McHenry County Blog

Today’s Message of the Day was found in the parking lot of McHenry West High School.

It says quite boldly:
Class of 2007

I think I can see “Fabulous” written on the back left window of this van.

Oops. Google's Blogger refuses to upload my photograph.

Oh, well. Use your imagination.

Hey, I got the picture up. A couple of hours late, but it's there.

Labels: Class of 2007, Message of the Day

Now, some people might look at this picture of two pigeons and think that it is of pigeons on a grate.

And, it is.

But, with the Illinois General Assembly moving to wrap up its session this last day of May so the Republicans won’t gain more power, one might think of the grate as the bottom of a cage that the Democrats are building around my proposed state bird.

Such a cage would keep the pigeon from flying to another state.

Will the birds be killed, plucked and served for dinner?

Of is some more dire ending in store for them?

Labels: Illinois, Pigeon, State Bird

McHenry County Blog once compared Mark Houser, Pete Heitman and Bill Lee as Music Men marching into River City sans the 76 trombones.

On Tuesday, a mere six days after requesting what McHenry County College Board members received by email, I got an email with the same information.

Of course, I asked for the documents before the board meeting and they arrived five days afterward.

Transparency is not a big value in the pantheon of MCC gods.

Even so, McHenry County Blog can be the first to report that Mark Houser’s business—Equity One Development Corporation—will receive $400,000 for his no bid work.

What will he do?

“The primary role of EquityOne Development Corporation will be to oversee and coordinate the development, construction, operation, and marketing processes for the Health, Wellness, and Athletic Complex, not to exceed $400,000,“ according to MCC President Walt Packard’s recommendation to the board, which was unanimously approved.

You may remember that Houser first dipped into the college honey pot last Septembe 27th, when Packard signed a $70,000 no-bid contract with his firm.

That contract, I shall continue to remind readers, contained this extraordinary clause:

"At the completion of the feasibility study and independent review, if the College elects to proceed with the project, the College will contract with EquityOne or it’s (sic) assigns to develop the project on the College’s behalf."

“WILL CONTRACT,” is how the verbs should have appeared.

And Equity One said it did more that it did more than $70,000 worth of work.

So, Mark Houser’s income transfer from the college to himself may total $470,000.

Oh, yes.

The college also hired a construction management firm from Itasca named FCL Builders Inc., because of its “unique qualifications,” according to President Packard.

And another Itasca firm, Cornerstone Architects was also hired on Packard’s recommendation, also for unspecified “unique qualifications.

How unique.

Labels: Equity One, Equity One Development Corporation, Mark Houser, MCC, McHenry County College, Walt Packard

Presenting his credentials as a strategic plan consultant “for about three or four major global companies,” newly elected Huntley School District 158 board member Jim Carlin did not have kind words to say about the district’s strategic plan.

“The words missing here are ‘buy-in’ and ‘commitment.'"

Carlin related what happened when he visited a high school team leaders’ meeting:

"I walked into a meeting with team leaders at the high school and I said here’s my book. Here’s the strategic plan and they said,

'We don’t know what you’re talking about. We’ve got goals for No Child Left Behind. We’ve got local goals' (which Carlin suggested might contain the district’s strategic goals).

"But there was not evidence of top-down, bottom-up commitment, not to mention that they told me we couldn’t measure them.

Other board members got a bit defensive.

“We did that at our meeting last summer,” Kim Sjaka said.

“This has been done within the last year, a strategic plan and it’s been updated,” Tony Quagliano pointed out.

“You’ve gotten updates from the administration,” Carlin replied.

“We had originally planned a complete day, a School Improvement Day, when we were going to go over it piece by piece. However, as you know, we lost two School Improvement Days. Instead we did online training,” Assistant Superintendent Terry Awrey explained.

He added that a test was on the internet which teachers had been asked to take. Over one-third have successfully completed it.

“You don’t just develop a plan and put it out thee and say, ‘Go take a test.’ That’s not the way you get commitment on it,” Carlin state.


Referring back to his meeting with high school teachers, Carlin reiterated, “They told me they had never seen it before.”

“Did you tell them it was online?” board member Larry Snow inquired.

A short discussion ensured about whether ACT goals not being online. Carlin insisted ACT scores were not addressed online, while holdover board members thought they were. As nearly as I could ascertain, Sjaka said that they were not included in district goals until 2010.

Defending the strategic goal-setting process, Snow said, “I thought in open session we did a pretty decent job of forging this whole thing. It was a very cordial thing.”

He pointed out, “Within the last two months, we went over every strategic plan goal. I mean we just did this.”

“You don’t teach a class, do you?” Carlin asked.

This discussion took place at the May 17th school board meeting.

