One of the many pleasures of the holiday season is the proliferation of holiday movies.
We try not to miss Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life,” the gold standard of Christmas movies and currently No. 20 on the AFI Top 100 list. We can’t help but chuckle when Clarence orders “mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon and light on the cloves” from the Pottersville version of Nick the bartender, and try as we might we can’t keep from getting misty every time those good folks of Bedford Falls come up big to save George and the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan from prison and ruin.
But running a close second in our book is 1942’s “Holiday Inn.”
The combination of Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Marjorie Reynolds and an original Irving Berlin score that debuted the iconic “White Christmas” is tough to beat. And “Holiday Inn” contains more top-shelf Berlin tunes than just “White Christmas,” one of our favorites being Crosby’s Thanksgiving number called “I’ve Got Plenty To Be Thankful For.”
That’s the way we felt yesterday after reading “District 64 considers changing residency verification policy” (November 25) in this week’s Park Ridge Herald-Advocate, and realizing how the Park Ridge-Niles District 64 School Board – and long-time Board member John Heyde in particular – keeps providing one object lesson after another on how a local governmental body can spend more and more tax dollars running an underachieving school system.
According to the H-A article, D-64 finally got the bright idea that it might be giving away $14,000 of its taxpayers’ hard-earned money on each student who is not actually living in the District and whose parents aren’t paying property taxes, either directly as homeowners or indirectly as renters.
Not surprisingly, however, D-64 didn’t come up with this bright idea on its own.
It had to borrow it from Maine Twp. High School Dist. 207, which decided several years ago that ferretting out all those non-resident students and their…wait for it…parasite parents who were helping themselves to free $17,000/year D-207 educations was well worth the cost of doing so.
According to D-64’s overpaid (at around $220,000/year, not counting every bennie) finance superintendent, Rebecca Allard, students whose parents own an in-district residence (house, townhouse or condo) have their residency checked only once: when those students are initially enrolled. So if a family packs up and moves out of the District, its kindergarten –aged student could remain enrolled in D-64 schools without the parents paying any taxes toward the $14,000 per-student annual cost until the student graduated middle school as much as 8 years later.
Total cost to the District’s taxpayers for such a grades 1-8 scam: a whopping $112,000. Per student.
Because D-64 hasn’t been checking the residency of students from purported Park Ridge homeowners other than at enrollment, we’d bet dollars to donuts that these kinds of scams have been run to the detriment of D-64 taxpayers for years, perhaps costing millions of dollars.
And even though the residency of students of renter families is reportedly checked annually, that still might not provide all that much more fiscal integrity.
That’s because for years there have been rumors of families from Chicago’s northwest side neighborhoods renting one bedroom condos in Bristol Court, Park Ridge Pointe, or smaller multi-family developments for between $12,000-$18,000/year just to establish an in-district address so they can get $28,000 (for 2 students) or $42,000 (for 3 students) of D-64 education – or from $34,000 to $51,000 of D-207 education – rather than sending their kids to Ebinger. Norwood Park, Taft, or paying private school tuition.
With that much money on the line one would think that, once the D-64 Board members understood how much taxpayer money they might be losing, they would get right after implementing a solution to this problem. Like maybe adopting D-207’s policy of checking every student’s residency every year.
But one would be wrong.
The overpaid Allard, while explaining a process like the one used by D-207, immediately disparaged it by pointing out how “labor-intensive” it would be, noting all the overtime that would have to be paid to District employees.
But Allard’s reluctance is nothing compared to that of our elected D-64 Board members who are supposed to be keeping an eye on spendthrift bureaucrats, incompetent teachers, and the overall cost-effectiveness of how our property taxes are being used in the interest of education.
Both Board President Tony Borrelli and member Vicki Lee seem to be looking for some kind of on-line way of avoiding the in-person show-up process that D-207’s Supt. Ken Wallace claims is most effective in catching violators.
But leave it to Heyde to show, once again, how little respect he has for the taxpayers who educated his own kids and who provide all those tax dollars that he has been throwing at underperforming teachers and administrators alike.
Heyde not only echoed the overpaid Allard’s concern about employee overtime, but he went her one better by whining about the inconvenience of a D-207-like process to D-64 parents:
“What District 207 is doing is a pain in the neck for parents. My question would be – do we think we’re going to find enough kids who don’t belong in our schools that it’s worth the burden on the families? Not to mention the cost to the taxpayers in terms of overtime.”
