McHenry County Blog

Here is the original District 155 email:

INITIAL EMAIL:

Dear parents:

At Cary-Grove and across District 155, we make your child’s safety our number one priority each day.

As a parent, I can assure you that we understand our responsibility to return your child safely at the end of each day.

While we take many preventative steps to keep our building secure, we also practice our response should a crisis arise.

Some examples include

• meetings with first responders,
• a comprehensive crisis response plan, and
• simulations.

We are planning a code red simulation on Wednesday, January 30.  We feel it is important to explain the simulation to you in advance so that you and your child might be able to better understand what will take place on Wednesday.

A Code Yellow ockdown was held in October, 2011.

The simulation will take approximately 15-20 minutes, during which time teachers will secure their rooms, draw curtains, and keep their students from traveling throughout the building.  Please note that we will be firing blanks in the hallway in an effort to provide our teachers and students some familiarity with the sound of gunfire.

Our school resource officer and other members of the Cary Police Department will assist us in sweeping the building to ensure that all students are in a secure location during the drill.

At the conclusion of the drill, we will take some time to process what occurred and then we will return to our normal classroom routine.

I encourage you to discuss the drill with your student both before it happens and after.

These drills help our students and staff to be prepared should a crisis occur, but it may cause some students to have an emotional reaction.

In those cases, your voice may provide reassurances of the drill’s importance.

Additionally, we have trained social workers on staff who can speak directly with your child should he or she need added support.

Should you have any questions, please contact me or any member of the Cary-Grove’s administrative team.  Together, we can keep our school a safe place for your child to learn and grow.

Sincerely,

Jay Sargeant, Principal

FOLLOW-UP EMAIL

Dear Parents,

In response to the small number of concerns we have received about the upcoming Code Red Lockdown practice, I want to clarify some of the details that may not have been clear in my initial email.

Complete information about the drill is available on the Cary-Grove website.

It is important to understand that the drill will start with an announcement over the public address system.

At which time, the teachers will direct the students to their designated safe areas and follow our building protocols.

Administration and law enforcement personnel will be in the hallways to monitor the process.

Once everyone is secure, I will again use the PA system to announce that blanks will be fired by our Student Resource Officer, a member of the Cary Police Department.

We will repeat this twice during the lockdown from two different areas in the building.

After which time, I will use the PA to end the drill.

Following the drill, a discussion will ensue between the students and their classroom teacher.

We will utilize this feedback as a building and police department to assess our security and make any necessary adjustments to our building plan.

Our sole purpose for utilizing the blanks is to fully prepare our students and staff.

Please understand that Cary-Grove High School does not plan safety drills in a vacuum.

Instead, we rely on the expertise of first-responders in order to provide the best training possible to keep our students and staff safe should an actual crisis situation arise.

While we hope that no school will ever hear the sound of gunfire in the future, Cary-Grove High School and the Cary Police want our building to be able to react as quickly as possible in the event that an actual emergency occurs.

As always, our goal is the safety and security of your students while they are here at Cary-Grove High School.  If you should have further questions or concerns about our drill with the Cary Police Department, please do not hesitate to contact one of the administrators in our building.

Respectfully,

Jay Sargeant, Principal
Cary-Grove High School

The Cary Grade School Board will meet at the Junior High School on Crystal Lake Road tonight to discuss studying the advantiages and disadvantages of merging with the Fox River Grove School District.

That’s what seems to be behind this innocuous looking agenda item on the Cary District 26′s School Board Agenda tonight:

10. Topics for Discussion

10.2 Consolidation Feasibility Study

We have it on our agenda as “to discuss discussing about merging of districts,” Fox River Grove Districts 3 Superintendent Tim Mahaffy told me today.

Specifically, the Agenda says, “Consider Invitation for Involvement in an Exploration of Merging with D26.”

Interesting how Fox River Grove’s Board Agenda reveals more than does that of Cary.

Fox River Grove’s School Board is meeting tonight, too.

Most children from both elementary school districts attend Cary-Grove High School.

Could there be a second attempt to created a Unit School District in the area’s future?

A press release from Congressman Don Manzullo:

Cary Resident Appointed to U.S. Naval Academy

[ROCKFORD] – Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Egan) today announced that James E. Hansen III of Cary, Illinois, has received an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD for the class entering June 2012.

James graduated from Cary-Grove High School in June 2011 and currently attends the University of Minnesota with a declared major of Aerospace Engineering.

