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Nov ember 5 , 2015 • $1 .0 0
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KishHealth adds Ben Gordon Center DAILY CHRONICLE news@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – KishHealth System has taken over operation of nonprofit mental health provider Ben Gordon Center, the DeKalb-based health system announced Wednesday. Ben Gordon Center began operating Sunday as KishHealth System Behavioral Health Services under the umMonica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com brella of the health system, acThe Ben Gordon Center in DeKalb has been acquired by KishHealth cording to a news release. The System and has been renamed KishHealth System Behavioral Health two nonprofit organizations entered into merger talks in Services.
September. Terms of the deal weren’t provided. KishHealth System President and CEO Kevin Poorten said the addition would improve care in DeKalb County. “The bringing together of the two organizations allows the health system to place a greater emphasis on the coordination of behavioral health and physical health, focusing on the person as a whole, providing a continuum of care that benefits each patient,” Poorten said in a news release.
“Both organizations’ leadership and boards of directors felt it would bring higher quality health care to members of our community.” Since 1968, Ben Gordon Center had provided mental health services such as outpatient addiction and eating disorder treatment, counseling and support groups, adult and adolescent counseling, and prevention and community education services. The center operated five facilities in DeKalb County including a main building at 12 Health
Services Drive, near Kishwaukee Hospital. The center, which employed more than 40 counselors and therapists, had struggled financially. “We felt it was time to approach KishHealth System,” Mark Leach, chairman of the center’s board, said in a statement. “The mental health and substance abuse services so necessary to this community will be preserved with the financial strength and commitment of KishHealth System.”
See KISHHEALTH, page A6
Death was a ‘cleverly staged’ suicide
DEKALB SCHOOL DISTRICT 428
Gliniewicz killed self after embezzling funds, investigators say By KEVIN P. CRAVER and KATIE DAHLSTROM editorial@nwherald.com
Danielle Guerra file photo – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Littlejohn Elementary School Principal Billy Hueramo high-fives new first-grade teacher Elizabeth Smith at the DeKalb School District 428 State of the School District Address and new teacher welcome lunch Aug. 19 at DeKalb High School.
Searching for balance District 428 to examine hiring practices, recruitment of minority candidates By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Billy Hueramo wants his students to see teachers who look like them in the classroom, but the DeKalb School District 428 faces challenges as it tries to diversify the faculty at its 12 schools. Hueramo, principal of Littlejohn Elementary School, said that about 50 percent of students at Littlejohn are white, 17 percent are black ,25 percent are Latino and the rest are made up of Asian and multiracial kids. But staff don’t mirror the student population, he said. “There is a big disparity,” he said. “I would like to see it change. … It would be great for a student to be able to have someone in their classroom that looks like them
and that can relate to them and their background from a cultural perspective.” District 428 hired 51 new teachers this year. Of those new teachers, 92.2 percent were white. 2.1 percent were black and 5.9 percent were Hispanic. The district also hired six administrators, all white. Districtwide, 86.1 percent of teachers are white, compared with the 53.7 percent of white students. Throughout the district, 16.5 percent of students are black, while 3.7 percent of teachers are black. Hispanic students make up 22.9 percent of the population whereas 4.4 percent of teachers are Hispanic. Asian students represent 1.9 percent of the district and 4.5 percent students are multiracial. Some 0.3 percent of district teach-
ers are Asian and 0.6 percent are multiracial. School board President Victoria Newport said she doesn’t think the demographics within the district are diverse enough and wants the board to make a bigger effort on the recruitment end of hiring. “We are going to look at having job fairs, going out to universities in the area and talking about the DeKalb School District and encouraging minorities to apply,” she said. Newport said that, in her view, it was important for the teacher population to mirror the student population. “It’s important that a minority child can be taught by someone else that is a minority,” she said. “Learning
See DISTRICT 428, page A6
District 428 new hire demographics
FOX LAKE – Fox Lake Police Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz was not killed in the line of duty but committed a “cleverly staged” suicide out of fear of getting caught stealing from the police youth group he led, investigators revealed Wednesday. In a shocking twist, investigators said Gliniewicz, a 30-year veteran of the force, had been stealing from the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post 300 program for at least seven years, using Lt. Joseph the money for personal Gliniewicz expenses such as personal loans, gym memberships, travel and visits to adult websites, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko said. Gliniewicz, whose Sept. 1 death sparked a fierce manhunt for the killers and a national outpouring of grief, shot himself twice with his own .40-caliber service weapon after radioing in a call for backup while investigating three suspicious men. “Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the
See SUICIDE, page A6
Total new hires: 102 Administrative: 6 white Assistants: 19 white, 4 black, 4 Hispanic, 1 Asian Paid interns: 4 white, 1 black, 2 multiracial Unaffiliated: 4 white, 2 black, 1 Asian Teachers: 47 white, 1 black, 3 Hispanic District teacher temographics: White: 86.1 percent Black: 3.7 percent Hispanic: 4.4 percent Asian: 0.3 percent Multiracial: 0.6 percent District student demographics White: 53.7 percent Black: 16.5 percent Hispanic: 22.9 percent Asian: 1.9 percent Multiracial: 4.5 percent – Source: District 428
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Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko, standing with Lake County Coroner Dr. Thomas Rudd (left), discusses the Fox Lake Police Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz death investigation Wednesday at the Round Lake Beach Civic Center. The investigation concluded Gliniewicz’s death was a “cleverly staged” suicide.
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