= = = = =
The photograph on top is of Jim Carlin. Next is Kim Sjaka and Tony Quagliano. Beneath on the left is Carlin again. Down a bit to the right is Larry Snow. All are members of the Huntley School Board.

Labels: Huntley School District 158, Jim Carlin, Kim Skaja, Larry Snow, School Improvement Day, Strategic Plan, Tony Quagliano

My guess is that you won’t see one Crystal Lake South School girl wearing short pants the few times she is allowed to leave home before her June 26th trial.

That’s because she is being forced by Judge Mike Chmiel to wear an electronic ankle monitor until that trial date.

She's the one who was charged with a felony hate crime for passing out sheets of paper showing two male classmates kissing. The flier, according to District 155, "included an identifiable picture of a current student."

Still, that’s better than the shackles she was forced to wear in court. (Thanks to the Chicago Tribune’s Carolyn Starks for that detail, plus many others of the story.)

The Tribune story says conviction could result in a 30-day sentence.

At Judge Chmiel's order, she's already spent 18 days in Kane County’s Juvenile Detention Center since her arrest on May 11. (Lacking its own detention center, McHenry County sends its juveniles to Kane County's.)

“The girl's attorney, Matthew Haiduk, said he plans to seek dismissal of the charges because her written words ‘are protected speech under the 1st Amendment,’” according to the Tribune story.

You might expect the American Civil Liberties Union to be involved in this case, as it was decades ago when a Cary-Grove High School student refused to cut his hair.

ACLS First Amendment priorities apparently don’t extend to this District 155 high schooler’s written speech, however.

Here’s what Starks got from the ACLU in Chicago:

Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said that without seeing the flier, it is difficult to know whether it was threatening.

"It is clear to us the school has a right to punish a student for distributing fliers on school grounds absent any permission to do so ... but that wasn't the tool that was used here," Yohnka said.

"Instead there was this immediate jump to a criminal charge. ... One hopes there would be other ways to deal with these things on campus other than the inclusion of a police officer."

The boy targeted by the leaflets and his mother were in court, Chuck Keeshan’s Daily Herald article reports.

Keeshan also writes,

(The girl’s attorney Matthew) Haiduk plans to file a motion to dismiss the charges, saying Tuesday the girls’ statements qualify as protected free speech and their actions never breached the peace or caused harm.

“It’s not something that’s necessarily mainstream thought, but I think it’s protected by the First Amendment,” Haiduk said.

Assistant McHenry County State’s Attorney Robert Windon “completely” disagreed with the defendant’s attorney’s interpretation of the First Amendment, the Daily Herald said.

The second girl, who is also on home confinement, will be in court June 26th, too. Her attorney will ask for dismissal of the charges, reports Herald reporter Brandon Coutre.

Labels: ACLU, Cary-Grove High School, Crystal Lake High School District 155, Crystal Lake South High School, Hate Crime, Homosexuals, Matthew Haiduk, Mike Chmiel, Robert Windon

I had heard that someone from Cary had written a letter to the Northwest Herald encouraging me to switch from blogging to running for office again, but I didn’t see it.

Yesterday, I received a missive from the letter writer Cary’s Herb Ives:

Dear Cal,

Enclosed you will find a copy of an article I wrote for the opinion page on the Northwest Herald. If you still read the paper, you may have seen the abbreviated version they printed on 5/26/07. I’m also including an email I sent to the opinion page editor expressing my distain for the manner in which they truncated by letter.

My motivation was not to push you back into politics, but to comment on one of the reasons you left. Maybe you can utilize your blog to get my message to the people.

I have no computer or access to the internet, having only an email station, so I can’t help there. We’ve never me, but my youngest sister was a classmate of yours at C.L.C.H.S. I hope you get some satisfaction out of what I tried to do.

Sincerely,

Herb Ives

Here’s what Ives mailed in:

Just a little thought from a long-time reader from Cary. Now that he doesn’t have Mack-the-knife and Mark-the-shark around to castigate him, why doesn’t he run for the legislature again? It would be more interesting than blogging, I would guess.

Here’s what the NW Herald published:

Just a little thought from a longtime reader from Cary.

Why doesn’t Cal Skinner run for the legislature again?

It would be more interesting than blogging, I would guess.

Herb Ives

Not particularly happy with the sanitizing of his letter by the removal of the references to Amy Mack and Mark Sweetwood, Ives sent this email to the opinion page editor:

This was the letter as I originally wrote it. Other than space constraints, or “politically incorrect” language, please do NOT publish it at all!! I am VERY disappointed and chagrined at the way my letter was truncated. Should it happen again I will seriously consider dropping my subscription.

I can tell you that the NW Herald is a bit more cautious these days than it was when Mark Sweetwood was managing editor.

When Sweetwood left to run the Kane County Chronicle, I called his replacement and asked him if he knew why the paper had taken a couple of hundred subscription drop after the November, 1998, election. He seemed interested, so I told him the paper had called me after I won the election and asked me if I had any comment.

