Board Has Workshop on Job Description, Evaluation Tool for Superintendent

By Mary Helt Gavin

On Oct. 23 District 65 School Board members took a sharp blue pencil to proposals from their consultants as they worked their way through a glossary and a job description for the superintendent, postponing for later discussion a "management qualities" section of an evaluation document for the superintendent. The documents are being tailored to the District and its needs and are not intended to be specific to the present Board and superintendent. Before embarking on the long evening of clarification, the consultants cautioned, "The devil is in the details."

While many of the proposed glossary terms required only punctuation, clarification or minor rewording to fit working definitions, others required some considerable reworking before they fit usage acceptable and common to the Board and the Superintendent.

The proposed job description for the superintendent was at some points a springboard for Board members to revisit some thorny issues about his accountability.

Evaluation of principals
The question of who should evaluate principals and be accountable for the results evoked much discussion. Some felt that the superintendent should evaluate the principals; others felt the task should fall to an assistant superintendent, with the superintendent ultimately responsible.

Superintendent Hardy Murphy said he takes an active role in evaluating principals at the District's 16 schools. The proposed job description, however, suggested that the superintendent should have less immediate involvement, evaluating only the assistant superintendents and other top administrators, including the one whose job includes evaluation of principals.

Dr. Murphy said he would like to continue to evaluate the principals, along with one of the assistant superintendents. Then, he said, if the Board felt the assistant superintendent for operations was not performing her evaluations well, "then you can address it with me."

Board member Mary Rita Luecke said she felt that there was a problem at present, because "the principals are not fairly evaluated and there is no accountability."

Board member Jonathan Baum said the issue of evaluation of principals and how those evaluations should reflect on the superintendent's performance "has been an issue that has divided the Board. ... [We disagree on] the extent to which there should be superintendent accountability for the poor performance of principals."

Board President Mary Erickson said, "In terms of having something done about problems [with certain principals] we're aware of - that's [the kind of accountability] we're looking for."

Dr. Murphy noted that, although he was already involved directly in evaluating the principals, putting the proposed procedure into the job description would mean "increased accountability for the Superintendent in evaluating the principals."

Ms. Luecke responded, "If you are doing it, why are you resistant to adding to the job description?"

Dr. Murphy responded. "I'm not sure I've heard the Board speak with one voice about this. ... I think there are issues that need to be addressed."

Because the Board and the superintendent could not come to a consensus about how the evaluation of principals should fit into a job description for the superintendent, they decided that that section would be addressed as a goal set by the Board for the Superintendent.

Management evaluation
Because of time constraints, the Board continued the "management qualities" section of what is likely to become the instrument for evaluating the superintendent's performance. As yet, no date has been set for that discussion. If adopted by the Board, the management qualities section will replace a similar document crafted by Ms. Erickson and former Board member Bob Eder. That document, used by the Board in the recent evaluation of the superintendent, drew criticism from some Board members as being "too subjective."

PTA Council Questions TWI Decision-Making Process

Special to the RoundTable from PTA Council

Amidst frustrations that the Spanish-English two-way immersion (TWI) program has become "the tail that wags the dog" in District 65, the PTA Council decided at its Oct. 19 meeting to survey local PTAs on the administration's handling of this contentious issue.

The Council leadership also plans to attend the Nov. 6 Board committee meeting when District officials will deliberate on how best to serve Spanish-speaking children, who represent only 8 percent of the District's enrollment.

The Council - a networking organization consisting of representatives from each of the local PTAs - met for the first time since forming a series of subcommittees.

Drawing on co-chair Rochelle Whyte-Washington's experience as an alderwoman, the Council determined that a subcommittee structure offered the most efficient means to process the profusion of information that always circulates throughout the school community.

Volunteers have stepped forward to chair subcommittees involving communication, health, special education, TWI, registration, middle schools, diversity, child care, gifted programs and District 202.

Oakton School parents plan to designate a subcommittee chair on the African-Centered Curriculum. The long-standing PTA Council subcommittee - the District 65/202 Joint Legislative Task Force - already has a chair.

TWI subcommittee chair Tracy Quattrocki updated Council members on attempts by the administration to create a long-term plan to handle the bilingual program.

Three options are being considered: consolidating all TWI strands into either two attendance-area schools or one attendance/one magnet school; continued dispersal of the program around the District; or a combination of consolidation and dispersal.

In recent weeks, the PTAs at a number of elementary schools have hosted meetings on the topic. Several Council members concluded that the Board seems less interested in how to structure the school system than what to do about TWI.

Council co-chair Althea Ricketts said, "The decision-making process appears to be driven by politics - where the administration would get the least resistance rather than any serious attempt to determine the best model for educating bilingual children."

