McHenry County Blog

At a Tuesday night meeting Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47 voted 5-2 to adopt a new middle school schedule. It will allocate more time to math and science and, according to board president Diane Johnson, would cut what are called “encore” course time by a total of 2½ hours.

Besides Johnson, Fred Fitzpartick, Lisa Koeppel, Jeff Larkins and Ruth Scifo supported the plan.

Voting against the proposal were Dave Hubbard and Virginia Visin.

Arriving late after a winning game he had coached, middle school social studies teacher Tom Bowers pretty much threw down the election gauntlet when he concluded his address to the board talking about

"a serious breach of trust.

"Valuable time and money will be spent on the upcoming election."

Bowers also noted that the school districts Crystal Lake is comparing itself to “all spend more per pupil than we do.”

The prelude to that was, “If you don’t reject…”

Teachers in the West School gym, which had about half of its chairs empty, stood and applauded.

Johnson also alluded to campaigning, but the one the one organized by teachers to stop the change.

“Up until this point, we’ve been campaigned."

Among the reasons offered by the two board members voting, “No”:

Visin, who has a master’s degree in art: “I find some of the proposals vague.”

Hubbard: “I see it both ways. I’m just not there.” Later: “We all come from different constituencies.”

Hubbard also said,

"I don’t think we should be afraid to go to referendum. I, for one, would be in favor.

"We can tell everybody we have been the most responsible district in the state…We shouldn’t rob Peter to pay Paul."

The proponents on the board, if not in the audience, seemed more passionate than those who voted against the proposal.

Noting that district studies had shown that the current 40 minute classes translated into 31 minutes of “time on task,” Scifo said,

I’m having a real hard time accepting that’s the best we can do for our kids. If we’re not doing the core subjects, then what are we all about?

Johnson interjected,

I’d love to hear the input from the community if we were talking about cutting (core subjects from) 60 minutes.

Koeppel added, “We’re actually giving the children more choices. To me it’s not taking away anything. It’s re-configuring what we’re currently offering.”

Summing up the advantages, Superintendent Ron Miller said,

"Here’s a block of time. You and your parents decide how you want to spend it, based on your interests."

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Pictures include District 47 Board President Diane Johnson on top. CLETA member Tom Bowers is the largest photograph, on the upper left. The audience is shown clapping after Bowers' presentation in the three small photos. From them, the room seems much more filled than it was. Most of the teachers seemed to be sitting more toward the back of the room. (I have included a shot of the gym here from the back right corner facing the stage.)

The next two face shots are of proposal opponents Ginny Visin and Dave Hubbard. The top blond on the lower right is Ruth Scifo. Below her is Lisa Koeppel. The bottom head shot is District 47 Superintendent Ron Miller.