Pulling myself away from watching Veggie Tales with the kids who had gathered at our home, I said, “Jeremy, cancel my subscription.”

That’s all he got and that’s what ended up on the front page.

And others followed my example.

In this rapidly growing county, of course, the NW Herald’s circulation has recouped that loss and continues to climb.

Mack now writes a column for the Daily Herald. I was told that Sweetwood is somewhere in Florida.

Labels: Amy Mack, Cal Skinner, Censorship, Mark Sweetwood, Northwest Herald

This bumper sticker was found in the parking lot outside of Crystal Lake’s Game Stop.

It says,

WAR!

Next to that word is

Our most
profitable
export

Labels: Anti-War, Bumper Sticker, Message of the Day

It’s “Hold on to you hats” or more appropriately “pocket book” time in Springfield.

The latest to want to filch some of our money is the Regional Transportation Authority.

It only wants to double our current one-quarter of cent on every dollar sales tax.

Eric Krol and John Patterson of the Daily Herald raise the alarm that CTA-centric Chicago papers won’t. The Daily Herald’s story is headlined,

Why suburban residents could be bailing out CTA

They report the picking of suburban Cook and collar county pockets could be “$280 million a year.”

Although it is always possible that Downstate Republicans will cut a deal with Chicago Democrats to take money out of suburban pockets, there probably would be a resurrection of the 1974 coalition of suburban Republicans and Democrats.

Even if that happens, however, guess who the Daily Herald reporters say would ride to the rescue.

That’s right.

Governor Rod Blagojevich.

"I don't support sales tax increases on people and that's consistent with where I've been for the last four years," Blagojevich told the Daily Herald when asked about the RTA plan.

On May 5th, Dennis Byrne, a reporter who covered the RTA fight for the Chicago Daily News wrote an insightful Chicago Tribune column.

It was entitled,

Transit ‘reform,’ yet again

He points out that “duplicate, contracting and administrative functions didn’t end” with the RTA’s creation.

“Mass transit was underfunded, thanks in part to the reluctance to charge riders what they should be paying (more than what they are now), generous CTA labor contracts and high CTA absenteeism, among other systemic problems…

“There is no one willing to crack down on the CTA—the main source of the RTA’s problems—because no one dares take on the city’s power, meaning Richard M. Daley’s power.

“…will a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature really be willing to step over the line and crack down on the CTA, especially in light of Daley’s landslide re-election?

“Or will the legislature again just reshuffle the organization chart to make it look like something has happened, while continuing business as usual?”

Labels: CTA, Dennis Byrne, Regional Transportation Authority, RTA

Wouldn’t you think the McHenry County College Board and Administration would be bursting with pride about having figured out a way to build a $26 million addition, including a baseball stadium, without costing the taxpayers anything?

That’s the pitch I’ve been hearing.

I’ve asked for specifics and have been stonewalled...again.

MCC is running out the entire allowed 14 working day deadline allowed under the Freedom of Information Act.

There are local governments like Carpentersville School District 300 and Huntley School District 158 that put such documents on their web sites before board meetings.

I guess that's too much to hope for from McHenry County College.

Labels: Baseball Stadium, Freedom of Information Act, MCC, McHenry County College

Some in the flock of our newly nominated state bird, the pigeon, will fly away to other states at the threat of higher taxes and products.

That has been occurring for decades.

They may be the luckier ones, as they flee to avoid the new penalties Illinois Democrats are planning to place on the Illinois economy.

Or Illinois pigeons may act like the ones in Downtown Springfield did last year at the Old Capitol Art Fair.

About lunch time, a raptor decided it wanted a tasty pigeon. The flock flew thither and yon. My guess is that all but one escaped.

The rest felt safe enough to stay in Springfield for another year.

Labels: Illinois, Old Capitol Art Fair, Pigeon, Raptor, Springfield, State Bird

According to its forensic audit something like $200,000 of cash was paid to administrators, supposedly in place of family health care benefits reportedly without approval by the school board.

At its May 17th meeting, Huntley School District 158’s board seemed already to have made the decision not to go after the money.

That seems strange to me because the $100,000 audit could be recouped if only half the money discovered were recouped.

Leading the charge to close up everything about the forensic audit was newly elected board member Jim Carlin.

“Is their work done now and we’re just waiting for the report?” Carlin asked Superintendent John Burkey, who replied that was the case.

Aileen Seedorf, another new member, then asked, “Is there anything we did not ask them to do that we’re still thinking about?”

“Did they take a look at the benefits?” Larry Snow wanted to know, implying the auditors had been asked to investigate further.

“What did we discuss about it?” Board President Shawn Green asked.

