The year in preview: What will make news in the Fox Valley in 2008
The pace of change in Community Unit District 300 -- which in 2007 opened two new elementary schools and a charter school and redrew elementary school boundaries -- will continue unabated in the new year.
The most noticeable changes will come at the upper grade levels.
• The same committee of principals, civic leaders and community members that drew the new elementary school boundaries have taken a marker to the middle and high school maps.
The school board plans to vote on the attendance boundary committee's proposals for middle and high school boundaries in January and adopt the new maps for the 2008-09 school year.
• District 300's 2007 state report cards were a mixed bag. While the district succeeded in meeting standards at lower grade levels, its three high schools struggled to earn a passing grade.
To address the imbalance, District 300 plans to launch freshman academies at the district's high schools for the 2008-09 school year.
The academies will allow educators to isolate freshmen in an environment where they can learn the habits they need to succeed throughout their high school careers.
The district is looking to other school districts, including neighboring Huntley Unit District 158, for examples of successful freshman academies.
• District 300 has spent most of its 2006 bond issue, but the centerpiece of the district's referendum projects -- the new Hampshire High School at Big Timber and Ketchum roads -- will open in 2008.
The state-of-the-art building will be the district's second on its Ketchum Road campus, which already houses Gary D. Wright Elementary School.
Many current Hampshire High School students, as well as students who attend or are bound for Jacobs or Dundee-Crown high schools, will attend the new Hampshire school starting in 2008.
New leader in U-46
Outgoing Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Connie Neale's large pay package, approved in January, made her one of the highest-paid school superintendents in the country.
It didn't stop there.
Neale, who is now living in Missouri, submitted her resignation in October. By using some of her stockpile of accumulated sick days, she will remain on the district's payroll until February.
All the while, U-46 is paying interim Superintendent Mary Jayne Broncato $1,100 a day to run the state's second-largest school district.
A tremendous public outcry over Neale's deal has communicated to the U-46 school board that the current search for a new superintendent is being watched with some wary eyes.
Taxpayers will have the chance to give their two cents about their hopes for a new superintendent, and the pay he or she might receive, at public engagement meetings, community forums and focus groups Jan. 8-11.
Additionally, an electronic survey, to pinpoint which qualities U-46 community members desire most in a superintendent, will be available on the district's Web site through the end of January.
Slow growing in 301
Keep your eyes on whether two schools in Central Unit District 301 that opened in August will remain spacious.
In recent years, the housing market in the district has slowed, and as a result, fewer students than initially expected are attending the schools that were funded through a $34 million construction bond referendum request.
Using the district's average class size of 25 students, Prairie Knolls is 52 percent full with 387 students.
Country Trails is just 25 percent occupied with 165 students. There are 35 kids attending class at the school, but because they're from another program, they aren't included in the district's enrollment figures.
Experts say, however, that there's no evidence to show that the rapid growth the school district was known for won't pick up sometime later.
Roadwork looms
Road projects will slow travel in South Elgin.
Construction crews in November are expected to wrap up a $7 million widening of McLean Boulevard from Bowes Road south to Spring Street/Hopps Road.
The 1.1-mile project began in late 2007 and will widen the previous two-lane road to five lanes, two each way for traffic and a center turn lane.
Over the summer, village crews will repair, repave or rebuild parts of Lucille Street, Robertson Road, Center Street, Michigan Avenue and State Street.
By Dec. 31, crews are required to complete work along Route 31 that has inconvenienced motorists for months.
Since October, vehicles had to detour from just south of Hancock Avenue at the village's southern end to 500 feet south of the former Illinois Central Railroad tracks.
The work was an early stage of the 4.6-mile, $165 million Stearns Road corridor and bridge officials hope to construct and open for traffic by fall 2010.
Algonquin roadwork
The Algonquin Road widening project may have, to some McHenry County travelers, seemed to last forever, but an end is in sight.
New traffic lanes on the south side of Algonquin Road between Randall and Lakewood roads were completed in early September. The next phase of the project is the removal and replacement of the north two traffic lanes. The entire project, including the replacement of the bridge over Woods Creek, is expected to be completed by next spring.
Batter up
Better stock up on peanuts and Cracker Jack.
