McHenry County Blog

West Elementary School in Crystal Lake.

Looking at maximum tax rates for school districts in McHenry County, I discovered that Fox River Grove Elementary School District 3 is blocked from raising its taxes not by the Property Tax Cap, but by having reached it $3.50 per $100 value statutory tax rate limit.

The Board asked for $4.3 million, but was allowed a bit over $4 million due to having reached the tax rate allowed by law.

The grade school district on the east side of Wonder Lake has the same situation.

Harrison Elementary School District 36′s Education Fund is at its $3.50 per $100 of assessed valuation maximum.

Of the other districts, Harvard Unit District is due to bump up against its $4 per $100 of AV maximum Education Fund rate next year.

If Harvard could get the extra 3% allowed by the tax cap, its rate would be $4.03.

And all school districts near their statutory tax rate limits have to worry about the projected 9% decrease in assessment base.

But, because of the maximum rate governing is Education Fund it will be able to increase its Education Fund by about 2.3%.

Districts like the the following have not reached their maximum Education Fund tax limit:

• Cary Grade School
• Crystal Lake Grade School
• Marengo-Union Grade School
• Richmond-Spring Grove (Nippersink) Grade School
• McHenry Grade School
• Prairie Grove Grade School
• Riley Grade School
• Crystal Lake High School
• Marengo High School
• McHenry High School
• Richmond-Burton High School
• Alden-Hebron Unit District
• Barrington Unit District
• Belvidere Unit District
• Carpentersville Unit District
• Huntley Unit District
• Johnsburg Unit District
• Wauconda Unit District
• Woodstock Unit District

And, here’s who got what locally:

• Harvard Community Unit School District 50, $13.81 million
• Huntley Consolidated School District 158, $39.41 million

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 Chicago Sun-Times released a school teacher and administrator data base this week that some might find interesting.

“Salary data includes base, summer-, after-school pay, benefits, vacation- or sick-day payouts, pre-retirement salary bumps. Average includes only full-time employees,” says the print on top of the search engine page.

Not specifically mention, but included is the pension payments that taxpayers pay for teachers and administrators. Teachers are supposed to pay 9.4%, but many in McHenry County and elsewhere don’t. Those who must pay the employee share of Social Security might be envious of this negotiated deal.

First I looked for average salaries for high school teachers in McHenry County’s districts. You see the results below:

Average compensation for McHenry County's High School District's teachers.

District 300 is classified by state policy-makers as a Kane County school district, so it cannot be combined with the other districts in McHenry County.

You might find it of interest to compare the salaries with the percentage of students who meet or exceed state standards.

Those high schools where students do the best are Crystal Lake and Richmond-Burton.

67.9% for Richmond-Burton High School District and 67.3% for District 155.  Both have a similar percentage of low income kids.  Richmond-Burton’s is a tad higher than Crystal Lake’s.

Compare the average compensation of Crystal Lake and Richmond-Burton and there is no contest.

Crystal Lake High School District 155 ranks 16th highest in the state with average compensation of $91,960.  $62,237 is Richmond-Burton’s average, almost $30,000 less.

District 155 is currently in secret negotiations with its IEA teachers’ union.

Even a cursory review of the salary data will show that teaching in a high school district is the way to make the most money.

As I have explained before, the legislator who wrote the Resource Equalizer State Aid to Education formula in the mid-1970′s was a high school teachers from a high school district.

State Rep. Gene Hoffman figured out how to make sure high school districts benefited most for the formula.  From the figures above, you’d have to agree he achieved his goal.

It doesn’t always work out as well as it does for Crystal Lake’s District 155 teachers. Marengo and Richmond-Burton are also high school districts. The others are unit district, meaning all 13 grades are governing by one school board.

I am sure some commentators will want to share their analyses of these statistics.

Not having figured out how to make charts, but wanting people to be able to search the data, I present below the raw data.  Get the headings from the image above.

Larry Snow

“While Democrats say Teachers ‘Have Kept Their Part of the Deal?’“

is the title of an April 5, 2011, article by former Huntley School District 158 Board member Larry Snow.  (The quote was in the Chicago Tribune Marcy 31, 2011.  It is from Executive Director Dick Ingram of Teachers’ Retirement System.)

