McCracken • Middleton • Meyer

Building a foundation for learning, leadership and life Winter 2017

Community Digest

See http://calendar.sd735.org for a full listing of events.

Feb. 27—Choir Concert, 7 p.m., McCracken Middle School, 8000 East Prairie Rd.

March 3—Institute Day. No school.

March 6—Pulaski Day. No school, district offices closed.

March 11—Kindergarten reg-istration, 9 a.m., Meyer School, 8100 Tripp Ave.

March 14—Kindergarten reg-istration, 4 p.m., Meyer School.

April 4—School board election.

April 6—”April Show-ers” open house, 7 p.m., McCrack-en.

Dec. 7—2nd and 3rd Grade Mu-sic concert, 7 p.m., McCracken.

April 21—Middleton musical, 7 p.m., McCracken.

April 22—Middleton musical, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., McCracken.

April 29—PTA Fun Fair, 11 a.m. McCracken.

June 1—Middleton Round-Up, 7 p.m. Middleton School, 8300 St. Louis Ave.

Board meetings—The Board of Education meets at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at McCracken unless noted. All community members are invited to attend.

Skokie School District 731/28000 East Prairie Rd.Skokie, IL 60076www.sd735.orgdigest@sd735.org847-324-0509

Music is often described as a universal lan-guage, and the truth of that statement seemed evident when the Tamagawa Academy Wind Orchestra from Japan spent three days in resi-dence at McCracken Middle School in mid-December.

Tamagawa Academy is a private university in Tokyo with more than 10,000 students rang-ing from kindergarten to graduate-level stud-ies. Its music programs are world-class. The school’s 66-member middle-school band was in the United States to play a concert in Chicago at the annual Midwest Clinic in December.

The middle school band had made trips to Europe in the past but this was their first time in the U.S. The group’s director reached out to McCracken director of bands Chip De Stefano, in part because of his experience leading Mc-Cracken ensembles at the Midwest Clinic.

In addition to performing and seeing the sights, the Japanese school wanted students “to experience what it’s like to be a student in America,” De Stefano said. They rehearsed at McCracken, sat in on classes and stayed with District 731/2 families who had volunteered to put them up for two nights.

“Thirty families from the symphonic band, concert band and even the 5th grade band host-ed students from Tamagawa,” said Bethany Fa-gan, a 7th grade English language arts teacher who coordinated the host families. “They enter-tained and fed the students Monday through Wednesday. They got the students back and forth to school and to the joint concert on Tues-day evening. They were surrogate parents for three days.”

Most of the Japanese students are not flu-ent in English, and the Tamagawa ensemble traveled with a translator. But even during joint

rehearsals and sessions when the two bands switched directors, there was no language barri-er. “Communication was not an issue,” De Stefa-no said, “although I have to admit that their di-rector’s English is a lot better than my Japanese.”

The two bands played a “Friendship Con-cert” at Niles North High School on Dec. 13. The McCracken Symphonic Band played three pieces from its winter concert program. The Tamagawa group played the same program it would present at the Midwest Clinic two days later.

For the finale, more than 120 members from the two groups gathered together on stage for a stirring performance of “Invicta” by James Swearingen, conducted by Marcellus Brown, director of bands at Boise State University.

The following day, the Japanese group moved from Skokie to Chicago, where they were a fea-tured ensemble at the Midwest Clinic on Dec. 15. That left time for visiting some of Chicago’s cultural attractions before flying home on Dec. 18. “They took the cultural aspect of their visit very seriously,” De Stefano said.

“I heard only positive comments from ev-eryone,” said Fagan said, who hosted six Japa-nese students in her home. “My children and I had a wonderful time with our Tamagawa fam-ily and we continue to email several of the stu-dents. The translator for the group commented that this was the first trip for Tamagawa that they haven’t gotten a call from a student who’s homesick or sick or scared. The translator also sent a wonderful thank-you letter from all the teachers and Tamagawa staff. Many of our host

Dates to

remember

Japanese students’ visit shows the power of music

Continued on page 4

See photo, back page

2 Skokie School District 731/2

Work on the first phase of construction at Meyer School was completed in early January. Now, with the weather beginning to warm up, full operations are set to resume in March.