I think it was Tony Quagliano, appointed to replace Glenn Stewart last summer when he was got the $101,000 Chief Operating Officer post and elected to a two-year term in April, who outlined the following:

In the scope of the audit they were supposed to review the audits and the suggestion was they try to delineate which benefits were approved by the board and which ones weren’t.

“Are you specifically talking about payments in lieu?” Carlin Asked.

The answer turned out to be “Yes.”

Quagliano said he wanted to know who got cash who had

1- no health insurance
2- single coverage and
3- full family coverage

“That’s what I’m still hazy on,” he said.

Carlin wanted to know “to what end would we want additional study?” and whether the board wanted the “money back.”

“I think you’d have to look hard at anyone who was getting cash in lieu (of health benefits) who were getting full health benefits,” Quagliano replied.

Apparently there is a legal opinion from district attorneys.

Carlin asked, “Wouldn’t they have to go through all the records again?” to which Quagliano, the board’s liaison to Jefferson Wells, the forensic auditing firm, replied he didn’t think so.

The longest serving board member, Kim Sjaka put in her opinion: “I have issues of going any further on this audit. I don’t see spending any more,” pointing to other needs of the school district.

There was a little tension between Carlin and Quagliano when Carlin implied that one of the reasons Quagliano outlined for the audit—payroll problems--was known before it began.

Quagliano asked how he knew and Carlin replied that he “was up visiting with Mr. Hall.”

“You’ve never physically been in that office,” Quagliano asserted.

But, Carlin said he had been.

“They (the forensic auditors) just can’t keep going,” indicating if this was something that could be answered in the next two weeks that would be alright.

"It doesn’t seem to be that we are going to take any action," Carlin said re-iterating his opinion that no reimbursement should be sought.

“I’m not aware that we are not going to pursue any repayment at this point,” Seedorf interjected. “Maybe someone decided and I did not hear about it.”

She then asked if the administrators who had received the cash benefits had paid taxes on the money.

Suggesting it would be a clerical task to get the information Quagliano desired, newly elected board member Kevin Gentry staked out his position:

"I personally would find it a stretch to go back and try to recover cash unless the person approved it himself."

That’s seems to let everyone off the hook except, perhaps, a previous school superintendent.

Quagliano pressed for the information so that the board would have “information available when we make the final decision.” He also mentioned forwarding the information to the district’s attorneys for “a more accurate answer” on the question of reimbursement.

Superintendent Burkey pointed out that the attorneys had said the district would have “to show there’s a financial loss to the district.”

“And you would have that…,” Quagliano said.

The fringe benefit was as high as $5,400 a year.

Lauren Smith, Human Resource Director, indicated she could develop the data, which she described as “a narrative,” which Burkey said would be ready for the Human Resources Committee meeting.

Snow reminded her that it needed to be done for each year.

= = = = =
Pictures of the following are shown in descending: Huntley School Board members Jim Carlin, Aileen Seedorf, Tony Quagliano, Kim Sjaka, Jim Carlin again, Kevin Gentry, plus District 158 Human Resources Director Lauren Smith.

Labels: Aileen Seedorf, Huntley School District 158, Jim Carlin, John Burkey, Kevin Gentry, Kim Skaja, Larry Snow, Shawn Green

Here we have a parade of bicycles.

It’s after school and the kids are being led home from South School by one of the children’s mothers.

This picture was taken on Lake Avenue facing the Crystal Lake Park District’s Main Beach.

Does it remind you of a mother duck leading her ducklings?

Labels: Bicyclist, Crystal Lake, Message of the Day, South School

Chicago Tribune columnist Dennis Byrne, who used to be on the editorial board of the Chicago Sun-Times, centered his column Monday on Crystal Lake.

He compared the felony hate crime arrest of a Crystal Lake South High School student with the decision in that allowed a neo-Nazi group to march in Skokie in the late 1970’s.

If you don’t remember the news stories, you probably remember the “Blues Brothers” movie depiction of it.

Byrne remembers that the ACLU filed a federal court suit that forced Skokie to allow the march.

"Apparently, the constabulary in northwest suburban Crystal Lake disagrees, seeing fit to arrest two high school girls for handing out allegedly anti-homosexual literature at their school. We have to say “allegedly” because the specifics of the girls’ pamphlets have not been disclosed because they are “evidence,” the police said. We are to believe that two girls are such a big threat to the commonweal that they should be arrested on--get this—felony hate-crime charges.

"As a sideshow to this circus, one of the girls has been locked up until trial because the judge decided the girl’s supposedly unhealthy home environment and lengthy juvenile record did not allow home detention.

"Thus, for exercising her right of political speech, she ended up in the slammer."

Byrne notes the underlying crime is disorderly conduct.

"But the seriousness of the charge has been jacked up beyond reason to a felony because of a viewpoint that they expressed."

