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CCSD66 Notes

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Hot Dog Day Ends

For nearly 40 years the District 66 Music Boosters have served a hot dog lunch to Center Cass students every Wednesday. The funds raised from this endeavor were applied to support the excellent music and arts programs that have existed in our schools for the past 40 years. Throughout these years students have looked forward to their Wednesday treat! Hundreds of parent volunteers have made this program an enduring success over the years. Many lasting friendships have been built around the hot dog day teams.

Unfortunately, due to new guidelines and rules established by the Illinois State Board of Education, we are forced to end this great tradition. This program has been felled by the legislative “Junk Food Ban” passed last October. New guidelines and requirements make it impossible for this program to continue as the State of Illinois will become more involved in the business of our schools. Even more restrictive guidelines for student nutrition are expected in January 2007 when the State Wellness Task Force issues its report to the General Assembly. We will hold our last Hot Dog Day on Wednesday, December 20th while remembering fondly the many hours contributed by volunteers over the years and the many dollars raised for our students and schools. This will be a sad day as this wonderful tradition comes to an end. Thanks to all who have worked so hard to make Hot Dog Day a success.

Beginning on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 lunches will be provided by our food service vendor Aramark, as they do on other days. While we are very sorry to see this program end we understand the interest of the State of Illinois in better nutrition for our students.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Parent School Surveys

Parent school surveys are currently available online at the Center Cass School District 66 web site. As part of the strategic planning process parents are asked to complete a survey for each school that their children attend. Surveys are found on our homepage between calendar updates and Iowa Test Scores. Click on the link Parent Surveys to access surveys for all school buildings. Your input will help to develop strategic goals for our District. Thank you for your participation and help. You may access the website at www.ccsd66.org.

Holiday Concerts

Center Cass School District 66 will provide opportunities for the community to experience the music of the season in two concert performances by our talented students.

On December 13th the Prairieview Cadet Band under the direction of Robert Hodac and the Prairieview Chorus under the direction of Jeanne Wyse will present a program of holiday favorites. This performance will be held at Lakeview Junior High School at 701 Plainfield Road, Downers Grove. The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. sharp!

On December 14th the Lakeview Junior School Bands will present their annual holiday concert featuring the Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Wind Ensemble and Jazz Band. Come out and enjoy our talented musicians under the direction of Thomas Tedeschi and Brian Ohlsen. This performance will be held at Lakeview Junior High School at 701 Plainfield Road, Downers Grove. The performance will begin at 7:00 p.m. sharp!

The public is welcome to all performances.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Thanksgiving Break

I have always thought that one of the best things a parent can give a child is the ability to be thankful. That is to be happy with what one has and to understand that in life there are those who have more and those who have less. The knack is to be happy and thankful for what you have. Along with that gift, to be thankful, comes the joy to give and help others. I hope that in this season of ‘thankfulness” we can share our gifts with others who need them. To that end students in each school are engaged in various programs to share with those in need. Our students believe that Character Does Count and under the pillar of responsibility we will work during this season to help those in need and sympathize with the hardships of others. Among the programs we are supporting this year are: Cancer Family Collection, Lutherbrook Children’s Shelter, Supplies for our Troops, Coat Drive and Food Drives.

I hope that everyone has a restful and thankful Thanksgiving Break!

Emergency School Closing Information

As we approach the winter I would like to share with you the procedures regarding the emergency closing of schools. Several factors are considered when the decision to close school is made. Among the most important factors considered are the weather and traffic conditions. Can employees safely travel to their school buildings and can we safely operate our school buses to transport students? Are conditions such that it may be dangerous to risk having employees and students out in the inclement weather? Are all buildings operating with power and heat to safely house our students throughout the school day? Among secondary considerations are the weather forecast and what plans neighboring school districts have with regard to holding classes.