Noting that too many decisions are made in an information vacuum, Council members suggested that one thing the group can do is to serve as a communication channel between the local PTAs and the School Board. They will begin by surveying local PTAs on the TWI decision-making process.

In other news, registration subcommittee chair Kaquana King related information about a software program whose virtues include capability for online registration.

Information services assistant director Lora Taira said the District is trying to replicate some of the functionality of this software program using the current system. Ms. King agreed to represent the Council at the District's new registration committee.

About 20 people attended the meeting. Several members did not attend because they went to school/community meetings taking place that evening in the building.

At one point, District 65 Board member Jerome Summers came by to introduce himself and say he is ready, willing and able to meet with local PTAs.

The next PTA Council meeting will take place on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at the Hill Education Center board room, 1500 McDaniel Ave.

Lincolnwood Fall Fest

Halloween came early for some Lincolnwoood School students, posing at the photo booth at Lincolnwood's Fall Festival on Oct.14.

Games, a pumpkin trampoline and a dinosaur slide were just a few of the exciting activities at the Fall Fest.
It's a balancing act on the rope walk for a happy first-grader.

EAP Grows, Tightens Standards

By Jennie Berkson

An Evanston Township High School program to help underachieving students stay involved in extracurricular activities has seen increased participation and more rigor in its administration, according to a report presented to the District 202 School Board on Oct. 23.

The Extracurricular Academic Program (EAP) gives students with a previous-semester GPA of 1.7 to 1.99 a one-time opportunity to continue participating in extracurricular activities if they receive focused support and fulfill the requirements of a contract. Normally, ETHS requires a 2.0 to participate in athletic and selected extracurricular activities. EAP was launched in spring 2004 in to allow students experiencing temporary difficulties in meeting academic standards to say involved.

Dan Vosnos, associate director of athletics, heads the program. In the past, an average of only six students per semester took advantage of it; this fall, 11 students are involved.

"These numbers represent only students who participate in extracurricular activities in the fall," Mr. Vosnos told the Board. "We anticipate these numbers to increase once students register for winter activities."

Additional requirements have been placed on participants.

"New this year is a mandatory Monday morning academic session with me," said Mr. Vosnos. On Monday morning late-start B-days, students meet with Mr. Vosnos from 8:05 to 8:50 a.m. "These sessions allow time to go over e-mails or reports from teachers. If a student fails to attend, he or she will not be allowed to participate in that week's extracurricular event or game," Mr. Vosnos said.

Last spring when the Board authorized the program for another two years, they requested that Mr. Vosnos market EAP to encourage more eligible students to participate.

Mr. Vosnos reported that program requirements appear in the Pilot and on Extracurricular Code forms. Coaches and sponsors discuss EAP at pre-season meetings, and homebase teachers are asked to notify their students of the opportunity.

At the end of each semester Mr. Vosnos will identify students with GPA's of 1.7 - 1.99. Coaches and sponsors will receive a list of these students so they can speak with potential participants.

"The program has had an 86 percent success rate in providing students with the necessary resources to help facilitate their return toward academic success and a 2.0 GPA," Mr. Vosnos reported. Board member Missy Fleming asked him to explain what an 86 percent success rate means.

"Eighty-six percent of students had a 2.0 GPA when they finished the program," said Mr. Vosnos.

Mr. Vosnos suggested that the program might be extended to students whose GPA falls between 1.5 and 1.69. Board President Ross Friedman objected, saying, "We want students to succeed" but adding that those who are far removed from the target GPA might try in vain to reach it.

"I'm glad to see that you have tightened up the program. I like that you have the teeth in it for not attending the Monday morning meeting," remarked Board member Rachel Hayman. She then asked if a student who has a 2.0 and is "flirting with disaster" might be included in the program. Mr. Vosnos indicated that would be a good possibility.

The program is authorized through second semester 2008, when it will come up for a vote again.

District 202 Enrollment Drops; Hispanic Population Increases

By Jennie Berkson

The Opening of Schools Report for 2006-07, presented at the Oct. 23 District 202 Board meeting, reports the following:

Enrollment: 3,041 students, down 123 from 2005-06 and down 62 from 2004-05.

Ethnicity: 47% of the students are white, 37% are black, 10% are Hispanic, 3% are Asian, and 3% are multi-racial. The percentage of Hispanic students has been increasing over the past five years; the percentage of black students has decreased slightly.

Grade level: Ninth-grade enrollment is 862, compared to 808 in 2005-2006. 10th-grade enrollment is 781, compared to 868;11th-grade enrollment is 773, compared to 734; and12th-grade enrollment is 625, compared to 754 in 2005-2006. According to the report, the shift in grade-level enrollments can be attributed in part to a new procedure for reclassifying students. Students who do not have enough credits to be promoted to the next grade are retained in the grade for which they do have sufficient credits.

