75 cents
Breaking news at Daily-Chronicle.com
Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
EASTER MEALS
DEKALB GIRLS SOCCER • SPORTS, B1
Make your holiday side dishes great Food, C1
Early goals lead to victory over Rockford Guilford Natalie Vaughn-Low
Reston Ponds phase II launched Sycamore mayor: Subdivision’s growth sign the city’s housing market is recovering By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Months after resuming construction in the Reston Ponds subdivision, ShoDeen Homes has opened the second phase of the Sycamore development and started offering homes with a base price of $199,900. ShoDeen launched the sec-
ond phase of its 391-home site subdivision near Somonauk Street and Becker Place this week to offer lots close to the pond, said Nathan Amidon, director of sales for ShoDeen. The company also introduced a ranch and two-story home models that reduced the starting price of homes there from $214,990 to $199,900, a move Amidon said was based
on discussions with local real estate brokers and on examining the area housing market. “We wanted to fit the needs of more families in the Sycamore community,” Amidon said. The average listing price for a home in Sycamore is $199,433. The median sales price is $158,500, meaning half of all homes sold for more and
half for less, according to real estate website Trulia.com. Reston Ponds has 30 lots remaining in the first phase and 146 in the second phase. The 15 lots the company opened in the second phase are considered premium lots because they are near the pond, Amidon said. “It will take several years to sell out the rest of the com-
munity, but there is some urgency for those premium lots around the pond,” Amidon said. ShoDeen reopened its sales office in Reston Ponds in August after an uptick in progress since the 2009 economic downturn and a restored faith in the Sycamore area housing market. Amidon said so far it has proven to be a good deci-
sion. ShoDeen sold three to four homes in the first phase from August to December last year and three homes in the second phase. Sycamore Mayor Ken Mundy said the growth in Reston Ponds is a sign the city’s housing market is recovering. In
See RESTON PONDS, page A6
Ill. school funding proposal advances
Global families
By KERRY LESTER The Associated Press
coordinator. The program teaches students a variety of topics from civic engagement to cultural orientation. Some were paired with Sycamore High School students Monday to follow their class schedule for the day. The students and adult learners will be in the DeKalb area until April 22, when they will travel to Washington, D.C., for a tour of the U.S. capital before leaving for home. Denius said the experience is rewarding for all involved.
SPRINGFIELD – A proposal to dramatically overhaul the state’s school funding formula and allocate more money to poorer districts moved ahead in the Illinois Senate on Tuesday. The regionally divisive issue, however, likely faces a tough road in gaining support from both parties in both chambers. The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Andy Manar, would be a significant shift from the current method that factors in a district’s poverty for some types of state aid but not others. With numbers still being tallied by the State Board of Education that would indicate the expected gains and losses to specific districts, state Sen. Matt Murphy, a Palatine Republican, questioned if lawmakers were taking a leap “where we don’t know where we’re going to land.” “How do I know whether this is the right thing to do for the people that sent me here?” Murphy said. After a nearly three-hour subcommittee debate, the issue was sent by a party line vote to another Senate committee, where it must be approved before it can advance to the chamber floor. Under the plan, 92 percent of total state education funding would be distributed by factoring in districts’ poverty levels, accounting for low-income students using a weighted formula. The legislation also uses the number of students receiving free and reduced-priced lunches to determine who qualifies for additional low income dollars, which Manar said is in practice with most other states. Only specialized programs for special education and early childhood education would be exempted from the formula. And, for the first time in decades, funding for Chicago Public Schools would be treated under the same formula as the rest of the state. “Let’s change the law based on the needs of our state today,” Manar, of Bunker Hill,
See STUDENTS, page A3
See FUNDING, page A6
Photos by Monica Maschak - mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Limian Yeo (left), from Brunei Darussalam, and Zaianab Pirualee, from Thailand, get to know each other during a picnic Saturday to welcome students from 10 Southeast Asia countries at Lions Park in DeKalb. The students are in DeKalb for the Southeast Asia youth leadership program organized by Northern Illinois University.
Locals host international students through NIU program By ANDREA AZZO
On the Web
aazzo@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Sycamore resident Brandy Overhaug has invited international students into her home so many times, she has lost count. On Sunday, she welcomed a Laotian and a Singaporean student, both high-school-aged girls, who will spend the next few days at the family ranch with Overhaug, her husband, three children and pets – dogs, cats, horses and chickens. “Our house is probably overstimulating,” Overhaug said. “We have a lot of animals...” The Overhaugs are among 31 local families hosting about 50 high school students and 10 adult leaders from 10 countries in Southeast Asia through Northern Illinois University’s Southeast Asia Youth Leadership Program,
From which country would you most like to host an exchange student? Vote online now. To see more photos, visit Daily-Chronicle.com.
Students from Laos perform a traditional dance Saturday at Lions Park in DeKalb. which is funded through the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Although this is the seventh year NIU has partici-
pated in the program, this year is the first time students from 10 countries are all being housed at once. Typically, NIU welcomes students from five South-
east Asian countries in the fall and students from a second group of five countries in the spring, said Liz Denius, communications manager and host family
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
A2 A3-4 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
Weather A2, A5 A7 B1-4
Advice Comics Classified
C4 C5 D1-4
High:
61
Low:
46