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Summer maintenance work well underway in District 58
As always, when school is out for summer, maintenance and construction crews are hard at work making sure the buildings are as safe as possible for District 58 students when they return in the fall.
Projects include replacements of the roofs at Indian Trail School and O'Neill Middle School, part of the district's five-year roof plan designed to maintain its investments in its buildings and provide students with safe places in which to learn. This summer's roof projects are among six roof projects to be funded by a planned $10 million Life Safety Bond issue.
Crowther Roofing and Sheet Metal, Inc., is re-roofing O'Neill for a cost of $878,000, and Edens and Maichin Roofing and Sheet Metal, Inc., is re-roofing Indian Trail for a cost of $955,000.
Other projects include sealcoating at Belle Aire, Highland, Hillcrest, Indian Trail, Kingsley and O'Neill; and the installation of air-conditioning in the central server closet at Longfellow Center.
If you have any questions about any of the projects taking place in District 58 this summer, please e-mail jwaldorf@dg58.org or rbubula@dg58.org. |
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District 58 new teacher training sessions set
School doesn't begin in District 58 until Friday, Aug. 21--but the more than 30 new teachers in District 58 will spend the week of Aug. 10 receiving five full days of comprehensive training and mentoring.
Sessions will include an orientation to District 58 and overviews of technology, the standards-based report card and the curriculum. The week also includes several opportunities for the new teachers to plan and collaborate with their mentors.
New teachers will be treated to welcome luncheons provided by the Downers Grove Lion's Club and the District 58 Education Foundation, and a Bagel Bash sponsored by the Downers Grove Elementary Education Association.
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HGNA, District 58 team up to sponsor parent workshop
District 58 is teaming up with Helping Girls Navigate Adolescence to present a free parent workshop entitled "Bouncing Back: Back to School With a New Set of Tools" from 12-2 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 19.
The workshop at the Downers Grove Public Library will feature keynote speaker Dr. Robert Brooks, one of today's leading experts on resilience, self-esteem, motivation and family relationships. Dr. Brooks, a best-selling author and member of the Harvard Medical School faculty, will discuss what helps children and adolescents deal more effectively with stress and pressure and bounce back from adversities.
Dr. Brooks also will deliver the keynote address earlier that day to the District 58 educators as part of their Teacher Institute Day.
This program is recommended for parents of K-8 students. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended due to limited seating. Reserve your spot by e-mailing info@HGNA.org. For more information, visit www.hgna.org or call (630) 336-1213.
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School Board votes to put tentative budget on display
The District 58 School Board voted July 13 to approve the proposed tentative 2009-10 budget and make it available for public inspection at the Administrative Service Center, local libraries, and on the District 58 Web site.
The budget includes $66.3 million in revenues, including a planned $10 million Life Safety Bond issue, and $59.1 in expenses, including $3.2 million in architect's fees and capital projects next summer.
Since the board last reviewed the document, it has been changed to reflect the fact that the district is slated to receive $600,000 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus) money for 2009-10. In part because of this, the district was able to reinstate $100,000 in proposed cuts from technology spending.
Half of the ARRA money can go to supplant current spending, while the other half must be used for new expenditures. District 58 plans to use some of the funding as seed money for a self-contained special education classroom, which will allow the district to keep students in-district for whom it normally would pay out-of-district tuition to attend class elsewhere.
There likely will be more changes to the budget before it is officially adopted in September, especially with the current uncertainty about what level of funding District 58 will see this year from the state. The budget as it stands reflects the continuation at current levels of a number of categorical programs that rely on funding from the state.
The board voted to hold its public hearing for the budget on Monday, Sept. 14, at 7 p.m. at Longfellow Center. |
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District follows legal advice regarding bond sale
During the June 8 public hearing regarding the issuance of $13 million in General Obligation Bonds, the majority of which will go towards much-needed replacements of six school roofs, School Board member Scott O'Connell stated that he intended to legally challenge the issuance.
The district's bond counsel, Chapman and Cutler, has said until O'Connell submits his objections in writing so they can determine whether the possibility of litigation bears merit, they will not issue the letter of approval that would enable District 58 to sell the bonds in the open market. Ten million of the bonds would be new money for Life Safety projects, and $3 million would refund outstanding debt issued in 2001.
Stan Eisenhammer, who represents District 58's law firm, said during the July 13 School Board meeting that it is the law firm's opinion as board counsel that O'Connell's verbally stated objections are ''without merit,'' and that the School Board has taken all steps necessary and required by law to issue the Life Safety bonds. He said he also believes Chapman and Cutler would be of a similar opinion if O'Connell were to provide all of his objections in writing. However, because he has not done that, the board is unable to issue the bonds.
''In the absence of Scott O'Connell's written objections, the only way to bypass this is through litigation,'' Eisenhammer told board members.
To institute the litigation, he advised Board President Elizabeth Davis to abstain from voting that evening on the resolutions to issue the bonds; and then, in her capacity as school board president, to withhold her signature from the resolution. That puts forth a legal ''controversy'' that can be litigated and resolved in court, Eisenhammer said.
Davis will retain independent legal counsel, but once the matter is resolved, the board will have the opportunity to discuss reimbursement. The next step is for the law firm to draft the complaint for review, after which it will be filed with the DuPage County court system. |
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Communicate
58 is a periodic, subscriber-based e-newsletter published by the
Downers Grove Grade School District 58 Office of Community Relations.
It is designed to offer our district community a convenient way to stay
informed about what's happening in the
district.
Please send questions, comments and feedback to Jennifer
Waldorf, Coordinator of Communications, at jwaldorf@dg58.org.
Do you know someone who would like to receive Communicate 58? Please encourage them to visit www.dg58.org to sign up.
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Dates to remember
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Friday, Aug. 21 will be a half-day of classes. Students will attend from 8:25 to 11:25 a.m. Kindergarten classes will meet for one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon.
The first full day of classes will be Monday, Aug. 24.
District 58's 2009-10 calendar calls for four half-days for staff development. These will take place on Sept. 21, Oct. 29, Feb. 1 and May 18.
Click here for the full 2009-10 calendar, including institute days and holidays. |
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District 58 classes win Fire Department contest
Two District 58 Learn Not to Burn classes--Sandra Leff's at Pierce Downer and Laurie Brennan's at Lester School--were honored at the May 19 Downers Grove Village Council meeting for their winning contributions to this year's Fire Department brochure contest.
Students in each fourth grade Learn Not to Burn class were asked to design a tri-fold safety brochure, which will be used to educate the community about fire safety and first aid during the 2009-10 school year.
The three contest categories were cover design, 10 important fire safety tips, and five important first aid tips. Leff's class won for fire safety tips, and Brennan's class won for first aid tips. |
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