District 158 officer returns to first love
Outgoing Huntley Unit District 158 Chief Operations Officer Dave Jenkins may have unintentionally given his co-workers an early Christmas gift: more work.
After Jenkins announced his resignation in December, Superintendent John Burkey said he may keep the operations chief position unfilled, dividing Jenkins' former duties among top administrators.
If Burkey doesn't fill the operations job, the district will save Jenkins' annual salary of about $86,000 plus benefits.
It's not much, but Burkey says, "We have to look at every place we can save some dollars."
Jenkins is the third person to resign from the district's top operations post in less than four years. He is the only one of the three who has been forthcoming about his reasons for leaving.
Jenkins has accepted a job in Crystal Lake Elementary District 47, where his children attend school. In District 47, Jenkins will serve as technology director, a role he filled in District 158 before Burkey tapped him to serve as operations chief.
"That's pretty much my passion," Jenkins said recently. "It just gets me excited to get up in the morning."
If the recent past is any guide, District 47 could use Jenkins. The district in June discovered the loss of as much as $350,000 from district bank accounts.
District officials now say they believe the loss was the result of a virus that has infected hundreds of thousands of computers nationwide, stealing millions of dollars from American companies and schools.
District 47 is implementing new computer security measures to prevent similar incidents from happening. Jenkins, as technology director, will presumably oversee and monitor those efforts.
Calendar drama: To my great chagrin, the calendar stores in Woodfield Mall were out of "New Moon" calendars when I tried to snag a last-minute gift. I guess I'll just have to wait until next year for more juicy shots of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner.
By then, District 158 parents may have a clearer picture of Burkey's proposed "balanced calendar." Under a balanced calendar, the school year would be broken into four quarters, with three-week breaks in between and a summer break of only five or six weeks.
The proposal, which Burkey first floated in November, would give students less time to backslide and offer opportunities for remediation and enrichment between quarters.
A balanced calendar could be a long way off, but if nearby Elgin Area School District U-46 is any indication, it could become a hit with families. Parents in U-46 expressed dismay when the district announced recently it was shifting three "year-round" schools to a traditional calendar next year in hopes of saving money.
The idea is fairly obvious and intuitive. Let's hope Burkey comes up with a proposal that will help the highest achievers as well as their underperforming peers.