As a member of the National Honor Society, he logged over 60 community service hours, including working with Cary-Grove Community Christmas to distribute gifts to needy families and with the Yellow Ribbon Military Care Packages effort through Saints Peter and Paul Church.

At the U of M, he is a freshman year squad member with the NROTC Endurance Team and Close Order Drill Platoon.

James is the son of James and Julie Hansen.

A Praairie Ridge High School Band parent was at Marengo Settlers Days Parade.

The Chicago Sun-Times ranked grade schools, middle schools and high schools using average scores on state achievement tests.

The paper’s analysis ranked the percentage of students who met statewide standards.

I scanned the results and found no grade or middle schools from McHenry County on the Top 50 lists for Chicago area schools.

The list’s cut off for grade schools was 79.25%, meaning that all grade schools in McHenry County had more than 20.75% if their students who did not meet state standards.

The middle school cut off was 74.05%. Using similar logic, one could conclude that almost 26% of those attending did not meet state standards.

For high schools, the Top 50 cut off was 63.84%, meaning, it appears to me, that all the rest of high schools had more than 36.2% of their 11th grade students who didn’t meet the standards.

Marengo High Schoool

There were, however, three high schools in McHenry County on the Top 50 Sun-Times list.

There were

• Cary-Grove at 68.2%, ranked 34th in the Chicago area, 40th in the state
• Prairie Ridge in Crystal Lake at 66.26%, ranked 41st in the Chicago area, 53rd in the state
• Marengo, ranked 49th in the Chicago area, 74th in the state.

On its web site, the Marengo High School District says,

“We are #49 and we are the only small school (less than 1000 students) and the only rural school on the list.”

2009-10 School Report Cards show the following costs per student:

• Cary-Grove & Prairie Ridge- $11,844 (District 155 average)
• Marengo – $12,145

Average teacher salaries follow:

• Prairie Ridge & Cary-Grove – $93,574 (District 155 average)
• Marengo – $67,857

A "yellow alert" resulted in a lock down at Cary-Gove High School the day that it was named the top McHenry County high school, based on the percentage passing state tests.

The Cary-Grove High School web page announces that a Halloween prank led to the locking down of Cary-Grove High School.

Anyone with details is invited to share them in the comment section.

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog published the percentage of incoming freshmen at McHenry County College require remedial math classes.

The best high school district was Huntley’s at 46% needing help to be able to take a college course.

Today, we look at the situation with regard to English.

It’s much better.

The average is only 11%.

So, take a look at the figures for each of the high school districts in McHenry County College District 528:
Previously, I typed out the results math results so people could find them with an internet search engine.  Today, we’ll do the same for preparation for college English, except going from best to worst.

• Alden-Hebron – 0%
• Richmond-Burton – 6%
• Marengo – 8%
• Johnsburg – 9%
• McHenry – 11%
• Crystal Lake, Cary-Grove – 11%
• Woodstock – 14%
• Huntley – 20%
• Harvard – 38%

Again, explanations are welcomed in the comment section.

The perecentges of incoming students from each of McHenry County College's high school district who have to take remedial math.

You can see the data above.

But, just to make sure people can use a search engine to find out how well each McHenry County College high school prepares its students who attend McHenry County College in math, I’ll type the results below:

• Harvard – 69%
• Johnsburg – 63%
• Woodstock – 52%
• Richmond-Burton – 51%
• Alden-Hebron 50%
• Marengo – 56%
• McHenry – 47%
• Crystal Lake, Cary-Grove – 47%
• Huntley – 46%

The sign on the wall inside Marengo High School says, "Where learning is value and excellence is the standard.",

Huntley High School does best in preparing McHenry County College students for college math.

“Only” 46% need remedial assistance.

What is going on when the best a high school district can do is 46%?

How did these incoming MCC students get out of high school?

I am sure there is some explanation. Please share it or them in the comment section.

Cary-Grove student Roxanne Neubaum won the car from Sam Oginni’s Crystal Lake Buick GMC

Roxanne Neubaum picks a key to try in the car donated by Crystal Lake Buick GMC. Treasurer Kathie Gossett can be seen to the right.

Oginni had the Pontiac dealership in Crystal Lake before General Motors pulled the plug on that line.

Roxanne Neubaum turns the key and the car starts.

He has provided a car for each of Operation Click‘s years.

A smiling Roxanne Neubaum gets out of the car donated by Sam Oginni, who looks on at the joy he has brought to the teen.

Two Cary-Grove students were competing against two each from the three Crystal Lake high schools in District 155: Crystal Lake Central, Crystal Lake South and Prairie Ridge.

