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Tuesday, February 23, 2016
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON SCHOOLS | ONLINE
A user-friendlier district New website will launch soon, followed by online registration BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5523 @CHeimerman_SVM
DIXON – Soon, for the first time, Dixon parents will be able to register their kids for school online – and they’ll be able to do so on a
brand-spankin’-new website, too. In the thick of summer’s balmy grip early last August, Superintendent Margo Empen turned to her assistant, Dan Rick, during pre-Kthrough-eighth-grade registration. “I said, ‘Look at the manpower and money this takes us, when other
schools are doing it with less money and less manpower, and more adaptively and with more flexibility than for our parents,” Empen said. She got no arguments. Thanks to the tireless effort of James Manley, director of technology for the district, a new site, dps170.org, is slat-
ed to launch Monday and replace the 10-year-old existing site. “Parents are going to find it much more user-friendly than our current website, which has outlived its usefulness,” Empen said. “We’re moving into the 21st century.” WEBSITE CONTINUED ON A5
Margo Empen
EDUCATION
ILLINOIS
Wages prevail – at a cost Superintendents say wage law makes it a challenge to stretch district’s dollars BY CHRISTOPHER HEIMERMAN cheimerman@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5523 @CHeimerman_SVM Philip Marruffo/pmarruffo@saukvalley.com
Lee County State’s Attorney Ann Sacco-Miller is shown here in a Lee County courtroom on Feb. 25, 2015, during a plea hearing for Mario Garnica, a Sterling teacher indicted on four counts of attempted first-degree murder. On Monday, the Illinois Supreme Court said a 4-year pilot program allowing media coverage at certain trials has been a success, and would be made permanent.
Focus is kept on the courts Justices makes cameras-in-court pilot program permanent CHICAGO (AP) – Illinois is making its cameras-in-court policy permanent after having success with a 4-year experiment that allowed media coverage at some trials, state high court officials said Monday. An Illinois Supreme Court spokesman said safeguards at several dozen trials where news cameras and audio recording
devices have been allowed for the pilot project since 2012 have worked, despite concern that having media in court could create a disruptive, circus-like atmosphere. “There were no red flags in any of the instances,” spokeswoman Bethany Krajelis said. Most other states have had permanent policies allowing cam-
eras and audio recording devices in courts for years. Illinois has allowed the devices in Illinois Supreme Court and appellate court hearings since 1983. At the time, the ban at state-court trials was continued out of fear of undermining defendants’ rights to a fair trial. CAMERAS CONTINUED ON A5
STERLING – Some folks are wondering why the Sterling Public School District spent $137,000 on a ticket booth. Superintendent Tad Everett said the question they should be asking is,”Why does it cost $137,000 to build a 16 foot-by-24 foot brick, utilities-ready structure?” Prevailing wage is the short answer. In Illinois, the Prevailing Wage Act requires workers contracted to do any project funded by taxpayers’ dollars to be paid rates set for each county by the Illinois Department of Labor. In nearly all cases, that means the union-negotiated rate, which is often 50 percent greater than that of nonunion workers. The slightly longer answer is because it had to – at least in order to take care of two needs with one contract. A dilapidated storage shed needed replacing, and a ticket booth was sorely missed, so the dual-purpose building – one-third of it used for ticket sales, two-thirds used for storage – was built into the tennis court renovation project. “I understand there is frustration,” Everett said. “Nobody would ever in their right mind build a structure on their home that’s 16 feet by 24, has utilities hooked up, for $137,000. So why would a school do it?” WAGES CONTINUED ON A4
ROCK FALLS
Mayor promotes the power of one Meeting on single utilities board hears opinions both pro and con BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 815-625-3600, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
ROCK FALLS – More than a year since the idea of a utilities governance board was introduced, city officials started examining the concept in earnest Monday. And if early discussions are any indicator of things to come, the concept will attract plenty of opinions – pro and con.
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At a Committee of the Whole meeting, Mayor Bill Wescott gave an overview of the city’s public utility enterprises, and how a single board that includes residents could make them run more like businesses. “When attending classes on effective governance of utilities, one thing that jumps out is benchmarks,” Wescott said. “We need to do a better job of measuring and communicating performance standards.” BOARD CONTINUED ON A5
ABBY ................... A7 BUSINESS ......... A12 COMICS ............... A9
CROSSWORD....B11 LIFESTYLE ........... A7 LOTTERY ............. A2
Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com
Bill Wescott
Sterling High School built this $137,000 ticket booth facing Miller Road over the summer with money from the district’s operation and maintenance fund, which they will pay back with the sales tax revenue.
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 POLICE ................ A2
Today’s weather High 46. Low 31. More on A3.
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