I know I am late posting this, but I have been very busy at work the last few weeks. Sorry for the delay.
The Thomas B FOrdham Foundation has analyzed the National School Report Card and the results are not good. The results show a large difference between what the State test were showing [...]
The Republican candidates for Governor are weighing in on whether Intelligent Design should be taught in Public Schools.
Here is the quick breakdown (Read the article for more detail):
Rauschenberger – Yes
Oberwies – No
Gidwitz – No Position, and it is a local issue
Brady – It is a local issue, but the Bible should play a larger role [...]
There is a proposed bill that would require kids wash hands at lunch. This is to funny to make up. Why do some Legislators, and ordinary people, think the Governement has to require everything. Where has personal responsibility gone? Where has parental responsibility gone? The Government is not a Nanny [...]
There is a website I would like to point out to everyone. It is a school funding reform site in Dekalb County. They also have many links to local attractions if you are planning to head out that way. (Hat tip: Extreme Wisdom)
Please visit and read some of their great information. They [...]
The Daily Herald reported this story yesterday about new legislation proposed to simplify tax referendums. It does simplify the referendum for the school district and not the taxpayer however. This bill allows the District the freedom to place them oney in different funds. This is not helping the taxpayer. We vote [...]
After 7 straight defeats for their Tax Referendums, Gurnee School District 56 is taking a different tactic. They are starting a program called VOICES to get input from the community.
Proponents of this program are claiming this is not just a stealth way of getting a referendum passed, but I have my [...]
I have created a place for all Illinois Bloggers. I want this site to be a place to easily scan the Illinois Blogs. I am starting simple with blogs being displayed alphabetically. I will add locations as more people sign up. I may add an email blaster for both the center-right [...]
Did you know that companies building schools must only hire union labor? Did you know that increases the construction cost by up to 18%? In D46 we are in the process of buiding a new school. The price tag is just over $31 Million and could be increased to $34 Million if [...]
CRAFT now has their own Blog. This is great news. Welcome to the Blogosphere.
There is another article about the Board Meeting Monday night. This one goes into more depth about the Technolgy staff sying a longer workday is needed. I commented about this already in the meeting notes, but feel the need to do this again here. I have excerpts form the story below:
Assistant Superintendent [...]
I am finally getting around to typing up my notes from the Board meeting. Please let me know if there are any corrections that need to be made. My comments are in italics.
There is a school board conference in November. Cheryl was asking for volunteers to be the voting delegate form the [...]
There is an article in todays Daily Herald concerning the Bond Decision from last night BOE meeting.
UPDATE: I have received several questions about this issue today. The tax increase was expected. This is the .59 increase that was approved last November for the building of Madrona. We were not taxed on it [...]
UPDATE: In the course of a conversation with Jill Rohrer after the meeting I discoverd there was another VMI purchase that took place last week. I will be FOIA’ing the details today. This is a very interesting purchase because of the following timeline:
Oct 6 – I spoke with Envirox
Oct 8 – [...]
Sorry about the lack of posting the past fews days. The real world has been getting in the way. I’ll try to post tomorrow night after the BOE meeting if it is not too late, otherwise I will definitely by Tuesday night.
Click here for the meeting agenda.
I found this anonymous analogy at the GoFlo website during the Winthrop Harbor Tax Referendum discussions. It is an analogy about what a babysitter might do if they had the same benefits/unions reps as Big Ed. Whoever wrote it should take credit for it. It is very funny.
Mrs Tenure: “Thanks Sally for [...]
There is the story today in the Daily Herald. Mike does a good job of explaining how much this issuing of bonds will cost each taxpayer. I have been at the last 2 meetings (10/4/05 and 9/19/05) where this issue has been discusssed to hear the presentations by Elizabeth Hennesy. After listening [...]
There have been continued negotiations between the District 46 Administration and BOE with Westlake Christian Academy who won the bidding on 6/28 to purchase the property. An underground tank was discovered during the inspection process forcing these negotiations. I am happy to report that these proceedings have now been finalized. Closing is [...]
The support staff in Grayslake High School District 127 is close to getting their first contract. This contract will run to the end of the school year and then be renegotiated next summer along with the teachers contract that expires that time as well.
Read the article below in the Daily Herald about it:
Dist. 127 [...]
Everyone in Illinois needs to read The Extreme Wisdom Plan for an Illinois Renaissance. Please pass this along and make sure it gets to every politician running for office to see if they will support it.
I will just do the highlights here.
It would be an understatement to say that this document represents a bold, [...]
The voters of Winthrop Harbor have spoken loudly once again. They have resoundingly defeated this referendum for the third time in the past year. The voter turnout was very heavy for a special election at over 52%. The intimidation and threats backfired again. Read more about the tactics of the friendly [...]
The Education Intelligence Agency has analyzed surveys taken by NEA members and local presidents. It sheds a lot of light on why the NEA is so liberal. The basic analysis shows that it is the inactiveness of many of its members (36%) and the increased activity by the activist (15%) push the organization [...]
Barbara Oilschlager has thrown her hat into the ring to replace Bob Churchill who is vacating his Illoinois House seat to run against Melissa Bean in the 8th Congressional District.
Please let me know who else is running if you know of other candidates. Also, please send any news on either Oilschlager and [...]
The opponents of the Winthrop Harbor School District tax referendum speak out even though they are being threatened with legal action by the school district.
Suit threat irks tax foes
Winthrop Harbor referendum: ‘Statements about taxpayers inflammatory’
By Ralph Zahorik
STAFF WRITER
Attorneys for conservative groups responded with outrage and indignation Friday over threats of lawsuits from the Winthrop Harbor [...]
I am going to rehash some old articles from the Daily Herald that shows their analysis of how referendums work and how school districts rake in more money than the voters approved. After you read these articles you decide whether CRAFT and VoteNoTax were telling the voters the truth or whether the District is [...]
The so called “Emergency” Referendum for Winthrop Harbor District 1 is estimated to cost over $5600. I was informed in a comment earlier that a group called “Citizens for Quality Schools” would be paying for this instead of the district. I took the liberty of going to the Lake County Clerk’s office to [...]
I just found about about this situation about an hour ago. The Winthrop Harbor School District is threatening legal action against opponents of their Tax Referendum. It looks like the school district are rainsing the stakes on opposing referendums. This is an outrage and an affront to free speech. Even if [...]
State Representative added his name to the mix of those running against Melissa Bean in the 8th Congressional District Race. He will most likely jump to the top of the Republican pack with his experience in the State Legislature.
Personally, I was hoping he would not have made this jump. He has [...]
I missed some of the comments from the board members. Please send me any corrections or items I may have missed. And a special thanks for the encouragement of doing these notes. I appreciated it. My comments or additions are in italics.
Dan Aggen, New Business Manager, spoke talking about his experience [...]
These interesting comments were reportedly made by Board President Leech at the presentation. Can someone else confirm these as well? These were placed in the comments of another thread by a user who was at the presentation. I thought I would pull then up here.
- D-1 is against consolidation (although he didn’t [...]
I’ll get my notes typed up tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.
