Friday, July 29, 2011
CPS leaders established a goal of 20 for their high school juniors while D-211 tracks students earning a 19 or higher.
Chicago Public School leaders established a goal of 20 on the ACT for their high school juniors while District 211 tracks students earning a 19 or higher. Is anyone out there surprised or alarmed by this news? Township High School District 211 Board of Education members didn’t seem to be at their June 16 meeting. Not one questioned district staff during a presentation reviewing district goals for academic achievement. Danielle Hauser, Director of Instructional Improvement stated “although not specifically a district goal, faculty monitors the percentage of students earning a composite score of 19 or higher on the ACT. The composite score is the average of the four ACT tests in English, Reading, Mathematics and Science. A composite score …
Friday, June 24, 2011
D-15 board member pushes to create new policy to control opinions of others
It’s interesting how things work out. The idea of an ethics commission, sanctioning or even “policing” school board member behavior in Community Consolidated School District 15 would never have seen the light of day in years past. The idea of reviewing and updating the district’s ethics policy was brought forward by board member Peggy Babcock and discussed at the June meeting. Standard Illinois school board ethics policies essentially prohibit employees and board members from using district resources to conduct political activities – such as campaigning for or against a particular candidate. However as private citizens, they are free to exercise their First Amendment rights. As school board president Tim Millar explained, school boards …
Friday, June 10, 2011
Something has to give when salaries and benefits outpace revenue growth
Just as the House always wins in Vegas, school districts can’t lose when it comes to collecting property taxes. If your neighbor's home goes into foreclosure, the bank continues to pay the taxes. If a homeowner or business appeals their assessment and receives a reduction, the rest of the taxpayers make up the difference. It doesn’t matter if home values are decreasing, school districts always get an increase year over year – although small at times. Property tax revenue never goes down and it represents 80 percent of Community Consolidated School District 15’s funding. Then why did the district deficit spend $4 million dollars this year? Why is it forecasting increasingly larger deficits over the next five years? It’s those …
Friday, June 3, 2011
Panel of experts field questions at D-15 community engagement session on finances.
Community Consolidated School District 15 is a property wealthy district, ranking in the top 20 percent of all Illinois school districts. Eighty percent of the district’s revenues come from local property taxes. Property tax revenue is very predictable. It increases every year but is limited by law to 5 percent or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) whichever is less – often referred to as the “tax cap”. However school districts can realize additional monies beyond the tax cap if there is new growth in property. Teardowns, additions, shopping centers and subdivisions all add to new growth and districts can then receive more than the tax cap. District 15 is not planning for a lot of new growth in its five year forecast. “School finance . . . …
Friday, April 29, 2011
Five down and just one more informational Navigate15 meeting to go.
Where was everyone? There were nearly 150 people in attendance at the first Community Consolidated School District 15 Navigate15 meeting held last November. Back then more than a third of the twenty-three groups claimed they wanted to know more about facility planning in the district. Monday’s session Facilities: Our Schools was planned to address their concerns. The informative presentation reviewed the past and projected building needs for the district and discussed possible options for the future. Something different was incorporated into this session. A panel of experts took questions from the audience–and actually provided some immediate answers. Unfortunately hardly anyone showed up to participate in this engaging two-way …
Friday, April 1, 2011
Fourth Navigate15 session identified strengths and opportunities for improvement.
Skype, iTouch, iPads, interactive whiteboards and even a “smart” table. Participants at Navigate15's session focusing on technology learned that all are in use to some degree in Community Consolidated School District 15 classrooms–and the challenges the district faces in providing the same cutting edge education to all its students. Where is the proof that technology really does help the student learn? Is technology a perceived strength or just another chalkboard? How is technology used during a typical school day? Just a few of the questions brought forward by attendees after the presentation – that await an answer from the administration. While every school has two computer labs and every classroom is equipped with a teacher laptop and…
Friday, March 18, 2011
Candidates are willing to engage the community before the election but will it continue after the votes are counted Tuesday, April 5.
Is community engagement a high priority for our local school board candidates? It better be. On any school district organization chart, Community is at the top. They have one employee – the School Board. Every two years the Community has the opportunity to conduct a performance evaluation on those members whose terms are expiring yet want to continue to be employed. There is no tenure on school boards. New applicants have just as much a chance at proving themselves to the Community to secure one of those four-year positions. Over the past few weeks, Community Consolidated School District 15 and Township High School District 211 school board candidates had the opportunity to answer questions in public forums and complete questionnaires …
Friday, February 25, 2011
Should school board candidates accept money from a union for their campaign? It has been a common question at candidate forums in Palatine and the answer has been a resounding "No."
Should school board candidates accept campaign contributions from unions? Every local school board candidate asked that question at recent candidate forums has emphatically announced that they will not accept donations of any kind from a union. It is one subject – whether running for Community Consolidated School District 15 or Township High School District 211 – in which they all agree. In fact at last week’s Palatine Township GOP/TOPPER sponsored candidate forum, incumbent District 15 board president Gerald Chapman went further to address the issue. He explained that he told the district’s unions two years ago - when he was not running for re-election - that it wasn’t their responsibility to get involved in supporting candidates. …
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Plans underway to develop a Community Curriculum Advisory Committee as well as new student performance targets.
Perhaps it was the timing – it was the end of a four day weekend. Or maybe it was the weather. Regardless of the reason, the turnout for Community Consolidated School District 15’s second Navigate15 community engagement session on Jan. 18 was significantly less than the first one in November. The evening’s topic was curriculum. What do our children need to know to be successful in the future? Arguably the most important of the six discussion topics planned to get district residents involved and provide their input to set long term goals for the district. Much of the hour long presentation focused on the development of new Illinois Learning Standards designed to incorporate new math and English/language arts academic standards for K-12 …
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
I'm with the Band: Reflections of a high school band trip volunteer.
Did I really know what I was getting myself into eighteen months ago? That’s about the time I was asked by the Fremd Music Association if I would be willing to help coordinate the Fremd High School band trip to San Diego and Anaheim, California from Dec. 27 to Jan. 2. On the schedule were two parades, a performance on the USS Midway aircraft carrier and the Holiday Bowl halftime show. There also would be two early morning rehearsals, trips to the San Diego Zoo, SeaWorld and Disneyland – not to mention beach time. The majority of the work would be done by Bob Rogers Travel, an agency devoted to educational and musical trips – and Fremd’s Director of Bands, Matthew Moore. My job would be to keep track of the paperwork. There were …
Palatine Jim
3:15 pm on Friday, July 29, 2011
Comparing District 211 to Chicago Public Schools goals for ACT testing in this case is a cheap shot! Look at the facts in your article. D211 students scored an average of 22.9 while CPS students average 17 on the same ACT exam where the state average was 20.5. According to ACT, D211 students scored on average in the 69th percentile, CPS at the 27th percentile and the state at about the 52nd … more ›