There is a 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM TONIGHT - BOE State of District Forum (Little Theatre) where the super will give the state of the district -- " on the status of district finances and how our financial position might impact programs" -- and there will be an opportunity for Q and A and comments w/ the audience.
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7:00 PM - 10:00 PM TONIGHT - BOE State of District 208 Forum (Little Theatre)
(19 posts)-
Posted Monday Mar 15, 2010 18:00 #
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Did anybody go? What was said? Does anybody know?
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 00:16 # -
Dr. Bonnete's presentation what the school does, what it has achieved, and how it operates, and they handed out material that covered three different scenarios regarding finances - Status Quo, Manage Revenue and Expectatios, and Balancing The Budget. He covered the trade-offs in each case, some of the legal issues, the plethora of unfunded mandates that the State sends to the schools, etc. Most of it was in clear and easy to understand charts. I suggest you go to the RBHS web site - it may be posted there or else send Dr. Bonnette an email and he will send you one. Afterwards there was a Q and A session.
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 08:28 # -
Elgin school district lay off 1100 workers, including 732 teachers. The shape of things to come, I guess, at RB. Wouldn't it be better for the teachers to agree to a pay cut rather than terminate teachers?
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northnorthwest/ct-met-u-46-cuts-20100315,0,6908911.story
Are teachers eligible for unemployment benefits?
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 09:01 # -
And even Highland Park is in the same pickle.
Almost every district has the same problems, same alternatives, same choices to deal with. One would think it would be obvious, even to all the anon. bloggers and letter writers that this is a statewide and nationwide phenomenon, and that it is utterly stupid and patently self-serving to try and blame individuals for actions taken at a time when conditions were totally different.
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 09:34 # -
I sure hope it is *not* the "shape of things to come" to RB!
Based on RB's positive improvement trend, the growth predictions for the student population, and the mission statement of the school, a RIF would indicate failure of the board and the community. And I would likely choose to relocate my family.
Based on what was presented last night, it does not appear that this is as simple as getting the teachers to agree to a pay cut. It would for sure help, but it does not look like the magic bullet.
Googling results indicate the answer is "yes, teachers are eligible for unemployment"~
http://illinoiseducationassociation.org/media/PreK-12-Rif-Brochure-12_3_09.pdfUnemployment Compensation
RIF’d employees have the right to receive unemployment
compensation benefits after they
receive their last paycheck. They must meet
the statutory requirements for eligibility (able
to work, available for work, and seeking work
— contacting three prospective employers a
week). Benefits are based on a formula that
takes into account the size of the family and
amount of wages last earned.Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 09:56 # -
Wouldn't it be better for the teachers to agree to a pay cut rather than terminate teachers?
...not just teachers, anon, but also administrators, janitors, coaches, contractors, - in short, everyone pulling a paycheck from d208 (and d96, and the Village - all public entities) should seriously consider taking *appropriate* paycuts employing a shared sacrifice model of addressing this budget problem.
Of course, the two school boards need to get on board this point of view. Didn't they recently award very generous compensation packages to the d208 principal and to the d96 super. during these tough times, for example?
Further, the more I hear of the too generous pensions to public sector employees that are not at all commensurate with their brother and sister citizens in the private sector, which also eats up public funds, the more I think this should also be cut (better to cut something that will occur in an uncertain future than to cut heads now to the detriment of service to the kids now).
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 09:57 # -
A shared sacrifice model, that includes us tax payers pitching in something as well, would properly represent the "partnership" portion of the mission statement.
And then *something* has to change on the state and federal level~
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 10:22 # -
Yes, curious: the local 'house', the state 'house', and the federal 'house' and, of course, the payers, us citizens, are all organically related to each other and reductions from one impacts the others. When the taxing bodies get their houses in better order the citizens will also help, too. Of course, the citizens need jobs with adequate income to assist. There is too much un/under employment, in Illinois especially, right now. So shared sacrifice should come from all, yes: but where there is obvious largesse and fat, there should be appropriate reduction. I'm sure the widow will kick in her mite, also.
Bigger picture: better choices in the uber expensive projecting of power for dubious wars, proper education of US citizens to be competitive with Indo-Asia in the future, and addressing the tapeworm to the us economy that health care represents, are all things to help, too.
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 10:31 # -
Yes, when I mention pay cuts for the teachers, I also and ESPECIALLY mean pay cuts for the administration, and for the contractors and coaches. I don't know what the janitors make.
I just heard on the radio that the Chicago public schools are planning to eliminate all non-varsity sports. This would really be a shame---but. When times are tight.
God help us if the Senate bill passes. We need health care reform----but like Buffet, Plan C sounds better to me. I wonder what Nancy Pelosi means when she says "We have to pass the bill in order to find out what's in it." Probably filled with surprises.
Posted Tuesday Mar 16, 2010 10:51 #
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