Former D210 Employee Pleads Not Guilty to Trespassing Charge

Pretrial hearings begin March 16 for Michael J. Angel.

A former Lincoln-Way High School District 210 employee pleaded not guilty to criminal trespassing on school grounds. Michael J. Angel, 43, was accused last month of walking on Lincoln-Way East High School with a youth baseball organization, in violation of an agreement he signed with administrators in February 2009 stating he was not allowed back on district property without the consent of the superintendent. He was arrested last spring for a similar offense and pleaded guilty, but then failed to show to followup court hearings. Public records show that a "Michael J. Angel" was employed at D210 as an accounting teacher until 2009, but district staff have repeatedly declined to discuss Angel's employment background. In court, Angel told …

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UPDATE: Molinare to Join Lincoln-Way Board, Must Quit Summit Hill Board

Dee Molinare was picked from a field of 10 candidates on Saturday to replace board member Dave Izzo.

Summit Hill 161 board member Dee Molinare said she will always look back fondly on her time as a school board member. "I have enjoyed my board service in 161 and I feel it's a progression, I can serve a wider audience," Molinare said by phone Saturday night. Molinare was picked to join the Lincoln-Way 210 high school board, meaning she must resign the elementary school board, 210 board President Arvid Johnson said. Molinare said she will put in her official resignation Thursday. "There is nothing that I set forth to change (in 210). We already have an excellent district in 210," Molinare said. "I hope to maintain the level of excellence we have achieved and hopefully improve upon that." The 210 board picked Tinley Park resident Molinare …

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StatShot

StatShot: Which L-Way Feeder's Teachers Have the Highest Average Experience?

Five years of data show which of the five Lincoln-Way feeder districts has the highest average teacher experience.

This week's StatShot looks at the average years of teacher experience from the five Lincoln-Way 210 feeder districts. Layoffs drive the average teacher experience higher, as schools lay off non-tenured teachers with fewer years of experience first. Similarly, retirements lower the average teacher experience. All information is from the 2011 Illinois State Board of Education District Report Cards.

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StatShot

StatShot: Does L-Way Spend As Much to Teach Each Student As It Used To?

Representing the numbers that represent your lives.

Short answer: No. It spends more. Last week's StatShot looked at the per-pupil instructional spend of each of the five Lincoln-Way 210 feeder districts. That's the amount just to teach each student. The full per-pupil cost of running a school district is a different number, one that is not shown here. Here's how Lincoln-Way's per-pupil instructional spending has increased each of the last five years for which data is available. Each report contains the amount from the year before, so the information from the 2008-09 school year was in the 2010 District Report Card. The 2010 report was the first to include Lincoln-Way West. The 2009 report was the first to include Lincoln-Way North.

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Daily PatchCast: Political Donation Questions, ComEd Rate Hikes and Lacrosse

A daily video recap of the Southland's top stories

County Holding Public Hearing on New District Boundaries Tonight ComEd Allowed to Raise Rates District 206 Board Member: 'I Stand Behind My Superintendent' Baby Steps During L-Way Lacrosse's Varsity Debut

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Joseph Conway

5:14 pm on Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Something I've been saying for the past couple of years...Bremen High School District should embrace lacrosse as a school-sanctioned sport or risk being left behind by other districts. Lacrosse is the fastest growing sport not only here in the south suburbs but throughout the Midwest. The Lincoln Way school district understands this and as a result is providing more of it's students not only the …   more ›

Lincoln-Way North Students Make 'Superstar' Discovery

Three science students at Lincoln-Way North help astronomers identify a special star.

Three  Lincoln-Way North High School seniors will have an unusual achievement to put on their college applications: the students, led by teacher Peggy Piper, helped astronomers identify a variable star, a rare type of star with regular changes in brightness. Justin Christensen, Rebecca Rosignolo and Joey Romero, all 17-year-old seniors at North, identified the star while participating in a program called NASA/Infrared Processing and Analysis Center Teacher Archive Research Program, or NITARP. They presented their findings in January at the American Astronomical Society winter meeting in Seattle. The students’ discovery came as a surprise to all involved. “When I got back, everyone would ask me, ‘What’d you do, discover a star?'” …

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District 210 Preparing to Make Budget Cuts for Next School Year

Lincoln-Way High School District 210 is expected to make as much as $2.5 million in cuts to teachers, administrators and other costs.

Lincoln-Way High School District 210 is preparing to cut as much as $2.5 million from its budget next year, Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie said. Wyllie said the district has not received any categorical payments from Illinois this fiscal year and is owed roughly $2.5 million by the state. The proposed reductions were approved by the district's Board of Education at its Jan. 27 meeting. Reductions include: Wyllie said final decisions have not yet been made on which personnel will be eliminated, pending final enrollment numbers for next year. The district has already cut four administrative positions, 50 teaching positions, 13 support staff positions, two maintenance positions and 11 coaching positions over the past two years, according to a…

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Concerned Taxpayer

7:41 pm on Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Yeah, wouldn't it be nice if the state paid what it was supposed to towards education instead of diverting those funds elsewhere?   more ›

Lincoln-Way 210 Board of Education Approves Tax Increase

This year's tax levy will cost about $10 more than last year for a homeowner with a $300,000 house.

The Lincoln-Way School District 210 Board of Education unanimously approved the district's tax levy for 2010 at its regular meeting Thursday night.  This year, the board plans to levy about $77 million, about $2 million less than in 2009. But the district can expect to receive less than that, Assistant Superintendent Ron Sawin said at a public hearing Wednesday. A taxing body may be paid up to the amount it levies, but always receives less than levied. For example, the district only received $65 million of its $79 million levy in 2009.   Because of tax caps, the district cannot levy over the previous year's amount plus the consumer price index. The CPI for 2010 is 2.7 percent. Sawin said they must levy more than they know they're going …

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ACLU Asks for Changes in LW East's Madrigal Performances

School district works with civil liberties group to address concerns over religious content of last year's program.

Lincoln-Way East High School will perform its 10th annual Madrigal Dinner-Concert next month, but not without some changes to last year's program.  "We had gotten a complaint about the nature of the concert last year," said Edwin Yohnka, director of communications and public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. "The concert was heavily targeted and weighted as almost a religious service."  According to Yohnka, the complaint addressed concerns over the Madrigal dinner's songs, dialogue in the performance and actions people were asked to do that could be interpreted as prayers.  The ACLU received the complaint several weeks ago, he said, and the organization was able to view a video of the 2009 performance before it …

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