continued

D65 Board Adopts Plan to House the TWI Program

The plan adopted by the Board will keep one strand of TWI (one class per grade level) at Dawes, Dewey, Oakton, and Willard Schools and two strands at Washington School. The selection criteria will remain the same as now, with the exception that one-half of the slots for English-speaking students at Washington school will be open to students District-wide. If a seventh TWI classroom is needed at the kindergarten level next year, it will be placed at Oakton School.

Essentially the long-term plan is to keep things the way they are with two modifications: TWI will be dropped at Walker School; and the selection criteria will be modified for English-speaking students at Washington School.

Rejection of Administration's Recommendation
The administration had recommended a single strand of TWI at six schools: Dawes, Dewey, Oakton, Washington, Walker and Willard. This would have kept the placement of TWI the way it is now, with the exception of reducing TWI from two strands to one strand at Washington School. The administration also recommended that if a seventh strand were needed to accommodate an influx of Spanish-speaking students, that it be placed at Washington School.

All members of the Board agreed that six strands of TWI were sufficient to accommodate the TWI program, but four members balked at eliminating a second strand at Washington School. On a roll-call vote, Board President Mary Erickson, Marianne Kountoures and Jerome Summers voted to adopt the administration's recommendation. Jonathan Baum, Julie Chernoff, Mary Rita Luecke, and Sharon Sheehan voted no, each saying he or she could not support a plan that did not keep two strands of TWI at Washington School.

Mr. Baum had stated at previous meetings that two strands of TWI should be kept at Washington so that Spanish-speaking students who were in Oakton's attendance area and who could not attend Oakton because of lack of space could attend Washington, the next closest school. He said, though, "I believe that we must make maintaining a healthy two strands of general education at Washington as high a priority as maintaining a healthy two strands of TWI."

Ms. Luecke said she supported consolidating the TWI program, because consolidation would bring teachers together and allow them to support each other better than a single-strand model. She said, "I believe that as a minimum we must support two stands at Washington, because having two strands at Washington provides a center for the program, and it helps to ground the program. And sometimes it provides a training ground for teachers who then go out into the satellite schools and help to develop the strands that have been developed."

Ms. Sheehan explained her vote saying, "Educationally, the teachers who know the strengths and weaknesses of this program better than others have consistently and strongly supported some sort of consolidation. Consolidation makes sense from an educational and a systemic perspective and the proposal destroys the only consolidation we do have.

"I support two strands of TWI and two strands of general education at Washington," Ms. Sheehan continued. "It does not make sense to take away a well-functioning strand in order to rebuild a strand someplace else. The building of a strand is divisive in and of itself."

Ms. Chernoff said this is the first year in a number of years Washington had made adequate yearly progress (AYP) under the No Child Left Behind Act, and it appeared that things are working well at Washington. "I just think it would be a gift to Washington to keep a second strand there at least for the near future…Give them a chance to gel the way they are."

Ms. Erickson supported the administration's single-strand model, saying there would be a benefit to having a uniform model, because the District could plan uniformly for that model She also expressed concern that if two TWI strands remained at Washington, more English-speaking students would enroll in TWI and she questioned whether "we can count on having two reasonably strong general education strands there." .She added, "I feel there's a compelling reason to have a north side TWI just in terms of trends in housing patterns, and I think those trends are going to continue."

Mr. Summers said, "A north side strand is not only doable but appropriate. We want every student to have a school they can go to that is in their attendance area. So why is it that Latino children shouldn't have a school in their attendance area they can go?" In supporting a reduction of TWI strands at Washington, he said, "There's only one strand of general education at the kindergarten level at Washington. From my point of view this is a general education district."

Ms. Kountoures supported the administration's recommendation "because it is fiscally responsible and because it balances the needs of many students rather than the demands of special interests."

The administration recommended reducing Washington to one strand of TWI because the number of Spanish-speaking students in Washington's attendance area has declined over the years. This year there were only seven Spanish-speaking students in Washington's attendance area that enrolled in TWI at the kindergarten level. Two strands of TWI will accommodate about 20 Spanish-speaking students per grade level.

