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DAILY CHRONICLE Sycamore baseball scores big in 3rd inning to beat DeKalb / B1
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Athletic director poised to shift jobs Kim expected to take reins at Huntley Middle School By EDDIE CARIFIO ecarifio@shawmedia.com DeKALB – After Thomas Kim spent a year as athletic director at DeKalb High, DeKalb School District 428 Superintendent Doug Moeller has asked him to take over as principal at Huntley Middle School. Kim’s appointment is set to be considered Tuesday by the District 428 board. “Huntley Middle School has just had an incredible amount of turnover in administrators over the past 10 or more years,” Moeller said. “I don’t want it to sound negative because there are a lot of great people there. But there’s been a lot of inconsistency and no coherent leadership at that building for a long, long time.” Kim said he chose to take the job at the request of Moeller. “Nothing like this is ever easy because it’s not something I ever anticipated,” Kim said. “... If as our superintendent, this is something he says he needs, you have to do it for the interest of this district and the kids and the community.” Moeller’s and Kim’s working relationship predates Kim being hired at DeKalb. Kim was the football coach at Elgin High School for four years while Moeller was the dean of students there. “Knowing his skill set, I know he will do a phenomenal job at Huntley Middle School and provide consistent leadership over the course of the next several years,” Moeller said. If the board approves the appointment, Kim will take the role currently held by Leticia Dawkins – who is taking the principal’s job at Jefferson Elementary. That position was held by Cristy Meyer, who is taking a job in the district office overseeing the special needs program. Moeller said he expected the motion to be approved. “I do anticipate the board will approve Tom for the Huntley Middle School principalship, yes,” Moeller said. “But again, I don’t want to say anything definitively, because the board hasn’t voted.” The athletic director job was posted Friday
Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Sgt. Craig Woodruff, of the DeKalb Police Department, asks for a driver’s license and registration during a roadside safety check March 17 in the Westminster Presbyterian Church parking lot off of Annie Glidden Road.
DeKalb County violent offenses down, less serious infractions still an issue By DARIA SOKOLOVA dsokolova@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The data provided by several DeKalb County police departments showed an overall decline in violent crime and highlighted that less-serious crimes still were persistent throughout the county. Sycamore police Sgt. Steve Cook said Sycamore crime numbers are generally low, but one area that continues to rise is deceptive crimes including identity theft, credit card fraud and scams. “We have tried to put out as much information as we can about these scams, but this continues to be a problem,” he said. “We continue to try and educate the public about these scams by posting information
on the Internet and through meetings In Sycamore, there were 135 reports of fraud in 2014 compared to 127 reports in 2013. Cook said among several initiatives implemented by the Sycamore Police Department to combat crime are an investigator assigned to the Illinois Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and to the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force; a school resource officer assigned to the area middle school and high school; and meet-and-greet events with the public. In 2014, Sycamore also saw an uptick in misdemeanor batteries from 31 in 2013 to 37 in 2014. There also were 104 cases of criminal damage in 2014 compared to 90 cases in 2013.
Sycamore police also continue to work to make roads safer, Cook said. “We do still see people on their cellphones while driving,” he said. “Illinois law requires a person to use cellphones hands free. We plan on stepping up enforcement of this law during the upcoming months.” In the city of DeKalb, violent crime hit a 10-year-low in 2014, according to the data recently released by DeKalb police. DeKalb police Cmdr. John Petragallo attributed the drop in crime to a multitude of different factors such as collaboration among county’s law enforcement agencies and several programs, such as Triad,
Reported crime in DeKalb Crime Homicide Rape Agg. Battery/Assault Burglary Auto theft Controlled substance Sex offenses Battery Liquor control violations Disorderly conduct
2012 2013 2014 0 2 1 34 47 36 134 146 129 209 185 156 24 26 16 72 120 173 54 41 43 605 622 595 327 253 175 833 748 651 Source: DeKalb police
Reported crime in Sycamore Crime Homicide Rape Robbery Agg. Battery/Assault Burglary Theft Motor vehicle theft Arson
See CRIME, page A7
2013 2014 0 0 1 5 2 0 8 15 14 21 251 182 5 5 0 0 Source: Sycamore police
See PRINCIPAL, page A7
Drug policy, dress code revamped at Sycamore High School By ADAM POULISSE apoulisse@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – The new high school handbook has been changed to not only forbid alcohol, e-cigarettes and drugs – but anything that resembles drugs, mirroring the weapon and lookalike weapon policy. “This fall we were challenged with what [happens] if the drug test comes back [neg-
ative],” said Nick Reineck, Sycamore High School dean of students. “It’s based on the intent. We don’t want our hands to be tied.” The Spartan Senate forms a committee comprised of high school administrators, faculty, students and parents to review the handbook along with lawyers every two years, then presents any changes to the Sycamore School District 427 Board. The board unanimous-
ly approved the handbook changes after a first reading at Tuesday’s meeting. The high school dress code also has been updated to include off-the-shoulder tops as a violation of the dress code. “As fashion trends are always changing, so are dresscode violations,” Sycamore High School student Angelina Lee told the board during the handbook presentation. “One of the newer trends is an off-
the-shoulder top and administration believed it was inappropriate.” The revised handbook also states that the decision of whether shorts or skirts are too high now falls on the administrators, instead of the traditional “finger-length rule.” “Since kids are always growing, and some girls have longer arms or longer legs, we changed it to just subject
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to administration discretion,” Lee said. “If someone does appear to look inappropriate ... that’s up to the administration.” The former tardy policy stated that students who arrive 10 minutes late to first period, and five minutes late in subsequent periods will be counted tardy before being counted as unexcused absences. The revised handbook states that all classes now
only have the five-minute tardy policy. “We weren’t really sure why we had this policy in the first place,” Lee told the board. “But we thought it gave off the [impression] that it was OK to sleep in in the morning. Obviously, we didn’t want to convey that.” Beginning next school year, all students will be
See SYCAMORE, page A7
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