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Attendance remap moves 600 out of Leggee Elementary
KEEP ’EM HONEST
District 158 shifting school boundaries By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
Illustration by R. Scott Helmchen – shelmchen@shawmedia.com
Why transparency matters: It’s your right to know and your tax dollars By KEVIN P. CRAVER kcraver@shawmedia.com
Five years ago, the Northwest Herald began an ongoing series called “No More Excuses” to badger and shame local governments into compliance with new and much stronger open-government laws. Timed to coincide with the national observance of Sunshine Week in mid-March, the series also coincided with new laws that not only strengthened the state’s Freedom of Information and Open Meetings acts, but also gave the Attorney General Public Access Counselor the power to enforce them upon recalcitrant local governments. The newspaper decided that the time for excuses for not being transparent in an information age was over and Illinois governments needed to be brought, kicking and screaming if necessary, into modern times. Sunshine laws do not limit what governments can release to or discuss in front of the public – they limit what the government can conceal from them. Some governments have gotten the message. Others have yet to learn it. And many of them on both sides pay lobbyists with your tax dollars to curtail open-government laws. The reasons you should care about open government are obvious. These entities, from Springfield to the school boards, spend your hard-earned taxpayer dollars. At least two groups put the property tax burden in Illinois, and McHenry County in particular, among the highest in the nation. Public officials make better decisions when they know they’re being watched and are subject to scrutiny. This is especially vital in a state that has become infamous for corruption and has sent more than 1,800 public officials, including four governors, to prison in modern times. What’s more, the vast majority of FOIA requests are not filed by the press, but by the public. Almost 85 percent of reports of alleged abuses of FOIA and the Open Meetings Act submitted to the Public Access Counselor’s Office last year came from regular citizens, according to its annual report. In honor of Sunshine Week, the Northwest Herald shares some of the stories and issues from the past year that either relied on sunshine laws to acquire the information, or chronicled attempts by local and state government to curtail public access.
About this series NO MORE EXCUSES A special report
“No More Excuses” is the Northwest Herald’s ongoing series about the public’s right to know in Illinois.
On the Net Visit foia.ilattorneygeneral.net to learn about the Illinois Open Meetings and Freedom of Information acts, and about the tools you have to report governments that violate them.
Voice your opinion Have you ever filed a Freedom of Information Act request? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
Police militarization The situation: Even before the Ferguson riots brought the ongoing debate over police militarization to the forefront, the Northwest Herald decided to examine last year whether local police departments were acquiring military armored vehicles under a federal surplus program. Filing both federal and state FOIA requests, the newspaper discovered a number of local agencies had been acquiring battlefield vehicles and weapons. While the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office SWAT team obtained a mine-resistant armor-protected vehicle, or MRAP, so did the police department of Spring Grove, population 5,800. Why it matters: The implications on our civil liberties aside, there’s no such thing as a free MRAP. Military vehicles and other equipment require upgrades, regular maintenance and training, and it’s your property taxes that pay for all three. The result: Both the McHenry County Board and Spring Grove village officials put cost-control measures in place requiring law
See TRANSPARENCY, page A5
HUNTLEY – Later this fall, Huntley School District 158 officials will begin moving roughly 600 students at Leggee Elementary into other schools, as part of new attendance boundaries that will be phased in over the next three years. The attendance remap that district board members recently approved should create more classroom space at the overcrowded Huntley elementary school, after administrators this year converted computer labs into makeshift classrooms to fit the oversized student population. Nearly 600 Leggee students who are entering kindergarten and the third grade in each of the next three years will now be moved into the district’s four other elementary schools. The gradual transition would conclude in 2017. “Our job is to ensure that we’re doing everything we can ... to make sure that this transition is setting up kids to be able to adapt and to do as well as possible,” Superintendent John Burkey said. Working with consultants, school officials used Route 47 as the main dividing line for its new elementary school boundaries. Leggee students who live east of Route 47 are the ones primarily affected by the change, as officials looked to move them to other elementary schools closest to their neighborhoods. Roughly 280 Leggee students who live in the Georgian Place subdivision in Huntley would move to the district’s Chesak and Martin schools, while 330 Leggee students in the Wing Pointe subdivision in Huntley would move to Mackeben and Conley, according to district documents.
“Our job is to ensure that we’re doing everything we can ... to make sure that this transition is setting up kids to be able to adapt and to do as well as possible.” John Burkey District 158 superintendent For the district’s middle schools, new attendance boundaries will begin in fall 2018 for incoming sixth-graders, as part of another three-year transition. Elementary students from Chesak and Martin would feed into Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills, while students from Mackeben and Conley would feed into Heineman Middle School in Algonquin. Leggee students, meanwhile, would feed into both middle schools. Board members considered two other remap proposals. But district administrators have said the one recently approved frees the most space long-term at Leggee, even though it affects the most students. After revealing the proposals in February, the district organized public events to discuss the changes with parents. Nearly 70 families attended the forums, while 35 others submitted written feedback. Some parents affected by the approved remap were against the change while others were for it. The responses didn’t sway officials one way or the other, Burkey said. “Out of all the things we looked at, it continues to be the best option,” he said.
Widening work to start on S. Main Street in CL By EMILY K. COLEMAN
“Given the hardened demeanor of McHenry County residents to road construction, I think that we’ll be able
ecoleman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – A $5.7 million project widening South Main Street is set to start this week. Construction will start along the stretch – which runs roughly from Route 14 to Rakow Road – with the installation of temporary pavement, so that lanes can be shifted and a work area created, City Engineer Abby Wilgreen said. Two lanes, one in each direction, will be maintained throughout the duration of the project, although some intermittent, temporary closures may occur as needed. That should keep the traffic issues down, Mayor Aaron Shepley said, adding he doesn’t expect it to reach the level of what he’s experienced on Route 14. “Given the hardened demeanor of McHenry County residents to road construction, I think that we’ll be able to handle it,” he said. The goal is to wrap up the road work by late November, Wilgreen said. Landscaping and some other final touches will be completed in the spring. “It’s a very tight time frame,” Wilgreen said, adding they’re pleased the contractor is starting the work early in the season. The project includes widening South Main Street from its existing three lanes to five lanes from Liberty Drive to Jennings Drive to ease congestion headed to the city’s main commercial area. The sewer system will be upgraded and drainage improved as part of the work, and traffic lights with illuminated street signs
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to handle it.” Aaron Shepley Crystal Lake mayor
To get updates To sign up for email alerts, email the city of Crystal Lake at construction@crystallake.org. Additional information and updates about the project also are available at the city’s website, crystallake.org, in the engineering department’s road construction projects page. also will be installed. The construction costs came in at $5.7 million, slightly less than the $5.8 million estimate. Copenhaver Construction was chosen as the low bidder in September. Part of the tab will be covered by a $1.5 million federal Surface Transportation Program grant, and McHenry County will contribute another $2.2 million for improvements to parts of Virginia and Pyott roads, near where they meet South Main Street. That leaves $2 million for Crystal Lake to cover. The money will come out of the city’s motor fuel tax fund.
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