In other words, it’s the convenience of D-64 parents – who already are getting around a 200% return on the D-64 portion of their property taxes for just their first D-64 student, and who are getting an extra 300% return for each additional D-64 student – that is more important to the sensitive Heyde (and to Lee and Borrelli?) than whether the taxpayers are getting ripped off by non-resident parasites who have no qualms about scamming FREE D-64 educations for their kids.
Since the overpaid Allard and the sensitive-spendthrift Heyde can’t seem to figure this out on their own, we’ll offer this suggestion to alleviate any concerns about the cost of employee overtime in this residency-check process:
Instead of paying employees to do these basically clerical residency checks, how about recruiting all those PTO-member volunteers who devote scores of hours to saving $10-20,000 a year on photocopying and clerical costs, or who spend hundreds of hours planning and staging variety shows to raise similar bucks? Then the cost of the checks would be virtually nothing.
Fortunately, all reports are that the overpaid Allard will be riding off into retirement and her guaranteed six-figure-pension in June 2015.
Unfortunately, we haven’t heard any similar report about whether the sensitive-spendthrift will try for another four years of dis-serving D-64 students and disrespecting D-64 taxpayers. And since another teachers union contract negotiation is coming up in 2016, we can see how Heyde might want to stick around for at least a couple more years to negotiate one last sweetheart contract that meets or exceeds the one he and then-fellow Board negotiator Pat “One-and-Done” Fioretto pushed through 3 years ago.
The only silver lining to this latest tale of D-64 Board buffoonery is that Board member Dathan Paterno appears to have climbed off his anti-Common Core bandwagon long enough to actually make some salient observations about the need for much better residency oversight, to wit: “If we can dissuade others from [stealing D-64 educations]…at a certain point, we won’t need to do this.”
Let’s hope so, although parasites are extremely difficult to dissuade – as the Library species, and the number and ferocity of its defenders, already have demonstrated.
But if this effort is successful, maybe then the D-64 Board can start figuring out how to provide the kind of educational quality and measurable performance that comes a lot closer to matching what D-64 taxpayers are being forced to finance.
To read or post comments, click on title.
40 comments so far
I cringed a bit when you used “parasites” to describe non-resident LIbrary users, but after reading this post I have to agree with your characterization of both those people and these as right and true. I’m tired of people who don’t want to pay their fair share.
In the words of John McEnroe, ‘You can’t be serious”.
This is not a new problem.
This issue has existed for years. Not only that, dare I say it… I dare, I dare, this problem has existed for decades!!!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Mac also said tennis officials were “the absolute pits of the world,” but we’re not using that one for the D-64 Board. Yet.
On the other hand, when the Board now finally acknowledges this may be happening, “inconvenience” is a pathetically lame escuse for not stopping it. Unfortunately, lame excuses are apparently the best we can expect from ANY D-64 Board.
As a taxpayer who has sent my kids to Catholic schools (and does not expect anything in return for that) it galls me to see people I elect to manage my school tax dollars take such a cavalier approach to what could be millions of dollars.
I do not care if something is inconvenient or even a full-blown “pain in the neck.” I am willing to fund public education in Park Ridge but I am not willing to do so for non-residents because this school board runs a sieve of a residency check.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The fact that this situation may have gone on for many years is one thing. But now that it has been identified it seems unforgivable that the D-64 Board is concerned about inconveniencing D-64 parents who should be happy that somebody’s trying to do something about parasites and scofflaws.
As a d207 parent who has to provide proof of residence every year, I would hardly call it an inconvenience. I would definitely not call it a pain in the neck. there are all kinds of documents and bills that qualify as proof.
I would ask Heyde if he knows about all the doctors forms parents have to have filled out if their child is going to participate I sports. Is that a pain in the neck too or a reasonable requirement.
I had no idea I might be subsidizing so many families using D64 schools illegally, so I hope they get around to checking this out. Maybe a cheap way would be for each child to be admitted back to class only when they present a copy of their parents’ property tax bill? After all, they can’ be at school without a medical report, either.
The fun part: Will D64 reduce its next budget by the annual cost of servicing each illegal student found?
