Thank you to those who were able to attend the board meeting last night. There were changes in administration for the schools announced including a new principal for Prairie School and a transfer of school Asst. Principal from Jerling to Liberty.

For those who could not attend, the Orland Park Patch covered the meeting live and can be accessed here.

To follow-up on questions from our last meeting as well as address some new issues, I have emailed Mr. Soustek. Below are the questions and his responses:

Could you explain the process in which administrative salary increases are decided upon? Are there evaluations? Are they always given across the board?

Administrator salaries have been “across the board.” They have usually followed the same line as the teachers except for the past two years when the administrators did not receive a raise. The recommendation Monday evening was for the administrators to receive a 3% cost of living raise. This means that they will average 1% per year for the past three years. The raise will be effective for 2012-13 school year. The process has always been for a recommendation given by the superintendent to the Board after looking at the total administrative costs. The Board has the final decision. All the administrators, District and building, are evaluated.

(note…*Salaries for 2012-13 can be viewed here.)

Is there a written plan in place for technology upgrades in the classroom?

John Reiniche said you had asked him this same question, I will let him respond with detail.

(note…*We are awaiting Mr. Reiniche’s response)

Has the current cost of transportation for the private schools been looked at lately?

What steps are being taken to reduce the costs to D135? Transportation costs are always discussed with the Board. With a somewhat “healthy” fund balance, we are not looking to reduce costs…however, with that being said, we are looking at consolidating bus routes for some of the private school routes which would have a cost savings. School District 135 does have a transportation agreement with Cardinal Bernardin that expires at the end of the 2012-13 school year. This agreement includes the providing of bus transportation as long as the routes can be paired with District 135 routes without adding new routes.

Have we been billed for the litigation thus far in regards to the Melanie Walsh case?

If so, what are the costs thus far and what are the projected costs? Since the litigation is “on going”, we are billed as we proceed. The OCE has filed an unfair labor practice against the District, (this is in addition to the arbitration hearing) so there will be a cost to defend the District against that charge unless the OCE drops the unfair labor practice. Projected costs are difficult to come up with at this time. The total costs, estimated by the attorney could be as high as $50K. The unfair labor practice may not be settled for three to five years.

We have heard that Jerling is losing their Asst. Principal and there are rumors that the current Principal is only going to be there for one more year. Is there a plan in place to secure new hires?

On my recommendation, the Assistant Principal was transferred to Liberty School Ann Marie Riordan has an extensive background in reading and was a highly respected teacher at Liberty. With the opening at Liberty, it was logical to transfer her at this time to move forward with her replacement at Jerling. All openings are posted on our website as well as the IASA (Illinois Association of School Administrators), website. The process will most likely include screening at the District office, with final interviews by the principal and team leaders. The rumor that the current principal is only going to be there for one more year is not necessarily true. There is a building problem at Jerling and District and the principal have been working on ways to solve the problem.

What portion of the latest grant is going to go towards classroom technology?

As stated in the past, we wish to wait until we receive the $5.3 million before we start spending any portion of it. The grant is from a construction grant that was applied for several years ago. I would like to see the money used to improve education which would include technology. As I said before, this may allow the District to accelerate the implementation of additional technology.

Our next meeting is on April 23rd at 9am at the Admin Center board room. Please send in your questions and/or concerns to opcare135@gmail.com.

CARE135