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Prairie Ridge girls’ defense on display in 45-28 win against Marian Central / C1 NWHerald.com
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Locals worry over project
STATE RELEASES PARCC STUDENT TEST SCORES
Hearing addresses restoration work at Ryder’s Woods By HANNAH PROKOP hprokop@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – After an informational meeting on the restoration work at Ryder’s Woods in Woodstock, some residents still had concerns about the changing landscape. Woodstock Public Works Director Jeff Van Landuyt held the meeting to update residents who live near the 17-acre park, off Kimball and Lake avenues, on the work being done there by the city and The Land Conservancy of McHenry County. Van Landuyt apologized for not holding a meeting before the city started taking down trees in the woods in June to build a parking lot, which concerned some residents. Plans for the parking lot have been put on hold, Van Landuyt said. Seven residents attended the meeting, including Jeffery Clunk who lives at Freemont Street and Lawndale Avenue. “They destroyed the woods,” Clunk said. “They cleared it all out. If you walk in there, you can see everywhere, there’s no place for the animals to hide.” Others at the meeting agreed with Clunk’s concerns, saying that removing box elder trees, walnut trees and about an acre of concrete waste was disrupting the animals that live in the woods and some residents’ views. Lisa Haderlein, executive director of the conservancy, said Thursday the area is meant to be an oak woodland. “Actually, nature’s not so much taking its course as people and the non-native plants that we’ve brought in are taking over and killing off the
H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Prairie Grove Elementary School fifth-graders (clockwise from left) Sean Bainbridge, Ryan and Karstan Koelbinger, and Brook Benjmain read and then quiz each other recently during Charlie DeVries’ class. District 46 had the highest percentage of students meet or exceed standards on the English language arts portion of the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test.
Mixed results for districts
Officials point to variables when reading scores On the Web: To find McHenry
County PARCC test results by school and district, visit NWHerald.com.
Voice your opinion: Did you have a child not participate in PARCC testing last spring? Vote online at NWHerald.com. For more: For information on PARCC and how to interpret results, visit parcconline.org.
By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com Across the board, it was the first thing most McHenry County school officials said of newly released results from the initial PARCC assessment: This is a starting point. District- and school-level test data from PARCC – Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers – was released by the state this week. It was administered for the first time last spring for third- through eighth-graders and high school students in En-
glish language arts and math. Statewide, 30 percent of students met or exceeded expectations on the new test and 28.4 percent “approached” standards. In McHenry County, two districts out of 19 had more than 50 percent of students meet or exceed standards, based on composite figures. Local officials said results from the new assessment can’t indicate much about student growth until it’s been administered over several years.
See PARCC, page A6
“The data is not a true reflection of what’s happening in the schools because the way it’s reported is so inconsistent. It’s not a good way to measure student success.” Johnnie Thomas, District 155 superintendent
See PROJECT, page A6
Chicago protesters target independent police review agency By MICHAEL TARM The Associated Press
Rahm Emanuel
CHICAGO – Protesters who have been calling for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s resignation also have another target: a much-criticized, quasi-independent agency that was created to
LOCAL NEWS
Inside GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson criticizes Chicago leaders for delayed video release. PAGE B3 investigate complaints against police officers but has rarely
ruled against them. The mayor’s critics complain that his pledge to reform the Independent Police Review Authority is too limited because he seeks to improve an existing system rather than scrapping it and starting over. In the outrage that erupted
over the video showing an officer fatally shooting Laquan McDonald, Emanuel sacked his police chief and set up a task force to recommend changes. He also replaced the head of the authority known as IPRA. Former IPRA investigator and supervisor Lorenzo Davis
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said he was fired this year after refusing to reverse his finding in one fatal police shooting that it was not justified. The idea behind IPRA when it was set up in 2007 was for the agency to be wholly independent
See PROTESTERS, page A7
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‘Like being a proud dad’ McHenry man one of about a dozen cancer fighter ambassadors who helped design new cancer treatment center in Zion / A3
Bears’ running back turns 30 Matt Forte turns to humor to deal with concerns about his health and future / C1
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