Home

General Information

About Us


CVC Audit Information Download


Contact Us


Display Advertising


Ad Sizes and Samples


Classified Advertising

Communities

Communities Served


Community Resources

-$- Online Store -$-

Digital Online Subscription


Order A Classified Ad Online


Place Assumed Name Notice


Cook County Legals Printed Here


Kane County Name Change - $85


Place Obituary Notice


Download Sample Paper

Submission of News

Engagement Submittal


Birth Announcements


News & Photos


Sports Scores

Lifestyle Features and Videos

Food and Lifestyle


Lifestyle Videos


Seasonal Widget


Crossword and Sudoku Puzzles


Mug Shot Mania News

Online News and Commentary

The Examiner U-46 News Feed


Cheap Seats 2024 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2023 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2022 By Rich Trzupek


Guest Seat By Harold Pease, Ph.D.


Cheap Seats 2021 By Rich Trzupek


Cheap Seats 2020


Cheap Seats 2019


Cheap Seats 2018


Cheap Seats 2017


Cheap Seats 2016


Cheap Seats 2015 B


Cheap Seats 2015


Cheap Seats 2014


Cheap Seats 2013


Cheap Seats 2012


Cheap Seats 2011


Cheap Seats 2010


Ramey DUI Video


Representative Randy Ramey pleads guilty to DUI


Bartlett Volunteer Fire Department Street Dance


The Truth about Global Warming


Examiner Editorials and Cheap Seats from the past

Forms and Newsstand Locations

Newsstand Locations


Carriers needed


Legal Newspaper

The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Charter school proposal clears one U-46 hurdle


By Seth Hancock
  School District U-46 parents are closer to having school choice after the Elgin Math and Science Academy (EMSA) charter proposal was approved by a 6-1 vote, Donna Smith voting no, with conditions on Monday, April 10.
  Both EMSA and the district will need to come to a “mutually agreed upon contract” when the board will vote again on June 30 this year. EMSA plans to open in 2018 for kindergarten through third grade expanding a grade level each year through eighth grade in 2023 when the charter hopes to have full enrollment of 450 students.
  The site for the school is the former Fox River Country Day School campus in Elgin.
  Kerry Kelly, the founding EMSA board member, told The Examiner after the vote that coming in she was “a little nervous” but “I feel really good about it.”
  “It was great to hear them talking about collaboration and negotiating in good faith,” Kelly said who added: “The most important thing is it says they approve of our charter school.”
  The June 30 vote will come with a new board as Cody Holt was unsuccessful in his reelection bid while newcomer Melissa Owens, who ran on the union-backed slate which opposed school choice, will take his seat.
  Kelly said she’s already reached out to Owens and “she said she’s coming in with an open mind.”
  “As long as things are done in good faith, we think we can accomplish it,” Kelly said.
  Veronica Noland, who also ran on the same slate as Owens, voted in favor of the proposal and was the lone supporter in 2014 when EMSA’s charter was denied by a 6-1 vote. Smith and Traci Ellis were on the board for the previous proposal.
  Noland said: “I feel good with what we have put together. It has been a difficult discussion to find some common ground and to move forward in the spirit of collaboration, and that’s what I believe we’re doing.”
  “I believe that this charter will allow us to see a different model and hopefully learn from it and maybe adopt it,” Noland said of the expeditionary learning model EMSA plans to use which she said could not be implemented in U-46 currently because of contract issues.
  Holt, Phil Costello and Jeanette Ward had already indicated their support prior to the meeting.
  At the meeting, Ward said: “If we really want students to not be trapped in schools that are tied to their zip codes, then this is a step in the right direction. This school can be a hand up for students trapped in poverty, and I believe it represents educational innovation.”
  One of the complaints from the district administration, which recommended denying the proposal, was that it would cost the district $2 million in general state aid, but that would not actually be a loss to the district as Ward explained: “That’s funding following the students, and it is students who should be funded, not systems. This will cost the district no more on a per pupil basis then students enrolled at other schools across the district.”
  After the March 13 public hearing, when 24 of 30 members of the public spoke in support of EMSA while 17 more spoke in favor on April 10, EMSA addressed some of the district’s concerns.
  EMSA noted, in a written response, that it expects to spend $10,000 per student for the next six years, which is nearly $3,000 less than what U-46 spends, and will cover the cost of additional staff needed for “at-risk” students, and “even with EMSA picking up the entire costs of these salaries without reimbursement, our budget stays in the black with an $800K surplus at year six.”
  Holt, who as a member of the public supported the 2014 proposal, called this a “historic” vote that led to bipartisan cooperation on a split U-46 board.
  “You all come from different backgrounds, political philosophies and professions, and it’s truly brought together a very diverse mixture of people,” Holt said. “And it’s even brought together some of our board members behind a common cause.”
  Holt added: “Today U-46 will be taking a step in the right direction for education where it needs to go in the 21st century.”
  Sue Kerr voted in favor and said that “if you can reach kids that maybe aren’t being reached in our schools, and make them more successful, let’s see what happens. The other thing is that, like it or not, charter schools are very attractive to a lot of people” which could improve property values.
  “It’s good for the school district to have an improved image,” Kerr added. “It will only help the district as a whole.”
    Ellis said she has “tight borders” and “will not hesitate to vote no” in June if EMSA does not jump over the wall she built around those borders. Although voting in favor, Ellis had little good to say about EMSA and took some swipes at the charter team as she said it “demonstrated the opposite of collaboration” and “has no expertise on public school finance.” EMSA’s team, however, does have financial experts on it.
  Ellis said “I burn a lot of brain cells” trying to understand school finances but she’s a “basic math guru” and said EMSA’s budget is unsustainable, and she did not like that EMSA showed a video on March 13 “that was intended to pull at heart strings, and that did not sit well with me.”
  As The Examiner has regularly reported, Ellis often traffics on emotional arguments while personally attacking people with different opinions. She has also regularly voted for budgets and union contracts that have been viewed by many as unsustainable without ever offering evidence herself that they were sustainable.
  Although Holt offered a bipartisan message and even thanked Ellis for allowing him to speak before her, Ellis again took aim at Holt and Ward with personal attacks starting her nearly 12-minute monologue: “I have to point out that I’m struck by a lot of hypocrisy from this board who have not voted for, some people have not voted for one U-46 program, and before we ever saw the EMSA proposal were publicly about ‘I support it, I’m going to vote for it.’”
  Holt and Ward have in fact voted for many U-46 programs but have, often along with Costello, voted while offering reasoned arguments on why they were in opposition. Ellis indicated right away her support for Full-Day Kindergarten district wide before listening to opposition reasoning, and along with the board’s majority has regularly refused to debate differing views on U-46 proposals.
  Smith, the lone opposition, said “this has been such a struggle for me, such a struggle. I can guarantee that I came into this with an open mind”
  “I was disappointed. A lot of the concerns I had (in 2014) were still in this proposal,” Smith said. 
  After the meeting, Costello told The Examiner: “If we gave the other schools that we have in our district half as much scrutiny as we give to this EMSA proposal, they would all be great schools.”
  Costello added: “Hopefully this productive vetting process of EMSA will drive the same level of scrutiny and accountability for all U-46 schools to be guided by passionate community support and innovative curriculum.”

.

.




©2024 Examiner Publications, Inc.

Website Powered by Web Construction Set