These comments by Huntley School District Superintendent John Burkey in the First Electric Newspaper stirred my memory: “Last year I was amazed that we avoided it,” said Supt. John Burkey. “This year it just caught up with us.” He slammed … Continue reading
Category Archives: John Burkey
Many public officials are in denial about how their own actions and non-cooperation add to the public’s mistrust of government and even disgust of government. Public officials adopt either a public servant’s I’m-here-to-help attitude or a self-serving I-don’t-want-to-bother attitude. I … Continue reading
There were plenty of political motives to change the longstanding agreement that Huntley 158 had which allowed Linda Moore and her family to live in the house she grew up in. Linda’s family sold the school district the property that … Continue reading
Huntley School District 158’s number two administrator Terry Awrey issued a “Post Graduate Survey Report (Class of 2010)” on what Huntley High graduates are doing after graduation. It was addressed to Supt. John Burkey and all top administrators, including Dr. … Continue reading
Few would come up with a solution to a possible (probable?) large cut in State Aid to Education for next year by spending an extra million this year. Spending a million, so they don’t have to spend it next year. … Continue reading
That the question the Chicago Sun-Times asked last Sunday. The answer? Teachers and health care workers. Certainly teachers at Huntley School District 158. 18% on the average the first year of which we are in. And staff at Huntley School … Continue reading
It took months to find out. It seemed to me reasonable to ask whether Huntley School Superintendent John Burkey was “working” on the taxpayers’ dime for his junket (for which the district paid only registration) or on an officially recognized … Continue reading
I wrote about how Karen Aylward, now the top special ed administrator in Huntley 158, objected to having the meeting with special ed parents run five or ten minutes longer last month. Ninety minutes. That was the time limit. This … Continue reading
Below are four snippets from Huntley 158’s board meeting of March 4th. If you had taken the time to listen to or be at the board meeting, you would have heard the quotes below. (My apologies for any minor discrepancies.) … Continue reading
Although neither Public Information Officer Lorie Woods nor Huntley School District Superintendent John Burkey was willing to verify that Human Resources Director Loren Smith has resigned, the Journal of Oak Park and River Forest makes such a reply redundant. The … Continue reading
Huntley School District 158’s Superintendent John Burkey got about a $40,000 salary increase to come to Huntley in 2006. In this fourth year as Superintendent his salary currently is $178,000. He began in Huntley at $145,000. After three years of … Continue reading
Sunday, the Northwest Herald published a guest column by Huntley School District 158 John Burkey: Facts about D-158’s fiscal outlook Burkey took Executive Editor Chris Krug to task. Here’s part of what Burkey wrote: “Mr. Krug stated that District 158 … Continue reading
After a long interview with Huntley District 158 Controller Mark Altmayer, the Northwest Herald published an article about how the finances of District 158 were bleak. It was so bleak Certified Public Accountant Altmayer put on a lengthy presentation to … Continue reading
You can see the vote scheduled for a Superintendent contract as item 14.1 tonight on the agenda in the online board packet. See page 5 here. After having made the school teachers’ contract public on its web page, wouldn’t you … Continue reading
Huntley district 158 posted a five-year financial plan on its web site as part of its board packet. It was up in advance of the meeting last night of the board’s Financial Advisory Committee. When advisory committee member and former … Continue reading
Yesterday, the first half of a report was published on what happened on the special ed front at the parents advisory committee meeting and the subsequent school board meeting. What follows, concludes that report. Board member Aileen Seedorf questioned a … Continue reading
Door-to-door leafleting. Pretty basic politics. And some Special Education Moms were doing it this afternoon in neighborhoods around town. With a photo of Superintendent John Burkey, taken by yours truly, the broadside’s headline was Our Superintendent wants special ed money … Continue reading
This is the firth and final installment of a too long article about the discussion of spending $800,000 of special ed money allocated to Huntley School District 158 this year as a result of the Federal stimulus program. The other … Continue reading
This is the third part of a rather exhaustive article about what happened at last Thursday’s Huntley School District 158 school board meeting concerning how the district is going to spend the first half of a $1.6 million grant from … Continue reading
Are higher salaries and larger benefits producing higher or lower student test scores? Let’s look at Huntley, where scores were made public in last Thursday’s school board packet. In Huntley School District 158, you will remember there was a teacher’s … Continue reading