid.

http://lagrange.patch.com/articles/the-new-math-adding-up-a-superintendents-salary-9#c

Gratitude and Honor

http://www.lths.net/Activities/_files/HFC_Thanks.pdf

Park Jr. High


LTHS

LTHS

Gurrie Middle School

St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier

St. Francis Xavier

St. John of the Cross

Girl Scouts


St. John of the Cross

Highlands Middle School

Job Openings

Openings as of 5/17/2011

All Types » Middle School Teaching (5 openings)

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Grade 5 Language Arts and Social Studies	JobID: 103
Position Type:	Email To A Friend Print Version Closing Date: When Filled
Middle School Teaching
Date Posted: 4/5/2011
Location: Pleasantdale Middle School
Date Available: 8/24/2011
Additional Information: Show/Hide

Grade 7 Language Arts	JobID: 104
Position Type:	Email To A Friend Print Version Closing Date: When Filled
Middle School Teaching/Language Arts
Date Posted: 4/13/2011
Location: Pleasantdale Middle School
Date Available: 8/24/2011
Additional Information: Show/Hide

Grade 7 & 8 Language Arts	JobID: 105
Position Type:	Email To A Friend Print Version Closing Date: When Filled
Middle School Teaching/Language Arts
Date Posted: 4/25/2011
Location: Pleasantdale Middle School
Date Available: 8/24/2011
Additional Information: Show/Hide

Grade 7 Math - 1 year maternity leave position	JobID: 106
Position Type:	Email To A Friend Print Version Closing Date: When Filled
Middle School Teaching/Mathematics
Date Posted: 5/5/2011
Location: Pleasantdale Middle School
Date Available: 08/24/2011
Additional Information: Show/Hide

Part Time PE Teacher	JobID: 101
Position Type:	Email To A Friend Print Version Closing Date: When Filled
Middle School Teaching/Physical Education
Date Posted: 3/25/2011
Location: Pleasantdale Middle School
Date Available: 08/24/2011
Additional Information: Show/Hide

April 28, 2011, Pleasantdale Board of Ed. Organizational Meeting and Questions

Questions from this meeting:

1. Does the district need a communication committee?

2. Should the district stakeholders be informed in some way of the district's proposal to house a LADSE (LaGrange Area Dept. of Special Education) preschool program for out-of-district students?

To all our teachers out there...

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day!

Thank you for doing one of the toughest jobs there is! You are appreciated for all you do.

“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.” ~ Anonymous

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job." ~ Donald Quinn

“A good teacher is like a candle: it consumes itself to light the way for others.” ~ Anonymous

"‎Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." ~Malcolm S. Forbes

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. " ~ Henry Adams

"The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. " ~K. Patricia Cross

"The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery." -Mark van Doren

"The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires." -William A. Ward

The Doings:

Area students raise $50,000 for Honor Flight

By JANE MICHAELS
From bake sales to burrito nights, fund-raising efforts have paid off for students from Lyons Township High School and seven surrounding schools to honor 95 veterans May 11 with a trip to Washington, D.C

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/westernsprings/news/3169866,western-springs-honorflight-042811-s1.article

We Can't All Be Heroes...

somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by. ~ Will Rogers

Congratulations to the Lyons Township High School Student Council!

They raised $50,000 to sponsor an entire Honor Flight.

On Wednesday, May 11, an Honor Flight of 97 veterans will fly from Chicago to Washington, D.C. for a day of honor and to visit their memorial because these students cared enough to make a difference.

Thanks to the feeder following schools, their staff and students that helped make it happen:

Highlands Middle School $8,274.11

Gurrie Middle School $6,804.00
Park Jr. High $6,565.25
St. John of the Cross $6,100.00
St. Cletus $2,179.00
St. Francis Xavier $942.87
McClure Jr. High $445.00

Way to go LTHS!! We are sooo proud of you!

School Board Holds 'State of the District' Forum

Superintendent and parents share concerns about the future of the district.

By Alex Keown

On Monday, the La Grange School District 102 board held a “state of the district” meeting at Park Junior High School and discussed some of the issues facing the district, including finances, enrollment and meeting academic challenges.

http://lagrange.patch.com/articles/school-board-holds-state-of-the-district-forum?ncid=M255

Pleasantdale Board of Education Organizational Meeting Scheduled

The Pleasantdale School District 107 has scheduled its organizational meeting for Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 7 p.m.