Byrne goes on to cite more serious crimes they did not commit, including the famous limitation on free speech of yelling “Fire!” in a crowed theater.

He calls the Crystal Lake case

"a load of malarkey."

There is much more, of course.

There always is columns by Dennis Byrne.

Labels: Crystal Lake High School District 155, Crystal Lake Police, Crystal Lake South High School

A tax hike group called A+ Illinois has run a full-page ad on page 5 of the Chicago Tribune.

This pretty big expenditure is increased by the automated toll-free legislative connection.

The message, seen and typed below, of course, focuses on the kids, not the tax hike.

Labels: A+ Illinois, Tax Hike Committee

So, did you have a computer–free weekend?

If so, some of these stories might be of interest:

Monday, May 28, 2007

Message of the Day – A Flower

The Blood of Heroes Runs Red

No-Bid Contracts Awarded by McHenry County College; $9 Million Approved for Overruns on $26 Million Baseball Stadium Project

Felony Charges for Fake High School Bomb, for Handing Out Pamphlets


Sunday, May 28, 2007

Message of the Day –A Statue

Fixing the Complaint, Not the Problem - McHenry County Style

Mary Fioretti Arises from District 300 Board and Pushes Tax Hike

Now, Animal Control, Health Department Have Enough Money

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Message of the Day – A Movie Theater

Melissa Bean To Get Scheurer Primary and General Election Challenges over War Funding Vote

Lying Gambling Sponsors

Comments on South High School Girl Being Denied Bail on “Hate” Crime

Mary Fioretti Gives New Math Lesson

Rebuttal to State Senator Pam Althoff’s ERA Views

Tribune Reporters Honored for "Teens at the Wheel" Series

And, here’s Exhibit A.

An Illinois State Policeman has pulled someone over on Dole Avenue just south of U.S. Route 14 right in front of Mr. A's.

A little of a week ago, a State Police spokesman said more cars would be deployed in McHenry County.

Labels: Crystal Lake, Illinois State Police, Memorial Day, Route 14

The Huntley Village board may have sent Centegra back to the drawing board for its new facility on Algonquin Road, but a truck and men were out drilling on Thursday before the meeting.

From Tom Musick’s article in the Northwest Herald, I gather the trustees just thought the Legat Architects drawings were just boring.

The article reports Centegra plans

an urgent-care center, physicians’ offices, diagnostic laboratory suites and more. The fitness center would include fitness rooms, pool facilities, tennis and basketball courts, and other amenities.

Note the haze in the background. It's soil erosion blown by the wind from bare farm fields.

You can enlarge either the picture of the Huntley Centegra site with sign on the left side and drill on the right or the close-up of the drilling truck.

Labels: Algonquin Road, Centegra, Drilling, Huntley, Legat Architects

This pigeon was found fat, dumb and happy on top of a building in a Springfield alley, where its cheap photographer was saving a $2 parking fee during the Old Capitol Art Fair earlier this month.

Don’t you think the pigeon is more representative of Illinois that the Cardinal?

See also new state seal.

Labels: Illinois, Pigeon, Sate Seal, State Bird

Just thought you might be interested on Rockford Register-Star reporter Kevin Hass’ take Saturday on the possibility of making Boone County's Garden Prairie a village if Chemtool builds its facility there.

Haas covers past consideration and current desires.

Here is McHenry County Blog’s May 15th story.

Labels: Boone County, Chemtool, Garden Prairie

Since the Northwest Herald has written an article on the proposed expansion of the Meyer Materials gravel pit in Cary, perhaps it’s time to remind folks of its history.

Jocelyn Allison’s story brings the story up-to-date, but does not delve into the history, which goes at least back to Feb. 7, 2006.

My thanks to the Cary Area Citizens for Responsible Government
for leading me to the source documents.

Folks might find interesting how far back this gravel pit was discussed and how it just popped into public view right after village elections were over:

Cary Election’s Over – We’re Going to Dig a Gravel Pit Behind Your Home

More Recent Cary Action on Meyer Materials Proposed Grave Pit

Cary residents might want to read how this is all but a “done deal” and how money is the motivation for the village to approve the Meyer Material application.

= = = = =
I guess the question marks ought to come off the map above, which was put on the internet by Cary Area Citizens for Responsible Government.

Labels: Cary, Cary Area Citizens for Responsible Government, Fox Trails, Gravel Pit, Meyer Material

In January, McHenry County Blog reported on the decision by Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria to build a restaurant in McHenry County.

It will be Lakewood's first restaurant.

Construction is well underway.

The roofs are on and you can see the silo.

It doesn’t quite look like the artist’s drawing that is in the Lake Village Hall, but you can tell it’s the same.

And, the sign says you can buy pizza in August.

