Cook County briefs

School open despite threat:

Addams Junior High in Schaumburg will be open today, but with extra security, after a threatening message was found on a bathroom wall. The message suggested an "incident" will occur today at the school, according to a letter from Principal Steve Pearce, but Schaumburg police determined it was "vague and nonspecific" and not a viable threat. Still, police will have a presence at the school today, and Pearce said any students whose parents choose to keep them out of class will get excused absences. Pearce said a similar situation occurred last year and turned out to be an idle threat. He asked students with any information on the threat to come forward.

Palatine home damaged in fire:

Two adults, an infant and two dogs escaped an early-morning house fire on the 100 block of West Cunningham Drive in Palatine Tuesday. The fire apparently started in the attached garage but was spreading into the split-level dwelling when firefighters arrived at the scene just after the 4:15 a.m. call. Firefighters credit working fire detectors in the home, which alerted the residents, who were able to remove the infant from a bedroom just above the garage and evacuate before firefighters arrived. The fire department was still investigating the cause Tuesday and no damage estimate was provided, but the home was deemed uninhabitable. One firefighter was treated at Northwest Community Hospital for unspecified injuries and released.

Railroad platform work begins:

Metra and Union Pacific Railroad crews will pour concrete for the remaining sections of the center railroad platform in downtown Des Plaines starting Thursday. For the work to be done, roughly 10 parking spaces in the city lot south of the tracks, west of Pearson Street, will be barricaded from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 14, and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Monday, May 18. Parking spaces between the Des Plaines Library and Lee Street also will need to be barricaded during the concrete paving work for truck use.

Dist. 207 hires administrators:

Maine Township High School District 207 has filled two assistant superintendent jobs. Mary Kalou is the new assistant superintendent for business, succeeding Pamela Schau, who is retiring. Barb Dill-Varga is the new assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, succeeding Ken Wallace, who is the new District 207 superintendent. All hires take effect July 1. Kalou has been an administrator with Lake Zurich Unit District 95 since 2007, but was District 207's director of accounting from 1993 to 1998 and was also an administrator in Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 for eight years. Since 2003, Dill-Varga has been assistant superintendent for educational services at Glenbrook High School District 225; she previously was associate principal for curriculum and instruction at Glenbrook South High School and chairwoman of the English-Speech-ESL department at Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn.