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Wednesday, August 28, 2013
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PREP FOOTBALL PREVIEW • INSIDE
NIU VS. MARYLAND • SPORTS, B1
Can local QBs lead their teams to state?
Today marks 10 years since NIU’s monumental win
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DEKALB’S ER JACK SAUT
28, 2013
D-428 deal with teachers finalized AY, AUGUST AY WEDNESD
students will begin the school year today knowing they will return to class Thursday. The DeKalb Classroom Teachers’ Association announced last week that its members would strike Thursday if a deal wasn’t reached by Tuesday night. “That was a driving factor for all of us,” school board President Tom Matya said. “We wanted to make sure we had a fair deal for our taxpayers, and obviously they wanted a fair deal. But no one wanted to go on strike, and
By CHRIS BURROWS cburrows@shawmedia.com DeKALB – DeKalb School District 428 board members approved a new three-year contract with the teachers’ union Tuesday, ending any possibility of a strike. Board members met in closed session for about 35 minutes and had no public discussion Tuesday morning before approving the new contract by a 5-0 vote, with two board members abstaining. The move means district
What it means for teachers n 2013-14: Pay freeze, minor insurance changes, no compulsory bus duty n 2014-15: 3.22 percent raise n 2015-16: 3.37 percent raise that’s what brought the sides together.” Board members Nina Fontana and Cohen Barnes abstained from the vote because both have relatives who teach
in the district. Nina Fontana’s son, T.J. Fontana, is the teachers’ union spokesman. The new contract includes a hard freeze on teacher salaries for the upcoming school year. For 2014-15, the contract allows for a 1.1 percent payscale increase and a “step” increase of 2.12 percent, and for 2015-16, the “step” increase remains the same, but the pay scale increases an additional 1.25 percent. “We feel good about this new contract,” T.J. Fontana said. “Our membership here
is understanding of the times that we’re in. We knew that this was not going to be a lucrative financial contract.” District 428 is facing a $2.7 million budget deficit for the upcoming school year, which school officials will cover using reserve funds. The district received a $21 million construction grant in 2011 and is free to use that money however it sees fit. “This will help us a great deal with our budget,” Matya
See D-428, page A6
Not voting
Nina Cohen Fontana Barnes Board members Nina Fontana and Cohen Barnes abstained from the vote because both have relatives who teach in the district.
MLK: Obama’s personal hero
DeKalb High sports new cheer team
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Barack Obama was 2 years old and growing up in Hawaii when Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Fifty years later, the nation’s first black president will stand as the most high-profile example of the racial progress King espoused, delivering remarks today at a nationwide commemoration of the 1963 demonstration for jobs, economic justice and racial equality. President O b a m a Barack b e l i e v e s h i s Obama success in attaining the nation’s highest political office is a testament to the dedication of King and others, and that he would not be the current Oval Office occupant if it were not for their willingness to persevere through repeated imprisonments, bomb threats and blasts from billy clubs and fire hoses. “When you are talking about Dr. King’s speech at the March on Washington, you’re talking about one of the maybe five greatest speeches in American history,” Obama said in a radio interview Tuesday. “And the words that he
Photos by Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Freshman Rebecca Butler runs through a cheer with the DeKalb Sparkles during a cheer practice Aug. 21 at DeKalb High School. The Sparkles is an inclusive team bringing special needs students, like Butler, together with her cheerleading peers. The school partners with a nonprofit group called Sparkle Effect that supports these kinds of teams across the country.
DeKalb Sparkles includes special needs students By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Rebecca Butler isn’t the type of teenager to help a soccer team win a game or to excel in other competitive activities. She didn’t hit all of her milestones, such as walking and talking, at the same time as most children. She was diagnosed as developmentally delayed
at age 7, which meant her emotional and intellectual abilities did not match her age. But when her mother Janet Butler found out about the Sparkle Effect, a nonprofit organization dedicated to jump-starting inclusive cheerleading teams nationwide, she approached DeKalb High School Principal Tamra
See SPARKLES, page A6
See MLK, page A6
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Junior Edith Reynolds runs through a new cheer with the DeKalb Sparkles during a cheer practice Aug. 21 at DeKalb High School.
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
A2 A2-4 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
Weather A2, A4-6 A7 B1-4
Advice Comics Classified
C4 C5 D1-4
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