Pingree Grove making headway at charter school

Pingree Grove officials insist they are handling a situation at the Cambridge Lakes Charter School that has left garbage, debris and temporary storage units in front of the school.

"We've been on top of it," Village President Wyman "Clint" Carey said. "The main thing is, is it the village's jurisdiction? I can't just bring tow trucks in and tow them away - we have procedures."

Last fall, the charter school removed a fence from the property, opening its grounds to trash that was flying by.

The school also has not yet removed its storage units from the premises, which the village board asked school officials to do because it had not filled out the proper paperwork to keep them there, Carey said.

The village ultimately decided to work with the school to take steps to remove the trailers, realizing the village's authority on that issue is limited, Carey said.

"We do not have very much oversight over a school site, that is from the (Kane County) Regional Office of Education," Carey said.

The regional office has asked school leaders to furnish them with a certified site plan to ensure the containers are properly placed, comply with building codes and are securely anchored to the ground, said Superintendent Douglas Johnson.

Johnson's office asked for that report earlier this year and has yet to receive a copy.

"Always the sooner the better we would prefer," Johnson said, adding that he expects to receive the plan by the start of the next school year.

Larry Fuhrer, executive director of Northern Kane Educational Corporation, which runs the charter school, could not be reached for comment.