Kudos to “Cece”, by the way, for posting possibly the only 100% correct comment in terms of grammar and spelling (if not content) I’ve ever seen on this blog. S/he even spelled some really hard words correctly. This is in contrast to most of the comments, which are embarrassingly poorly written. Could it be a coincidence that Cece’s kids go to Catholic schools?
All desirable schools have the parent renting a place or using grandmas address to use school. But i thought from reading this blog that d64 schools are not worth the money being spent in them? So why are people scamming the system to get their kids a seat in this district? You certainly don’t see people doing this in those schools that are not considered of prime quality. Hmmmmm
Recently d64 was ranked in top 50 (39) in all of Illinois.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please provide the reference for that claimed ranking.
Too bad your reading skills aren’t top 50, because what we have been writing is that Park Ridge taxpayers AND students deserve schools that score better and rank higher for the $14,000/pupil/year being spent. On the other hand, if you live in Chicago, or Norridge, or Des Plaines, even our underachieving schools might be a big improvement over what your own community is providing.
Any D64 board member who does not support the annual residency verification process should resign-NOW. Though this process is a bit of a hassle with D207, the “inconvenience” to parents is not enough to say no to the proof of residency annual process.
And there should be no overtime needed to be paid to the handsomely salaried staff in D64 who would have to review and process the requested documentation that could ultimately save the district thousands upon thousands of dollars.
And while there at it, D64 should not allow the students at St. Paul of the Cross or Mary Seat of Wisdom or St. Andrews to participate in the gifted or special needs programs of D64 unless they are a resident of PR. Urban legend has it that the reason many Chicago residents send their kids to SPC instead of St. Juliana is so they can participate in the special programs of D64. Ridiculous that D64 has not stopped this if it is true. Or make the Chicago parents pay if their child uses D64 services.
It is hard to fathom how D64 continues to pay a very high of the level of administrative salaries when these employees-with the backing of some misguided board members-can’t seem to do their jobs and look out for the taxpayers of D64 while providing a quality education for the students.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Excellent point about D-64 paying for gifted or special needs programs for non-resident students at our local private/parochial school. At least those schools probably keep track of addresses.
I’m not a D64 parent any longer so I’m not a PTO member, but I’d volunteer to check residencies and I bet there are other non-PTO residents who would as well.
Property transfer records are public, why not use those as a starting point to catch the parasites?
EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s probably some sort of pain or inconvenience Heyde can find in it.
Sorry forgot to add link to rankings
http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/08/29/editors-picks/kevin-hoffmanrebootillinois-com/top-50-school-districts-in-illinois/24081/
EDITOR’S NOTE: This site is saying that D-64 is rated 39th among all grammar schools AND high schools, while no other rankings we’ve seen put any one of 6-64’s elementary or middle schools in the Top 50.
A perfect job for the senior citizens who spend time in the schools in exchange for a reduction of their property tax bill.
Every year I wonder what people like you think when “It’s A Wonderful Life” is shown. Now I know.
EDITOR’S NOTE: No you don’t, and no you don’t. So we’ll tell you and correct your delusion.
We think of just how quintessentially American Frank Capra was being by portraying average folks empowering themselves to ensure their own and their neighbors’ well-being – instead of waiting around wringing their hands for paternalistic government and its brigades of bureaucrats to come up with some half-baked but expensive program that doesn’t even solve the problem.
And Capra does the same thing in “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington,” “Mr. Deeds Goes To Town,” and “Meet John Doe.” You might want to make sure to avoid them, given your mindset.
Hmmmm so discount any ranking that is positive?
You are right maybe the board members commissioned that ranking. Someone somewhere apparently thinks d64 is highly ranked especially since it includes high school districts.
EDITOR’S NOTE: We didn’t say the D-64 Board “commissioned” anything. But when only one of several rankings over several years comes up with such an outlier ranking that flies in the face of most/all others, we have to wonder why that is.
And why, if this Schooldigger ranking is so accurate and defensible, doesn’t D-64 shout it from the rooftops and explain why Schooldigger is right and all the other rankings are not?
Another interesting ranking – neither d64 or d207 is ranked in top of this category. More hmmmmm for pubdog’ arguments that our schools pay teachers too much and yet our schools are not ranked commensurate with that spending. The ranking before had 7 of our grammar and middle ranked while other districts maybe one or two or thee. Hmmmm again
EDITOR’S NOTE: We note, again, that if Schooldigger was the gold standard of rankings, we would expect the D-64 Board, administration and faculty – which can’t pat itself on the back frequently enough or hard enough for anything that even looks like an achievement – to be proclaiming it from the rooftops.