Labels: Lakewood, Lou Malnati's Pizzeria, Pizza

Hey, look at this.

I got a press release from District 300. Just like the proposed policy change suggested.

I am pleased to reproduce it:

Strategic Plan results to be unveiled

CARPENTERSVILLE – The community of District 300 is encouraged to attend the Board of Education meeting at 7:30 p.m. this Tuesday, May 29.

The meeting will be in the commons/cafeteria of Carpentersville Middle School, located at 100 Cleveland Avenue adjacent to the D300 Administration Center.

Tuesday evening is when D300 community and staff members will see the results of the big Strategic Planning study that was conducted this year. The 1-hour presentation will be followed by questions-and-answers by School Board members.

District 300 hired the ECRA Group last fall to scientifically conduct the study of D300 graduates, staff, parents, middle and high school students, village leaders, and community members without children in the schools. ECRA conducted surveys (phone, online, and paper) and focus groups from November 2006 to February 2007. Several thousand people chose to participate.

The report will feature community opinions on District 300 – its numerous strengths and positives, as well as its areas of concern. The report also reflects ECRA’s analysis of past D300 studies and recommendations, including the curriculum audit.

This report is candid and hard-hitting. Among the D300 issues it explores are:

• Technology
• Diversity
• Curriculum
• Quality of faculty
• Impact of enrollment growth
• Academic standards
• Graduates’ experience (alumni 2001-2006)
• Safety / climate
• Communication among staff, students, and community members
• The Media’s impact on public support for District 300 schools

The point of the Strategic Plan study is to allow the district to match its energies and future spending plans, programming, and outreach efforts to the desires of stakeholders.

Tuesday’s board discussion will be the first of many by D300 leaders in determining how to put this information to use. The plan must be realistic and cost-effective. The Board and the administration will put the plan into action beginning this fall, directly affecting every staff member, student, parent, and taxpayer in the district.

The complete report will be online Wednesday, May 30, by going to www.d300.org and clicking on the resource button, “Strategic Planning.” It will also be featured in the June District 300 newsletter.

The Superintendent’s Office will visit every school in the district this fall to go over the Strategic Plan with school staff and community members.

I shall add the following information received from a friend of McHenry County Blog:

The cost of this "Stategic Plan" shows $80,000, according to a FOIA filed 3/5/07. The company is ECRA Group of 5600 N. River Rd. Suite 750, Rosemont. The contract is composed of three phases:

• Phase one surveys LEAD (teachers union), administrators, parent and community (those who wanted to participate), faculty and staff, students (but it happened in their classrooms, don't believe they had a choice), Graduate student follow-up.
• Phase two involves analysis of surveys, development of strategic plan, and presentation (mentioned below).
• Phase three: implementation plan meeting, development, and presentation of implementation plan report.

$80,000 seems like a lot of money for surveying. A curriculum audit was performed in this district in 2003, the results were poor. It is my impression that top management in D300 is more concerned about favorable PR, than actually educating our kids.

Below are articles I have written on the process:

District 300 Surveys Parents - Part 1

District 300 Surveys Parents - Part 2

District 300 Surveys Parents - Part 3

District 300 Surveys Parents - Part 4

Labels: District 300, Press Release

At the Old Capitol Art Fair in Springfield the third weekend in May, some people where wearing poppies like this.

This one fell from the clothing to which it was attached.

Veterans use them as a fund raising device.

I can’t read which one produced this one.

It comes from the poppies that grew on Flanders Field where World War I veterans are buried.

Labels: Flanders Field, Memorial Day, Poppy, Veterans

Talk about a timely submission!

It's from Woodstock's James C. Zoes, a proud father of a United States Marine and a friend of McHenry County Blog. Some may remember Zoes was an advocate of placing the replica Civil War cannon on the Woodstock Square. You may also remember that the county's peace advocates thought such an idea was terrible.

"We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies."
[Moina Michael]

It is, of course, a reference to World War One, and the American soldiers who died fighting it. Like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and every other war America has fought, the "blood of heroes" has been spilled many times and in many places.

Today is, of course, Memorial Day. A day to remember those Americans who lost their lives in battle. A day to look back with introspection at the people who made a moral decision, who took a fateful action, and who met their destiny by paying the price: their lives.

We are reminded of Col Robert Gould Shaw, age 26, a member of a prominent Boston abolitionist family. Someone of wealth and means who could have avoided the Civil War by simply writing a check. Yet, he believed in ending slavery to the point of volunteering to command troops into the meat grinder of battle. He was killed on July 18, 1863, along with 101 other KIA and MIA soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts, a regiment of free BLACK soldiers, leading an assault against Confederate Battery Wagner in South Carolina.

We remember him.