The decision to close school is made as early as possible so that notification can be made to parents and students. Since we have many programs that begin as early as 7:00 a.m. we generally try to make any closing decisions by 5:00 a.m. In case of impending bad weather, I monitor the conditions by consulting with our local police departments, Laidlaw Transit, the Weather Channel, by driving around various attendance areas to check road conditions and by consulting with neighboring school districts. In practice, we generally will follow the lead of our high school district with regard to closing the district unless weather conditions are significantly different than those to the north.

Once the decision is made to close school, parents are notified in four ways: 1) School closings are immediately posted on the district webpage, www.ccsd66.org. 2) A phone call is placed to all district homes using the Expedite Phone system to notify parents about any school closings or schedule changes. 3) Email is also sent to families on our email notification list announcing the school closing. 4) The Chicgaoland Emergency Closing Center is contacted so that closing information can be also shared with the TV and radio media.

It is seldom necessary to close schools but I hope that this information about our procedures will be helpful to you. It is never an easy decision to close school and such a decision is never universally approved by the public. The decision to close school is made based on the best information available the time and the safety and well-being of students and employees.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Legislative Agenda 2007

The State School News Service reports that the Illinois State Board of Education is now considering a legislative packet for the 2007 session. It appears that many of the items on this agenda would serve to simplify existing rules and procedures and may actually be helpful to local school districts. Issues that appear on the ISBE agenda include:

Scheduling parent/teacher conferences at the discretion of the local school board rather than requiring a waiver.
Basing special education reimbursement on a 180 day school year calendar.
Requiring full General State Aide payments to be made in the fiscal year to which it applies.
Exempting the cost of repairing health-life safety violations from the local Property Tax Extension Limitation Law.
Clarifying school consolidation reform that was enacted last year.
Modifying the Reading Improvement Block Grant to require only one payment per year rather than the current two payments and direct accountability from grant requirements to meeting NCLB standards such as AYP.
Removing the need for waivers to hold school on state holidays.

Most of these items would benefit our school system. We will monitor the progress of the new Legislature when it begins the new session in January 2007.

Fall Veto Session

The fall veto session is now taking place in Springfield. We have no expectations that there will be any action taken that will have an impact on our local schools during this session. It has been reported that this week will be spent wrangling over the Governor’s move to increase the minimum wage, continuing the rate hike moratorium for the electric companies and maintaining the 7% assessment cap in Cook County.

There are some educational issues that have a slim chance of moving forward this week. These issues include action to deal with a school construction bill that would allow the 24 school districts waiting since 2002 to receive the funds that were promised for school construction projects but never paid. In DuPage County this includes; Winfield District 34, Community SD 93 and Villa Park District 45. SB 1856 also may be called. This bill is a 90 page bill to repeal “obsolete and duplicative” provisions of the School Code. SB 2796, which deals with students with disabilities, may also see action.

This session may indicate how smoothly the democratic majority will be willing to work together for the good of the citizens of Illinois. It appears that there is already division between the Senate and House leadership.

Strategic Planning Update

The Strategic Planning progress is moving along smoothly. We appreciate the parents that have taken time to participate in focus groups at all three of our schools. These sessions have provided us with good input about the state of our schools and school district. We have also met with our faculty and staff to receive their input. We are currently conducting surveys from parents and staff via our website. To date, over 25% of our parents have completed surveys. If you have not already done so, please take a few minutes and complete for each school your children attend. Your input will be valuable to the District as we move through the strategic planning process. You can access your surveys by going to our web site at www.ccsd66.org. There is a link to Parent Surveys on the main page of this site. We appreciate your participation and help.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Finally the Election is Over!

I am sure that many people are glad to have the control of their televisions returned to them. The past election was noteworthy for the unprecedented amount of negative ads and personal character attacks. The election could have come several weeks earlier as far as I am concerned. The constant barrage of negative ads was oppressive! Now that the election is over where do we go from here?

The re-election of Governor Blagojevich may signal a continuation of the infusion of dollars for public education. The only question is where the additional funds will come from as the state has sold or leased most of its assets. The media has of late, highlighted the shortfall of pension fund payments caused by the Governor’s moratorium. It is time to keep your eyes open and watch the news as to what steps will be taken to solve the current fiscal mess.

