Thursday, February 14, 2013
District 228 administration still hasn't signed an emerging sports letter for lacrosse, which would allow the Oak Forest Fury, a high school club team made up of area students, to compete against other schools.
High school lacrosse players and their parents in Bremen High School District 228 just want one thing: a chance. The players want to take the field under the lights and compete against other high school teams, while the parents want a chance to cheer their children on at the varsity level. But they can't—yet. The District 228 board of education, so far, has not signed off on an emerging sports letter, which is required by the Illinois High School Association to compete in lacrosse at the high school level. Without the letter, high school level lacrosse players in D228 cannot play other teams in the state. “We are now the only team without that waiver signed in the Chicago Southland,” said Oak Forest Park District Commissioner Joe Conway, …
Friday, January 18, 2013
Anthony Fiorenzo, a former Bremen High School District 228 substitute teacher, says he was terminated from his position Jan. 9, over a discussion with Board of Education President Deb Stearns. Now, Fiorenzo is contemplating legal action.
A former Bremen High School District 228 substitute teacher is contemplating legal action against the district, following his termination Jan. 9. Anthony Fiorenzo, who worked as a sub in the district for three years, claims he was fired from his job following a dialogue with board president Deb Stearns, regarding a Facebook post that depicted the district's students in an unfavorable light. The post depicted students from each of the four high schools in various scenarios, labeled with the schools' names. “The Oak Forest children in the picture were all Caucasian students sitting for a class picture, the Hillcrest photo was a photo of the Hillcrest basketball team, the photo of the Bremen students depicted kids drinking and partying, …
Thursday, January 3, 2013
The Bremen High School District 228 board of education approved a potential new contract for district administrators. The contract will be presented to the administrators sometime early next week.
Months after agreeing on a new contract with the Joint Faculty Association, District 228 board members took a closer look at adminstrator contracts during a special meeting Dec. 28. A new approach to contracts includes modeling administrator contracts more similarly to teacher contracts, including pension line items, said Community Relations Coordinator Lori DeVos. Details were discussed in closed session; board members approved the measure in a public vote. District administration have yet to view and approve a formal contract. “The board met last week to go over, to put together a new mulit-year contract for administrators so that it was similar to the teachers' contract,” DeVos said. “So, that all the certified staff had something that…
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Bremen High School District 228 failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress, a state-mandated grading system for Illinois school district. None of the high school districts in Illinois met AYP this year.
The numbers are out for Adequate Yearly Progress for the Class of 2013 in Bremen High School District 228, and like other high school districts in the state, D228 didn't measure up. But the results didn't surprise district administrators, who say this way of evaluating students is stacked against schools. “The system that we're working in is absurd,” said Supt. Bill Kendall. “You're doing the best you can in an absurd system, but you're set up for failure, really. I hate to say that.” The data shows that district-wide, only 40.7 percent of students in reading and 41 percent of students in math met state standards for the year; the standards were set at 85 percent of students meeting state-set scores. District students are expected to …
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
For more than two years, Oak Forest Fury parents, coaches and players have tried to get Bremen School District 228 to sign an Emerging Sports Agreement, that would allow the team to play other high school teams. So far, the district has refused.
Players in many sports don the colors of Bremen High School District 228's four schools. But one sport hasn't made the district's roster: boys and girls lacrosse, a sport the Illinois High School Association named an 'emerging sport,' in 2009. Parents, coaches and players from the Oak Forest Fury, an Oak Forest Park District club team, have tried over the past two years to change the district's mind about fielding a team—pleading with the board of education to sign an Emerging Sports Agreement letter so that high school aged players of the in the district could play on a parent funded, co-op club team. But they're not budging. “We want everyone to be clear that this program is parent-funded,” said Michelle Sopko, who spoke before the …
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Patch spends the day with Bremen School District 228 Superintendent Bill Kendall, attending meetings, walking the halls of Oak Forest High School and interacting with various district and school staff members.
Bremen School District 228 Superintendent Dr. Bill Kendall oversees a business that has more than 500 employees and a more than $80 million dollar budget—but what, exactly does he do? While it'd be easy to say Kendall's job deals mainly with overseeing the district and managing its staff, there is a bit more to it than that. On Tuesday, Oct. 2, Patch tagged along with Kendall as he went about his daily activities, gaining an insight into Kendall's role in the district. Kicking off the day, Kendall welcomed former administrators from around the area to a Rising Stars meeting at the Bremen district offices. The meeting, which happens bi-weekly, dealt with various criteria for school improvement and academic success. Kendall said that the …
Monday, September 24, 2012
D228 Superintendent Bill Kendall talks about his contract, his salary and more.
After a months of negotiation surrounding a contract for Bremen D228 teachers, board of education members finally approved a new contract Sept. 18. The agreement, which includes a one-year pay freeze, followed by incremental pay increases for the two following years and a larger contribution to health care by Bremen D228 teachers, caused a stir with some residents and parents. Though the teachers' contract received the bulk of recent coverage, another contract was approved in recent months—Superintendent Bill Kendall's—and some residents and parents were left with more questions than answers. The contract, which is 15 pages long, states that Kendall's salary for the 2012–13 school year as just under $200,000— a figure identical to last …
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Negotiations began in March of this year and dragged until early August, but the JFA and Bremen School District 228 contract was approved by the Board of Education Sept. 18. The three-year contract went into effect immediately.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Negotiations began in March of this year and dragged until early August, but the JFA and Bremen School District 228 contract was approved by the Board of Education Sept. 18. The three-year contract goes into effect immediately.
It's finally official: the Joint Faculty Association and Bremen School District 228 locked in a three-year contract agreement that was approved by the Board of Education Tuesday, Sept. 18. The three-year contract calls for a pay freeze for all teachers during the first year of the contract, while allowing incremental 'steps' in years two and three. The contract also ups the teachers' contribution to healthcare. Superintendent Bill Kendall praised both the JFA and the district during the meeting. “I'd like to acknowledge the respectful and cohesive efforts in settling the contract of both the JFA negotiating team, led by Melanie Gengo and Kathleen McNeely, and on behalf of the board of education district administrators, Tom O'Malley and Dan…
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Previous to District 228 teachers agreeing on a contract that includes a pay freeze, Board of Education members signed off on one that includes one for administrators, also, according to Superintendent Bill Kendall.
District 228 teachers aren't the only employees whose new contract includes a pay freeze, according to District 228 Superintendent Bill Kendall. Under scrutiny for recent changes to district teachers' contracts, Kendall stated that district administrators will not see a raise in the current school year. “It was just a given that we were going to take a freeze,” he said. “That was decided in February, prior to the [teacher's union] negotiations. That was really never even a topic of discussion, it was more of just an understanding.” Kendall continued that while he is under a five-year contract with the district through 2017, the rest of the administration is on annual contracts. Such contracts are written to allow for administrators to …
Janelle Edwards
9:44 pm on Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Jeff: Maybe you are not up on the current facts but Dr. Kendall has what is called an Evergreen Contract which renews every year and keeps his contract as a 5 year deal at $200,000 which would cost us taxpayers over a million dalloars to buy out. Where was this written in your column. You are a bipartiasan, Kendall apologist . How about reporting this Jeff: Since Dr. Kendall has assumed control … more ›