U-46: Little wining, dining for 'Elgin Day'

After the latest round of budget cuts, seeing U-46 spend taxpayer dollars to wine and dine legislators during Elgin Day in Springfield would be infuriating to many.

I put in a call this week to district spokesman Tony Sanders to find out just how much U-46 planned on spending on the downstate trip, aimed at celebrating the city's 155th birthday and promoting Elgin interests among lawmakers.

The district, Sanders said, is not kicking in for either the cash bar reception held Wednesday at J.P. Kelly's or a breakfast Thursday at the Sangamo club.

However, Sanders said, the district is paying fuel costs for himself and Superintendent Jose Torres to make the three-hour drive together. Board Vice President Donna Smith rode a bus contracted by another Elgin organization, he said.

The district is picking up two nights of hotel tabs for Sanders and Torres; and one night for Donna Smith.

During a dinner Wednesday evening, the three bought dinner for two members of the House elementary and secondary education committee, Sanders said.

Thursday evening they attended a free dinner.

The city of Elgin, Sanders said, paid for the breakfast; Elgin Community College supplied luncheons for the legislators.

Bartlett students speak up: Bartlett High School's speech team coach Anthony Zoubek will take eight students to Bloomington-Normal this weekend to compete in the SCOTIE Tournament of Champions at Illinois State University.

Students are: freshmen Mary DeWitt, Maddelena Fico, and Tommy McCarty; sophomore Lauren Kunesh; and seniors Anthony Bostler, Jacob Fraser and Marlene Toscano.

Qualifiers, according to Zoubek's news release, are among the best competitive public speakers and performers from high schools across the state. Whereas participation in the Illinois High School Association's Individual Events (Speech) State Series is limited to one coach-selected entry per event, SCOTIE participants must consistently be among the champions or finalists at area speech tournaments throughout the speech competition season from November through February,

As a team, BHS took third place at the Upstate 8 Conference Tournament in January, hosted by South Elgin High School. The team went into the 2008-09 season strong from its start, taking fourth place overall at Lake Forest High School's invitational tournament last November.

Best of luck!