D65 Board Approves TIF Agreement

By Larry Gavin

The District 65 School Board voted 4-0 on Aug. 7 to approve an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Evanston and School District 202, under which the City will pay $600,000 to the school districts out of amounts generated as "tax increment funds" from the TIF Districts established in the City. Upon commencement of construction of the Howard Street Station apartment complex in the City's Howard Street TIF District, the payment will increase to $800,000.

The payments will be split between the school districts, with 60 percent going to District 65 and 40 percent to District 202. The payments will be made for three years or until the City's Downtown II TIF District expires. The funds must be used by the school districts for job training and vocational and career education programs.

As part of the intergovernmental agreement, School Districts 65 and 202 have agreed to waive any right to be reimbursed for their increased costs from new students moving into the Howard Street TIF District. Under an amendment to the TIF laws, school districts have the right to recover a portion of the increased costs they incur due to new students moving into a TIF District created after the amendment went into effect. City officials said the waiver is essential to the viability of the Howard Street Station apartment complex. The developer of the project says that most of the apartment units in the project are single-bedroom units and are not likely to generate new students for the schools.

The Downtown II TIF District, which includes much of the new development near Century Theatres, is scheduled to expire in 2008, as are payments under the new intergovernmental agreement. District 65 officials do not expect to receive an increased payment from the Downtown II TIF until the school year 2010-11, and Board members expressed concern about the potential loss of TIF funds during that two-year period. While the intergovernmental agreement does not provide for any payments after 2008, it provides that the City will analyze the financial status of the TIF districts to determine if continued payments to the school districts are feasible. Board President Mary Erickson said she will speak to City Council to urge them to continue the payments after 2008.

The District 202 Board approved the intergovernmental agreement on June 19. The District 65 Board had rejected approving the agreement on July 27, pending discussion between District administrators and the City.

D65 Program/Policy Committee Discusses Goals for 2006-07

By Larry Gavin

The Program/Policy Committee of the District 65 School Board began to discuss the Board's goals for the 2006-07 school year at its Aug. 7 meeting. The Committee reached consensus that the two most important things facing the District next year are meeting the annual yearly progress goals of the No Child Left Behind Act and finding a placement for the Two- Way Immersion (TWI) program. Goals will be drafted to address these issues. The Committee also reached consensus that either a goal or an expectation would be that the District continue to have a balanced budget.

The Program/Policy Committee is composed of four Board members, three of whom were present at the meeting on Aug. 7. Board members who are not on the committee or who were not present have expressed an interest in adopting a goal to address special education, as well as other issues. The full Board is expected to decide on goals for 2006-07 before school starts.

Academic achievement
The committee reached quick consensus that one goal should be to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, which requires that 55 percent of each student subgroup meet or exceed state standards on the 2007 ISATs. Results for the 2006 ISATs have not yet been reported, but on the 2005 ISATs, a number of subgroups fell short of the 55% mark. For example, 47% of black third graders, 50% of Hispanic third graders and 44% of third graders with an Individual Lesson Plan (IEP) met standards in reading.

Dr. Murphy proposed that the goal include that the District develop intervention plans to increase the achievement of student subgroups not meeting the adequate yearly progress goals of NCLB.

Location of TWI
Mary Erickson said she thought the most important thing the District should do next year is to decide on a permanent placement of TWI. Dr. Murphy said, "We need to get this done for the District to operate efficiently for all students."

This year the TWI program will expand to eight kindergarten classes and a total of 29 classrooms. If the program holds at eight classrooms per grade level, the program will need 48 classrooms in five years.

During the last six months a range of possibilities has been mentioned by the administration and Board members on how to address the TWI program, including retaining TWI as the sole bilingual program, adding a second bilingual program such as one-way immersion and capping the TWI program. If TWI is capped, the Board would have to determine at what level to cap it. Another possibility mentioned is whether to place TWI in one or more "language academies." If so, the Board would have to decide whether these academies would be at one of the magnet schools or one or more attendance-area schools.

Jonathan Baum has suggested that the Board engage in a visioning process to determine what the community would like the structure of the schools to look like, i.e., what mix of attendance area and magnet or choice schools. He argued, "You choose a school system you want to have and choose a bilingual program that fits best into that system."