Program: 2,953 students attend the day school; 88 attend the Academy (night school). In 2005-06 the numbers were 3,064 and 100, respectively.

Special education: 89 students attend special education programs off-campus this year, compared to 78 last year.

The number of District 202 residents attending private or parochial schools increased this year to a total of 304, compared to 280 in 2005-06. The number of students going to Loyola Academy rose from 171 to 192. The number attending Ida Crown increased from 17 to 35.

Board Outreach Off to Good Start

By Jennie Berkson

"People stopped by to ask directions and then we got a chance to introduce ourselves and tell people we are accessible," said District 202 Board member Rachel Hayman, co-coordinator, with Martha Burns, of the Board outreach program. She was referring to the Board's experience at Evanston Township High School parent-teacher conferences. Board members have been attending a variety of events and meetings and have hosted a coffee for faculty and staff.

This month, Ms. Burns and Board member Missy Fleming will attend the ETHS PTSA Coffee at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 9 in room S214. At. 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 30 Board members Margaret Lurie and Mary Wilkerson will attend the Realtors' Breakfast in the ETHS Terrace Room.

As requested, Board members will also attend middle school and magnet school PTA meetings.
Projected Budget Deficits in 2008 and Beyond for District 202 Encourage Efficiencies, Possible Fees Plan

By Jennie Berkson

Despite recent multimillion-dollar cuts to programs and staff, District 202 will have only one year in the next six without a budget deficit, according to projections presented to the School Board at its Oct. 23 meeting.

Deficits not "dire"
The anticipated deficits in the combined operating funds begin at $121,896 in 2007 and rise to "a cumulative" $2,096,715 in 2012, even with added funds from the expiration of the Downtown II (Research Park) TIF, beginning in 2009. The rising cost of employee benefits and restrictions on the annual levy because of tax caps were cited as the major causes of the projected deficits.

"I do not consider the projections dire," William Stafford, Evanston Township High School's chief financial officer, told the RoundTable. "They show that the next two years are manageable and that the District needs to look at ways to find efficiencies over the next two years that will avoid deficits three years and further out," he added.

Board President Ross Friedman agreed. "The immediate future looks good, based on the proactive steps the Board took and taking into consideration the TIF and retirees," he said. However, he cautioned, "without more progressive funding for public education, our District's long-term outlook seems more tentative."

Despite the negative predictions, Don Weber, vice president of PMA Financial Network, consultants to ETHS, complimented the District for its financial responsibility.

"ETHS is the poster child for an organization who has done proactive thinking through analysis of the data," said Dr. Weber. "You've worked through emotional decisions. The outcomes have been data-driven. Every decision has been taken with consideration for its impact on students." Dr. Weber assured the Board that ETHS "is in a lot better shape" than other districts around the state and reminded them that District 202 "receives the highest financial rating that the state can offer."

A whole range of data is considered in preparing the financial plan. Among the historical data in PMA's District 202 file are five years of audited annual financial reports, tax levies and extensions, equalized assessed valuation (EAV), maximum tax rates, school enrollments, student/teacher ratios and salary and benefits programs, all of which inform the projections.

Revenues, tax caps and expenses
PMA presented its underlying assumptions about revenues and expenditures. Local revenue, which makes up 91 percent of the District's total revenue, comes from property taxes. About 75 percent of the District's expenses are allocated to salaries and benefits.

Tax caps
A school district's tax levy is limited by tax caps, which are tied to the consumer price index (CPI). PMA said the CPI, which has been as high as 3.4 percent in recent years, is predicted to drop to 2.5 percent by 2009 and continue to stay at that level.

New property (such as a new condominium development), however, does not come under the tax-cap limitation the first year it is on the property tax rolls. The EAV of new property has ranged between $14 and $35 million per year since 2002.

PMA projects "conservatively" an EAV of $12.5 million a year for new property, Steven Miller, senior financial advisor for PMA, told the Board members. There will be a bump in 2009, when the Downtown II (Research Park) TIF will expire; the EAV of new property in that year is projected at $112 million.

Mr. Stafford told the Board that having tax caps tied to the CPI rather than to a different market index presents a continuing problem for school districts because the elements of the budget for schools are different from the elements which make up the CPI.
"[Other market indices] are rising faster than the CPI, which has a much more diverse market basket," said Mr. Stafford. He said efforts to legislate changes in the index that governs tax caps have been unsuccessful so far.