Phase 1 saw the installation of a subsurface water detention system where water can be stored temporarily during heavy rains. It replaces a surface-level pond on the north side of the school.

That area was excavated and covered with layers of grav-el, plastic sheeting and poured concrete. Workers then set 218 interconnected concrete boxes on the foundation to form a 13,000-square-foot tank that can hold more than 87,000 cubic feet of water.

During storms, water from around the school and the nearby neighborhood is diverted into the underground tank and released later into the storm sewer system. The new detention system is fully operational and was successfully tested during heavy rains in January.

The excavated area has been filled in and will be finished dur-ing the next phase of construction. Plans call for a 38-car parking lot over the water detention system in the northeast corner of the block, with entry from Cleveland Street. The northwest corner will become a grass-covered play field.

Early in phase 2, workers will drill 21 geothermal wells on the west side of the building. The wells will tap heat from 500 feet below ground and feed it to the surface, where it will power the heating and cooling system in the new section of the school. The original structure will continue to use its existing boiler and chiller for heating and cooling.

When drilling is complete, that area will be grassed over and

become part of an expanded playground.The main order of business during phase 2 involves build-

Next phase of Meyer project to begin soon

Installing a subsurface stormwater detention system was the first phase of work at Meyer School.

Continued on page 3

Adding to its robust horticultural activities, District 73½ will build a butterfly garden at Middleton School in spring 2017. Students and staff will plan and create the garden, to be planted with a variety of flowers that draw butterflies. “It will provide a calm and beautiful space for everyone,” said Middleton social worker Jennifer Gregg.

The garden will be located in the school’s open-air courtyard in the center of the school building. It is the first of the district’s gardens intended specifically to attract but-terflies. Once established, it will serve as a breeding ground and protected space for the graceful flying insects.

The courtyard already features a greenhouse where classes plant and harvest organic vegetables, as well as picnic tables where students and staff members can enjoy lunch when the weather permits.

“It will add another natural element to the school for all to enjoy,” Gregg said. “It will benefit the environment and provide for hands-on learning experiences.”

At the suggestion of Supt. Kate Donegan, Gregg applied for and received a grant from the Illinois Schoolyard Habi-tat Action Grant Program to pay for the garden. She was

also instrumental in obtaining a grant from Home Depot that funded the organic vegetable, fruit and herb garden and greenhouse at Middleton four years ago.

Planning for the butterfly garden has begun. Gregg will meet with interested students and staff to design the gar-den and order native seeds, rocks, sand and other materi-als. Possible plants may include black-eyed Susans, gold-en Alexanders, lavender hyssop and purple cone flowers. Thoughtful planting will ensure that the garden will bloom throughout the spring and summer.

“The garden will provide students with increased ex-periential learning opportunities,” Gregg said. “Butterflies have fascinating life-cycles—the transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis—that can be used to teach children about the natural world. Students can also learn about things like wing patterns and insect migration.”

“Creating a butterfly garden will bring an additional place of learning, beauty and peacefulness to Middleton,” Gregg said. “We plan to incorporate a path though the gar-den and places to sit so students may observe, reflect, learn and find a sense of calm there.”

Middleton to add butterfly garden this spring

Winter 2017 3

The District 731/2 budget for 2016-2017 is in line with the current strategic plan, which includes goals and initiatives targeting several critical areas: academics, the whole child, the learning environment, highly qualified staff, community engage-ment and fiscal responsibility.

The current budget calls for total ex-penditures of nearly $29 million, including approximately $15,680,000 for the Edu-cation Fund, which includes teachers’ sala-ries and benefits, and $9,510,000 for capi-tal projects.

All capital expenditures will go for building additions at Meyer and Middle-ton Schools (see article on page 2). The dis-trict has issued bonds to pay for the con-struction.

Changes in enrollment and student needs led to some staffing changes this year. One teacher position and two teacher assistant positions have been eliminated, while one interventionist teacher and one EL teacher (for English language learners) have been added.

