McHenry County Blog

If you spend some time looking at the most recent detailed board packet that the Huntley School Board kindly posts, you will find some mistakes.

Previously, administrators incorrectly did the math on a list of items on how to spend about $1.7 million of Federal Stimulus ARRA funds for Special Education.

This week, simple math mistakes appear in the list of how the Federal money will be spent on Special Education.

I was glancing down the revised list and saw this item:

Description      Amount
RtI    25 conference @ $200 each.   $3,000

OK, fifth grade math test time.

What is 200 times 25?

The item is on page 8 of the board packet section which has this link (reproduced above with the questionable item at the bottom of the excerpt).

25 times $200 each is $5,000, by the way, not $3,000.

The math carefulness is repeated on page 12.

RtI Conference/ISHA  12X$350   $7,800.00
5 Laser Printers  (5X$400)    $4,500.00

The laser printer line item is at the bottom of the illustration and the RTI is 13 lines higher.

Anyone can make a math error, but couldn’t memo writers check their work as teachers advise students?

English is better, right?

There was a memo on page 6 of 199 to Supt. John Burkey and the board of education members that was dated January 7, 2009.  It’s for the board meeting on the 7th.  The date I pulled the memo was January 6, and it’s  2010.  The mistake about the year is the kind of mistake we all make at the beginning of a new year. The memo was jointly written by three administrators.

The 2nd paragraph aught my eye.

“Proudly, the Office of Special Services has finalized this list.  Having further worked with District Administration (RtI), the Technology Department, District ARRA Committee, Special Education Parent Advisory Committee and a subcommittee of PAC to establish this final product.”

Maybe Huntley’s English teachers can use this with their students to show how the second “sentence” is a phrase and not a sentence. Maybe it will be in sophomore year of high school. I remember my Middletown, New York, English teacher in 1957. She had as her goal teaching us how to write a sentence.

You hear people complain about how students graduate from high school without learning to do math or write complete sentences. When I worked as a cashier at Crystal Lake’s McDonald’s (one with arches and a sign saying 300,000 sold) in the summer of 1960, I added what was bought in my head. Now employees punch pictures.

I wonder why.

And, just in case you are interested in the Read 180 and System 44 expenditures planned, I’ve captured that page above.

Previously, I have shown what the Randall Road Liberty Trail demonstration looked like south and north of Algonquin Road. This has more close-ups.  Look at those holding signs. See if they fit your stereotype of people who protest in America.

Everyone was on the west side of the road and there are so many lanes of traffic I wasn’t able to get decent shots of those on the east side.  (This picture is for illustration purposes only.  It’s folks on the west side south of Randall as I was driving back to Crystal Lake.)

But coming back from the Algonquin Commons, I got some photos. Click to enlarge the image and you can see signs saying,

 

  

DON’T

ANGRY 

I Will Keep

If YOU Voted

 

As I drove past, I tried to get some close-ups, but the traffic was moving pretty fast.

On the other side of the entrance to Jewel and McDonald’s, these folks were holding up signs. The wind has the  “Don’t Tread on Me” flag being held by the man in the yellow shirt flying backwards.

It was after the scheduled one o’clock end of the two-hour demonstration by the time I reached Algonquin Road, so attendance had dwindled down.

One of the organizers was still waving her American Flag, with her child holding up a sign that said,

There were attempts to thwart these constitutionally guaranteed rights.

Tomorrow, we’ll give some details.

There was one final sign, which I featured at this Message of the Day.

Look what I found on ebay while looking up the McHenry County Clerk’s election result web site.

It’s a “McVote 1986” glass from McDonald’s.

And, you think sales taxes are high here at 6.5% (higher in Algonquin–7.25%–and Lake in the Hills–7%)?

The ebay seller points out that buyers from New York state must add 8.125% sales tax.

Of course, when Chicago Democrats have their way and raise out sales taxes 7.7% (one-half of a percentage point divided by 6.5%) to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority, our sales tax will be pretty high, too.

As a sop, half of the 7 hike will be given to local county board members–about $9 million a year of sales taxes extracted without our permission–to use for road building.

Of course, some of our legislations may give our permission for us by voting for the CTA bailout bill.

Governor Rod Blagojevich says he will veto the bill, but like his veto a property tax cap busting bill for a four cent per $100 special recreation real estate tax hike without a referendum, the governor veto it, but do nothing to encourage legislators sustain his veto.

So, like the kids in the cartoon “Family Circus,” he can say, “Not Me!”

And, Republicans will justifiably take the blame for the sales tax hike.

Look what I found on ebay while looking up the McHenry County Clerk’s election result web site.

It’s a “McVote 1986” glass from McDonald’s.

And, you think sales taxes are high here at 6.5% (higher in Algonquin–7.25%–and Lake in the Hills–7%)?

The ebay seller points out that buyers from New York state must add 8.125% sales tax.

Of course, when Chicago Democrats have their way and raise out sales taxes 7.7% (one-half of a percentage point divided by 6.5%) to bail out the Chicago Transit Authority, our sales tax will be pretty high, too.

As a sop, half of the 7 hike will be given to local county board members–about $9 million a year of sales taxes extracted without our permission–to use for road building.

Of course, some of our legislations may give our permission for us by voting for the CTA bailout bill.

Governor Rod Blagojevich says he will veto the bill, but like his veto a property tax cap busting bill for a four cent per $100 special recreation real estate tax hike without a referendum, the governor veto it, but do nothing to encourage legislators sustain his veto.

So, like the kids in the cartoon “Family Circus,” he can say, “Not Me!”

And, Republicans will justifiably take the blame for the sales tax hike.