Two Strands at Washington, TWI Dropped at Walker
After all Board members concurred that six strands of TWI were adequate to accommodate the TWI program and after four members of the Board said they supported keeping TWI at Washington, the issue became whether to drop TWI at Willard or Walker. The program was established at each of these schools at the kindergarten level this year.

A number of Board members said they wanted to keep TWI at a school in the north end of Evanston to serve the growing number of Spanish-speaking students who resided in the Fifth Ward.

Speaking for the administration, Superintendent Hardy Murphy said, "We want to leave the program at Willard. That's our recommendation to you tonight." Paul Brinson, director of information services, said, "At Walker those students would be redistributed back across Dawes, Washington, Dewey, if necessary, so they're staying relatively close to where they reside." He added that keeping the TWI program at Willard, "would allow for those students who are in the Fifth Ward to continue on at their normal attendance area middle school.

The Board approved dropping the TWI program at Walker School by a six-to-one vote, with Ms. Kountoures casting the sole "no" vote. The possibility of eliminating TWI at Walker had not been previously broached, and Ms. Kountoures said Walker families should be given a chance to give their input. Other Board members countered that the program had only been established at the kindergarten level at Walker, and families were told it was on a temporary basis.

In its Nov. 6 proposal, the administration said that Walker was one of two schools in the District "with a concentration" of Spanish-speaking students. This year, 12 Spanish-speaking students residing in Walker's attendance area enrolled in TWI at the kindergarten level.

Selection Criteria
At an earlier meeting a majority of the Board supported using the current selection criteria for admittance into the program. Under the current criteria, Spanish-speaking students are assigned to a TWI program based on their attendance area school. English-speaking students who have an older sibling in the TWI program are given a top priority. English-speaking students in the attendance area of a TWI school are given the next priority.

Ms. Sheehan proposed modifying the selection criteria at Washington School, where there will be two strands of TWI so that one-half of the TWI slots for English speaking students at Washington would be open to students District-wide. She said drawing one-half of the English-speaking students from outside Washington's attendance area would preserve a base of students for Washington's general education program.

The Board approved the modified selection criteria by a five-to-two vote, with Mr. Summers and Ms. Kountoures voting "no". Ms. Kountoures said she could not vote for any proposal made by a member of the Board.

A Possible Seventh Strand
In the event a seventh TWI classroom is needed for kindergarten next year, the Board voted 5-2 to place the program at Oakton, with Mr. Summers and Ms. Kountoures casting the two "no" votes.

District 65's Community Input Process Under Scrutiny

Special to the Roundtable from the PTA Council

The PTA Council is surveying PTA presidents about the District 65 administration's effectiveness in using school-community input for policymaking initiatives.
The Council decided on the survey content at its November meeting several days after District officials recommended that the Board maintain a single-strand approach as part of the Two-Way Immersion (TWI) bilingual program.

In October, the District asked local PTAs to hold meetings to consider three options: consolidation of 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. The District then asked principals to send an e-mail conveying their school-community consensus.

The administration announced its decision at the Board's Nov. 6 Program/Policy Committee meeting. PTA Council members in attendance found the principals' summaries in the last 12 pages of a 68-page handout. (The information is also available on D65 web page: http://www.d65.k12.il.us/ or www.district65.net under a link to "board of education" and "e-packets.")

At the meeting of the Council - a networking organization consisting of representatives from each of the local PTAs - members decided that the first question to ask is whether PTA presidents are aware the District has begun using e-packets as a means to disseminate information to the public; another question is how well a principal's comments reflect the consensus within the school on this issue. Other areas for the PTA Council are an assessment of the input-gathering process and suggestions for improvements.

Feedback from PTA Presidents on the substance and value of the community's TWI input will be discussed at the Council's Dec. 21 meeting. Council co-presidents Althea Ricketts and Rochelle Whyte-Washington plan to be on the agenda at a School board meeting in January to discuss the survey findings.