The budget reflects the third year of a three-year contract with district teach-ers. For 2016-2017, teachers have received an overall average salary increase of 3.95 percent. This increase is tied to the CPI-U (Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers), the same factor used to limit property tax increases under Cook Coun-

ty’s property tax cap. Classified staff are also receiving a 3.95 percent increase while administrators are seeing an average 3.0 percent pay increase.

Negotiations on a new multi-year con-tract are under way between the teachers union and the school board. Once talks are completed, the new contract would begin in the 2017-2018 school year.

The district’s 1:1 technology initiative has expanded this year, as middle school students are allowed to take their comput-ers home on evenings and weekends. Stu-dents in kindergarten through 2nd grade are using iPads, while older students have received Chromebooks.

District 731/2 continues to grapple with

the effects on district finances brought on by the Illinois budget impasse, the Cook County property tax cap, tax revenue re-funds, reductions in state funding, possi-ble cost shifts for the Teachers Retirement System that might be borne by local dis-tricts, rising expenses for special education and increased costs for health insurance.

“It is our intent to continue to spend responsibly while seeking long-term solu-tions to the issues that have adversely af-fected the financial resources of our dis-trict,” said Supt. Kate Donegan. “We be-lieve that if we work together as a team and manage our resources well, we can meet the high expectations of our community and ensure the success of each student.”

District priorities on display in budget

ing a 23,000-square-foot addition that will solve the space crunch at Meyer by doubling the size of the school. The one-story addition will extend north from the existing building and then turn west to-ward Kildare Ave. It will house six new kindergarten classrooms, a fine arts room for art and music activities, a gymnasium, a library, a gross motor room for students with special needs, and four small in-structional offices.

The added space will also make it pos-sible for a number of students with special needs who live in District 731/2 to receive early education services at Meyer instead

of attending Molloy Education Center in Morton Grove.

Another part of the project involves building a one-way drop-off lane along the north side of the new addition running from Kildare to Tripp Ave. Parents can use it to drop off kindergarten students, who will enter the school at that end. Preschool students will use the entrance on the west side of the original building.

While the bulk of the district’s con-struction is planned for Meyer, phase 2 will also include a 1,900-square-foot ad-dition to Middleton Elementary School. Most of that new space will be devoted to a large multipurpose room that will be used mainly for physical education classes. Some existing space at Middleton will also

be renovated to provide rooms for small-group instruction and band rehearsal.

The project will ramp up while school is still in session and continue through the summer. School officials expect it to wrap up before school begins in late August. Normal working hours will be 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, in accordance with Skokie reg-ulations. The project is being managed by Frederick Quinn Construction Manage-ment Corp.

District 731/2 will continue to update parents and community residents about revised traffic patterns, drop-off and pick-up, and access to the schools. Project up-dates are available at the district website, www.sd735.org.

Meyer projectContinued from page 2

Federal 2.0%

State7.7%

Other localrevenues 4.1%

Interest 2.5%

Corporatetaxes 2.7%

Local taxes80.9%

Revenue Sources, 2016-17

Tuition to other districts 6.0%Non-capitalizedequipment 0.1%

Other 0.1%

Capital outlay30.0%

Supplies &materials 4.0%

Purchasedservices13.0%

Bene�ts10.0%

Salaries37.0%

Expenditures, 2016-17

Community DigestSkokie School District 731/28000 East Prairie RoadSkokie, Illinois 60076

Board of EducationGary Dolinko, PresidentMichael Lemke, Vice PresidentSally Graham, SecretaryScott Bramley, Secretary Pro TemCharlene AbrahamRandall StegerNicholas Werth

Kate Donegan, Superintendent

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District 731/2 guiding principlesu Our schools will support and inspire our students u Our community will demonstrate integrity and respectu Our students will be critical thinkers and creative problem solvers u Our graduates will help make the world a better place

families have gotten wonderful notes from the Tamagawa students and parents. We were so pleased with the entire visit.”

“I wouldn’t hesitate to do something like this again,” De Ste-fano said. “For the students, I don’t think it’s going too far to say it was life-changing. How often to you have the chance to take two groups of 60 kids from opposite sides of the world, put them to-gether and almost immediately start creating something beautiful?”

Power of musicContinued from page 1

The McCracken Middle School Band and the Tamagawa Academy Wind Orchestra played a joint concert at Niles North High School.