Thursday, August 28, 2008

Today is the Day!

Dear Berwyn CARES member,

Thank you for being a member of Berwyn CARES! We appreciate your support and could not have existed without the support of people like you.

Over the course of the last year, we have continued working toward our mission of uniting residents interested in renewing and sustaining an enthusiasm, interest and passion for the education system in Berwyn. In the past year, we initiated the Berwyn Challenge with Donors Choose to fund projects in Berwyn schools. CARES as an organization donated over $3,500 to Donors Choose projects. In the spring, we gave three $1,000 scholarships to students graduating from Morton West.

In addition to this, we sponsored and organized children's activities at OktoberFest, put on a children's concert in the fall to raise money for school projects and hosted on a concert in the spring to raise money for college scholarships.

This year, we started the Berwyn CARES blog and posted articles that would be of interest to education efforts in Berwyn. We have continued to attend school board meetings and make our voices heard on issues of importance to the school districts.

In February, Berwyn CARES voiced our concern to District 201 that no action was being taken on a consultant's report that showed only 6% of the students in District 201 are completing the core curriculum and that 30% of the students in District 201 were failing math. Within a month of voicing our concerns and writing a letter to the editor of the Life newspaper (and reading the letter in the open forum of a school board meeting), District 201 announced the hiring of a curriculum director and curriculum leads.

In the spring, Berwyn CARES members participated in focus groups with District 100 on the selection of a new school superintendent and discussed with school board members our concerns.

As you know, our efforts are not without costs ... postage, envelopes, paper, copying fees, the P.O. Box and the website as well as funding grants and scholarships. We hope that you will renew your membership for this coming year! Please consider pledging at a higher level, knowing that Berwyn CARES is committed to our mission. You can make a contribution using paypal, www.berwyncares.org , or click here, print and send to:

Berwyn CARES
P.O. Box 397
Berwyn, Illinois 60402

Thank you again for your continued support.

Oktoberfest 2008!

Once again, Berwyn CARES will be sponsoring the kids' activities at this year's Depot District Oktoberfest on Saturday, September 20th from noon-6pm. Come enjoy a great day in Berwyn! There will be crafts, carnival booth games, face painting, and lots of other fun stuff for kids and families! If you would like to volunteer, please contact Robin Scharpf at rrammien@hotmail.com. See you there!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Now is the Time to Extend the School Day at Morton West

District 201 is currently in negotiations with the Teachers' union, along with several other unions, for a new contract. This is an excellent opportunity to make sweeping changes! And a great time to revisit a blog post from about a year ago that focused on the priorities of District 201. In that post, the goal of increasing the graduation rate was explored in this advice to the District 201 School Board:
Increase graduation rate. The current graduation rate is 69.4%. In addition to setting this goal, consider negotiating a longer school day (+50 minutes) for all students when the next teacher contract is negotiated. Though our students are held to the same standards as all others in the state in terms of how many credits are needed to graduate, they have less opportunity as they are only able to earn a total of 24 credits over the 4 years in the regular school day. While we have one of the shortest school days in the state, our neighboring districts give the opportunity for students to take one extra class each day (4 extra credits over 4 years). Extending the school day would be the most effective way to boost the graduation rate and every student in the district would benefit. The bottom line is that Morton students can take 6 classes per day, while OPRF, RB, LT and most other districts require their students to take 7.

I believe that Morton West's graduation rate of 69.4% reflects the number of students that are able to graduate in 4 years. I wonder about the other 30.6 % of students. How many do ultimately graduate by paying for an extra summer school class that in another district would have been free as a part of their regular school day? How many are too poor to afford that summer school class and, therefore, wait until the regular school year begins to finish up, even though that may mean ridicule from others for being a "5th year student"? How many young people, just a credit or two away from that diploma, just give up?

The formula for figuring out the graduation rate is complicated and varies from state to state, though Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, aims to change that with a federal formula. No matter what the formula, I believe that extending the school day will make a difference for some students in terms of their ability to graduate on time. It will make a huge difference for ALL students in terms of increasing their opportunities to learn...be it in an advanced math class for seniors (see this blog post) or an English class taken for the 2nd time to make up a lost credit.

Please urge the District 201 School Board and administration to consider negotiating a longer school day for students in any new union contracts. I once analyzed beginning teacher salaries for Morton West teachers compared to surrounding districts and found that they are, indeed, underpaid. Our teachers are paid about 7%less than beginning teachers at other districts, however our school day is about 15% shorter.

Our teachers deserve a raise. Our students deserve a chance!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Special District 100 School Board Meeting

There will be a special District 100 Board Of Education meeting on Wednesday August 20th at 6pm at the LaVergne Education Center, 3401 S. Gunderson. Agenda items include:

*2008 ISAT scores and preliminary school improvement strategies for 2009. Each Principal will make a presentation for their respective school, and district administrators, Tony Cundari and Jan Galbraith will address preliminary district initiatives.

*District 100 Mission Statement, Belief Statements and Goalsreview and discussion

* "School Finance 101"

The Board of Education will adopt the 2009 Budget and the District 100 Mission statements, Belief Statements and Goals at the regular Board of Education Meeting on August 27th.

If you've never attended a District 100 School Board Meeting, this would be a great start!