The article was published in “The Champion” with this teaser:

“82,981 of 132,502 Illinois Teachers Pay Nothing or Little into Their Pensions“

That’s 63% of all teachers in Illinois.

The State Journal-Register is reporting that State Rep. Kevin McCarthy (D-Orland Park) is promoting a bill where state and local governments would all pay six percent of payroll toward employee pensions.

In a revealing sentence in reporter Chris Wetterich’s article, he writes,

“What’s unclear is how much more employees themselves would have to pay.“

Because no one has done the research except, I believe, the Illinois Education Association and Snow, how much extra teachers would have to pay if their so-called contribution rate was raised from 9.4% to 13.77% is a really good question.

While not covering every school district in Illinois, Snow did research the teachers’ contracts for all of the large school districts (by law all are supposed to be on the internet) in order to find out how much teachers pay in order to get a “full 75 percent pension after working only 27 years.” He points out, “Most adults work for 27 years before they turn age 50.”

As way of background, Snow notes that teachers are not in the Social Security System and, therefore, are not forced to pay Social Security taxes.

“Ordinary workers get hit with a 6.2 percent deduction for Social Security,” Snow writes. “It’s a deduction they have to pay federal and state income taxes on.

“Democrats gave teachers a huge loophole of not paying income taxes on any of their pension deductions” he continues. “This enormous no-tax handout to teachers amounts to billions of dollars each year.”

Snow’s research leads him to this conclusion:

“Over 51,000 of the total 132,502 teachers in Illinois contribute nothing from their K-12 paychecks into their pensions. Illinois law says it is to be 9.4 percent.

“About an additional 32,000 teachers pay little into their pensions. It is 1.81 percent to be precise for these 31,956 teachers.“

How many teachers pay not a dime toward their retirement?

51,025 teachers in 186 school districts pay nothing for retirement benefits.

They “don’t pay a penny into the 9.4 percent called out by Illinois law.

“There are a total of 868 districts in Illinois.

“The pay-zero teachers listed are 39 percent of all teachers in Illinois,” Snow reveals.

No agency in state government seems to keep track of this information.

Not the Downstate Teachers Retirement Fund, which boldly and incorrectly claims,

“Active TRS members are required to contribute 9.4 percent of their creditable earnings each year…”

The State Board of Education doesn’t keep track either.

My guess is that only the Illinois Education Association has a matrix showing what school districts have given what benefits in contract negotiations.

Snow discovered this about Lockport:

“…on page 14 of the Lockport Township HS 205 teachers contract it reads:

1. The Board will pay the current level of retirement contribution to the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois.”
2. It is expressly understood that figures appearing on this salary schedule include a sum equal to the current level of TRS contribution of the base salary of each Teacher which is, in fact, payable to the Teachers’ Retirement System on the Teacher’s behalf.”

“The ISBE report shows this board paying nothing. A Democrat bureaucracy doesn’t check the teachers contracts to see if what is reported, matches what’s in writing.”

And, if legislation is passed requiring 4.37 percentage points more, how long do you think it will take Lockport taxpayers to pick up the difference?

Given that local teachers’ unions pretty much control school boards wherever they are elected (read everywhere but Chicago), my guess is will be on the top of the collective bargaining list.

Do you wonder if Rep. McCarthy knows that?

Is his proposal just a setting up local taxpayers for an even bigger fall?

Five years from now will 39% of teachers still be paying nothing for their pensions?

Even better for teachers is that this pension payment ups their pension payments.

Take a look at the chart below.  Chances are your school district is on it.

Chart of Pension Contributions by 82,981 District Teachers of 132,502 Total Illinois K-12 Teachers

