Students use Facebook to rally against District 207 cuts
Within days of Maine Township High School District 207 announcing plans to cut 137 jobs, including 75 teachers, outraged students launched Facebook groups trying to save those educators and programs affected by their firing.
Students from the district's three high schools are using the social networking site to rally in support of teachers facing the ax.
Hundreds of students have joined in the online debate over whether the district should be making drastic cuts when it has a large reserve.
District 207's administration recommended $15 million in cuts districtwide from the 2010-11 academic year budget to reduce a projected $19 million deficit.
A year ago, the district had a cash balance of $100 million, roughly 90 percent of its annual operating budget of $112 million. Superintendent Ken Wallace has said that over a three-year period, the reserve will be cut down by about $30 million and a further reduction would be irresponsible.
Many students are expected to speak against the proposed cuts at a school board committee of the whole meeting on Wednesday night. Public comments begin at 7 p.m. in the Maine East High School auditorium, 2601 Dempster St., Park Ridge.
"Obviously, a lot of kids are shocked and angry," said Patrick Wohl, 15, a sophomore at Maine South in Park Ridge. "In the beginning, it was maybe a little bit more about individual teachers, but I think people are coming together ... to try to save all of them."
Layoffs and other cuts won't be finalized until a school board meeting on Feb. 1.
Eliminating 75 largely nontenured, certified teachers at the end of the current school year would save the district $5 million, officials have said.
English, science, special education, physical education, applied arts and technology and mathematics departments at the district's three high schools stand to lose the most teachers.
Though the proposed cuts have largely spared academic and extracurricular programs, the fencing program at Maine West in Des Plaines could lose its $24,000 yearly funding and an assistant fencing coach.
The school has roughly 57 students participating in the team sport this year.
The district is considering changing it into an intramural program, meaning there would be no money to pay coaches' salaries, for bus transportation to meets and tournament fees, officials said.
"Without the chance to compete, it's harder for us to improve our fencing skills, and spread word about the sport and show people what it's about," said Maine West sophomore Cara Franke, 15, of Des Plaines, among the more than 900 members of the "Save Maine West Fencing" Facebook group.
Franke has been fencing for two years and has a younger sister eager to try out for the team. "I've heard from younger kids that they want to try and get into the program, but with less funds though, it would be hard to keep it going," she said.
Head fencing coach Rachel Dean said the only other athletic team affected was boys gymnastics at South and East high schools, which will be merged into one team at East.
"Why couldn't it have been every (athletic) team had to cut 5 percent, and raise the rest?" Dean said. "There's ideas and ways to cut the funding without cutting our whole program. Everyone should tighten their belts. It's more fair. In the grand scheme of things, it's a drop in the bucket, but it's our whole program."
Maine West is one of the charter members of a 10-district fencing conference, which includes New Trier High School of Northfield and Winnetka and Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire. The Des Plaines school has had a competitive team for 30 years.
Members of other fencing conference teams also are expected to show support for Maine West's program at Wednesday's school board meeting, Dean said.
"We are an important part of this conference," Dean said. "It would be a crazy decision to remove us from the conference. I told all my kids to wear their medals, to bring trophies to show the board members that this matters."