Friday, October 26, 2012
District 181 administration is in the process of hiring a permanent replacement for Lindsay Wagner while a long-term substitute teaches her class during the next several weeks.
After the sudden departure of one of two fourth-grade teachers at Oak School, District 181 is trying to fill the position while a group of parents is urging a split of the fourth grade into three sections. Lindsay Wagner resigned last week in the middle of her first year as a full-time teacher in District 181, and her 26 students are now being taught by a long-term substitute teacher as Oak and District 181 administration go through the process of hiring a permanent replacement. Oak parent Rik Geiersbach, the father of a student in Wagner’s class, said at Monday night’s District 181 Board of Education meeting that he has gathered signatures from a majority of parents from both fourth-grade classes who support breaking the grade up into …
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
The @d181 Initiative committee recommended having district-supplied tablets for all third- through eighth-grade students by 2014.
An initiative to standardize widespread iPad use across District 181 was put on hold last week. The District 181 Board of Education was unanimous in choosing at its June 25 meeting not to act on the recommendation of the @d181 Initiative committee to see that over the next three years all third- through eighth-grade students have access to their own district-supplied iPad. Board members instead asked the administration to come back later this summer with a scaled back 2012-13 plan to continue researching the iPad’s educational benefits. After a pilot program in 2011-12 established a one-to-one student-to-iPad ratio for fifth-graders at The Lane and Elm schools, the @d181 committee’s recommendation included a one-to-one ratio for all the …
Friday, June 29, 2012
The program will only be for next year's fourth- and fifth-graders and it will take place in students' home schools; there will be no busing to Monroe School.
By the narrowest of margins, the District 181 Board of Education favored a transition plan for the elementary ACE program that was labeled a compromise by one administrator Monday night at Elm School. Board members voted 4-3 to approve an elementary ACE program for the 2012-13 school year that will keep the program’s students in their home schools five days a week and halve the amount of time they spend outside their home classroom. “It’s not a final plan for ACE,” Superintendent Dr. Renée Schuster said. “It’s a plan for next year.” Under the approved transition, only fourth- and fifth-grade students next year who have been previously identified for ACE will be in the half-day-per-week program. Like kindergarten, first- and second-grade …
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
The school board voted in favor of a statement that is intended to address all District 181 students; several board members seemed concerned about the statement being overly broad.
Another long-discussed item in the District 181 curriculum discussion was finalized Tuesday night. One week after approving two transition plans for 2012-13, the District 181 Board of Education voted 6-1 to approve a Philosophy of Teaching and Learning about six months after gifted program consultant Dr. Tonya Moon said such a statement was an important first step toward improving the district's differentiation and advanced-learning programs. Board President Michael Nelson voted in favor of the statement along with board members Brendan Heneghan, Sarah Lewensohn, Russell Rhoads, Marty Turek and Glenn Yaeger. Yvonne Mayer was the only board member who voted against approving the statement. Tuesday’s vote during a business meeting at Elm …
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The elementary ACE transition plan is not yet ready for a board vote, the district's superintendent said.
Action was finally taken Monday night on key parts of the transition-year plan for the much-discussed District 181 curriculum overhaul. The District 181 Board of Education voted at its business meeting at Elm School to approve three items that put in place transition plans for the middle school ACE program and the district-wide math curriculum for the 2012-13 school year, though none of the votes were unanimous. Board members voted 5-2 in favor of the math transition plan, 6-1 in favor of the middle school ACE transition plan, and 5-2 in favor of the assessment model to accompany that ACE plan. Yvonne Mayer voted against all three measures; Brendan Heneghan voted against the math transition and the ACE assessment model. Superintendent Dr. …
Thursday, March 15, 2012
The 2011 levy extension is projected to be an increase of 2.6 percent over the 2010 levy.
After several months of discussion, District 181 board members voted Monday night at Elm School to finalize a maximum 2011 tax levy that will likely be 2.6 percent larger than the 2010 levy. In December, the board voted 5-2 in favor of a “balloon levy” which OK'd an intentionally inflated extension of 3.6 percent. Such an inflation is recommended because factors that determine how much a taxing body can levy in the spring, including total equalized assessed valuation (EAV) and new construction, are not known at that time. Some of the air in the balloon will be let out when Whalen receives the district’s actual 2011 EAV and new construction numbers in late March. After those numbers are received, the district has seven days to finalize …
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The district received invoices from Dr. Tonya Moon for thousands of dollars in additional services her team performed outside the contracted duties.
District 181 has received invoices from the consultant for its gifted prograrm for more than $13,500 worth of services “outside the scope of the original contract,” assistant superintendent for business Dr. Troy Whalen said at Monday’s board meeting. School board members, including Yvonne Mayer, were none too pleased. “I don’t understand how that happened without the board knowing about it,” Mayer said. “I’m just flabbergasted.” Replying to board member Brendan Heneghan, who first questioned the additional fees, Whalen said one of the invoices sent by consultant Dr. Tonya Moon was for $8,255. Most of that, $6,500 according to the invoice, was to cover the cost of a three-person team from Moon's firm for a consultation with the district’s …
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
The board will decide in March whether or not it wants to maintain the maximum levy it initially approved in December.
The District 181 Board of Education Monday night decided to delay voting on a measure maintaining the maximum, "balloon" levy initially approved in December that could increase the district’s portion of residents’ tax bills by as much as 3.6 percent over last year, but will more likely result in an increase around 2.6 percent. The 2.6 percent rate increase would result in about $1.3 million in new revenue for the district, assistant superintendent for business Dr. Troy Whalen said. The 2011 levy funds will be used for the latter portion of the current 2011-12 school year and the first portion of the 2012-13 school year. The 2011 tax rate—which can be extended over 2010's rate based on consumer price index (CPI), equalized assessed …
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Eleven public comments were made during discussion of Dr. Tonya Moon's external evaluation of the District 181 gifted program.
Former board member Ann Mueller said hearing the preliminary findings of Dr. Tonya Moon’s evaluation of the District 181 gifted program Monday night at Elm School felt like déjà vu. “This is the fourth gifted report that I have read and reviewed for District 181 over the 25 years I have lived in the district,” Mueller said to the current board during the business meeting’s public comment. “My request to you is get it right this time.” Mueller was one of 11 community members that took to the microphone Monday to sound an opinion on the District 181 program that Moon’s team labeled “indefensible” based on its curriculum and student-identification processes. “To have our program indicated as indefensible, it’s shocking,” Mueller said. Moon’s …
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The evaluation team hired by the district suggested the discontinuation of the ACE program and the creation of a clearer district philosophy about what makes a gifted student.
The identification process and curriculum of District 181’s current gifted program are “not defensible,” according to an external evaluation conducted by Dr. Tonya R. Moon and her team from the University of Virginia. Moon and colleague Dr. Catherine M. Brighton presented the findings of the team, which was hired by District 181 last fall to provide an unbiased state-of-the-program report, during Monday night’s District 181 Board of Education meeting at Elm School in Burr Ridge. Among the Moon team’s recommendations were that the Affective and Cognitive Enrichment (ACE) program, which takes gifted students away from their home schools one day per week for specialized instruction, be discontinued; that the district establish task force to …
Joe O'Donnell
9:41 am on Thursday, July 5, 2012
Seems like a reasonable proposition, DSA. My guess is that when the district buys all of them in one fell swoop, they get a big group deal and each iPad is less expensive. So, again not something I'm 100 percent about, I'm guessing each iPad would be more expensive if each family had to supply their own. What about if the district bought them with taxpayer money and then collected reimbursement … more ›