Name of District	No. of Teachers	Percent of Pension Contributed by Teachers
Thornton Twp 205	428	Zero
Proviso 209	281	Zero
Waukegan 60	1,098	Zero
Morton 201	455	Zero
Kankakee 111	348	Zero
Joliet 204	340	Zero
Round Lake 116	387	Zero
Rockford	1,843	Zero
Decatur 61	454	Zero
Crete Monee	340	Zero
Danville 118	382	Zero
Valley View 365	1,068	Zero
Aurora West 129	706	Zero
East Peoria 309	69	Zero
Galesburg	281	Zero
Bremen 228	313	Zero
Freeport	317	Zero
Leyden 212	219	Zero
Elgin U-46	2,332	Zero
Rock Island	388	Zero
Mattoon	225	Zero
Collinsville	394	Zero
Massac 1	143	Zero
Sterling	219	Zero
Belvidere	531	Zero
Quincy	436	Zero
Dixon	179	Zero
West Chicago	248	Zero
Cook County 130	289	Zero
Cicero 99	738	Zero
Joliet 86	617	Zero
Harvey 152	163	Zero
Crystal Lake 155	412	Zero
Crystal Lake 47	564	Zero
Wheeling 21	489	Zero
Champaign 4	717	Zero
United CUSD 304	68	Zero
Riverdale 100	76	Zero
Reed Custer 255	114	Zero
Wilmington 209U	84	Zero
United Township 30	90	Zero
Summit Hill 161	213	Zero
Plainfield	1,695	Zero
Schiller Park 81	98	Zero
Dolton 149	176	Zero
Township 211 Palatine	799	Zero
Ball Chatham 5	248	Zero
Taylorville 3	152	Zero
Williamsville 15	81	Zero
Harrisburg 3	130	Zero
Belleville 201	281	Zero
Dupo 196	76	Zero
O’Fallon 203	145	Zero
O’Fallon 90	207	Zero
Rochester 3A	142	Zero
Pekin 108	248	Zero
Morton 709	175	Zero
New Lenox 122	287	Zero
Frankfort 157	158	Zero
Marion 2	219	Zero
Carterville 5	110	Zero
Kinnikinnick 131	122	Zero
Tolono 7	116	Zero
Mahomet-Seymour 3	161	Zero
Champaign 4	717	Zero
Urbana	346	Zero
Charleston 1	180	Zero
Park Ridge 64	319	Zero
Evanston 202	222	Zero
Maine HSD 207	508	Zero
Arlington Heights 214	753	Zero
Niles 219	350	Zero
Berkeley 87	165	Zero
Berwyn South	263	Zero
Lyons 204	239	Zero
Lemont 113	144	Zero
Palatine 15	713	Zero
Schaumburg 54	1,003	Zero
Oak Lawn 123	203	Zero
Oak Lawn 229	114	Zero
CHSD 230 Orland Park	519	Zero
Argo 217	111	Zero
Homewood 233	174	Zero
Genoa 424	137	Zero
Sycamore 427	231	Zero
Dekalb 428	362	Zero
Lombard 44	216	Zero
Downers Grove 58	277	Zero
Hinsdale 86	296	Zero
Elmhurst 205	538	Zero
Naperville 203	1,063	Zero
Effingham 40	176	Zero
Canton Union 66	175	Zero
Morris 54	61	Zero
Morris 101	50	Zero
Coal City 1	138	Zero
Jersey 100	164	Zero
Central CUSD 301	224	Zero
Kaneland 302	275	Zero
St. Charles 303	880	Zero
Cahokia	298	0.4
Chicago Public Schools	23,219	2
Peoria 150	988	0.4
Springfield	1,105	0.4
Moline 40	461	0.4
Harvard	149	0.87
Dolton 148	236	1.4
Belleville 118	228	0.4
Pekin 303	125	0.4
Hononegah 207	118	0.4
Arlington Heights 59	444	3
Leyden 212	219	0.4
Summit 104	103	0.4
Palos 118	130	0.4
CHSD 219 Orland Park	519	0.4
Bensenville 2	145	1.4
DuPage 88	266	0.4
CHSD 94	122	0.9
CUSD 300	1,189	4.4
Hawthorn 73	253	1.4
Lake Forest 115	132	0.4
Wauconda 118	273	0.4
Johnsburg 12	158	0.4
Cary 26	192	4.9
Woodstock 200	385	1.4
Keeneyville 20	107	0.4
Winnebago 323	117	0.4
LaSalle-Peru Twp. 120	88	0.7
Prairie-Hills 144	187	0.4
Geneva 304	367	Zero
Herscher 2	126	Zero
Manteno 5	160	Zero
Bourbonnais 53	160	Zero
Bradley 61	103	Zero
Bradley Bourbonnais 307	114	Zero
Momence 1	88	Zero
Yorkville 115	329	Zero
Plano 88	154	Zero
Oswego 308	827	Zero
Streator 44	132	Zero
Ottawa 141	140	Zero
Ottawa 140	102	Zero
Glenview 34	343	Zero
Zion 6	177	Zero
Grayslake 46	266	Zero
Elmwood Park 401	181	Zero
Libertyville 70	159	Zero
North Shore 112	374	Zero
HSD 113 Highland Park	249	Zero
Grant 124	91	Zero
Zion-Benton 126	156	Zero
Evanston 65	547	Zero
Grayslake 127	187	Zero
Meridian 15	64	Zero
Mt. Zion 3	133	Zero
Edwardsville 7	480	Zero
Alton 11	467	Zero
Macomb 185	130	Zero
McHenry 15	282	Zero
McHenry 156	158	Zero
Nippersink 2	92	Zero
Columbia 4	111	Zero
Waterloo 5	166	Zero
Hillsboro 3	114	Zero
Meridian 223	113	Zero
Illinois Valley Central 321	139	Zero
Carbondale 165	76	Zero
Carbondale 95	105	Zero
Riverton 14	85	Zero
Auburn 10	90	Zero
Pawnee 11	47	Zero
Panhandle 2	35	Zero
Sullivan 300	75	Zero
Centralia 135	93	Zero
Litchfield 12	83	Zero
Harlem 122	505	Zero
Granite City 9	617	Zero
Princeton 115	86	Zero
Princeton 500	43	Zero
Bond County 2	120	Zero
Duquoin CUSD 300	101	Zero
Rocton 140	102	Zero
Rochelle Twp. HSD 212	71	Zero
Rochelle CCSD 231	131	Zero
Byron 226	127	Zero
Oregon 220	104	Zero
Farmington Central 265	85	Zero
Porta 202	75	Zero
River Bend 2	71	Zero
Red Bud 132	73	Zero
Sparta 140	105	Zero
Southwestern 9	107	Zero
Staunton 6	87	Zero
Gillespie 7	81	Zero
Hamilton County 10	83	Zero
Midwest Central 191	85	Zero
Tuscola 301	86	Zero
West Carroll 314	99	Zero
Oakwood 76	64	Zero
Hoopeston 11	94	Zero
Westville 2	80	Zero
Beardstown 15	98	Zero
El Paso-Gridley 11	99	Zero
Murphysboro 186	137	Zero
Monticello 25	111	Zero
Paris-Union 95	74	Zero
Mt. Vernon Twp. 210	80	Zero
Mt. Vernon 80	109	Zero
Jasper County 1	101	Zero
Steger 194	128	Zero
Calumet City 155	77	Zero
North Boone 200	116	Zero
CCSD 93 Carol Stream	294	Zero
East Maine SD 63	254	Zero
Lockport Township HS 205	205	Zero
Above Teachers Total	82,981