The Chicago Bandits are coming to Elgin.
The National Pro Fastpitch softball team has signed on to play its next three seasons at Judson University.
Under the terms of an agreement between the city, the team and the university, Elgin will spend $350,000 to upgrade the softball facilities at Judson while city officials make plans for a permanent stadium in 2011.
The upgrades at Judson include a new infield, press box, lighting and seating to accommodate 2,000 fans.
The Bandits are expected to play their first home game on June 6 against the Akron Racers.
The team also plans to hold summer camps and softball clinics in Elgin.
TIF district cometh
Economic development continues in South Elgin, with a newly established tax increment financing district on LaFox Street.
The corridor includes Beck and Gilpen avenues along the village's border with Elgin and runs concurrently with an existing TIF district on LaFox Street.
The financing arrangement funnels tax revenue from property value increases into public improvements and beautification projects within the district for 23 years.
It's a tool used to revitalize blighted areas and once it's over, South Elgin's tax base could spike from $7.8 million to $46 million.
According to a study, the corridor -- a gateway to South Elgin -- qualifies.
The area is a combination of vacant land with parts reserved for industrial and retail uses.
Hemmens' future
Elgin residents in the new year should finally learn the fate of the downtown Hemmens Cultural Center.
City council members this fall asked for a comparison between the costs of renovating the nearly 40-year-old building and constructing a brand new performing arts center.
Renovations to the existing building would have to include adding public restrooms on the ground floor, replacing the heating and air conditioning system, and adding as many as 500 new seats, which would require raising the building's roof.
City staff have already said renovation -- estimated at $30 million or more -- won't be cost-effective, but council members said they wanted to review all of their options.
Once they know how much the project will cost, council members this coming year will have to decide how they are going to fund it.
Members have already said they don't want to raise taxes for building or renovation.
Immigration lawsuit
A decision from the Pennsylvania town of Hazleton regarding the future of its Illegal Alien Immigration Relief Act ordinance likely will have repercussions across the country, including Carpentersville.
Village trustees in Carpentersville have said they would wait for a Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of Hazleton's ordinance that would fine landlords and business owners who rent to or hire illegal immigrants. The law would also designate English as the official language of the small northeastern town.
Much of Carpentersville's focus is on Hazleton since village Trustee Paul Humpfer drafted the ordinance largely on Hazleton's language.
The Carpentersville proposal has been on hold since October 2006 after trustees voted to hold off on discussions until lawsuits such as Hazleton's are resolved.
Village President Bill Sarto tried unsuccessfully on several occasions in the past year to force a vote on the issue.
Hazleton, meanwhile, tried to prevent locals from hiring or renting to illegal immigrants before a federal judge put that law on hold last July.
While Mayor Lou Barletta has said he would appeal the decision, an official filing has not been lodged.
Board will lose two
While election day also marks an opportunity for new blood to take the reins at our various levels of government, this year it will also mark the end of the road or a pair of long-serving and influential members of the McHenry County Board.
Dan Shea and Mary Lou Zierer will bid the board farewell in December after serving a combined 25 years on the board and leading two of its key committees through major initiatives.
Shea of Fox River Grove will finish his 10th year on the board as chairman of its Transportation Committee. He leaves having played a key role in overseeing the county's $40-plus million project to widen Algonquin Road all the way from Route 31 to Route 47 and a $50 million bond issue to hasten county road construction.
Zierer, who first was elected in 1992, is the longtime chairman of the county board's Valley Hi Committee.
In that capacity, she supervised efforts to win state approval for the project and then oversaw construction of the $14 million home.
But as much their accomplishments say about them, both also will be missed by their colleagues for their exceptional knowledge in those areas and their easy-going nature.
Galleria on the way
In 2008, shopaholics will have three new businesses to look forward to at Algonquin's Galleria.
The Brunswick entertainment zone, and furniture stores for Dania and La-Z-Boy are scheduled to open in 2008, said Assistant Village Manager Jeff Mihelich.
While Brunswick will welcome its first customers in the early winter, both furniture stores are due to start business early spring, Mihelich said.
They join the Best Buy, Ethan Allen, Jamba Juice and Potbelly sandwich shop that are already established at the Galleria.