The questionnaire concept was developed over a two-month period when District officials appeared to be rushing to determine the future course of a program that has long suffered from stopgap measures.

PTA Council would like decisions made within the context of a strategic plan. However, given the Board's decision to not allocate time to District-wide planning,
PTA Council members decided they could be most effective by advocating that the decision-making process include thorough community input.

"We see our role as finding ways to improve the communication within and among the schools," says Ms. Ricketts. "As for ensuring that decisions are made within a broader strategic plan, we'd like to see this become an issue in this spring's school board elections."

Through its new subcommittee structure, the Council is devising plans to develop other surveys of the Evanston/Skokie school community. Other topics in the works include before- and after-school child-care and enrichment programs.

Council members expressed gratitude for District communications manager Pat Markham's efforts to improve the District's website. It now features an easy-to-read table of contents, an up-to-date calendar, and more Board committee information.

The ACC at Three Months

In African-Centered Curriculum at Oakton, Morning Rituals Help Engage Students

By Mary Helt Gavin

Student drummers guest star in a performance by S.O.U.L. Creations on Dec. 7 followed by the ACC morning ritual.

African drumming greeted the children in Oakton Elementary School's African-centered curriculum program (ACC) last Thursday morning as they gathered in the hallway for their opening ritual.

Afterward, the children returned to their grade-level classrooms, where their academics - reading, math and social studies - are "infused with African and African-American themes and history," said District 65's Dr. Valorie Moore.

The ACC, District 65's newest pilot program, is located in the kindergarten wing, now also called the African-centered wing of Oakton School, 436 Ridge Ave. There are three classes: 19 kindergartners, taught by Neidra Berry; 14 first-graders taught by Claudia Braithwaite; and 14 second-graders, taught by Tori Foreman.

The program uses the District 65 curriculum, said Dr. Moore, who oversees it. Supplementary material, based on African and African-American culture and history, is intended to "help the children form an identity and motivate them to learn," she added.

"The three classes meet together in the hall for their morning ritual," said Ms. Berry, a 24-year veteran of teaching in District 65. "We say or discuss the creed, listen to "Lift Every Voice And Sing" and talk about one of the virtues of Maát," an ancient Egyptian goddess who was the personification of the order of the universe. They have a similar meeting at the end of each day, she added.

"We have a virtue of the month," said Ms. Forman. "The first virtue was order and we discussed what order looks like and what it means. We emphasize collective responsibility: If one person is out of order, everyone is out of order." Balance is the virtue for December, she added.

During a press briefing last week, the teachers and several administrators emphasized the need for cultural identity for these students. "They are all children of the African Diaspora," said Gilo Logan of S.O.U.L. Creations, a consultant to the program.

In a presentation at Oakton School last spring, Ellen Folgelberg, director of literacy at District 65, that social studies would be the primary vehicle for the ACC. At present the students are learning about ancient Egypt.

On career day, Oct. 31, "The kids were asked to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up, "said Ms. Berry. "We had a discussion about careers and the kindergartners wrote a sentence - or dictated a sentence to their parents - about that, and we talked about African-American professionals in the careers they chose." Doctors and police officers were the most popular choices, Ms. Berry said, but "one girl said she wanted to be a beauty queen because she could get scholarships to college and then she could do anything."

Claudia Braithwaite teaches first-graders the African-Centered Curriculum.

Because the program is only three months old, there are not quantifiable results. The RoundTable learned that some parents of first- and second-graders in the program had complained that the curriculum was watered down, because after six weeks the children were still reviewing concepts from the previous year when other students were moving ahead. Dr. Moore said the ACC curriculum and the general education curriculum are "equally rigorous."

Teachers, administrators and parents at the press briefing praised the program. Ms. Braithwaite said she could tell a difference since the beginning of the year: "Kids are working together," she said.

Said Anthony Clark, parent of a student in the program, "The African-American history gives them a sense of pride, a sense of community. This is wonderful. We need something like this in more than just Oakton School."

