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Education Matters - Palatine
Patch weekly column highlighting D15 and D211
Since September 2010, I have had the opportunity to express my opinion
for the Palatine Patch, an online news website. Many of my columns
include issues generating from District 15 or 211 Board of
Education meetings. Be sure to subscribe to the
Palatine Patch
- either for a daily or weekly email reminder - so you won't miss my
column and other news in and around Palatine. You can also find
the Palatine Patch on
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Twitter.
- Jennifer Mondy
The Spotlight on the Board notes were first
published in May 2005 after a failed tax referendum in
Community Consolidated District 15 (K-8 schools) that
subsequently brought
$12 million dollars of budget cuts to the
district.
Those reductions for the 2005/2006 school
year included the loss of over 100 teachers resulting in more than 30
classrooms of 30 or more students across the district. Art classes
were reduced to 30 minutes once a week when previously they had been 45
minutes twice a week. Field trips and student clubs were
eliminated. Learning Resource Center teachers (library)
split their time between two schools and the LRC clerical support
position was cut from the budget. Video clubs that broadcast a
school's morning announcements were reduced to once a week. The
prior practice of rotating school start times every three years (8:30
a.m. vs. 9:10 a.m.) had been stopped the prior school year citing
increased transportation costs.
During this time, citizens expressed their concerns
and frustrations to the Board of Education. In response, changes
were made as to how the district disseminated information to the public.
Board of Education meetings began to be televised and broadcast on the
local cable stations, financial documents were posted on the district's
Web site and a "Summary of Board Actions" was provided in addition to the
official minutes.
However, there remained a need for an independent
reporting of the facts, in a clear, concise and understandable way, of
issues discussed at District 15 Board of Education meetings.
The Spotlight on the Board notes provides
that reporting to the community. Over half of the district's PTAs
publish the Spotlight on the Board highlights in their
newsletter and/or provide a link to the notes via their PTA Web sites.
More than 200 interested residents subscribe to the notes in order to
receive notification of their availability online.
With an economy in recession, anticipated cuts in
State of Illinois funding, dramatic reductions in CPI resulting in less
revenue to the district, declining enrollment and home values, now more than ever the Spotlight on the Board notes are
needed to further disseminate information to the District 15 community
and to expand its reporting to Palatine/Schaumburg High School District 211.
- Jennifer Mondy, editor |
