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D-427 to cut budget by $3.8M Judge: Woman’s statements fair game Martinez accused of trying to stab estranged husband’s girlfriend By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Jolene Dodson, whose freshman son has an individual education plan, shares concerns Tuesday about faculty being cut during a Sycamore School District 427 board meeting at Sycamore Middle School. The Proposed Reduction-in-Force of Teaching Positions was approved by the board and will begin next school year.
Teacher layoffs, reduced programs are part of plan By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – The Sycamore School District 427 board approved a three-year budget Tuesday that calls for teacher layoffs and reduced programs, drawing ire of some parents with special needs children. The budget, presented to the public for the second time by a hoarse Superintendent Kathy Countryman in a meeting at Sycamore Middle School, calls for reductions in several areas: three special education positions, a reading specialist, almost all of the English Language Learner staff, reassigned custodial and maintenance positions, and 26 other full-time positions such as art and music classes will be facing cuts. Overall, the cuts represent $3.8 million phased in across three years – $1.6 million the first year, beginning in fiscal 2016, $1.5 the next year and $700,000 in the third year. “We want to be able to provide students with the same opportunities and the same excellence in achievement that we have been able to provide for them,” board
The Sycamore School District 427 board approved a proposed reduction-in-force of teaching positions during a meeting Tuesday at Sycamore Middle School. Chairman Jim Dombek said to Countryman at the meeting. Dombek, as well as board members Barb King, Steve Nelson, Eric Jones, Kris Wrenn and Diane Tyrrell all approved the budget proposal. Donald Clayberg was absent. The board will make the necessary personnel actions regarding the staff at the March 10 meeting. Countryman said seniority will be taken into account when
the layoffs occur. Dombek commented on the attendance of about 40 teachers and parents. However only two parents spoke and shared their disagreement with cutting the funds to the special education. Jolene Dodson has a son who is a freshman in high school with Asperger syndrome who has an individual education plan, and works through the special education program. During the public
comment portion, Dodson shared her concerns about losing support in the cuts. “These cuts over the three years takes my son through sophomore, junior and senior year,” Dodson said. “Is the level of service he needs going to be available? I worry that with less people, if it’s going to have an impact. Special needs kids need to be looked at as people who need help.” Another parent with a fourth-grader in the district said the cuts being made to the special education department are “disproportionate” to other necessary cuts, and asked the board to reconsider. However, a the budget proposal comes with a contingency plan. The proposal is based on enrollment for the next school year, and contains a contingency plan. Should enrollment unexpectedly spike, faculty can be brought back after their position has been eliminated. A similar situation happened two years ago, when kindergarten enrollment saw such a spike the demand to add another class was
See SYCAMORE, page A6
SYCAMORE – Nicholle Martinez’s statement that she thought she should see an attorney during a police interview wasn’t enough for DeKalb County Presiding Judge Robbin Stuckert to toss all the statements she made afterward. Martinez, 42, of the 1800 block of Kerrybrook Court in Sycamore, is accused of trying to fatally stab her estranged husband’s girlfriend Sept. 27. Martinez’s lawyer unsuccessfully asked Stuckert on Tuesday to toss out several statements Martinez made to police after the early morning incident at Parkside Drive Apartments, 1329 Sycamore Road in DeKalb. State law allows police to continue talking with a suspect if their request for an attorney is unclear, while police must stop questioning suspects unless they initiate a conversation after they unequivocally invoke their right to legal representation. In DeKalb County Court on Tuesday, DeKalb police officer Chris Sullivan testified that he approached Martinez as she was sitting on an apartment stoop surrounded by three or four other people about 4 a.m. the day of the stabbing. When he asked what had happened, Martinez raised her hands as one would do if preparing to be handcuffed and said, “I attacked
See MARTINEZ, page A6
Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
Attorney Loren Blumenfeld stands beside his client Nicholle Martinez, a Sycamore woman accused of trying to fatally stab her estranged husband’s girlfriend in an apartment complex parking lot, as he asks Judge Robbin Stuckert to reduce bond during a hearing Tuesday at the DeKalb County Courthouse.
Obama vetoes controversial Keystone XL pipeline bill By JOSH LEDERMAN The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Defying the Republican-run Congress, President Barack Obama rejected a bill Tuesday to approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, wielding his veto power for only the third time in his presidency. Obama offered no indication of whether he’ll eventually issue a permit for the pipeline, whose construction has become a flashpoint in the U.S. debate about environmenAP file photo tal policy and climate change. House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio signs the bill authorizing expan- Instead, Obama sought to resion of the Keystone XL pipeline Feb. 13 on Capitol Hill in Washington, assert his authority to make D.C. the decision himself, rebuffing
GOP lawmakers who will control both the House and Senate for the remainder of the president’s term. “The presidential power to veto legislation is one I take seriously,” Obama said in a brief notice delivered to the Senate. “But I also take seriously my responsibility to the American people.” Obama vetoed the bill in private with no fanfare, in contrast to the televised ceremony Republican leaders staged earlier this month when they signed the bill and sent it to the president. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Republicans were “not even close” to giving up the fight and derided
the veto as a “national embarrassment.” The move sends the politically charged issue back to Congress, where Republicans haven’t shown they can muster the two-thirds majority in both chambers needed to override Obama’s veto. North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven, the bill’s chief GOP sponsor, said Republicans are about four votes short in the Senate and need about 11 more in the House. Although the veto is Obama’s first since Republicans took control on Capitol Hill, it was not likely to be the last. GOP lawmakers are lining up legislation rolling back Obama’s actions on health
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care, immigration and financial regulation that Obama has promised to similarly reject. “He’s looking at this as showing he still can be king of the hill, because we don’t have the votes to override,” Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, a vocal opponent of Obama’s climate change agenda, said in an interview. “If he vetoed this, he’s going to veto many others that are out there.” First proposed more than six years ago, the Keystone XL pipeline project has sat in limbo ever since, awaiting a permit required by the federal
See KEYSTONE, page A6
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