So if you want to “hmmmm” something, hmmmm that point.
There really aren’t that many comprehensive rankings of schools. Usnews. Suntimes. Chicago magazine. Chicago mag had Maine south 7 in cook county. Others 27. Grammar all nearing 50 (all 7) versus other districts with only one or two. Just maybe things are improving ? Of course you must be right…you always are (in your head) …maybe just maybe school officials care about children and not patting themselves on back. Or is that the case only with electeds that you agree with (see previous pubdog blogs)
Outlier or not – why are people scamming addresses to get their kids in or keep their kids in our schools? apparently many (enough to cause you concern that board not doing its job in policing them out of the district) believe our schools are great enough to make encourage them to risk making false statements. Hmmmm indeed mr potter.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Where are you finding D-64 “[g]rammar all nearing 50”? And if it’s legit, why isn’t D-64 touting it?
D-64 schools don’t need to be “great” – they just need to be better than the schools in the districts where the parasites live.
Forgot the link to salaries: (note d64 and d207 did not make the list)
http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/08/28/editors-picks/kevin-hoffmanrebootillinois-com/average-starting-teacher-salaries/23911/
EDITOR’S NOTE: First of all, this Reboot report involves only the largest school districts, which D-64 is not.
Also, Pages 58-61 of the latest D-64 teachers contract lists the lowest teacher salary as $47,630 for the 2014-15 school year – which makes the D-64 STARTING SALARY higher than that of all but three of the largest school districts, 2 of which are high school districts.
Yes I do, and yes I do. You dependably cast any organized, tax-supported good deed as inherently incompetent and/or evil, while as long as it seems to be randomly donated in a spontaneous demonstration of charity, it’s efficient and/or good. See? Do I know you or do I know you?
EDITOR’S NOTE: Close, but no cigar. If taxpayers got to vote and approved that “organized, tax-supported good deed,” we’d be fine with it. But the perpetrators of those good deeds don’t ever seem to want to let that happen.
Must be great schools great resources if people willing to risk criminal prosecution? No?
In Illinois, with certain exceptions (e.g., certain children placed with foster parents), a person who knowingly enrolls or attempts to enroll in a school on a tuition free basis a pupil known by that person to be a nonresident of the school district is guilty of a class C misdemeanor (punishable by up to 30 days’ imprisonment, up to a $1,500 fine, or both).
Anyone who knowingly or willfully presents to any school district false information regarding a pupil’s residency to enable that pupil to attend any school in that district without paying nonresident tuition also commits a class C misdemeanor.
Illinois law specifies that these and other residency provisions do not require a homeless child’s parent or guardian to pay tuition in connection with or as a result of the homeless child’s continued education or enrollment in a school that is chosen in accordance with any of the options provided by law (105 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/10-20.12b; 105 Ill. Comp. Stat. 45/1-10).
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, because those are the kind of crimes prosecutors chomp at the bit to prosecute.
5th Ward Taxpayer at 7:38 p.m. –
Tax bills are very often in a prior owner’s name for many months after the property has transferred to a new owner, so not necessarily a good means of determining ownership. Utility bills may be a safer bet – PR Water bill for starters??
Why are some people’s reflex to deflect the point of the article? I think it should be a pretty non-controversial issue as to residency status? I know the public school parents think money’s no object (as long as they have kids currently in school), but many of us are sickened at the stupidity at our school districts.
Just wait for full day kindergarten that will be just chunked on to our tax bills. Eh…who cares where they live. Come one come all…IT’S FREE!!!
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yep.
“I know the public school parents think money’s no object (as long as they have kids currently in school), but many of us are sickened at the stupidity at our school districts”.
Yes 7:29, you are correct. Ya see to me money is no object. Why I spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Palm Beach watching my butler polish my Bentley…..yeah, that’s right!!!
Give me a break!!!! Not only is that over generalization but I love the us versus them mentality.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Unfortunately, “us versus them” is EXACTLY what these types of situations are turning into as more people mistake greed for need, label themselves “needy” instead of “greedy,” and then demand more services…with all, or the vast majority, of the extra costs being borne by the rest of the taxpayers. Which explains the users’ distaste for user fees.
Anonymous yesterday at 6:13 p.m., that’s a good suggestion.