You probably wouldn't know this because of the lack of communication in our district.

Unlike other events such as Internet Safety Night, PTA End of Year Celebration or Santa's Workshop where an email blast is sent out to district families, the Board of Education probably won't be worthy of a blast.

And it especially won't be important to let the rest of the community know about anything either since they don't even have kids in the schools. Remember that fireside chat and pledge to look out for the 80% that don't have children at Pleasantdale? Yeah, we do too.

Since the district won't provide information, we will.

The public is welcome to come out to see the new board members take office at 7 p.m. on April 28th.

We'd tell you who is going to be seated, but no official announcement has been made. In fact, the candidates themselves have not been told who will be seated. No contact has been made with them by district administration or the board.

This shouldn't surprise you though, since poor communication is par for the course.

Count on us to provide you the information you need, when you want it.

Reality vs. Fiction

Below you will see just one example of the discrepancies between what actually took place at a Pleasantdale Board of Education meeting and the district's version of what took place. This is a perfect example of why the Board of Education should videotape and broadcast their board meetings for the public.

What the district said took place:

This is what actually happened:

The following letter was sent to all members of the Board of Education with no acknowledgement or response. Tune in to the April board meeting to see if the BOE fixes their "mistake."

Dear Board of Education Members,

After reading the March 16, 2011 Board of Education Meeting 'Highlights', I was appalled to see this blurb:

"Heard from a parent who commented that she believed the District was not moving forward with the implementation of 

standards based grading and reporting prior to receiving a recommendation from the Parent Advisory Committee."

That is not at all what I said. 

After careful review of the meeting videotape this evening, you will find below, the verbatim account of what I said.

"Just listening to tonight's discussion regarding the town hall meeting and the Standards Based Grading, it sounds like the district is moving forward with Standards Based Grading, but as a member of the Parent Advisory Committee, this has not been made clear to us. 

We have asked if we are going with Standards Based Grading and the answer we get is, "well, that's what we are trying to figure out."  I believe I echo the sentiment of many members of the Parent Advisory Committee when I say in order for our group to be effective, we need to know definitively if we are going to use Standards Based Grading so we can start moving in the right direction, or in that direction I should say. So if the board is talking about it, I believe it is important for our committee to know, yes, we are doing it, or no, we're not. I think if you ask the majority of the members on our Parent Advisory Committee why we're meeting, they will tell you they have no idea."

I do not appreciate being misrepresented or misquoted in the board highlights/minutes after speaking in the open forum portion of board meetings. This has occurred numerous times over the past three years when I have spoken in open forum. 

I am requesting that the March meeting minutes be revised (before they are approved) to include the actual verbiage that was spoken, as was done for Mr. Rigley at the February meeting. 

I would be happy to make the tape available for you to view if you so chose before approving the March meeting minutes.

This instance is just one more reason that the school district should record their board meetings and make them available to the public.

Sincerely,

Gina Scaletta-Nelson

Part-Time Homeschooling Deadline Approaches

http://www.illinoisloop.org/homeschool.html:

Is your child struggling, or not being challenged, by some particular program at your school? Or, are you generally content with what your school offers, perhaps with the exception of math, or reading instruction? Illinois parents have an option that is almost unknown: part-time homeschooling.


Illinois state law permits parents to withdraw their children from specific classes, with that subject's material to be covered through homeschooling instead. In some cases, the student leaves the school during those times; in other cases, this becomes an extra study period.

Part-time homeschooling is covered by this section of Illinois' school code. (Note that the phrase "nonpublic school" includes homeschools.)

(105 ILCS 5/10-20.24)


Sec. 10-20.24. Part-time Attendance. To accept in part-time attendance in the regular education program of the district pupils enrolled in nonpublic schools if there is sufficient space in the public school desired to be attended. Request for attendance in the following school year must be submitted by the nonpublic school principal to the public school before May 1. Request may be made only to those public schools located in the district where the child attending the nonpublic school resides.


To accept, pursuant to the provisions of Section 14-6.01, in part-time attendance resident pupils of the types described in Sections 14-1.02 through 14-1.07 who are enrolled in nonpublic schools.


(Source: P.A. 80-1509.)

