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October 12, 2014 • $1.50
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58 48 Complete forecast on page A12
Haley Arnieri
NWHerald.com
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McHENRY COUNTY HAS HIGH RATE OF TEACHER ABSENTEEISM
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Sheriff helpers may be sought Both candidates weigh enlisting more volunteers By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
would require Americans and their partners to protect ground territory and patrol the skies, meaning it would have to enforce a no-fly area. Turkey, an American NATO ally, is demanding such a step for a variety of reasons. A buffer might stem the flow of refugees into Turkish territory. It also could provide Syrian opposition fighters with a staging ground for
WOODSTOCK – The candidates for McHenry County sheriff are looking at residents to become more involved in the county’s largest policing agency, as each considers expanding volunteer opportunities within the office. But Jim Harrison and Bill Prim have different ideas about what those volunteer efforts would look like. Republican candidate Prim wants to expand Neighborhood Watch efforts already in place in McHenry County. Harrison, who’s running as an independent, w o u l d s t a r t Jim Harrison smaller with a citizens’ advisory board while he dug into the legal and monetary implications of such programs. Bill Prim “I am all in favor of trying to put together a way to engage the community in law enforcement and po- Election lice [work], so they feel they Central have a voice Follow the and means to v o l u n t e e r , ” local, state and Harrison said. national races U n d e r at NWHerald. Prim’s plan, com/eleca network of tion-central. volunteers would represent the office at various functions, help in the event of a natural disaster, and join in non-enforcement-related police activities. “The cost savings is, I don’t have to have a paid deputy at every event, I can have volunteers there,” Prim said. Tom Meloni, a criminal justice professor at Western Illinois University and 37year law enforcement veteran, lauded such programs.
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Graphic by Kristina Peters – kpeters@shawmedia.com
The financial woes in Johnsburg’s District 12 have forced it to run a deficit, borrow to make ends meet and eliminate the equivalent of 14 fulltime teaching and administrative positions. The budget crunch, though, has had an unintended consequence. A slashed budget for professional development may have made the district one of the few in McHenry County to have hardly any of its teachers miss more than 10 days in a school year. McHenry County has the highest rate of teacher absenteeism in the collar counties and the 11th highest in the state, according to an analysis of U.S. Department of Education survey results. About 35 percent of teachers were out of the classroom at least 10 days during the 2011-12 school year compared to the state average of about 24 percent. For student achievement, that level of absenteeism is the equivalent of having a brand new teacher instead of one with two or three years of experience, according to a June 2014 report from the National Council on
MISSING SCHOOL Area districts try to balance educator absences, development By EMILY COLEMAN • ecoleman@shawmedia.com Teacher Quality, a think tank that pushes for reforms aimed at improving teacher effectiveness. District 12 falls far below the county average with just under 3 percent of teachers missing that much time.
“Anytime you can keep your classroom teachers in the classroom, that’s a benefit,” District 12 Superintendent Dan Johnson said. “That’s pretty much universal. Teachers are talented people.”
Online extra A searchable and sortable database of McHenry County district schools and where they fall on teacher absenteeism is available at NWHerald.com.
Voice your opinion Do you think your child’s teacher misses too much school? Vote online at NWHerald. com.
McHenry District 15, on the other hand, reported that about 61 percent of its teachers missed more than 10 days and at one of its schools, Edgebrook Elementary School, more than 80 percent of teachers were out that much – though Mark Bertolozzi, the district’s chief financial officer, questioned the data’s accuracy. “We don’t really know where the numbers are coming from,” he said, adding the district couldn’t
See ABSENCES, page A9
Despite demands, Syria no-fly zone a no-go for U.S. By BRADLEY KLAPPER
Inside
The Associated Press WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is boxed in by its promise to limit U.S. military engagement against Islamic State extremists, making it tough to agree to Turkey’s condition for joining the fight in neighboring Syria. Turkey and other U.S. allies want the U.S. to create a no-fly zone inside Syrian ter-
Barack Obama Bashar Assad ritory. Doing so would mean embracing one of two options President Barack Obama has long resisted: cooperating with Syrian President Bashar
PLANIT STYLE
n On the western edge of Iraq’s capital, Islamic State group militants battle government forces, adding to the sense of siege in Baghdad. PAGE B5
Assad’s government or taking out its air defenses, action tantamount to war. Airstrikes alone might not prevent Islamic militants
from carrying out a massacre at a Kurdish border town, but for now the U.S. isn’t steering a new course in its expanded, one-month counterterrorism effort in Iraq and Syria. Demands are rising for the creation of a secure buffer on the Syrian side of its frontier with Turkey as the U.S. and its coalition members plead with the Turks to prevent the fall of Kobani, where the United Nations is warning of mass casualties. A “safe zone”
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