McHenry County Blog

This Prairie Ridge High School blanket was found at a Marengo Settlers Days Parade

Not only will Crystal Lake Central High School hold a lockdown drill next Tuesday, but so will Prairie Ridge.

South High School held one on December 18th and Cary-Grove’s was on January 30th.

Here is the email to parents that was sent out:

Dear Prairie Ridge Parent:

For the past decade, the Prairie Ridge High School staff has participated in code red lockdown drills at least once per year. During this school year, each District 155 school has committed to conducting a lockdown practice with students and staff members so they may be able to more quickly react should an emergency arise. As you may be aware, both Crystal Lake South and Cary-Grove have completed their drills.

Prairie Ridge High School will conduct a lockdown drill on Tuesday, February 12. Please be aware that at this time we will not be enacting any active scenarios or simulated gunfire as a part of this drill. Since we have not previously conducted a drill of this kind with students, we feel it is important to establish the protocols and routines so that all students understand the lockdown procedure. This is the same approach used with Prairie Ridge staff in the early years of practicing lockdowns.

This invaluable practice 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. Our school resource officer-a member of the Crystal Lake 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 return to our normal classroom routine.

I encourage you to discuss the drill with your student both before and after it happens. These drills help our students and staff to be prepared should a crisis occur, but we understand it may cause some students to have increased anxiety. In those cases, your voice may provide reassurances of the drill’s importance. Additionally, we have trained social workers, counselors, and a school psychologist on staff who can speak directly with your child should he or she need any added support.

Should you have any questions, please contact our deans of students, Emory Swinney (eswinney@d1SS.org) or Scott LeMoine (slemoine@d155.org), or any member of the Prairie Ridge administrative team. Together, we can keep our schools a safe place for your child to learn and grow.

Sincerely,

Paul Humpa, Principal
Prairie Ridge High School

A press release from St. Rep. Kent Gaffney:

Gaffney presents House Resolution honoring Prairie Ridge football team

Crystal Lake, IL…State Representative Kent Gaffney (R-Lake Barrington) passed House Resolution 671 congratulating the Prairie Ridge Wolves football team in recognition of their outstanding season, winning the Illinois High School Association Class 6A Championship.

The Prairie Ridge Football Team and Trophy.

Gaffney presented the resolution to the school, athletic department and team members today at the District 155 School Board meeting.

Kent Gaffney tells of his House Resolution praising the success of the Prairie Ridge Football Team.

“This is an achievement these young men will remember for the rest of their lives,” said Gaffney.

“There are not many accomplishments more coveted in youth sports than winning your state’s football championship. We are all proud of the Wolves and congratulate them on an amazing season.”

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

Crystal Lake Policeman Sean McGrath on ABC in 2008.

The program to entice high school students to fasten their seat belts that started in Crystal Lake will hold its annual awards luncheon at D’Andrea’s Banquets at 10:45 on Thursday, April 21st.

That’s what Crystal Lake Policeman Sean McGrath, the non-paid President of the not-for-profit organization told me the day the hearing for Mercy Hospital was held at city hall.

“Saving Students One ‘Click’ at a Time” is the group’s slogan.

Students are rewarded during the year when they are stopped by police and have their seat belts fastened.

If 90% of students at a high school are found to have buckled up, a student from the school gets a chance at winning a car.

Does the program work?

Take a look:

From 65% seat belt compliance to 95% buckling up in Crystal Lake high schools! This is a program that works.

Show me another teen safe driving program that can produce results like that.

This voluntary incentive program is better than any law that has ever been passed.

The Barrington/Hoffman Estates Chapter and Libertyville/Wauconda Chapter will be on Friday, April 29th at the Sears Center as part of the Chicago Slaughter Indoor Football Game. If you have questions or interest in attending, contact Sean McGrath at 815-482-8885.

The 2008 awards ceremony. Sam Oginni, sponsor and owner of Crystal Lake Buick-GMC is seen on the left.

