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saturday march 21 | sunday march 22 2015
DailyNorthShore.com
SUNDAY BREAKFAST Illustration by Barry Blitt
out & about
North Shore residents talk about their hopes for spring. P.24
The man who brings artisanal food into the home. P.50
SPORTS
Evan Boudreaux tallies 30 points in Lake Forest High School sectional final loss. P.34 Follow us:
No. 128 | A JWC Media publication
NEWS
Residents demand full-day kindergarten
T
wo parents dissatisfied with Wilmette’s half-day kindergarten program are circulating a petition seeking full-day kindergarten beginning in the 2015-2016 school year. Wilmette residents Amy Poehling and Dan Johnson launched the online petition on March 3 and have more than 130 signatures. Poehling and Johnson, both of whom have preschool age children who will attend kindergarten in Wilmette, plan to file the petition with the Wilmette School Board at its next meeting on Monday, March 23. They also hope to bring the issue before the Board of Education candidates running for school board in the upcoming election and learn their views. “I was shocked,” said Johnson when he learned that District 39 offers half-day kindergarten. “I just assumed you went full day. I moved here for the schools. Shouldn’t we have the best thing?” The pair launched the website Continues on page 16
Bill Steinberg, a 20-year-old with autism, works afternoons at the Recreation Center of Highland Park fitness desk.
Paid jobs a boon for special education students BY JOANNA BROWn
R
egulars at the Recreation Center of Highland Park know 20-year-old Bill
Steinberg well. He’s a regular in the gym, of course, what with his interest in running 5Ks and personal fitness,
but he’s also a familiar face behind the front desk. Since September Steinberg has scanned cards, taken payment
for facility rentals, answered phone calls, and made regular inspections of the gym to be sure that equipment is put away and
fresh towels are stacked neatly. Recreation Center General Manager Mitch Carr said his most recent hire has been a success, and he credits the North Suburban Special Education District (NSSED) for pairing Steinberg with his facility. Based in Highland Park, NSSED is a special education cooperative that provides programs and services to 18 member districts between Wilmette and Lake Bluff and west to Glenview, Northbrook and elsewhere. More than 6,000 students on the North Shore — or about 16 percent of all students — receive special education through the district. Steinberg is one of NSSED’s many students with autism who has benefited from a transition program which helps young people identify employment opportunities and secure paid positions before their 22nd birthdays. “Bill’s done an outstanding job, and he’s made an impression on our staff and our membership,” Carr said. “We brought Bill in for an interview, as we would any candidate, and found him to be energetic, friendly, outgoing and comfortable at the point of sale. No task is too small for Bill, and he takes a lot of pride in his work. “He was looking for the same opportunity as everyone else, and that’s what he was given.” The Recreation Center of Continues on page 14
Monarch butterflies may need help to survive
A
s the North Shore’s summer of 2014 drew to a close, the area’s distinctive orange-and-black monarch butterflies joined an estimated 60 million others flying 2,000 miles to their winter home atop mountains north of the Mexican city of
Zitácuero in the state of Michoacán. The Center of Biological Diversity says that two decades ago the number of monarchs making the trip numbered a billion. Now, several environmental groups are seeking to place the
monarch on the “endangered species” list. Monarchs depend on farm fields, pastures, residential gardens and roadside plant growth for the milkweed plants on which the eggs are laid and cocoons cling. Adults feed on nectar from plants
such as milkweeds, aster, thistle, alfalfa, goldenrod, lilac and red clover. The widespread use of pesticides and herbicides in gardens, farms and pastures and roadside mowing has substantially impacted the monarch’s habitat. Illegal
logging of the favored Oyamel fir trees in Mexico has significantly compromised the monarch’s winter home. In early 2015 the U.S. Fish and Wild Life Service and Continues on page 14
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