Expense projections
Mr. Miller also explained the assumptions underlying PMA's expense projections. Teacher salaries will increase 2.5 percent for each of the next two years, under the current contract, he said. After it expires, PMA projects a 2-percent base increase, plus "steps" (bonuses tied to an employee's longevity and experience).

Between 2008 and 2012, other ETHS employees - including educational support personnel, custodial and maintenance, and administration and supervisory personnel - are all projected to receive 4-percent annual increases, according to PMA.

Other expenditures affecting the projections include employee benefits, which are expected to rise 12 percent per year and special education tuition, projected to increase by 10 percent annually. Younger and less expensive hires who replace retiring teachers and their costly salaries will garner some savings, Mr. Miller said.

Reactions
Representatives of Teachers' Council (TC) disagreed with some of the assumptions about revenues and expenses.

"We believe that the projections on new property are too conservative, and that it's incorrect to keep them flat for the next five years," said David Futransky, president of Teachers' Council, in a separate conversation with the RoundTable.

"In addition, we think that the salary estimates are too high, given the number of people who might retire, even as late as 2010. The reduction in those higher salaries could save the District as much as $1.5 million. I just hope that they're not painting a bleaker picture, hoping to hold the line on salary increases in future contracts," he said.

"The new property estimates are slightly conservative, but that is part of the methodology," Mr. Stafford said. "If they are too optimistic, there is a chance of over-estimating revenues, and that would not be good. We are working with TC to get a feel for possible retirees over the next few years and, until that analysis is done, it is not clear what savings might come out of those potential retirements," he added.

Mr. Stafford made three recommendations after the presentation. He suggested that school fees, including a possible extracurricular activity fee, be reviewed; that a five-year Capital Improvements Plan be developed within the next year; and that long-term budget strategies be discussed as part of the 2008 budget process.

Board members, reacting to the suggestion about an activity fee, expressed concern that although it would raise some revenue, it would not make much of a dent in the larger deficits. When the issue arose last spring, the Board learned that an extra-curricular activity fee of $125 per student could generate up to $250,000 in increased revenue depending on how the fee was structured. The Board tabled the proposal, despite significant community support, because they wanted to consider it within the context of an overall budget planning process. The proposal will be brought before the Board again in November.

Parents Can Attend Kids' Classes at ETHS

The Evanston Township High School administration, faculty, PTSA and students will host their annual open house on Wednesday, Nov. 15, for all ETHS parents, guardians and other adults who are significant in the lives of ETHS's students. Adults are encouraged to follow their child's class schedule, including after-school activities.This open house is a chance to see the school through the eyes of the students, not as a time for personal conferences.

School starts at 8:05 a.m. and runs to 3:35 .p.m; nine 43-minute periods; one 18-minute homebase period; and five minutes between periods. Parents may also take time out to talk to administrators and department chairs during the lunch periods.

Dress for the day is casual and comfortable, especially shoes, because ETHS is a large building. Parking is available in the lots in the front and rear of the school as well as on Dodge Avenue. The building is handicapped-accessible, and elevator service will be available for adults who require the assistance.

District 65 Board Approves Statement on Shared Values

At its Oct. 23 meeting, the District 65 School Board adopted a statement about shared values prepared over the past year by the Council for Excellence in Learning (CEL). CEL is composed of school and community representatives; its mission is to work for continual improvement in student achievement by developing and assessing the District's "mission, vision and strategic plans" with the aim of coming up with a shared mission, shared vision and shared values reflective of the community and its commitment to education.

According to a memo from CEL that accompanied the Shared Values Statement, the eight values expressed in it are intended to inform the questions "How do we promote attitudes, behaviors and commitments that must exist to create the future of our schools/district?" Among the values are preparing students to be productive citizens of a diverse, global society; having high expectations of students; maintaining skilled, committed, nurturing teachers, administrators and professional staff; and managing resources effectively.

The Board approved the statement unanimously.

Nichols Benefit

The Nichols PTA will hold a benefit from 7 to 9 p.m. on Nov. 9 at Tommy Nevin's Pub, 1454 Sherman Ave. Parents will perform music, and there will be a silent auction to raise money to cover the cost of programs, clubs and sports activities that the PTA provides to benefit all students at Nichols School.

Board Nominating Petitions Available Nov. 2

Nominating petition forms for the April 17, 2007 school board election in Evanston/Skokie CC School District 65 are available in the office of the school board secretary. Forms may be picked up beginning November 2nd from Pat Markham at 1500 McDaniel Avenue, Evanston on any business day between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Petitions must be filed in the same office no earlier than 8 a.m. on Jan. 29, 2007 and no later than 5 p.m. on Feb. 5, 2007. Call -847- 859-8067.