Mr. Logan said "S.O.U.L. Creations has been in every school in Evanston, and the level of engagement here parallels that of any school in Evanston or elsewhere."

In response to a question about whether the students' engagement could be a result of the small class sizes, Dr. Moore said that it was not. "I believe we would see this even in classes double this size," she said.

Oakton houses not only the ACC and general education (GenEd) programs but also one strand (class per grade level) of the Spanish-English two-way immersion (TWI) program. Some parents feared having these three programs in one school would fragment the student body. To help foster cohesiveness within the school and bring together students in the three programs, the administration is offering weekly Spanish classes to all students. In addition the ACC students have art, music, gym, lunch and library with their peers in the TWI and GenEd programs, said Ms. Braithwaite.

Superintendent Hardy Murphy said the program was originally conceived as a four-year, or K-3, program. However, the School Board has not formally approved the third-grade aspect of the program nor voted on whether to expand the pilot ACC program to another school for next year.

D65 Committee Recommends Single Strands of TWIAt Six Schools, Keeping Current Selection Criteria

By Larry Gavin

The District 65 School Board is moving closer to a decision on the long-term placement of the Two-Way-Immersion (TWI) program. The Board's Program/Policy Committee decided on Dec. 4 to recommend placing single strands of TWI - one classroom of TWI per grade level - at six elementary schools. Under this recommendation, Washington School would be reduced from two strands of TWI to one. The Committee will also recommend using the current selection criteria for admission into the TWI program, instead of changing to criteria proposed by the administration.

While the Committee did not identify the six schools at which TWI will be placed, there appears to be consensus that TWI will remain at Dawes, Dewey, Oakton, Walker and Washington, in accord with the administration's recommendation. The Committee could not reach agreement on the sixth school. The administration recommended Willard, but Board member Julie Chernoff questioned whether the sixth location should be Kingsley School.

The Committee is composed of four Board members: Marianne Kountoures, Jonathan Baum, Julie Chernoff and Mary Erickson. Board members Sharon Sheehan, Jerome Summers and Mary Rita Luecke attended the meeting, but were not permitted to vote because they are not members of the Committee.

The Board heard held a public forum to receive community input on the proposal on Dec. 11. (see sidebar). The full Board is scheduled to reach a decision on Dec. 18.

Willard or Kingsley?
Nine Willard parents lined up at the Committee's meeting on Dec. 4 and presented opposing views about keeping the TWI program at Willard School. TWI was established at Willard at the kindergarten grade level this year.

Two parents argued the program should be dropped at Willard, saying that general education classes would increase in size if TWI remained at the school, and that the school was not large enough to house the program.

Seven Willard parents urged the Board to keep TWI at the school. Anna Maria Anderson, a parent of an English-speaking student in the TWI program, said 75 native Spanish-speaking students reside in the attendance areas of schools that feed into Haven Middle School, and that the TWI program belongs in one of the north Evanston feeder schools. In defending the administration's recommendation to keep TWI at Willard, she said, "Willard is not as diverse as other schools. It's something I long for, for all the kids on the playground. And now that TWI's there, you can feel it. By the time kids go through a full strand of TWI, the playground will be rich with more culture and more diversity."

According to the Opening of Schools Report, Willard's student body is 72 percent white. It is the only school in the District that does not comply with the 60 percent guideline.

Gabriela Estrada, a parent of a native Spanish-speaking student in the TWI program, spoke on behalf of parents of six of the native Spanish-speaking students at Willard. "We do not want to be moved from Willard school," she said. Responding to a suggestion that Spanish-speaking students who lived in the Fifth Ward be sent to Dewey or Walker, she said, "We don't feel the distance to Willard is very far…By attending a school in the Haven attendance area our kids will have a better transition to middle school."