We are reminded of Sgt. William H. Carney, Company C, the first black Medal of Honor recipient, in the same battle, whose citation reads: "When the color sergeant was shot down, this soldier grasped the flag, led the way to the parapet, and planted the colors thereon. When the troops fell back he brought off the flag, under a fierce fire in which he was twice severely wounded."

Sgt. Carney rescued "the colors" (the unit's flag) when the "color sergeant" was killed, and was, himself, wounded so badly and so many times, including hits to head, chest, both legs and one arm, that he almost bled out and died before he was able to return to the Union lines with the flag.

And we are reminded of PFC Milton L. Olive III, Company B, 2d Battalion (Airborne), 503d Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade, who received the first Medal of Honor of the Vietnam War for throwing his body on a Viet Cong grenade, saving the lives of his fellow soldiers. PFC Olive was black.

We remember that the blood of heroes runs red, even as it is also color blind.

We in America are blessed by the continuing existence of the World War Two veterans, though we are losing so many of them every day from old age.

The blood of heroes still flows in the veins of the men who stormed Iwo Jima and Omaha Beach and a hundred other place names we barely remember today.

For how much longer, only God knows as even heroes are mortal.

We remember their fallen comrades, the ones who did not make it off the beaches or out of the hedgerows.

And it still flows in the veins of those who fought a desperate battle at the Chosin Reservoir, against overwhelming odds and at Hill 931, also known as Heartbreak Ridge. And, a decade and a half later, in the veins of those fought in the Idrang Valley and at Khe Sanh, and elsewhere; some of which was spilled, lost, and now remembered in a long, bent black wall of marble on the Mall.

In hundreds of places, with names sometimes hard to spell and pronounce, from Saratoga to Anbar, America has been blessed with so many heroes, just when we needed them. Today is the day that we remember them all.

If, today, you see an elderly geezer, wearing a funny looking "boy scout" type of hat, standing at attention (or what passes for attention in a man or woman hunched over from old age) at a gathering on the square or in the park, I ask you, no I BEG you, to take the time to walk over, shake his or her hand, and thank them for their service.

And if, today, you see a serving soldier, marine, sailor, airman or coastie, do the same.

You see, the blood of heroes never dies, for it is timeless and reborn with every generation.

Labels: Colorblind, James. C. Zoes, Memorial Day

I’m still trying to figure out how proposed punishments fit high school crimes.

Saturday, the Northwest Herald reported that a St. Charles North High School boy was arrested for felony disorderly conduct.

“About 11:30 a.m., a teacher found a box that was ticking and had protruding wires in a courtyard on the south side of the school grounds,” the article reads.

The Kane County bomb squad was called.

Now, that sounds like a felony.

Just as making a bathroom wall threat at Crystal Lake Central High School sounds like a felony, even though three teens at Winnebago High School were charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct for making a similar threat.

Handing out pamphlets, even ones you and I might consider hateful ones, does not sound like a felony hate crime. (See comments by Champaign County blogger John Bambenek.)

The girl with the hate crime felony charge will be in court Tuesday.

And, then there is Cary-Grove High School student Allen Lee, whom McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi decided did not merit misdemeanor disorderly conduct prosecution for threatening creative writing class essay that disturbed his teacher.

For more McHenry County Blog, click here.

Labels: Bomb Threat, Crystal Lake Central High School, Crystal Lake South High School, Hate Crime, St. Charles North High School, Winnebago High School

From Regan Foster’s Northwest Herald article, it doesn’t appear that I missed much at the McHenry County College’s meeting Thursday night.

A bunch of no-bid contracts were approved, all on unanimous votes, she writes.

As expected, Mark Houser’s Equity One Development won what Houser wanted.

With no competition.

The others selected?

According to Foster,

"With trustee blessing, the college may go ahead and negotiate contracts with the firms that will oversee construction, College President Walt Packard said. Itasca-based Cornerstone Architects Ltd., FLC Builders Inc., also of Itasca, and Libertyville’s EquityOne Development Corp. have been pegged for those respective jobs."

Of course, we knew that was preordained since McHenry County Blog found the September contract granting him this extraordinary concession:

"At the completion of the feasibility study and independent review, if the College elects to proceed with the project, the College will contract with EquityOne or it’s (sic) assigns to develop the project on the College’s behalf."

Interestingly, the bond adviser was not picked on Thursday. To learn more about the applicants, one of whom--Tim Sratton--has already worked on the project, click here.

And the most delicious item reported?

The Board approved spending $9 million more than the $26 million that has been touted as the total cost.

MCC President Walt Packard explained

"the $9 million difference between the cap on bonds and the approved price was set in case cost overruns occur during the actual construction" (not a direct quote).

That’s almost 35% of wiggle worm.

When Jefferson Wells forensic auditor Mike Nowark made his presentation to Huntley School District 158’s board, he said that change orders increasing the cost above 5% would be suspicious.

