Meet the Scholarship Recipients

This year Berwyn CARES was able to award 6 scholarships to deserving Morton West seniors headed to college. Read their profiles and know that together we made a difference!

District 201 Seeks Advice from YOU

The District 201 Board of Education Finance Committee has recommended the creation of a citizens advisory committee. No qualifications were spelled out, other than the desire to help. Anyone who is interested can contact Dr. Kuszniewski, Superintendent at 708-222-5701. Please get involved!

Teachers Union Walks Away from Talks, Next Year's Schedule Uncertain

I read with great interest this article about a new movie, "The Lottery", a documentary about the battle between powerful teachers' unions and education activists for control of the future of education. The story takes place in New York, but a similar battle is being fought here in Berwyn over the recent budget cuts made by the District 201 administration and the stakes are the same: the quality of the day to day educational experience of THOUSANDS of kids.

Basically, our Morton District 201 adminstration is proposing a change in the bell schedule to accomodate the hole made by the laying off of over 100 teachers. The new schedule calls for eliminating teacher prep periods in favor of keeping kids learning in class rather than study periods. The current teachers union contract would need to be revised and union reps walked away from talks according to this Berwyn Life article, rejecting the administration's proposal. Watch how this one plays out, folks. The day to day conditions at Morton West will be directly determined by the decisions currently being made.

Big News from YOUR Boards of Education

201: There will be a special District 201 Board of Education meeting this Thursday, June 3rd at approximately 6:00 pm at Morton East auditorium. A notice on the district website states: "The purpose of the meeting is to discuss with the community...the most current information available in regards to the 2010-2011 financial issues of the district..."

District 98: Tony Laureto, president of District 98 Board of Education for the past 15 years, is resigning as of June 4th. If there is anyone interested in serving this community as a member of the Board of Education, you must be a resident of North Berwyn for one year. Contact the district for details on how to express interest and submit your name as a candidate. The current Board of Education will fill the position with an appointed person until the next election.

District 100: At last week's Board of Education meeting, the District 100 Board approved Full-day kindergarten. Currently, kindergarteners are in school for 1/2 day (2 hr, 45 min). Offering full-day kindergarten follows the educational trend of more and more districts attempting to address the achievement gap and to best prepare students for the academic years ahead. In a survey of incoming kindergarteners, 95% preferred Full day. The district will hire 5 more full time teachers and all schools will create the space needed.