“A little music in the halls may boost morale, but it won’t make what is being done moral, Papa S”

 

We must stand up and defend those teachers that are being released for no reason. Mrs. Hankes has served NNHS for years, and is a proud alumna, she has been a dedicated technology teacher, and spearheaded the morning announcement program. How can you let someone like this go? Who will take the reigns of the morning announcements? How is it that the board can so easily turn their back at a one time student of their school and teacher? They are taking away many of our resources also. Next year, no multimedia av lab. The av staff will be given desk jobs answering phones. So many students have used the resources here for their video projects. It is not enough to use online tutorials and movie maker on their net books, which by the way, do not have enough space to hold the necessary files. In this world of computers, much can be done alone, but it is still necessary to have human hands program those computers, and help students in av, and even teach students. The board, would rather be ignorant to what we as students think, and pass off their opinions as for the good of us. How is this fair? How is this moral? It is time for the board to assess what and whom they are truly there for and what they must do to make things right.
For truly, in the words of Benjamin Franklin,
“The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.”
I am sure, that they will need to save much more than a million dollars to future finance their ignorance.
Submitted by:  Anonymous

“Let’s educate ourselves on how financially healthy the district is.”

Look at the revenue (the money taken in) compared to the expenses.

ftp://ftpfinance.isbe.state.il.us/AFRProfile/2009/14016219017.pdf

 

Submitted by: D219 Taxpayer

 

Board Meeting Dates

Monday, February 28, 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

Monday, April 11, 2011

Come and support the cause!

Get West Involved

While we, the creators of the site, are remaining anonymous (for the most part), it’s pretty safe to say that everyone knows we go to Niles North. The decisions that the board makes affect the entire district, and this site doesn’t seem to be reflecting that. We can be a much stronger and more powerful group if students from Niles West are also involved, and District 219 students act as one. So if you know people who go to West, please tell them about 219 Reaction and get them involved.

“We Are One”

“  This website has been a great way to inform those in District 219 about the possible changes being made by your school board. To take it a step further, some students have talked about creating a shirt to raise awareness about the issue. Here is a tentative design for a shirt created by Niles North students, in honor of the fact that ‘We Are One’. ”

http://www.customink.com/designs/nnhs2/nfm0-000h-a5c3/share/?pc=EMAIL-40778&cm_mmc=share-_-emailb-_-button-_-end        

- Sarah Levine

“No action, no change. Limited action, limited change. Lots of action – Change occurs.” – Catherine Pulsifer

I’m actually a bit confused as to why we even have to fire these teachers. As posted before, we have over 100 MILLION dollars in funds (more than I ever ever hope to make in my entire life), our Superintendent gets paid over 300K a year (http://www.championnews.net/article.php?sid=2480), and each teacher also make quite a large amount of money (http://familytaxpayers.org/salary.php). There are plans for building new wings in the school, remodeling departments, and much more in addition to the unnecessary adjustments done within the last six years. How can our school cut teachers, classes, and clubs when they’re wasting money on all of this?

As upset as we all are about these changes, they’re not the beginning. Over the last few years, our Board & Administration have been making cuts and attempting to “save” money for our school. The shocking this is that our taxes have only been growing, according to my parents. If we’re gaining money, then shouldn’t our taxes be going down? This makes me question where our “saved” money is going then. Perhaps to the already overpaid Superintendent? I don’t know, it just seems a bit sketchy to me.

We’ve heard this all before, but the REAL reason why I’m posting this is to remind us all that whining & complaining on this website about the things that make no sense and are unfair will do nothing to save our teachers and classes. We need to take action, and we need to take it NOW. This website has done a good job of spreading awareness; now that everyone is in the know, it’s time do come together and do something about it. Some ideas: have hundreds of Niles North and West students and faculty show up to the next board meeting (where the vote will be done) & a select amount of students will read why we should save these teachers; boycott school for a week and protest in front of the school saying that if they’re going to take away the teachers that educate us best to save money, they can can save money by no longer having us in the school because we see no point if they’re blindly firing great teachers; SPAM the board with emails, phone calls, etc of the type of stuff posted on this website (have your parents do it too!).

Idk, these are just some ideas. Comment on what you think of these & more ideas below. Time is running out & we need to take action ASAP.

–Truth

BOE, reconsider RIF!

First of all, kudos to the creator of this site.

I don’t know what the readership of this blog is, but it’s important to remain positive and professional. Yes, we DEFINITELY have a right to be upset and voice our concerns, but let’s remember why we are doing this. The Board deserves a lot of credit. They make decisions that are unpopular, of course, but I sincerely believe that they act with the best of intentions. It’s easy to resort to vilifying them and characterizing them as self-serving jerks, but that’s not right nor does it seem true to me. Let’s stay focused on the issues.

We have $110 MILLION dollars in reserves–this is almost double what every district around us has. Instead of prophylactically firing twelve amazing teachers, we need to save money in others ways. Maybe if we stop building random trophy cases, wasting money on useless (yes, they are truly expensive distractions) netbooks, and building a two-story weight room that isn’t actually two stories (credit to an individual many seniors ), we would have even more money.

Teachers are the lifeblood of our schools. I realize that cutting expenses is something that can be necessary, but this is the absolute worst thing to do. Without strong programs and educated, inspiring professionals to lead these programs we lose a prestigious sector of our school. By following through with the RIF plan, our district is shooting itself in the foot–a foot that it needs to walk forward to “college readiness”. (How’s that for a cheap pun?)

Yes, gym teachers and AS&T teachers contribute to “college readiness”!! Although not in the “traditional” ways, these teachers teach all d219 students discipline, both physical and academic and creativity, and they actively contribute to the climate of our schools. On the note of the teachers d219 has technically already fired, it does not matter that ten are tenured and that two are not. Students do not measure their love of a class based on the teacher’s employment status; instead, it is the energy, content, and profound relationships that keep them coming class.  These are not things that can be easily or artificially replaced. So, no, President Silverman, I still would have came to the Board meeting even it were 12 non-tenured teachers that were being fired. I support my teachers.

Finally, a shout-out to all the teachers in jeopardy. I have had four of the twelve teachers who are in jeopardy: Smith, Fitzgerald, Davis, and Olson, and Ms. Houston was my counselor freshmen year. If we can’t agree on the issues that make their dismissals “necessary”, let’s agree that they are PHENOMENAL teachers. If the Board really believes this, as much as they vocalized it at the meeting, it’s time they show some loyalty.

 

-Andy Lin