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Kish College trustees to talk tuition By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com MALTA – On the agenda when the Kishwaukee College Board of Trustees meets Tuesday will be a $6-a-credit-hour tuition increase recommended by the college’s finance committee beginning this summer. “We need to debate that, but I expect there will be a decision,” board Chairman Bob Johnson said. “Because of the timeline, we need to be able to tell students enrolling in sum-
mer school, and April is too late to do that.” The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room C-2175, after a board self-evaluation meeting that begins at 3 p.m. Kishwaukee students now pay $125 a credit hour in tuition, a rate that has jumped 50.6 percent since the 2009-10 school year. This latest possible tuition hike comes in the wake of a shaky financial future for the college, as both tuition and property taxes decrease. As of now, college officials expect
another slight enrollment decrease, and a five percent reduction in state funding, Johnson said. “No one’s told us that, we’re just trying to be conservative and not assume everything is going to be hunky-dory,” he said. “It’s a dance where we don’t control many of the factors. Student tuition is one thing that we can decide on.” The overall school budget is tweaked until the final draft that goes into effect at the fiscal year beginning July 1, which also aligns with the 2015-
16 school year. There still is a lot of uncertainty, President Tom Choice said. If approved, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget, which cuts state funding for community colleges, will play a big part in the overall budgeting process, he said. “We’re pretty uncertain at this point, not knowing where the state budget ends up,” Choice said, adding that state funding accounts for 24 percent of the college’s budget. “What the government proposed
DeKALB COUNTY SPELLING BEE
‘MOSQUE’ DEFINITION CLINCHES BEE
has us about flat with last year, which is very good at this point,” Choice said. This year, the college has seen a fair amount of financial budgeting and negotiating. In January, the board and faculty union both approved a new three-year faculty contract, ending 10 months of negotiations. That agreement results in average annual pay increases of about 4.5 percent for more than 80 unionized faculty members over the life of the contract.
Thousands crowd Selma for the 50th anniversary By KIM CHANDLER and PHILLIP LUCAS The Associated Press
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Nolan Bunger and Jessica Aubart were the final two spellers in the annual DeKalb County Spelling Bee on Saturday at Kishwaukee College in Malta. After 24 rounds, Nolan became the champion with a correct answer to a vocabulary question. Bunger, 12, attends Huntley Middle School in DeKalb.
12-year-old Huntley Middle School student will represent county in D.C. By REBECCA JACOBS news@daily-chronicle.com MALTA – Nolan Bunger did not just have to study spelling to win the DeKalb County Spelling Bee on Saturday. He had to study vocabulary, too. While the national Scripps-Howard Spelling Bee includes vocabulary rounds, Saturday was the first time that the DeKalb County Spelling Bee implemented them. The vocabulary round is optional in regional spelling bees. “We just felt that if we’re truly preparing our champion for the national competition, we should include the vocabulary,” said Amanda Christensen, DeKalb County’s regional superintendent of schools.
One out of every three rounds was a vocabulary round, where the contestant was asked a question about the meaning of a word and is given two answers to choose from. “It’s about the true knowledge and comprehension of English language,” Christensen said. Nolan, a 12-year-old who attends Huntley Middle School in DeKalb, won the spelling bee on a vocabulary question for the word “mosque.” Jeff Smith, the pronouncer and assistant regional superintendent, asked Nolan, “Why would a person visit a mosque?” He provided two answers to choose from: A. to worship, or B. to play sports.
See BEE, page A8
Nine contestants remained after five rounds at the annual DeKalb County Spelling Bee.
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SELMA, Ala. – Thousands of people crowded an Alabama bridge Sunday to commemorate a bloody confrontation 50 years ago between police and peaceful protesters that helped bring about the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A day after President Barack Obama had walked atop the Edmund Pettus Bridge, many jammed shoulder to shoulder, many unable to move, as they recalled the civil rights struggle. Police said at least 15,000 to 20,000 people had joined the crush on and around the small bridge. Many came around the country for several events commemorating the landmark moment. William Baldwin, 69, of Montgomery brought his two grandsons, ages 11 and 15, to the bridge Sunday so they could grasp the importance of the historic march he took part in a half century earlier. “They’re going to take this struggle on and we have to understand the price that was paid for them to have what they have now,” Baldwin said. “It wasn’t granted to them, it was earned by blood, sweat and tears.” Some sang hymns and others held signs, such as “Black lives matter, all lives matter.” The crowd was so large that many appeared barely able to move as they peacefully sought to make their way across. On March 7, 1965, police beat and tear-gassed marchers at the foot of the bridge in Selma in a spasm of violence that shocked the nation. Earlier Sunday, Selma officials paid tribute to the late President Lyndon Johnson for the Voting Rights Act. The attack on demonstrators preceded a Selma-to-Montgomery march, which occurred two weeks later in 1965. Both helped build momentum for congressional approval of the Voting Rights Act later that year.
See SELMA, page A8
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