Actually, Oakton Community College requires — requires! — a utility bill as part of their verification process.
Those of you trying to deflect discussion with comments bemoaning the portrayal of “tax-supported good deed(s) as inherently incompetent” might do better to recognize that verifying D-64 residency is a sensible thing to do instead of trying to defend Heyde’s position that it’s not worth the trouble, which only makes D-64 look “inherently incompetent”.
EDITOR’S NOTE: While using our taxes to do what some people no doubt would consider “good deeds”: educating those poor unfortunate undocumented immigrants from Chicago, Des Plaines, etc.
Good schools benefit all that live in the community. Let the schools decline or let them become the type that no one wants to attend and the community will become one that you do not want to own a home in -you know the community where parents look to neighbors my ones for a fake address to get there kid in those desirable school/ desirable neighborhood. So us versus them is short sighted on the school issue.
EDITOR’S NOTE: No, a GOOD VALUE in schools benefits the community like ours. And based on all but one of the rankings, our schools HAVE declined over the past 15+ years since D-64 spent around $20 million to replace its then-newest school with a brand new Emerson to implement the new “middle school” concept that was recommended by a hired-gun short-term superintendent primarily to justify building the new Emerson.
Unfortunately, the teachers union, former-teacher administrators, and rubber-stamp school boards started the “us versus them” mentality by employing the “for the kids” strategy to justify the borrowing and spending of ever greater sums of tax dollars without any commensurate measurable improvement in student performance.
BINGO!!!…Results or performance based is what this should all be about and more importantly accountability when the results do not meet expectations. Clearly the schools in PR aren’t hitting the mark and haven’t done so in recent memory. As long as they continue to NOT be held accountable and are rewarded as one of the more lucrative districts in the nation it’s not going to get better. Combine that with 70% of the real estate tax bill going to our schools to in some part fund a pension system that is broke with no end in sight spells uncertainty at best for the taxpayers of PR. Sorry for stating the obvious but couldn’t take it anymore…..I’ll take my medicine now.
EDITOR’S NOTE: You’re forgetting that D-64 DOES get “results” – all those faux-self esteem, warm and fuzzy “You’re okay, we’re okay” measurements they keep on fabricating to cover up their test-score mediocrity (vis-a-vis comparable communities) at top-shelf prices.
OK, Clarence; let me clarify. I was not disagreeing with PubDog in re the embarrassing and offensively halfbaked “too inconvenient” excuse by D64. Pubster is almost always right when it comes to that particular cost-vs-benefit proposition. In fact, whenever he goes on about a bureaucrat not getting around to doing the obvious tasks, I swoon at his feet. In this case I was addressing his endearingly misty-eyed and annoyingly blurry-brained explanation of Capra’s intent. I’ll have to check but I don’t think Capra was all down with the knee-jerk “gubmint bad, now-and-then-alms good” approach PubDog endorses.
EDITOR’S NOTE: You clearly don’t know your Capra-corn.
Capra’s populist trilogy starts with “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” (1936), in which nouveaux riche Longfellow Deeds, on his own and with no help whatsoever from government, disposes of his fortune by giving fully equipped 10-acre farms to thousands of homeless families so long as they are willing to work the land for several years, the original “Work-Fare.”
In “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), the government establishment is actually portrayed as an evil cabal of pork-barrel politicians who are ultimately defeated by JEFFERSON Smith, a naïve “young patriot [who] recites Lincoln and Jefferson” and who draws his support not from the combine of corrupt politicians and their crapitalist cronies but, instead, from the common people not only of his own state but of the entire world monitoring his filibuster against a corrupt piece of legislation.
Finally, “Meet John Doe” (1941) involves a plan to empower all the “John Does” of the country that is almost derailed by the ruthless crapitalist and aspiring politician D.B. Norton before being resurrected by the “John Does” themselves, leading to the closing words: “There you are, Norton! The people! Try and lick that!”
If “Meet John Doe” involved the D-64 Board, the D-207 Board, or the Park Board, however, the movie’s last words would more likely be: “There you are, Norton! The people! Eff ’em!”
Clearly the schools in PR aren’t hitting the mark and haven’t done so in recent memory. As long as they continue to NOT be held accountable and are rewarded as one of the more lucrative districts in the nation it’s not going to get better.
