In April, the District 15 Board of Education and the Classroom Teachers' Council, the union that represents our teachers, negotiated and reached agreement on a 10-year contract. While the contract is going through final, routine review by both the District and teachers' union, we are glad to put in place the kind of fiscal planning that allows us to protect our assets and secure the future for our students and community. 

Since the Board first announced the contract, several questions have been raised, including how this contract takes into account the uncertainty that exists in school funding, pension obligations, rising healthcare costs, and an unpredictable Consumer Price Index, which typically directly impacts teacher salary. 

It's important to know that these fiscal uncertainties were, in fact, some of the most compelling reasons to negotiate a contract that allows us to know exactly what our financial obligations are for the next decade. 

We took a look at each of the 885 teachers -- experience levels and ages -- in our District, calculated 10 years of salary schedules, built in a strong early retirement incentive and mandate, and feel confident that over the life of this contract, our salary costs will go up less than 1 percent per year -- a number this District and our community can bank on until 2026. 

This contract allows future Boards and Administrations to focus on innovative teaching and learning opportunities, without concerns of the possibility of a disruption to the learning process. 

This kind of long-range planning is forward-thinking, and while different than our approach in the past, we believe it is in the best interests of our students, staff, and community. 

Additionally, questions regarding when the final contract will be made public have been asked. It has been the operating procedure of both the Board and the Administration, as well as the District's unions, to come to an agreement in principle in the negotiating process, and then to let both sides work out the finer details of the contract, thereby postponing the release of specifics until they are complete.

For example, during the 2012-2016 teacher contract negotiations, the Board approved the contract (under the presidency of Tim Millar and vice presidency of Scott Herr) on June 13, 2012; the contract was subsequently signed by Mr. Millar and Mr. Herr in November 2012. It was printed and published on our website shortly thereafter. A similar time frame occurred with the SEIU contract in 2012.

The District works hard to be transparent in its processes -- and this one is no different. The full contract will be made available on the District website once the final review process is complete.

Due to construction, 11 District 15 schools will be closed this summer.
 
Those schools and the buildings that will temporarily host their office staffs and summer programs are as follows:



All programming for students who attend the schools that will be closed for the summer will instead be offered at their host buildings.
 
The closed schools' principals and secretaries will also be working at their respective host buildings throughout the summer, but their contact information -- their phone numbers and e-mail addresses -- will remain the same.
 
The District anticipates that the closed schools will reopen by Monday, August 15, in time for the District's Teacher Institute Days and "Meet the Teacher" and "Walk Your Schedule" events before the first day of school on Wednesday, August 17.

Last year, the Illinois State Board of Education replaced its long-standing Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) with the new Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam. The PARCC exam is fully aligned with the Common Core State Standards in English, language arts, and math, which were adopted in 2010 and gradually implemented over the past several years.
 
However, the PARCC exam does not test students' knowledge in science, so this year ISBE is introducing the Illinois Science Assessment (ISA). It is important to note that, while the ISA is a new exam, a state science assessment is not new to Illinois, as the ISAT previously included a science section that was administered each year to fourth and seventh graders.
 
ISA will instead be administered to fifth and eighth graders. Students will take the untimed test on computers toward the end of May. It will be comprised of 20 questions that will take approximately 40 minutes for them to complete.
 
Questions on ISA will be aligned to the Illinois Learning Standards in Science that were adopted in 2014 and were based on the Next Generation Science Standards, which reflect a contemporary understanding of what students need to know in this content area. Just like the Common Core State Standards do for English, language arts, and math, the Illinois Science Standards outline the most important concepts in science that students should be taught at each grade level.
 
Read more about the ISA.

Beginning Monday, May 9, all students will need to have sufficient funds in their MealTime Online accounts in order to purchase lunch or a la carte items. Students will no longer be able to charge their purchases -- or use IOUs -- and they will not be able to purchase anything until their IOUs are paid.  
 
To find out how much is left in your child's account, please log on to your child's MealTime Online account, contact your school's lunch coordinator, or call School Nutrition Services at 847-963-3928. (No payments to Mealtime Online accounts can be made between Friday, June 3, and Monday, August 1.)
 
NOTE: All meal account balances will roll over to the next school year. Sixth graders' year-end account balances will be transferred to their accounts at the junior highs they will be attending. Eighth graders' year-end balances can be refunded or transferred to a sibling's account. Please contact School Nutrition Services at 847-963-3928 to request a refund or a transfer of funds.
 
Cash refunds of less than $10 can be issued to your child upon receipt of a signed note from a parent or guardian, but they cannot be issued the last three days of school. Refunds greater than $10 will be issued by a District check and mailed to the student's home address once a parent's request has been received.
 
For more information, visit School Nutrition Services' End of the Year School Lunch Procedures, contact your school's lunch coordinator, or call School Nutrition Services at 847-963-3928.

Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, band and orchestra students who do not have their own instruments to use must begin renting their instruments from any of the following District-approved music stores:

• Palatine Music Center
• The Music Room
• Music and Arts
• The String Project
• Cassandra Strings
• Hoffman Strings
• Fix This!
• Classic Violins

District 15 will only rent instruments to students if their particular instruments are not available for rent in these stores.
 
This change in policy is a result of increasing costs associated with maintaining the District's instruments. Each year, as its inventory ages, the cost of repairing the instruments grows, far exceeding the amount the District receives from its rental fees. Meanwhile, for instruments rented from these stores, maintenance and liability costs are covered under their monthly service plans and rental agreements.
 
The District will continue to offer its instrument scholarship program to help students in need of financial assistance.
 
For more information, or to enquire about financial assistance, contact Kate Arenberg, Fine Arts Coordinator, at 847-963-3047 or arenberk@ccsd15.net. Para asistencia en espaņol, llame a Nancy Aguirre, secretaria del Departamento de Segundo Idioma, al 847-963-3130 o aquirren@ccsd15.net.