Here’s  what’s happening re layoffs at Harvard School District 50:

Friday afternoon view of the Crosby Elementary School parking lot.

This responds to your March 17, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request for “documents relating to the reasons for and date of any teachers’ or other certified personnel’s dismissals in 2009, 2010 and 2011.” The District has identified the following records as responsive to your request:

Notices of Non-Reemployment issued to the following first, second or third-year non-tenured teachers:

• Cassandra Vinci
• Dannielle Parrotte
• Yuh-Shiow Sheu
• Mark Rusk
• Katherine Senese
• Alberto Juarez
• Garrett Dore
• Angela Weaver
• Heather Davis
• Rachel Hockmeyer
• Jamie Saunders
• Efrain Gonzalez
• Maria Guzman
• Grecia Mapica Guevara
• Wendy Krepel

Notices of Dismissal issued to the following grant-funded, non-tenured teachers:

• Erin Thiede
• Tara Peterson

Notice of Dismissal issued to the Kristi Havlicek, a fourth-year, non-tenured teacher

Notice of Nonrenewal issued to Donna Joyce and Ms. Joyce’s 2010-2011 performance evaluation.

Notice of Dismissal, Resolution and Bill of Particulars issued to Dr. Peter Koehn, a tenured school psychologist.

With the exception of Ms. Joyce’s 2010-2011 performance evaluation and the home addresses listed on each notice, the District is providing you with copies of the above-referenced documents as a PDF.

= = = = =

The photo was taken about 2:30 Friday afternoon from the WeatherBug part of the Harvard School District’s web site.

