Saturday Soapbox: When quantity matters
Seems the students at Elgin School District U-46's Gifford Street High School have found themselves on an unplanned diet. The district is now addressing complaints that the pre-packaged meals for the alternative school, which has no kitchen facilities, were simply too small. Seems students have been receiving meals packing about 1,800 to 2,000 calories per day. That's adequate for 6- or 7-year-olds. But an active high schooler could require up to 3,600 calories. Fill 'em up.
Do not let anyone in without ID!
It must be that time of year. We've had several reports in the paper recently, one in Schaumburg and another in Mount Prospect, where people were robbed after they were conned into letting a man or men into their home, claiming they were from a utility company. Typically one man keeps the resident or residents busy while the second one searches the house for valuables. The second man either comes in with the first, and then leaves to check on something, or enters the home while the homeowner is distracted by the first man. Police recommend that homeowners ask for an ID and call the utility or company in question to make sure the visit is legitimate before allowing entry to your home.
Ignoring the opposition
Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington is trying her best to pretend she doesn't have re-election competition in the 8th Congressional District, which spans Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. Why that is, we're not quite sure. Bean all but ignored the fact peace activist Randi Scheurer of Lindenhurst was her opponent in this week's Democratic primary. She was equally dismissive of her opponent in the November general election, Republican Steve Greenberg of Long Grove, after her victory Tuesday. Instead, Bean just wanted to talk about her support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama rather than the race with Greenberg. We think Bean might want to get interested in Greenberg by, let's say, Nov. 3.
A popular ban
Politicians seem to understand one issue, if few others. Many people detest being called at home by telemarketers. That's why it looks like a federal "do not call" law is about to become permanent with bipartisan support. More than 150 million people put their phone numbers on that "don't-call-me" list when it first became available on a temporary basis. Now, we're guessing, those same people would like to find a way to ban calls from those politicians, their spouses and their minions at election time.
Retirees could be good teachers
Suburban school districts are struggling to hire a sufficient number of math and science teachers. Here's a potential talent pool to draw from -- those who have retired from careers in science and finance. They just might be interested in teaching in the elementary and secondary schools. Their working knowledge of science and math is a great qualification, and retirees might see teaching as a meaningful second career. Math-science teacher recruiters should be doing what they can to persuade these individuals to bring their life experience into the classroom, and making it as smooth as possible to qualify them to teach.
Raise my taxes, please
Despite repeated pleas to not support the countywide sales tax hike on Tuesday's ballot by the people who actually put the measure on the ballot, more than 51,000 DuPage County voters still voted in favor of the quarter-percentage point increase. That just proves that some people have too much money.