Star105's Stew Cohen interviews winner Roxanne Neubaum. Sponsors of Operation Click get special treatment by his radio station.

Afterward members of the media got comments.

Information about the Harvard High School winner can be found here.

The story about the McHenry East High School winner can be found here.

The story about the AAA sponsorship is here.

The Prairie Ridge High School cafeteria was filled with Pack 158 Cub Scouts this Sunday. They could eat anything they wanted and no one would know.

The last time I was in a high school cafeteria was when the Cub Scouts were having their annual Blue and Gold Awards Ceremonies.

Before that, it was either the time when

• there was a District 155 candidates’ night after which the superintendent said, “Why didn’t you come to speak to me about running?” or
• at the meeting my father called that led to the formation of McHenry County College.

But it’s time to visit District 155 cafeterias again.

Somethings happening that you might find of interest.

Let me first remind you of First Lady Michelle Obama’s campaign to get kids to eat more vegetables and less food that turns into fat.

Maybe that has something to do with this and maybe it doesn’t.

District 155 is tracking what kids eat for lunch.  Staff, too.

For those who pay for their lunch with money on a student identification card, not only the amount subtracted is recorded, but what they have purchased is saved in a computerized fashion.

What about those who pay with real money?

Their food purchases will also be tracked, because the student ID card must be scanned in order to buy lunch.

Eventually, District 155 will allow parents to find out what their teens are chowing down on.

District 155′s Jeff Puma explained the program:

The information you’re looking for is related to the new point-of-sale system, which is currently being implemented at our schools. This will allow parents to load money onto student IDs rather than sending cash with their children. This is a more secure option for our families because we can cancel an ID card and recover unused funds, but it is unlikely that cash would be returned if it is lost.

With regard to your specific questions, the system does record what is purchased by all individuals–students, staff, and guests. First and foremost, this allows the cafeteria staff to monitor inventory in order to optimize the purchasing process. It also allows the user–and in the case of a student, his/her parents–to budget more effectively by tracking purchases, if they choose to do so.

He also pointed me to what District 155 has on its web site about the change:

District 155 Introduces Point-of-Sale Lunch Purchases

System To Allow Cafeteria Purchases With Student IDs
District 155 will begin a point-of-sale payment system in the coming weeks. The system will allow students to use their student identification cards to purchase meals in school cafeterias without the need for cash. Parents will have the option to add credit onto the ID cards using the district’s Family Access website or by bringing cash or a check to the school’s designated account replenish area.

Point-of-sale purchases will be available in September once system testing is complete. At that time, parents will be able to add money to student accounts using Family Access. A tutorial and detailed instructions will be available through this website at that time.

Advantages of the point-of-sale system include:

• Allows parents to see their student’s lunch purchases.
• All account information can be viewed and managed through Family Access.
• Provides a secure alternative to cash:
  • Student’s ID will work like a debit card.
  • Reduces the need to send cash with your student each day.
  • If a student loses his/her ID, the fund balance will be transferred to a new card.
• Auto-replenish option allows for automatic reloading when your child’s balance becomes low.
• Streamlines free and reduced lunch application process.

I have been told one or more parents offered District 155 a swimming pool at Prairie Ridge High School.

McHenry has an indoor pool at McHenry West High School. The McHenry Marlins, sponsored by the City's Recreation Department, practice and hold meets there, as do the high school water sports teams

But the offer was turned down by either the administration or the school board because the decision-making authority did not want one school have a swimming pool while the other three did not.

No big surprise that families living on the north side of Crystal Lake in the vicinity of Prairie Ridge are better off than families attending the other three high schools.

Last month the Chicago Tribune ran a front page article about how school districts coped with parental financing of school activities in districts with diverse demographics.

So, I’m not surprised that that one or a couple of parents were able to finance a pool.

The logic of all schools getting a swimming pool or none at all is interesting.

From an egalitarian point of view, I guess it can be defended, but look at the location of Prairie Ridge High School.

It is close enough to Cary-Grove High School that those with Cary addresses near East Crystal Lake Avenue in Lake Kilarney were assigned to Prairie Ridge when it opened.

And, it certainly isn’t a world apart from Crystal Lake Central and Crystal Lake South.

Now, District 155 have a combined swim team that practices at the YMCA.

It would be hard to argue that the team could not easily have beeen transported to Prairie Ridge for practice.

So, that leaves gym class.

Prairie Grove students would have been able to take gym in a pool, while those attending the other high schools wouldn’t have been able to do so.

Inequality of instruction, then.