So are you and your cool aid drinking minions intentionally avoiding the point or just blinded to it by the self interest in keeping your tax bill low as possible?
If the PR schools are declining , or have faux self esteem or missing the mark ….why oh why do we need to worry about “parasites” breaking laws to get their kids into our schools? Shouldn’t be a problem if our schools are on the decline or not worth the money put into them right? The parasites would look elsewhere if our schools were as you characterize them.
You all should move to Texas and guard our borders from those looking to bring their children to this country to take advantage of better opportunities so their children might just might have a better life. Then again why would someone risk crossing a border illegally (whether the border is the one on the southern part of Texas or the southern part of D-64?) if the journey wasn’t worth it?
Hmmmmm. Maybe just maybe our school are worth it and offer our children a better opportunity and/or a safer and more resource filled environment than other districts ?
It is not consistent to argue that we need to spend time and effort seeking out the D-64 illegals and at the same time argue the schools are on the decline and not marking the mark.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Okay now, pay attention because we don’t intend to explain this again.
Mexicans sneak across the U.S.’s southern border to take “those jobs Americans won’t take” because 12 hours a day in a bean field at $5 an hour beats the heck out of whatever they had in May-Hee-Coe. Chicagoans (or Des Plainites, or Norridgians) sneak into D-64 schools because D-64 schools are better than whatever those parasites have where they live. But like 12 hours in a bean field for $60, that’s not necessarily all that good – just better than the alternative.
Now, if those D-64 schools really were as good as you want folks to think they are, we’d be getting “illegals” from places like Glenview and Northbrook. And if they were SUPER – like the D-64 Board, administration and faculty want folks to think they are, and pay the price for – we’d be getting “illegals” willing to pay out-of-district tuition, which would remove their “parasite” status and make them welcome guests.
Now, read the foregoing at least three times before writing your next comment.
Great synopsis of the Capra movies, PW, and spot-on. No government, just people doing for themselves what people should be doing for themselves.
What about “Nail ’em up!” Oops; wrong movie.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yeah, and Willie Stark’s no Jeff Smith, Longfellow Deeds or John Doe.
Love the image of Northbrookians sneaking into D64 or 207 schools. Only in the Field School area of town, of course.
EDITOR’S NOTE: And only with the appropriate papers.
To District 64 Families & Staff:
It is my pleasure to introduce a brand new e-publication for District 64 – an annual Financial Report available exclusively online.
Our new report pulls together essential information about the District’s financial health in one reader-friendly overview. I invite you to spend a few minutes reviewing the e-report at this link on our website.
The Financial Report offers “at a glance” highlights for the previous year as well as the current budget, focusing primarily on our investments in student learning. In addition, it offers a review of revenues and expenses, and looks at the District’s financial performance over time and projections for the future. Our vital partnerships with parents and Park Ridge-Niles community members also are highlighted.
This e-report complements a broader Annual Report on the District’s educational programs that will be published at the end of this school year.
We hope parents and community members will find our first e-report helpful in staying updated about how local resources are being invested in our classrooms to support student learning.
District 64 schools continue to make Park Ridge-Niles a great community for its residents!
For Your Children,
Dr. Laurie Heinz?, Superintendent
http://www.d64.org/business/documents/FinancialReport201411-20-14M.pdf
EDITOR’S NOTE: That’s a start, Ms. Heinz. Now let’s see you get measurable student achievement that justifies the big bucks you’re spending per pupil.
And please lose the insincere “For Your Children” propaganda – unless you, the rest of your administrative staff, and the unionized teachers are willing to contractually commit to tying any future raises to measurable improvements in test scores AND comparative test score rankings.
Now, if those D-64 schools really were as good as you want folks to think they are, we’d be getting “illegals” from places like Glenview and Northbrook. And if they were SUPER – like the D-64 Board, administration and faculty want folks to think they are, and pay the price for – we’d be getting “illegals” willing to pay out-of-district tuition, which would remove their “parasite” status and make them welcome guests.
Let me get this straight…the all knowing Oz (I mean pub dog) knows from where the non district illegals originate? If so just tell district 64 so they can save the money on figuring out ways to track then down. Come on pubdog you can do better than unfounded speculation….wait a minute …if you do away with that your blog would have no content.
At least you admit the schools are better than our nearest neighboring suburbs. It’s a start.
