D155 Teachers Union Considers Challenging Board Candidates Scott Coffey’s & Meghan Tillson’s Letter Scandalous

Cary Grade School Board President Scott Coffey sent the following letter on behalf of his candidacy. From the reply from the Crystal Lake teachers union, you can see it was not considered favorable.  The reply is below the letter. The … Continue reading

Crystal Lake High School District 155 Teachers Get Raise of about 12% over Three Years

A Friend of McHenry County Blog, John Pletz, provides the following information about the Crystal Lake High School Board’s teachers’ contract action last night: 4 to 2, teachers win 12% over 3 year “2019 through 2022 agreement between the board … Continue reading

Continued Discussion on School Consolidation

In the “Here we go again” category is consolidation of schools. These comments by Lakewood’s Steve Willson stimulates me to re-post the analysis I did seven years ago under his reflections: I’m so tired of this “consolidate the schools” argument. … Continue reading

Scott Coffey Suggests Way McHenry High School District Could

Cary Grade School President Scott Coffey has a suggestion for the McHenry High School board: Given that D-47 just issued $9.2 million in bonds in June with roughly an average yield of 3.0%, a similar rate on D-156’s $44 million … Continue reading

What Is the Cary Grade School District Doing that Other School Districts Aren’t?

That’s pretty much the question that District 26 Elementary School Board President Scott Coffey asks in a comment under this article: Given all of the massive spending increases and new debt issued by school districts in this County, I sometimes … Continue reading

Cary School Board Gets the Property Tax Burden Message

Cary Grade School District 26 Board President Scott Coffey explains below what the School Board did with its property tax levy for next year: D26 implemented a two-pronged approach to the levy this year. First, we applied the CPI rate … Continue reading

Cary Grade School Board President Compares D26 Spending Cuts to D155 Hikes

This appeared from Scott Coffey in a comment. I think it deserves broader readership: I always get a chuckle when someone “assures” me that something can’t be done. We were told that alot in 2010 as we tried to turn … Continue reading

“Other Post Employment Benefit Costs” and Impact Withdrawing from SEDOM Will Have on School Districts

Cary Grade School Board President Scott Coffey suggested looking at the Woodstock School District’s “Other Post Employment Benefit Costs” in a comment under Susan Handelsman’s cost-benefit analysis of keeping Clay Academy, a special education facility, open. I asked for an … Continue reading

District 26 School Board President Offers Information on Rauner’s State Aid to Education Bill Alterations

Here are comments from Cary School Board President Scott Coffey on Governor Bruce Rauner’s State Aid to Education changes: I do have some very high level take-aways from the Amendatory Veto by Rauner. In general, I’d conclude that Rauner’s adjustments … Continue reading

Scott Coffey Sings Chris Spoerl’s Praises for County Board

This testimonial from current Cary School District Board President Scott Coffey appeared under the article reporting that McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks has nominated Chris Sproel to replace Andrew Gasser on the County Board.  Chris Spoerl’s Role in Righting … Continue reading