Dennis Jacobs
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On the article District 180 Teacher Salaries Below Average for DuPage County
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On the article District 180 Teacher Salaries Below Average for DuPage County
Dennis Jacobs
3:24 pm on Thursday, April 26, 2012
Thank you for your comment Rose, though I must disagree with the premise. Looking at the length of the school day has very limited usefulness. My father-in-law was an elementary school teacher for 30-plus years and could be found nearly every evening of the school year grading papers. I think most teachers put in a lot of time and effort outside of regular school hours.
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On the article District 86 Board Continues to Pursue Air Conditioning
Dennis Jacobs
10:33 am on Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Hi Sue,
Thanks for catching that error. You're correct. The actual figures Mr. Hofherr used were increases of $9.67 for the owner of a $300,000 home and $30.25 for the owner of a home valued at $900,000.
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On the article D86 Board Discusses Intervention in Property Assessment Disputes
Dennis Jacobs
12:56 pm on Thursday, July 21, 2011
ReplyThanks for the question Don. No cost-benefit analysis information was presented at the meeting and none was included with the agenda and related information for the meeting that was posted on the district website.
I don't know that the issue is easily quantifiable. As the Downers Grove Township Assessor pointed out, even if an assessed valuation is successfully appealed by a property owner to the PTAB, the district does not lose revenue. Rather, the tax rate for everyone else goes up to make up the difference. So, from that standpoint, if that is correct, it's hard to see how a cost-benefit analysis could even be carried out because the answer would be it did not cost or save the district money (aside from attorney fees). On the other hand, it could be argued that since the bulk of district funding comes from property taxes, the district has a vested interest in making sure the value of poperties in the district remains at a high level. While the amount of taxes the individual pays might not change, the overall tax rate might be lower for everyone. A lower tax rate might theoretically make properties more attractive for buyers, which in turn might drive up property values in general.
It's a complicated issue and I would add the caveat that I have a hard enough time understanding the property tax bill for where I live, so I am far from an expert on the topic. -
On the article District 86 Students Continue to Excel Academically
Dennis Jacobs
2:10 pm on Sunday, March 27, 2011
ReplyHi Cynthia and welcome to Patch!
I'm not aware of any more candidate forums. It's unfortunate that all of the candidates could not be present at either forum. However, four of the six (two from each slate) did attend the first forum and here's a link to a series of videos in which the candidates responded to various questions from the audience:
http://darien-il.patch.com/articles/video-candidates-speak-out-at-district-86-forum
Also, if you click on the Elections 2011 tab at the top of the Darien homepage, you can scroll through and find a number of stories related to the upcoming school board election and the other elections that will be contested on April 5.
With respect to your questions on Hinsdale South's 2010 Report Card, I'm afraid I don't have the answers. The question on the female graduation rate is a good one. From a statistical standpoint, the multi-ethnic pool is very small (about 47 students), so even a drop of a few students failing to graduate could produce a large percentage decline.
I haven't found a link to a specific article that would answer these questions, but some aspects of the report card (like AYP in this story) have cropped up in various articles. You could type in Hinsdale South or District 86 in the search box at the top of the page to find some of these. -
On the article District 86 Students Continue to Excel Academically
Dennis Jacobs
6:25 pm on Saturday, March 26, 2011
ReplyCertainly, everyone would like to see every district student achieving academic success. Obviously, not every student is. However, the statistics presented at the board meeting indicate that students in the district AS A WHOLE are performing very well academically.
Many of the statistics you cite relative to South's performance specifically were presented at an earlier board meeting and reported by Patch.
Thank you for your comments Mr. Regan. I appreciate your interest in this topic. -
On the article District 86 Students Continue to Excel Academically
Dennis Jacobs
11:11 am on Saturday, March 26, 2011
ReplyThank you for your headline suggestions Mr. Regan.
My job as a reporter, in this particular instance, was to attend a school board meeting and report on what transpired. AYP was not even discussed at this meeting and the data presented was for the district as a whole and not broken down by school.
Academic achievement can be measured in a variety of ways, and Mr. Law presented several at the meeting, including ACT and AP exam results, which show district students performing well overall.
With respect to the PSAE results, the percentage of South students "meeting or exceeding" state standards is still well above the state average, represented by the black line on the graph. More specifically, 67.8 percent of South students met the reading standards, compared with a state average of 54 percent. For math, 70.6 percent of South students met the standard, compared with 52.7 percent statewide.
Whether South's results are "adequate" for a District 86 school is a matter for district residents to decide, not me. -
On the article District 86 Students Continue to Excel Academically
Dennis Jacobs
5:14 pm on Friday, March 25, 2011
ReplyThank you for your comment Mr. Regan.
I'm afraid I can't speak to the motives of other people. Nor would I want to put words in other people's mouths that misrepresent what they were trying to say, so perhaps in pursuit of brevity, my wording for what Mr. Law reported was not as clear as it could have been.
You are correct that the White subgroup also failed to achieve AYP, but I believe what was trying to be communicated was that the figures for the other subgroups mentioned were particularly discouraging. Specifically, only 28.1 percent of Blacks, 35.4 percent of low-income students, and 16 percent of students with disabilities met the reading standards (all substantially lower percentages than the previous year) and only 33.3 percent of Blacks, 33.8 percent of low-income, and 16 percent of students with disabilities met the math standards (the numbers for Blacks and low-income students did not change appreciably from the previous year, but the percentage of students with disabilities meeting the standard was down significantly).
As the story notes, Mr. Kumis did question Mr. Law about the drop off in meeting standards. Mr. Law then observed that the standards increase each year. This past year, the target was 77.5 percent meeting or exceeding, up from 70 percent the previous year. Had the standard remained at 70 percent, South would have met the goal in math, but still would have fallen short in reading. -
On the article Naked King, Ernest Borgnine, Texas Hippie Coalition And More: Get Out
Dennis Jacobs
12:09 pm on Thursday, March 24, 2011
ReplyGreat list Michelle!
One thing: I'm old enough to actually have seen "The Poseidon Adventure" the first time it was in theaters and it was Pamela Sue Martin who was in the film, not Pamela Anderson.
Dennis Jacobs
11:03 am on Friday, April 27, 2012
They were included for comparison purposes to help readers get a better perspective on teacher salaries in general. DuPage County does not exist in a vacuum. Looking at salaries in nearby communities that may share some similar characteristics with District 180 can be instructive in trying to assess whether or not salaries are fair, a determination I am glad to leave to readers like yourself, as I have no horse in this race.
Obviously, as you point out, different counties have different taxing situations, but school districts rely primarily on local property taxes for funding. This is an important point that I thank you for bringing up because it may offer a clue, for example, as to how Lombard District 44 has been able to stay so competitive with salaries in comparison with neighboring communities where the average household income is higher. District 44 benefits from having Yorktown Mall and the other retail developments along Butterfield Road in the district. The large industrial developments that some districts have also can be a benefit in their local situation.