Saturday Soapbox: Hearts for Heroes
Looking for something to brighten these dreary February days? Consider contributing a valentine or 10 to Amy Berger's Hearts for Heroes campaign. The Waubonsie Valley High School junior wants to collect 140,000 Valentine's Day cards to send to our troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. All she asks is that you sign each card, include a little note of thanks, and leave them at drop-off boxes at Naperville City Hall, 400 S. Eagle St., or several businesses throughout town. Amy will make sure they get to our troops. This is the third time Amy has spearheaded such a campaign -- the first generated 2,600 cards and the second almost 50,000 -- and it's by far her most ambitious effort. It doesn't matter how you feel about the war: this is a chance to remind our troops that we care about them, appreciate their sacrifices and want them to make it home safe and sound. As for Amy: We're pretty darn proud of you, too, kid.
Consolidation could make sense
Combining three elementary school districts -- Benjamin Elementary District 25, West Chicago Elementary District 33 and Winfield Elementary District 34, and one high school district -- West Chicago District 94, into a single unit is an idea worth exploring. It makes sense simply for the money that could be saved on administrative salaries and benefits; savings that can be diverted into the classroom.
Raise my taxes, please
Despite repeated pleas to not support the countywide sales tax hike on Tuesday's ballot by the people who actually put the measure on the ballot, more than 51,000 DuPage County voters still voted in favor of the quarter-percentage point increase that was rejected. That just proves that some people have too much money.
Long wait for election results:
At 9:11 p.m. Tuesday, Will County residents were able to check their county clerk's Web site to find that almost all of the votes -- 96 percent -- had been counted. At the same time, the Web site for the DuPage County Election Commission only had 12 percent of the election totals counted. While we respect all of the hard work that goes into every election, can someone from DuPage please get some tips from Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots? Apparently, her office knows a thing or two about getting votes counted quickly.
A popular ban:
Politicians seem to understand one issue, if few others. Many people detest being called at home by telemarketers. That's why it looks like a federal "do not call" law is about to become permanent with bipartisan support. More than 150 million people put their phone numbers on that "don't-call-me" list when it first became available on a temporary basis. Now, we're guessing, those same people would like to find a way to ban calls from those politicians, their spouses and their minions at election time.
Retirees could be good teachers
Suburban school districts are struggling to hire a sufficient number of math and science teachers. Here's a potential talent pool to draw from -- those who have retired from careers in science and finance. They just might be interested in teaching in the elementary and secondary schools. Their working knowledge of science and math is a great qualification, and retirees might see teaching as a meaningful second career. Math-science teacher recruiters should be doing what they can to persuade these individuals to bring their life experience into the classroom, and making it as smooth as possible to qualify them to teach.