Larry Snow

Former Huntley School Board member Larry Snow has done a prodigious amount of research about school districts where teachers pay nothing for their pensions.

Those employed in the private sector pay into Social Security. But they also pay the entire cost of teachers’ pensions in many, many Illinois school districts.

Snow asks the following question:

“How loud would teachers howl if
they had to pay for other peoples’ Social Security?” (emphasis in the original)

Entitled,

“Illinois is Proof “Investing in Education” is Democrat Lipstick on Legalized Looting,”

Snow’s piece is published in The Champion today.

The guts of his column is summarized below:

“Two thirds of all of the teachers in the worst and poorly performing school districts either don’t pay a penny, or pay very little for their pensions…

“This pattern of abuse by teachers and union officials in the worst school districts is clear.

“The chart shows how a third of all teachers in Illinois, all in the bottom half of lousy to poorly performing districts, pay next to nothing or literally zero for their luxury-benefit pensions.”

A major goal of teacher union collective bargaining is to shift the required employee payment from teachers' pockets to those of the taxpaying public.

His thesis is “teachers unions systematically drain education resources.”

He points to “work rules” as “a polite way of depicting work tourniquets. They are designed to limit the normal flow of instruction to students.”

Then, he moves on to health insurance premiums, challenging readers to

“Try finding a teachers contract in Illinois where the teacher is paying 15% of his or her own individual health care premium.”

He returns to pensions, pointing out,

“Illinois School Code says teachers are to pay 9.4 % of their salary into the state’s pension. The chart below shows what is actually happening. And this is just among the bottom half of school districts.”

Pension Contributions by Teachers in Some Bottom-Half-Performing School Districts

Snow adds this local tidbit:

“Crystal Lake is served by two, above-average-performing districts, 155 and 47 with about a thousand (976) teachers. None contribute a penny for their pensions.

“You can add more districts such as this one to easily count over a third of all teachers in Illinois paying little to nothing.”

McHenry County Blog has surveyed school districts with major presences in McHenry County and discovered that union employees paid $3.8 million in dues during calendar year 2010.

The total amount was $3,825,572.

Contracts are typically for more than one year and most expenses would in contract negotiation year.

Most are from dues paid by teachers, but there are also office worker and school bus drivers.

Most go to the Illinois Education Association-National Education Association.

Part of the collective bargaining proposal made by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is to end mandatory union membership.

Illinois, of course, has laws that force all employees of a bargaining unit to pay dues.

The legislation would require that teacher union officials collect their own dues, rather than having as a payroll deduction, as is the case in all of the districts below.

To no one’s surprise, employees of the largest district examined, Carpentersville Unit District 300, paid the most dues.  The total was over $1.1 million.

• Barrington Unit District 220 – $554,555
• Alden-Hebron Unit District 19 – $22,427
• Cary Grade School District 26 – $52,254
• Crystal Lake Grade School District 47 – 315,342
• Crystal Lake High School District 155 – $287,202
• Carpentersville Unit District 300 – $1,122,392
• Fox River Grove Grade School District 3 – $23,599
• Harvard Unit School District 50 – $96,745
• Huntley Unit School District 158 – $356,047
• Johnsburg Unit District 12 – $106,055
• Marengo-Union Grade School District 165 – $48,778
• Marengo High School District 154 – $30,005
• McHenry Grade School District 15 – $207,111
• McHenry High School District 156 – $109,331
• Prairie Grove Grade School District 46 – $10,863
• Richmond-Burton (Nippersink) Grade School District 2 – $59,429
• Richmond-Burton High School District 157 – $37,592
• Riley Grade School District 18 – $9,161
• Wonder Lake (Harrison) School District 36 – $13,249
• Woodstock Unit School District 200 – $372,595

Teachers walk picket line outside Huntley High School in 2008.

These were posted below the article entitled,

Harvard School District Fires Psychologist who Complained about Special Ed Program to U.S. Department of Education

Here’s the second and most lengthy comment:

Currently, Harvard School District 50 is under audit by the Illinois State Board of Education concerning their policies and procedures concerning Special Education students within the District with an IEP. This information is freely available through the Illinois State Board of Education under the Freedom of Information Act.

I have fought this battle concerning IEP’s within the District, and the truth is, I don’t see things changing. This is not just an administration problem, but a problem that has spread throughout the District, including some faculty and staff who don’t know how to write, follow, or just plain ignore the legally binding document that an IEP is, and the legalities of the procedures behind it.

