Education Matters US

News Roundup

by Lennie
on 01.12.09
CCSD #46, General, Illinois Energy Consortium
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Since I am not keeping up with blogging as I should, I thought I’d do a quick news roundup of stories about Grayslake Schools:

Math Committees at Grayslake Elementary Schools
How should District 46 communicate with the community?

Grayslake Elementary District 46 board members Monday night discussed the pros and cons related to sending fliers and other written materials to parents. Some board members said the district can keep down costs by making available a majority of materials online, but concerns later arose about those who don’t have computer access. Board member Susan Facklam said while she has access to a computer, she prefers hard copies of District 46 communiqués. Board members also have been mulling the idea of sending a brochure to residents with District 46 information. Superintendent Ellen Correll presented the board with brochures from other suburban school districts. District 46 board members asked Correll to provide cost information about the other schools’ materials.
District 46 looking to trim costs

Grayslake Elementary District 46 is seeking ways to cut expenses because of a possible decrease in tax revenue.

District 46 Superintendent Ellen Correll floated tentative ideas at a meeting Monday night, which included something as simple as eliminating color printing on copy machines to save $100,000 annually.

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Previous estimates have shown District 46 is on pace for a $2 million revenue shortfall in the 2009-10 academic year, which is why the spending cutbacks are being discussed.

They are facing a deficit and yet gave teachers guaranteed raises for the next 3 years instead of tying raises to CPI. I have previously made suggestion on how to cut spending, like competitive bidding on utilities and healthcare instead of consortiums that may actually be costing them more than need be.
Round Lake Beach grade school principal removed from job – The principal who was supposedly removed for performance issues is put in charge of setting up a financial system for the district when they already have problems paying teachers and staff the correct amount.
Prairie Crossing Schools
- Prairie Crossing Charter School studying teachers’ pay
  
  Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake is paying for a compensation study in the wake of reports its teachers are upset about not making enough money.
  
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  “While those (Woodland and Fremont) districts have escalated teachers’ salaries by at least 5 percent each year over recent history, we have not,” Dagley wrote to Prairie Crossing’s board
  
  But Dagley said class sizes are larger at the Woodland and Fremont schools. He said Prairie Crossing also has classroom teacher assistants, a rarity at most public schools, and that he informs prospective employees about the school’s lower pay scale.
- Lake Co. school board has reminder of breaking law for next 4 months
  
  An illegal closed-door discussion that Prairie Crossing Charter School board members had wanted to keep secret instead will remain quite public for the next four months.
  
  Board members at the Grayslake elementary school approved an agreement with the Lake County state’s attorney’s office to make public a transcript of the chatter that violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act on July 29.
  
  Prairie Crossing’s Web site will feature passages that violated the Open Meetings Act through April.
  
  Board members agreed in October to the Open Meetings Act violation deal with the state’s attorney’s office. It isn’t publicly known how the improper closed-door talk came to the attention of Lake County prosecutors.