The key part of that paragraph is that you must file your request prior to May 1st, stating that you will be part-time homeschooling the following year. In some cases, schools may be very agreeable and helpful, but in other cases you may have to doggedly pursue your rights. It is likely that many school administrators are not even aware that this option exists.
 
Parents that wish to homeschool their children and enroll them in public school "part-time" must forward this request to their school principal before May 1, 2011 for the 2011-2012 school year.
 
http://www.isbe.net/homeschool/faq.pdf See #12.

Board of Ed to Honor Mr. Jim at April Meeting!

The Pleasantdale Board of Education has decided to honor Mr. Jim Lucarelli for his outstanding service to the district at the April 20th board meeting at 7 p.m.

Mr. Jim has been with the district for over 14 years. He is passionate about the middle school children, spending his own money to buy them ice cream and treats on their birthday. Mr. Jim is also a super fan - attending middle school sporting events as well as students' non-school sponsored sporting activities on the weekends. Mr. Jim is a true inspiration to Pleasantdale's students. Many return to Pleasantdale years after graduating, so they can visit with him . During the February blizzard, Mr. Jim walked to school, (because his car was snowed in), to get a jump start on snow removal. His dedication to our district is unparalleled!

Please come out to the board meeting on Wednesday, April 20 to help honor Mr. Jim. Visitors can leave before the remainder of the meeting gets underway.

Smart Cookie

Bloggers Wanted!

We are looking to add a few good bloggers!

Bloggers post articles of interest, write stories or commentary, research stories and data, videotape or photograph events, gather and communicate information, attend meetings, etc.

Bloggers can use their real names or are welcome to create a pen name/pseudonym to use when posting. If you are interested in becoming one of our bloggers, please email us at pleasantdaleblog@gmail.com.

Blog disclaimer: 
This blog has no political affiliation. It is a blog of news and opinions designed to bring attention to matters of public interest and to encourage community participation in local governments. Our focus is to raise awareness and involvement throughout the community. The viewpoints and opinions expressed here are those of the bloggers, writers and commenters.

We intend the comments portion of this blog to be a forum where you can freely express your views on blog postings and on comments made by other people. Given that, please understand that you are responsible for the material you post on the comments portion of this blog.

We are here to perform the service of raising awareness in our community.

Lots O' Change

Adiós, 再見, vaarwel, au revoir, 안녕, Auf Wiedersehen, αντίο, arrivederci, さような, adeus, and до свидания to Mrs. Shinabarger/Gottstein (5th grade language arts/social studies), Mrs. Thompson (7th grade language arts), Mr. Bray (middle school P.E.) and Mrs. Berndt (elementary school social worker). 


http://www.applitrack.com/d107/onlineapp/jobpostings/view.asp?internaltransferform.Url=


The elementary school will now be going on its FOURTH social worker in FOUR years.


Does it surprise anyone else that we go through so many new teachers? What is it with Pleasantdale that no one stays for very long? 


Hmmm, can you say admin and BOE?

Shallow

"Studies of students of different ages have found a statistical association between students with high scores on standardized tests and relatively shallow thinking....’"         ~ Alfie Kohn

Interesting Student Perspective

I am the product of a generation of parents, teachers, and policy makers who have pushed students so hard that we’ve never been able to develop a sense of self. We’ve been told that in order to succeed later on in life, we have to be good — no, excellent! — at every single thing that we do. We’re young when people tell us such things, and we really take it to heart as a result. We learn to formulate our own ideas of ourselves based on other peoples measures of us. And as we get older, it only gets worse. The stakes get higher, the pressure increases, the work gets harder, and we have increasingly more responsibilities. School and extracurricular activities (the ones that supposedly help us become more well-rounded people) take up all of our time —we never get the chance to really develop our own interests because we’re too busy doing things that someone else wants us to.

Read the entire article at:

http://hilltownfamilies.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/huntley/

Middle School Musical This Weekend!

The middle school musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory will be held on April 15th and 16th at 7:00.

Everyone is invited to attend and admission is FREE!

Please come out and support the middle school students that have been working very hard to put this event together.

If you cannot attend the evening performances, a dress rehearsal will take place Thursday at about 1:45 p.m.!

Friday Packet Corrections

Please note the dates for the third week of Summer Academy are incorrect 
and should read June 20th -23rd.

Also, please note that Field Day will be held on June 3rd, not May 27th.