Ms. Chernoff said she did not understand why Willard was selected instead of Kingsley School. A map prepared by the administration showed that almost all of the native Spanish-speaking speaking students who reside in the attendance areas of one of the Haven feeder schools reside south of the canal. "I can't understand why Willard was chosen when it's a smaller school than Kingsley and it's further away," Ms. Chernoff said.

Superintendent Hardy Murphy said Willard was chosen because it had "a great deal of support" from the parents of English-speaking students at Willard, and only a few Kingsley parents expressed an interest in the program. Assistant Superintendent Susan Schultz said the administration took into account that the TWI program would improve diversity at Willard and that the number of applications of English-speaking students demonstrated it was a school "where we could have a viable program."

Ms. Chernoff said the TWI program was designed for Spanish-speaking students and that the location of English-speaking students should not determine the location of the program. "It's not the English language parents that should determine it. It's the Spanish speakers. That's who should determine it."

Ms. Chernoff voted against the recommendation to continue the TWI program at Willard, saying she wanted more input from families of Spanish-speaking students on the location they preferred before reaching a final decision. "I would like to see a school in one of the north feeder schools, but I'm still struggling with Willard," she said. "I'm seeing the migration of the number of [native Spanish-speaking] families into the Fifth Ward, and I think we need to address that in some way. I think a strand in one of the feeder schools on the north side will address that and allow those kids to go through school together and end up at Haven together."

One TWI Strand at Washington
The Committee recommended reducing the number of TWI strands at Washington School to one strand by a three-to-one vote. Washington currently has two TWI classes at the K-4 grade levels and three at fifth grade.

Board President Mary Erickson said Washington has served many children from outside its attendance area and has been very crowded compared to other schools in the District. She said, "I think going to this one strand configuration will put Washington back into an equality position with the other schools in the District.

She added, "I think there's a real tipping point when you put two strands of TWI at a school in terms of what happens to your general education program. We're finding that out as it goes along, and I think going back to one stand makes a lot of sense."

Ms. Chernoff took a different approach. She said, "I have been a proponent of the two strands…I'm just being realistic looking at the numbers going forward." The number of native Spanish-speaking students has declined in the Washington attendance area, but increased in the Fifth Ward. She said she preferred to place a sixth strand of TWI in the north end of town to accommodate the growing number of Spanish-speaking families in the Fifth Ward, rather than keeping a second strand of TWI at Washington.

Mr. Baum said there was not room at Oakton School for many native Spanish students who resided in the Oakton attendance area. He urged the Board to keep two strands of TWI at Washington, because it was the next-closest school for these students. He voted against reducing Washington to one strand of TWI.

Selection Criteria
The Committee voted to recommend using the current selection criteria for admission into the TWI program, rather than changing to the criteria recommended by the administration. Under the current criteria, Spanish-speaking students are assigned to a school based on their attendance area school. English-speaking students who have an older sibling in the TWI program are given a top priority. English-speaking students in the attendance area of a TWI school are given the next priority.

The selection criteria recommended by the administration would have required the District to take the race and gender of English-speaking students into account in deciding whether to admit them into the TWI program. The plan was to balance the composition of the English-speaking students in the TWI classes with the composition of the general education classes in the school. In addition, students in the attendance area of a TWI school would have been guaranteed a minimum of 20 percent of the spaces, and sibling preference was listed as the fifth priority.

Dr. Murphy said if the Board wanted to make sibling preference and neighborhood preference a higher priority, the administration "was comfortable with that." He added, if the Board decided to keep the current selection criteria, "The classrooms will look a little different."

"The reason for the proposed change in the selection criteria was to manage the general education program," said Lora Taira, assistant director of information services. She added, "If there's only one strand of TWI at Washington, the current selection process would be very workable."

Community Forum on TWI

About 25 persons spoke at the public forum held by the District 65 School Board on Dec. 11 to obtain input concerning the long-term placement of the Two-Way Immersion (TWI) program. The comments focused on whether to keep TWI at Willard School and whether to reduce TWI at Washington School to one strand (one class per grade level).