Next week begins the Fall Veto Session in Springfield and it will be interesting to see what transpires over those six days. You can monitor the action of your legislators by using the radio button on this page. It seems that the only certain action will be the Governor pushing for an increase in the minimum wage during the Veto Session. I will keep you informed of any actions in Springfield that may have an impact on our schools.

Monday, November 06, 2006

School Bus Safety

A new round of debate in the perennial dialogue about the use of seat belts on school buses is being ignited with the release of a new study in the November issue of Pediatrics. In this new study, data shows that 17,000 children a year are sent to the emergency room for injuries suffered on school buses. This number is significantly higher than previously thought. Crashes account for 42% of the injuries but one quarter of injuries occur when approaching, boarding or leaving the bus. Most injuries on the school bus are not life threatening and do not require hospitalization. These injuries reported in this study occur 21 per 100,000 rides or .00021%. Study authors hope that this information will encourage further dialogue and research into requiring seatbelts on school buses.

The issue of seat belts on school buses has been debated for many years. In a 2002 report to Congress the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recommended against using lap-belts only in school buses due to concerns about abdominal injuries. Only five states mandate the use of seat belts in school buses.

Seatbelts have not been widely used on school buses due to concerns about the safety of the belts themselves, but also concerns about the structural integrity of the school bus as currently designed to mount belts, concerns about the cost of installing and maintaining seatbelts and the concern of student misbehavior with seatbelts.

Information about the NHTSA position and the recent study found in Pediatrics can be found at the following sites:
www.nhtsa.gov and http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/11/06/school.bus.injuries.ap/index.html

Election Day

Please note that there will be no classes held tomorrow, November 7th which is Election Day. We will be holding our fall teacher institute program tomorrow. We have made this change due to security concerns to avoid having children in school while the building is open for voting. It is the intention of the Board of Education to work with the DuPage County Election Commission to find alternate sites for polling places so the security of our schools is not compromised by the election process.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Strategic Planning Update

The Strategic Planning process has been moving along. Faculty focus groups have been conducted and two parent focus groups have met. Parents have one more opportunity to take part in a focus group on Thursday, November 9, 2006. The group will meet at Prairieview School at 7:00 p.m. Please watch for your invitation to take part in our on-line parent surveys that will be available next week and remain open for input until the first week of December. Have you participated??

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Bus Pen Update

As the weather turns colder we are working to complete the required electrical and grading work to return our school buses to their lot near the Darien Public Works building. We hope to complete this move in the next two weeks. As the temperatures drop, we will need to begin to operate the electronic block heaters that allow our diesel buses to start in cold weather. The departure of the buses from the Lakeview Campus will reduce congestion in our lots as we await our first snowfall.

Curriculum Study

This year the District is beginning a study of its science curriculum in grades 1-8. We review all subject areas on a regular basis to insure that the curriculum is current and well aligned with the State of Illinois learning standards. This process also helps the District to keep its textbooks current and avoid unexpected large financial outlays for textbooks. The science committee is beginning what will be a two year process to review our current science program, perform a needs analysis to identify weaknesses or omissions, as well as gaps in the learning standards and then to identify new materials needed for this curriculum to be taught effectively for our students.

The science committee is lead by Mr. Paul Windsor, Principal of Lakeview Junior High School. Under his leadership, the membership of this committee has been expanded to include parents and representatives from the our high school district, Community High School District 99, as well as grade level representatives from each grade level. The following people are serving on this important committee: teachers; Allison Smith, Sarah Wagner, Michael Urbas, Lisa Schuyler, Valerie McCaffrey, Karen Bell, Donna Cirjakovich, Barbara Conley, Kristy Shabino, Janet Oliver, Loretta Cornfield, Linda Micetich, and Heather Tran, parents; Kathy Gabric, Cindy Fish and Rochelle Charles and Robert Bruns from Downers South. I appreciate the hard work of this important committee as they work to complete their task.