EDITOR’S NOTE: No, we DON’T know from where the non-district illegals are originating…because the D-64 Board and administration have been so asleep at the wheel that they don’t even know whether or not they HAVE illegals.
But we’ll bet a crisp new $1 bill that the vast, vast, vast majority of any illegals identified – assuming the yokels on the D-64 Board can agree to actually ferret them out instead of worry about the inconvenience to parents of having to prove residency each year – aren’t from Glenview or Northbrook…or from Wilmette, Western Springs, Buffalo Grove, or the dozen-plus other communities whose school consistently post higher test scores, and often lower costs, than D-64.
And, yes, D-64 schools appear to be better than the local CPS schools, and the Des Plaines and Norridge schools.
Amazingly enough, “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” in on in 15 minutes on The Movie Channel (Comcast 363)
EDITOR’S NOTE: Don’t let yourself get “pixilated,” Mr. Mayor.
So is it illegal to rent a condo in park ridge and for $1500.00 a month and send 3 kids to park ridge schools? If it’s not then I don’t see anything wrong with it. I Own several condos in Bristol ct. Specifically because it’s so easy to rent them because of the school system. I’m still paying taxes on the unit so I really don’t see the problem.
EDITOR’S NOTE: As we understand it, one is not legally entitled to send children to D-64 schools tuition-free unless those children “reside” within the district. So the fact their parents rent one of your condos in Bristol Court but their kids live in the parents’ home in Edison Park or Norridge does not constitute “residence” for tuition purposes.
Of course YOU wouldn’t see the problem. You’re getting $18K/year in rent on a unit that’s worth around $150K tops, paying about $2K/year in RE taxes to D-64 while foisting $14,000/28,000/42,000K of per/pupil expenses on the rest of the taxpayers for the 1/2/3 students attributed to your unit.
No pixies here except in the bar scene in Wonderful Life
It would be helpful, if only for community relations purposes, if Dr. Heinz addressed her correspondence to “District 64 Taxpayers, Families and Staff” given that 2/3 of taxpayers are subsidizing the 1/3 who actually use the schools. For practical purposes, she might attempt to disseminate this correspondence beyond the emailing list of the 1/3. She can easily find the other 2/3 by asking Cook County for the names and addresses. The current MO is take the money from the 2/3 and only discuss how it’s spent with the 1/3.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Exactly, except when it’s referendum time and “all stakeholders” are rounded up and given seats at the referendum-planning/selling table because the votes of those otherwise-ignored 2/3 suddenly become important.
I think you misunderstood my comment. or perhaps I wasn’t clear. They do not own another home as this is their only residence. So in that respect it would be legal if I am understanding this.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yep.
And both those movies can be checked out for free at the Park Ridge Library.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Along with many others.
http://www.d64.org/business/documents/FinancialReport201411-20-14M.pdf
Interesting — D64 states student fees only cover 54% of actual costs-
http://www.d64.org/community/documents/Fee_LookAhead14_156-3-14.pdf
EDITOR’S NOTE: And still the freeloaders beef about paying 46% of them.
If you question board member John Heyde even more, you will find out that Allard and Dr. Bender wanted to develop a more aggressive program years ago, but to no avail.
EDITOR’S NOTE: “More aggressive” how?
Frankly, we’d prefer to read about Mr. Heyde voluntarily disclosing that in an open meeting reported by our local newspapers. But failing that, we may just wait to read it in his book: “The Teflon School Board: A Guide To Avoiding Accountability For Opacity, Profligacy And Underachievement.” We hear Dagda Publishing will be releasing it.
Why don’t they ask for the full amount of the fees to be paid by the parent? Why ask for a portion? That puts the taxpayers on the hook for paying school fees.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because, as we’ve heard from commentators to posts we have had on the topic, there’s a vocal group – size unknown – who aren’t satisfied with the “free” $14,000 education they get for their kids, but who demand to be fee-less, too.
The argument the freeloaders make is that school fees are ILLEGAL, which is why D-64 doesn’t aggressively go after the fee scofflaws whose fee debts to D-64 extend over multiple years and may exceed $100,000 in total.
If fees truly are ILLEGAL, then D-64 should not charge them. At all. But the idea that D-64 charges them, the non-freeloaders pay them, and the shameless freeloaders laugh all the way to the bank because a spineless D-64 Board and staff don’t have the nerve to rock the boat and collect them is wrong.
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