In 2008, ABC Channel 7 did a story explaining the program that can be found 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.

Here’s the Chuck Keeshan’s Daily Herald story.

When I asked Crystal Lake District 155 Public Information Officer Jeff Puma the status of the wresting coaches, here is the reply I received:

“I wanted to let you know that the wrestling coaches resigned prior to the March board of education meeting. Their resignation—along with every other personnel action (resignations, new hires, etc.)—were approved by the board on March 16.”

A huge penalty.

Somehow WMAQ-TV broke this story about Prairie Ridge High School wrestlers.

Finally got my hands on Friday’s press release about the investigation of the Prairie Ridge High School wrestlers from the Crystal Lake Police Department.

For the record, it appears below:

On Thursday, February 28, 2010 the Crystal Lake Police Department was notified by Prairie Ridge High School Staff of a possible hazing incident involving a number of students who are members of the school’s wrestling team.

Since first becoming aware of this incident, investigators conducted interviews of the entire wrestling team as well as the school’s coaching staff.

Upon completion of this investigation, the case was presented for Review by the McHenry County State’s Attorney Office.

This review resulted in finding that these reported incidents did not meet the required elements to substantiate felony charges.

Further review by the City’s Attorney led to the filing of misdemeanor charges based on the statements made by the victims as well as witness accounts.

On March 5th, 2010, each of five students were arrested and charged with simple battery.  All five of the cases will be referred to juvenile court.

A person commits battery if he intentionally or knowingly without legal justification and by any means,

(1) causes bodily harm to an individual or

(2) makes any physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with an individual.

= = = = =
More information can be found in these stories:

District 155 Issues Letter about Prairie Ridge Wrestling Hazing

Additional Statement from High School District 155 on Wrestling Hazing and Intimidation

Prairie Ridge Wrestling Hazing May Have Included Sexual Molestation

Northwest Herald Prohibits Comments on Prairie Ridge Investigation, Former School Board President Characterizes Probe as “Out of Control”

Northwest Herald’s No Comment Policy Not Uniformly Enforced

Locker Room Rules for High School Coaches, Recent Changes in Huntley

Misdemeanor Battery Charges Filed Against Five Prairie Ridge Wrestlers

Five Prairie Ridge High School wrestlers were charged with misdemeanor battery for hazing other team members, an article in the Daily Herald by Chuck Keeshan reports.

The arrests were made about a month after the issue surfaced on WMAQ-TV.

In the only press release on the matter, the Crystal Lake Police Department wrote,

“The investigation has revealed that a number of wrestlers may have been involved in activities that include the restraining of wrestlers by other members of the team who then slap them on the stomach.

“Additionally, police are investigating alleged actions on the part of some members of the wrestling team that may have included certain parts of the restrained wrestlers’ private areas being touched through their clothing.”

Asked today about what happened, McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi wrote McHenry County Blog,

“Our Chief of the Criminal Division, Phil Hiscock, Chief of the Juvenile Division and Felony review, William Stanton and I met with Chief Linder and several detectives concerning the incidents at Prairie Ridge involving the Wrestling team and students.

“After our meeting at the Crystal Lake Police Department, our office re-reviewed all the police reports, discussed the facts at length and found no felonious conduct.

“Crystal Lake made the decision to charge misdemeanors and our office is supportive of that decision and those charges.”

Prosecution will take place behind closed doors in Juvenile Court.

McHenry County Blog printing Police Chief David Linder’s press release in this February 4th article entitled,

“Prairie Ridge Wrestling Hazing May Have Included Sexual Molestation”

Some of the more sanitized comments under the above article give details of the incident. (Sorry, but some of the comments were a bit too graphic for me to want to post, but I thank the posters for them anyway. It added to my knowledge of the reason for the police report.)

Rules which Crystal Lake High School District 155, Huntley School District 158 and Carpentersville School District 300 apply to coaches can be found in the following article:

“Locker Room Rules for High School Coaches, Huntley Makes Recent Changes”