I don’t forsee things changing in Harvard anytime soon with the administration and the board that is in place.

Truthfully, what do a board of elected members know about Special Education law and procedures?

They rely on the Administration and the District lawyers to handle that kind of thing.

I have become knowledgeable enough in the area of Special Education to know that District 50 is pulling the wool over a lot of parents eyes when in comes to IEP’s and Special Education. I wish this would get more press than it is getting.

But what is a parent to do?

Sue the District? Takes money.

File a complaint with the State? They are already under audit for their policies and procedures.

The answer lies in banging your head against the wall each and every time you have to deal with the District concerning IEP’s. It feels better than actually dealing with the IEP.

Are the children in Harvard with IEP’s having their civil rights violated? Could be if they are not getting the “Free and Appropriate Education” they are entitled under law.

That means that their IEP is written to be the most “Appropriate” for them, including placement in special education programs that are suitable for them and necessary accommodations within “regular” and “special education” classrooms.

But even if those are written into the IEP, the District is bound by law to follow that IEP, and there is where a lot of the problem lies.

Did Koehn go about this the right way?

Not sure.

There obviously was more going on than just the “whistle blowing.”

Maybe he didn’t follow proper procedure within the District before contacting OCR. I’m not saying either way as I don’t know the whole situation.

But I do know that there is definately an issue concerning Special Education students in District 50.

Harvard Special Education parents…seek the knowledge you need to know to properly deal with this problem.

This is a systemic problem that is not likely to go away anytime soon.

As Mary said above, speak out against the problem. At least you can do that.

But that doesn’t necessarily bring change.

I’m not trying to be the pessimist, but just the parent who has the battle scars of the fight.

Here’s the one from Mary referred to above:

Gus (Philpott in a comment before) hit it on the head. But it is not only special education teachers that are subjected to retaliation when it comes to standing up and speaking out, this mind set is rampant across the system.

Those who stay, who are dedicated to their students and have not co-opted to the system learn to do a very delicate dance in order to maintain their integrity as well as their job.

We may not be able to fix the system from this blog, but we certainty can make a phone call, send an email, ask questions,express our opinions and let these board members know how you feel.

They are, according to the District 50 web site, which provides both email addresses as well as phone numbers:

• Ken Book: 815-943-3161/ kbook@owl.net
• Richard Stoxen: 815-943-6879 /stoxfarm@mc.net
• Roger Wilhort: 815-943-7691 /MSTRICK@mc.net
• Sharon McMillian:815-943-4653 /roger.wilhoit@ffic.com
• Rebecca Klien: 815-299-5272 /rklein@stans.net
• Diane Bird: 815-943-3690 bird-ddp@webtv.net

I was taught…when it is wrong and you do nothing, you are part of the wrong!

= = = = =
Thought this comment might be relevant enough to provide more prominence:

…as a side note, the e-mail addresses above are not correct. Not sure if the copy/paste did not work as intended, but all the information is available on the District website at http://www.cusd50.org/index.php/School-Board-alt/

In December, the United States Department of Education’s Civil Rights Office (OCR) notified Dr. Peter Koehn that his complaints about the treatment of Special Education children met the criteria for an investigation.

Monday night the Harvard School Board dismissed whistle blower Koehn from his position as School Psychologist.

The clinical psychologist, who has hung his shingle out in Crystal Lake at Neal Psychological Specialties (815-477-4727), now intends to help parents of students with disabilities obtain the education that their children deserve.

Koehn complained that Harvard’s school system was discriminating against students in grade, junior high and high school when it changed IEP’s (Individual Education Programs) in the Fall of 2010, which led to a significant change in placement without following appropriate evaluation and placement procedures.

Department of Education Team Leader/Supervisory Attorney Aleeza Strubel stresses in her letter of December 3rd that the opening of an investigation “in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to its merit.”

In a separate letter acknowledging a second Koehn complaint to the same office, Stubel informed him an investigation would be made of his complaint about being subjected “to retaliation after you objected to changes that the junior high school Principal made to students’ Individual Education Program (IEPs) during the summer of 2010. After you raised these objections, the Principal required to participate in a pre-disciplinary meeting on October 20, 2010, with the Superintendent.”