McHenry County Blog

Saturday McHenry County Blog wrote about Special Education Director Cheryl Kalkirtz’ leaving the Huntley School District administrative building.

In a Monday article, it was revealed that Karen Aylward had been appointed Interim Director.

In that article, I told of not being able to find a certificate endorsement for her to be a Special Education Director.

A person commented under the article:

“I believe that is why this is an interim position. Either Karen Aylward will be required to get her certification or it will be filled by a qualified candidate come July 1. The state can grant probational status on candidates who do not hold the correct endorsements for a period of 1 year. Which in my guess is what is happening here.”

That makes sense to me.

What is raising my eyebrows today is what you see below, presented at the August 13, 2009, Special Ed Parent Advisory Committee meeting:

What is a “Type 75 Director of Special Education Endorsement?”

So far, neither of the Heralds have written a story about the revolving door nature of Special Education administrators in District 158.

Yesterday we left the Huntley School District’s Financial Advisory Committee meeting after talking about how stunned those attending were to find out that Special Education Director Cheryl Kalkirtz was no longer with District 158.

Controller Mark Altmayer for some reason didn’t think it proper to share the information, even though the Daily Herald had quoted Superintendent John Burkey on the subject in an internet published article.

In the public comment period, parents spoke about their lack of trust, especially when they see services not being delivered to their children.

They expressed their concerns about a revolving door with Special Ed administrators who seem to disagree with top administrators about what is the right approach.

Altmayer explained to the committee that parents had a distrust of special services but not the fiscal department (his area).

Parents then emphatically said they didn’t trust fiscal and wanted the committee to provide oversight regarding how the Federal Stimulus (initial time again, IDEA and IDEA ARRA) money is spent. They seemed to want a check and balance on whether it is being spent on where it is intended, that is, special needs.

Altmayer admitted that it wasn’t the district’s finest moments how “it took 4-5 months to get the IDEA ARRA funding correct.”

Strangely, in one breath, Altmayer cheerfully beamed,

“There is not a ton of issues.”

And, in another breath, Altmayer matter-of-factly referred to how administrators came up with how the Federal Stimulus money should be spent:

“It was pretty much a disaster.”

The news last week was that Huntley School District Special Education Director Cheryl Kalkirtz was no longer with the Huntley School District.

When I first asked about all emails commenting about her resignation, I was told by District 158 that the search capability did not exist.

Strange, since School Board President Shawn Green had told me that when he talked about my appeal of a Read 180 Freedom of Information request with Superintendent John Burkey, Burkey had a stack of information, including emails on the subject, sitting on the table in front of him.

Regardless, now Kalkirtz and Perry Yates are gone.

Perry Yates was a Special Ed administrator on Kalkirtz,’ team, as you can see from the photo still on the District 158 web site.

It is extremely unusual for an administrator to leave midyear while under contract.

The district has issued no public statement about either administrator leaving the district.

Kalkirtz started work in July, at the beginning of the district’s fiscal year, right about the time spending the Federal Stimulus money was the fat hitting the hot frying pan.

See

Huntley School District 158 Special Ed Moms Draw Blood, Board Divided – Part 1

Huntley School District 158 Special Ed Moms Draw Blood, Board Divided – Part 2

Huntley School District 158 Special Ed Moms Draw Blood, Board Divided – Part 3

Huntley School District 158 Special Ed Moms Draw Blood, Board Divided – Part 4

Huntley School District 158 Special Ed Moms Draw Blood, Board Divided – Part 5

A couple of weeks after I asked, the Daily Herald got Supt. Burkey to confirm Kalkirtz’ no longer being at work on Tuesday, the day of the Financial Advisory Committee meeting.

Unlike last time, Controller Mark Altmayer showed up for Tuesday’s meeting.

“I want to be as transparent as possible,” Altmayer said.

There were three new committee members at the meeting.

The question came up,

“Did the Special Ed Director leave?”

A group of parents with special needs students wanted to know as part of a public comment.

Altmayer said he didn’t know if he could comment.

No one had informed the committee members that Cheryl Kalkirtz was gone let alone when.

This was in spite of the Federal Stimulus (get ready for the initials) IDEA ARRA spending for special ed was topic on the agenda.

Members of the audience looked stunned at the possibility that the statement was true.

Someone in the audience said the Daily Herald had reported Cheryl Kalkirtz had left the district.

Financial Advisory Committee and School Board member Michael Andre came to the defense of the district, sloughing off such as report as coming from a newspaper.

That’s when another audience member said Supt. Burkey was quoted in the newspaper.

More tomorrow.