(What’s needed are) “contracts with ‘not to exceed’ limits. You can make it to the contractor’s benefit (by having) a shared savings (clause)."

Nowark also suggested putting in the right to audit subcontractors, but said most governments don’t do that.

And, remember, this baseball stadium is to be built without asking the voters’ permission.

And, also remember that no detailed explanation of how use of the baseball stadium will pay for this project has been released to the public.

It reminds me too much of Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign:

”Trust me."

Frankly, I prefer President Ronald Reagan's advice:

"Trust and verify."

Labels: Baseball Stadium, Equity One, Mark Houser, MCC, McHenry County College, Mike Nawark, Walt Packard

Another statue from the U.S. Capitol showing the religious nature of the American experience, this one was placed there by the State of Hawaii.

It’s of “Father Damien (1840-1889), a Belgian priest who spent 16 years at the Molokai colony taking care of lepers and became a victim of leprosy himself (statue given by Hawaii),” according to Historic Medical Sites in the Washington, DC Area.

Labels: Father Damien, Hawaii, Leprosy, Statue, U.S. Capitol

Gus Philpot, who writes The Woodstock Advocate, came up with something to make you chuckle.

He gets a small stipend issued by McHenry County government from an agency associated with the Mental Health Board.

It came with his last name first and first name last.

He complained to his county board member.

The problem was fixed…for him.

But, apparently, not for anyone else.

Philpoy entitled his article,
Best (Worst?) Business Practices

He ends the article,

I am frequently reminded of the saying, "If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you certainly don't have time to do it over."

In McHenry County, that saying should probably be amended to "... to do it over and over and over."

Well, “Groundhog Day” was shot in Woodstock.

Labels: Groundhog Day, McHenry County, The Woodstock Advocate, Woodstock

Former District 300 School Board President Mary Fioretti, defeated for re-election by John Ryan, has emerged from her defeat as feisty as ever.

She is leading the effort to convince people to contact their legislators to support a tax hike.

Where’s she doing it?

The Northwest Herald’s comment board on a letter to the editor from Huntley teachers union President Christy Henderson. Henderson went down to the State Capitol to lobby for higher taxes.

What do you want to bet that Fioretti runs for the District 300 school board again in two years?

Not a lot of taxpayer types are rebutting her views.

And, yes, I let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, yesterday.

Labels: District 300, Mary Fioretti, Tax Hike

The Northwest Herald’s Kevin Craver covered the McHenry County Board’s Management Services Committee meeting Friday.

Guess what?

The animal control folks have enough money to do what they wanted to do at the Crytal Lake Route 14 former State Farm Insurance building…without the extra $773,000 the county board rejected at its last meeting.

The article says County Administrator Pete Austin observed,

“It’s not ideal – we knew it wouldn’t be ideal at this point – but it’s workable.”

And without a McHenry County Republican Cat Tax.

Imagine that.

Here are a couple of the cutbacks Craver gives:

• “$27,000 by reducing aesthetic millworking” and
• “using county staff instead of subcontractors for installing the kennels and landscape watering system.”

There will be enough space for 103 cats and 60 dogs.

And room for a Crystal Lake Health Department outpost for people, too.

According to the NW Herald,

Barbara Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake, does not want to see the health annex shortchanged, especially since the county has applied for a grant to fund breast and cervical cancer screening for low-income women.

= = = = =

The picture at the top is Pete Austin, McHenry County Administrator. At the bottom is McHenry County Board member Barb Wheeler.

Labels: Barb Wheeler, Breast Cancer, Cervical cancer, McHenry County Board., Pete Austin

But, this movie theater is called the

McHENRY OUTDOOR THEATRE

One of the few outdoor theaters left, this one in McHenry is playing

Pirates of the Caribbean 3

It’s that time again.

Warm enough to watch movies from your car.

Labels: McHenry Outdoor Theatre, Message of the Day

Last night as I was listening to reactions to the Defense appropriations bill votes, I sent2006 8th congressional district candidate for Congress Bill Scheurer an email asking if he had put out a press release.

Come to find out, he and his wife Randi have one, complete with snappy new logo for he "Honk for Peace" web site and sure to stimulate speculation for Republicans.

It follows:

LAKE COUNTY, IL - May 26, 2007

Contact: Randi Scheurer, 847-245-1421, rjscheurer@comcast.net

In a series of Kerry-esque moves, IL-8th Congressional District Democratic Incumbent Melissa Bean has now “voted for” the surge in Iraq, after she “voted against” it.

This week, Bean joined a small minority of Democrats, and all but two Republicans, in voting to give the Bush administration another “blank check” for the war -- which includes, and fully funds, the escalation of hostilities -- having previously joined a solid Democratic majority in a symbolic vote opposing this sam