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Local official works last day
OUT-OF-POCKET EXPENSES FOR TEACHERS
Schaefer retires from township By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Amanda Lemke (left), a teacher at Heinemen Middle School, helps Shemar Rayford, 13, of Lake in the Hills with his homework while she organizes his school papers with new folders she bought after raising $400 for supplies from an Adopt a Classroom fundraiser. Lemke bought folders, pencils, pens, binders and other supplies her students ask for with the donated money.
Filling classroom needs Teachers turn to online fundraising to help buy supplies By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com Last year Amanda Lemke posted an online fundraiser to ask for help in paying for extra organizational materials, such as binders, folders, dividers and notebooks for her students at Heineman Middle School in Algonquin. A few weeks later, there was a $400 donation waiting for her. Eventually Lemke used it to buy binders, folders, even pencils for when her students need supplies, such as
ways handing it out.” to the Education Mar“My students have a variety of needs. I want to meet the needs ketAccording Association, teachers spent $1.6 of the highest and lowest readers. Having books at different billion out of their own pockets for classroom supplies or materials levels allows all my kids to have a chance to access books.” for the 2012-13 school year. In total, about $3.2 billion was spent on education products, the association Kelly Edge A Verda Dierzen Early Learning Center dual language kindergarten teacher in Woodstock said. The association’s survey of 398 teachers included all grade levels. On average, teachers said they “Every day somebody wants a when an eighth-grade student came to the special education teacher new pencil or new notebook,” Lem- spent $149 of their own money on looking for a spare pen and a note- ke said. “It seems silly to buy that much school supplies, but I’m albook. See TEACHERS, page A4
Friday marked the last official day of work for McHenry Township Supervisor Donna Schaefer, who is retiring from a 26-year tenure in local government. Schaefer, 60, who has more than 10 years on the McHenry County Board under her belt in addition to 16 years as township supervisor, said the decision Donna to retire had Schaefer everything to do with her family. The 60-year-old said it was time to spend more time with her 15-year-old daughter; her two sons, who both have had to deal with medical issues in the past; and her husband, who also is in the process of retiring. A special board meeting was held earlier this month, during which trustee Craig Adams was appointed to fill the supervisor position. “He’s probably the longest serving trustee with the most experience,” Schaefer said. The appointment means Adams will finish out the township supervisor term, which doesn’t end until 2017. By law, a new trustee also will have to be appointed to fill Adams’ spot within the next 60 days, Schaefer said. Adams, who said he has served as a trustee for a
See RETIRE, page A4
Obama vows response in cyberattack; N. Korea denies involvement The Associated Press WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama declared Friday that Sony “made a mistake” in shelving a satirical film about a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader, and he pledged the U.S. would respond “in a place and manner and time that we choose” to the hacking attack on Sony that led to the with-
Obama said at a year-end news conference, “I wish they had In last wide-ranging news confer- spoken to me first. ... We canence of the year, President Barack not have a soObama cautions that change may ciety in which be slow to come to Cuba. PAGE A6 some dictator someplace can start imposing drawal. The FBI blamed the censorship.” hack on the communist govObama said Barack Obama ernment. he imagined Speaking of executives at situations in Sony Pictures Entertainment, which dictators “start seeing
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a documentary that they don’t like or news reports that they don’t like.” Sony said it had had no choice but to cancel distribution of the movie since theaters were refusing to show it. North Korea denied anew that it had hacked the studio. “There is not any connection,” U.N. diplomat Kim Song told The Associated Press. Song criticized the film but disputed his government hacked Sony
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Officials hope in-progress update will improve parent engagement / A3 STATE
Lingering questions Analysis: Those searching for potential trade partners for Jay Cutler keep pointing to Tennessee, but it’s unlikely / C1
and orchestrated the movie’s shutdown: “It defamed the image of our country. It made a mockery of our sovereignty. We reject it. But there is no relation” to the hacking. The U.S. decision to openly blame North Korea – which involved agreement by the State Department and intelligence agencies – escalated a global game of brinkmanship. It happened after the disclosure of confidential Sony emails
and business files and threats of terror attacks against U.S. movie theaters until Sony agreed to cancel the Christmas Day release of its comedy, “The Interview.” Obama spoke not long after the FBI provided the most detailed accounting to date of the digital break-in. The president’s pointed criticism of Sony shifted focus to whether
See OBAMA, page A4
New comptroller named Quinn taps longtime member of inner circle, Jerry Stermer, to temporarily fill office / A5
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