Input on Dist. 203 renovations sought
Input on Dist. 203 renovations sought
District 203 launched a community engagement initiative last month called Touch the Future.
I'm sure by now much of the community has heard of the plans to possibly renovate or rebuild Naperville Central High School, address overcrowding issues at Mill Street School and build a centralized early childhood center. A Central parent, I am serving on the tour and community engagement committee and have attended several of these meetings.
I have been surprised to see how many people came for a tour at Naperville Central with the opinion that it didn't need a thing, that everything was just fine. Many of these people took a walking tour of the building and found out for themselves that something definitely needs to be done with our facility. I would like to invite you to come in and see Naperville Central High School for yourself.
At this point, three options have been identified to address the most pressing needs. This is your opportunity to see for yourself, form your own opinion and share your thoughts with the board of education.
Please visit the District 203 Web site for remaining dates of tours and engagement meetings. Following your tour or meeting, you will be asked to fill out a feedback form, the results of which are being compiled and will be presented to the board of education. The board will be making their decision by the end of November. Please let your voice be heard and fill out a survey.
You may also complete a feedback form online. From the district home page (www.naperville203.org), just click on the Touch the Future button to find complete information, including the video, PowerPoint presentation and brochure being shared at the meetings.
Thank you for being an informed citizen.
Beth Ashley
Home & School President Naperville Central High School
District 203 board needs chiropractor
Take heart, abused Naperville taxpayers, help is finally on the way. District 203 is now soliciting applications for a finance committee.
Perhaps the finance committee will suggest the board discontinue its historic practice of increasing teacher salaries at rates two times to three times that of inflation, the voter-enacted property tax cap, and private sector raises.
Conceivably the finance committee could advise the board to actually listen to a community that sends several hundred e-mails imploring them not to cave in to the recurring strike threats from the teachers union. A finance committee might even suggest it's not wise for the board to be making eleventh-hour, multi-million dollar contract decisions when half its members are in tears.
According to audited financial statements, district spending has increased by $96 million or 96 percent from 1994 to 2006! During this same time, student enrollment increased by a mere 3 percent!
And the 2007-08 budget calls for a spending increase of 5 percent and a declining student enrollment.
Houston, we have a problem. And it's not the lack of a finance committee. Its formation is nothing more than a superfluous reaction to the real issue -- a fiscally irresponsible board. A more effective solution would be to solicit applications for chiropractors able to strengthen and align board member backbones that have been entirely weak on fiscal matters for more than a decade.
Mike Davitt
Naperville