Willard School
Parul Gupta, a parent of a TWI student at Willard, listed four reasons to keep TWI at Willard: Willard needs diversity; Willard has as much space as Dewey and Dawes schools, both of which successfully house the TWI program; the TWI program is taking root at Willard; and there are Spanish-speaking students in the Haven Middle School attendance area who need to be served.

Chris Oakley, a Willard TWI parent, said 75 elementary Spanish-speaking students live in the Haven attendance area, which would fill a complete strand of TWI at the K-5 grade levels at Willard. He argued the program should remain at Willard, rather than being shifted to Kingsley School, because "there's commitment in the Willard community." This year, parents of 18 English-speaking kindergarten students in Willard's attendance area applied for the TWI program. Only five applied from Kingsley's attendance area.

Jean Fies, a Willard parent, presented a petition signed by 122 parents urging that TWI not be kept at the school. The petition said that keeping TWI at the school would result in class sizes that are too large, that the physical space at Willard cannot accommodate three general education classes per grade level plus TWI, and that Willard was the furthest school from the Spanish-speaking students in the Haven attendance area.

"This is a hot issue. There's the idea that people opposed to TWI are opposed to diversity," said Elizabeth Quinn. "It's not a matter we don't want TWI. We can't accommodate it the way families of general education and TWI need to be accommodated. We've become such a divided school over this."

No parents from Kingsley School spoke on the issue.

Washington School
In an attempt to convince the Board to reject the Program/Policy's recommendation to establish one strand of TWI at six schools, eight parents spoke in favor of keeping two strands of TWI at Washington school. Jeff Bergman, a parent of TWI students at Washington, said, "TWI teachers overwhelmingly favor double strands over single strands." He suggested keeping two strands of TWI at Washington and then comparing the academic achievement of students at Washington versus the achievement of students at schools where there was one strand.

Griselda Pacheco, a parent of a Spanish-speaking TWI student at Washington and a member of the Bilingual Parent Advisory Committee, supported keeping two strands of TWI at Washington saying, "It is functioning well."

Aleca Sullivan asked the Board to consider establishing seven strands of TWI, rather than six recommended by the Board's Program Policy Committee. She said English-speaking students could not be added to the program after kindergarten, but that Spanish-speaking students who were new entrants to the District were often added to the program. Starting with seven TWI classes would leave room for Spanish-speaking students to enter the program at higher grade levels, she said.

The administration has recommended that a second strand be established at Washington if a seventh strand of TWI is needed to accommodate Spanish-speaking students.

King Lab
Before taking public comment, the Board quickly considered and rejected the option of establishing a strand of TWI at King Lab School.

Activities Fee on the Table Again at District 202

By Jennie Berkson

The District 202 School Board will consider an extra-curricular participation fee starting in the fall of 2007, which would facilitate the reinstatement of a number of programs eliminated by past budget cuts.

Administration officials proposed an $85 fee, which would be paid by all students, whether or not they participate in an extracurricular activity. The administration also suggested that families be charged for no more than two students at a time, so that the most one family would pay would be $170. The administration's proposal would exempt students on free- and reduced-price lunch from having to pay the fee, although numerous Board members expressed the view that all students should pay something. About 32 percent of the students at Evanston Township High School receive free or reduced-price lunch, said Chief Financial Officer William Stafford.

"The additional fee is designed to provide many more opportunities for students," said Superintendent Eric Witherspoon. The fee, as proposed, would be used to reinstate athletic and fine arts stipends and to establish a "new and improved intramurals program" all of which had fallen victim to previous budget cuts. The administration presented their proposal to the Board at its meeting on Dec. 11.

"We don't have all the answers," said Mr. Stafford. "We think the proposal still needs vetting." Mr. Stafford suggested that the proposal be discussed at another Board meeting in January, with action on it in February.

ETHS students, except those on free and reduced-price lunch, already pay a $200 registration fee which includes books and a technology fee.

