Students protest outside Maine South against District 207 cuts

More than 50 Maine Township High School District 207 students chanting "Save our teachers; use our reserves" protested Friday afternoon outside Maine South High School in Park Ridge.

They hope to get the message across to the district's administration and school board that the proposed layoff of 137 teachers and other district employees is unacceptable.

"We're hoping to make a difference," said Matt Holubecki, 16, of Des Plaines, a sophomore at Maine West High School in Des Plaines.

Holubecki said of the 75 largely nontenured teachers targeted for layoffs at the end of the current school year, a majority are from Maine West.

"We're here because we want to stop the teacher cuts," he said.

That point was made abundantly clear at a public hearing earlier this week which attracted a couple of thousand students, parents and teachers pleading for and demanding the district use its ample reserves - expected to be $86 million at the end of the current academic year - to plug a projected $19 million deficit in the 2010-11 school year.

School was out Friday for an institute day when teachers are in training. Teachers watched out the window as students carrying placards circled the parking lot.

Students echoed what the district's teachers have been saying about how the cuts would raise class sizes leaving less time for one-on-one interaction with students.

"I think we as students, we're going to be suffering because class sizes will definitely go up," said George Jabbour of Des Plaines, a sophomore at Maine East High School in Park Ridge.

Students from all three district high schools came together to protest, setting aside their rivalries and competitiveness for one cause.

"We're sticking together so that we can actually make a change," said Jacky Delgado, 18, of Des Plaines, a senior at Maine West carrying a placard with the slogan "Si, se puede" or "Yes, we can," popularized during immigration reform marches.

District 207's administration recommended $15 million in cuts from the 2010-11 academic year budget to reduce the projected $19 million deficit next school year. Officials also have said they will raise $2 million in new revenue.

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.

The District 207 school board is expected to approve the administration's recommended cuts at its Feb. 1 meeting.

Proposed cutsThe Maine Township High School District 207 school board is expected to approve the administration's recommended cuts at its Feb. 1 meeting. Suggested reductions from 2009-2010 full-time equivalent staffing:bull; Certified teaching staff: 13% (75 jobs)bull; Safety monitors: 31% (16.5 jobs)bull; Secretary/clerical: 15% (13.5 jobs)bull; Teaching assistants: 17% (11 jobs)bull; Custodial/maintenance: 11% (11 jobs)bull; Administrative: 11% (7 jobs)bull; Technology/data processing: 10% (2 jobs)bull; Security guards: 7% (1 job)Cuts in dollars:$50,000 in legal fees$750,000 in extracurricular/stipends, substitutes and special programs$1 million in technology$1 million in capital outlay$1 million in out-of-district tuition costs$1.1 million in administrative cuts$2.5 million in noncertified staff including overtime$2.6 million in supplies/purchase services$5 million in certified staffCuts by teaching department in FTE staff:Applied arts technology - 6Bilingual/ESL - 2.85Counselors - 3.50English - 14Fine arts - 4.20Foreign language - 4Library - 3Mathematics - 6Physical education - 6.80Science - 10.25Special education - 9.83Social science - 4.70Classes/programs affected in 2010-2011 school year:bull; Mandarin Chinese at Maine East and Maine West will be eliminated for the 2010-11 school year due to low enrollments. Students currently enrolled in Chinese can attend Maine South for this class. Classes will be scheduled during the day to allow for transportation between schools. bull; The budget for some athletic and extracurricular activities will be reduced, but the programs will not be eliminated entirely. That includes money for the Maine East debate team for travel, supplies and competitions; moving fencing from athletics into intramurals; reducing the number of speech coaches from three to two at each school; having a districtwide boys' co-op gymnastics team instead of separate teams at East and South; reducing the number of jazz band directors from two to one at each school and reducing the number of intramurals offered at each school. For more information on the cost reductions, visit maine207.org.Source: Maine Township High School District 207False700449Students at Maine South High School in Park Ridge protested recent budget cuts outside the school Friday afternoon. .Steve Lundy | Staff PhotographerFalse <div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Video</h2><ul class="video"><!-- Start of Brightcove Player --><div style="display:none"></div><!--By use of this code snippet, I agree to the Brightcove Publisher T and Cfound at http://corp.brightcove.com/legal/terms_publisher.cfm.--><script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="http://admin.brightcove.com/js/BrightcoveExperiences.js"></script><object id="myExperience62932995001" class="BrightcoveExperience"><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="width" value="300" /><param name="height" value="255" /><param name="playerID" value="18011347001" /><param name="publisherID" value="1659832549"/><param name="isVid" value="true" /><param name="@videoPlayer" value="62932995001" /></object><!-- End of Brightcove Player --></ul></div></div></div>