Mr. Baum and Mary Rita Luecke both proposed in written submissions that the Board consider adopting a goal to move forward with the visioning process. Neither was present at the Aug. 7 meeting to present this to the committee as a possible goal.

Other potential goals
Sharon Sheehan said she thought it was important that the Board adopt a goal keeping the focus on special education. In written submissions, Mr. Baum and Ms. Luecke also expressed an interest in adopting a goal to address the needs of students with an IEP. Dr. Murphy said if the Board wanted to have a goal addressing special education, it should be specific and achievable in one year.

Dr. Murphy said that many issues, even if they are not identified as goals, will be addressed in the District's Improvement Plan. He said that the District was moving into the second year of the current two-year plan, and that another two-year plan will be presented to the Board in March. The plan contains strategies to improve achievement of African-American students, Hispanic students and students with IEPs. It addresses enrichment programs and the delivery of special education programs. Dr. Murphy said the new District Improvement Plan will contain an instructional plan to improve student achievement which will synthesize the recommendations made in the middle school study, the special education study as well as other reports.

"From the staff's standpoint, just because things aren't listed as goals does not mean we are not working diligently to achieve them," said Dr. Murphy.

Program/Policy Committee Chair Marianne Kountoures, Ms. Erickson and Dr. Murphy will draft goals for the Board to review at its next meeting.

Two D65 Schools on Illinois Honor Roll

Chute Middle School, 1400 Oakton St., and Lincolnwood Elementary School, 2600 Colfax St., have been named 2006 academic improvement schools on the Illinois honor roll, two of only 306 Illinois schools to earn that distinction.

Schools that have made significant academic improvement by showing either a minimum 7.5-point improvement in state student assessments between 2004 and 2005 or at least a 15-point improvement in state student assessments between 2003 and 2005 receive this recognition.

District 65 Superintendent Hardy Murphy expressed appreciation to principals Beth Sagett-Flores of Lincolnwood and James McHolland of Chute and to their staffs.

Registration at ETHS Is Aug. 22-24

Evanston Township High School will hold general registration on Aug. 22-24. Students who register after Aug. 24 without having notified their Dean's office that they will register late will be charged a non-refundable late fee of $30. Ninth-graders register in Room W100; students in grades 10, 11, and 12 register in Beardsley Cafeteria. Registration times, scheduled alphabetically by last name, are as follows:

• Aug. 22 - Grade 9 (A-C, 10a.m.-1 p.m.; D-G, 1-3 p.m.); Grades 10, 11, 12 (Prepay/Express ONLY: A-L, 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.; M-Z, 1:30-4:30 p.m.)
• Aug. 23 - Grade 9 (H-LA, 1-3:30 p.m.; LE-O, 3:30-6 p.m.); Grades 10, 11, 12 (A-G, 8:30-11:30 a.m.; H-P, 1:30-4:30 p.m.)
• Aug. 24 - Grade 9 (P-SK, 3-6 p.m.; SL-Z, 6-8 p.m.); Grades 10, 11, 12 (Q-Z, 12:30-3:30 p.m.; A-Z, 5:30-7:30 p.m.) Halterman Photographers will be set up at each registration center to take yearbook pictures for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors.

D65 Registration

All new and returning students must register for the 2006-07 school year. Registrations willl be taken noon to 7 p.m. Aug. 9 and 11 and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 10 at the Joseph E. Hill Education Center, 1500 McDaniel Ave. Any child living in District 65 who will be 5 years old by Sept. 1 is eligible to register for kindergarten. Call 847-492-5887.

Reception for Superintendent Witherspoon

The District 202 Board of Education will host a welcome reception for new District 202 Superintendent, Dr. Eric Witherspoon, from 4:40 to 7 p.m. on Sept. 7 in the Planetarium Courtyard of Evanston Township High School, 1600 Dodge Ave. (Come to the Terrace in case of rain.)

The entire Evanston/Skokie community is encouraged to comemeet Dr. Witherspoon and welcome him to the community. Contact Kathy Miehls at 847-424-7515 or miehls@eths.k12.il.us.