Mr. Stafford said that some other area schools had been surveyed about their fee policies and that the administration was still collecting information from other north suburban schools. According to the information he presented, Downers Grove charges $100, Elmhurst and Glenbard charge $140. In each of these schools, the fees are only charged for students participating in athletics.

"We think this is a community issue," said Mr. Stafford. He cited information from Michigan that indicated that if a "pay-for-play" policy is put into place, "you get a 10-15 percent reduction in the number of kids getting involved. We want more kids involved, not less," he said.

When the activities fee was first discussed last spring, it was suggested that it be set at $125. Mr. Stafford credited Chris Livatino, athletics director, who also worked on the proposal, with coming up with an approach that facilitated lowering the fee.

Last spring, a majority of parents and staff surveyed supported the idea of instituting a fee. Anne Berkeley, a parent of a former ETHS student, spoke at the Board meeting in favor of the fee. She later shared some comments with rhe RoundTable.

"An activity fee may be a good option to help finance extra-curricular activities in an equitable way. I trust the school will adjust that fee for families on subsidized lunch programs," she said. However Ms. Berkeley also indicated that there were other ways for the school to balance the budget. "School boards have tough choices to make balancing the budget. It is best practice to make cuts in administration first, then building expenses and only then, as a last resort, cut student programs."

Overall, Board members seemed to support the idea of the fee, although they expressed concern about some details. Board members also discussed various approaches to how it should be structured.

"If we do institute this fee," said Board member Rachel Hayman, "we should remember that it is here to stay and will likely go up." She remarked that for some families, the fee might be a burden on top of the $200 registration fee and suggested that if a family has more than one child at the high school the second activities fee should be less. Ms. Hayman did express excitement at the reinstitution of the intramural program and said that "teachers are concerned about the loss of after school activities."

Student Board Member Chasity Cooper reminded the administration that some sports required participants to pay for uniforms or other equipment. She pointed out that paying an activity fee and also having to pay more once one was participating might be burdensome for some students.

"I don't think $85 a year is too much," said Board member Mary Wilkerson. She maintained that after-school activities were "like daycare" for high school students and that the fee was not a lot of money to pay to ensure that one's kids had something to do after-school that was safe and supervised.

Board member Martha Burns suggested that students on free or reduced-price lunch pay something to contribute to the activities fee. "I see a lot of parents whose kids probably qualify for free and reduced-price lunch who make choices" that indicate that they could afford to contribute something to the effort, Ms. Burns remarked. "I see kids with lots of jerseys and equipment. I'd like to see them pay $10, $20, $30."

Ms. Burns also reminded the administration that there had been a suggestion last year to try to get advertising at sports events which might raise some revenue. She also asked that the fee for driver's education, currently $50, be increased, as other schools which were surveyed charge more.

Board member Missy Fleming asked how long the fee, if it were instituted, would remain at the original amount. Mr. Stafford replied that it would be reasonable to keep the fee the same for three years. Ms. Fleming asked if perhaps it could be lower, at $70 or $75 and also supported the idea of charging everyone something because it might make people value the service more.

"This seems like a good viable option for us to be able to reinstate things we needed to cut before," said Board president Ross Friedman.

Breaking Bridges at ETHS.

The winner of the 27th annual Evanston Township High School Straw Bridge Building and Breaking Contest is Will Sparks. Will's bridge held 12.1 kilograms. This is a new all-time record under the current rules. The previous record was 10 kilograms, set last year by Kendall Rak. Will is a student of Lauren Pitrak. This is the third year in a row that the all-time record has been broken and the second year in a row the previous record has been exceeded by 2 kilograms.

Max Behles was second with 12 kilograms. Max studies geometry with Richard Rukin.

Third place went to Amanda Meyer with 9.1 kilograms. Lyn is in geometry teacher Brittany Bierley's class. Fourth place went to Aaron Widell with 7.6 kilograms. Aaron is also Ms. Pitrak's student. For the third year in a row, this year's contest seemed to have more outstanding entries than ever before. The school wished to thank all who participated and helped organize, particularly Rosemary Buckingham.