Parents and Taxpayers of Grayslake District 46 

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Lake County Clerk - Unofficial Election Results
CONSOLIDATED ELECTION - APRIL 5, 2005

CC Sch Dist #46 Mem Board of Ed
          VOTE FOR  4
              (WITH 25 OF 25 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           Ursula M. Ahern  .  .  .  .  .  .       2,119    8.70
           Michael Larrivee .  .  .  .  .  .       1,765    7.25
           John V. Puccio.  .  .  .  .  .  .       1,902    7.81
           Steve Perlstein  .  .  .  .  .  .       1,816    7.45
           Christopher P. Thielen .  .  .  .       1,928    7.91
           Mark V. Hannan.  .  .  .  .  .  .       3,225   13.24
           Kristen Coe Peek .  .  .  .  .  .       3,848   15.80
           Jill Rohrer.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    3,750   15.39
           Karen Weinert .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    3,974   16.31
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       33     .14
                   Total .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   24,360
              Over Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       12
             Under Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .       4,460  

CC Sch Dist #46 - Ed Tax Rate
          VOTE FOR  1
              (WITH 25 OF 25 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           YES  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    3,081   43.18
           NO.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    4,054   56.82
                   Total .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .    7,135
              Over Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .           1
             Under Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .          81  

Village of Grayslake Mayor
          VOTE FOR  1
              (WITH 22 OF 22 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           IND-Jeff Werfel  .  .  .  .  .  .       1,260   23.33
           IND-Timothy R. Perry.  .  .  .  .       2,709   50.17
           IND-Carl Deal .  .  .  .  .  .  .       1,420   26.30
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .          11     .20
                   Total .  .  .  .  .  .  .       5,400
              Over Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        2
             Under Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .         210

Village of Grayslake Trustee
          VOTE FOR  3
              (WITH 22 OF 22 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           IND-Bruce R. Bassett.  .  .  .  .       2,042   15.38
           IND-Amy Edwards  .  .  .  .  .  .       2,127   16.02
           IND-Rhett A. Taylor .  .  .  .  .       1,868   14.07
           IND-Shawn M. Vogel  .  .  .  .  .       1,889   14.22
           IND-Lisa Cowgill .  .  .  .  .  .       1,761   13.26
           IND-Jim Starwalt .  .  .  .  .  .       1,709   12.87
           IND-Kim S. Pruitt.  .  .  .  .  .       1,866   14.05
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       18     .14
                   Total .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   13,280
              Over Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .          29
             Under Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .       3,469

Grayslake Community HS #127 Mem Bd of Ed
          VOTE FOR  3
              (WITH 36 OF 36 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           Glen Eriksson .  .  .  .  .  .  .       5,277   26.01
           Tom Meskel .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       5,020   24.75
           Marybeth W. DeLaMar .  .  .  .  .       4,656   22.95
           Ann Dingman   .  .  .  .  .  .  .       5,278   26.02
           WRITE-IN.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       54     .27
                   Total .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .   20,285
              Over Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .          71
             Under Votes .  .  .  .  .  .  .       9,508  

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In December 2000, the School Board approved the hiring of William Spady, the self-proclaimed father of Outcome-Based Education (OBE), as a consultant to the District. This web site was formed in response to the hiring of Spady. Although the Board later decided to discontinue his contract, his hiring raised concerns given his radical philosophies about schools. The challenge that remains, is to create a strategic plan with a strong focus on academics and proven curriculum improvements - one that does not incorporate Dr. Spady's philosophies. We must continue to be watchful and communicate this message to the Board until the goal has been accomplished.

It must be stated that we support and have the utmost respect for the board members. They give a significant amount of their personal time to serving our community, and cannot receive enough thanks for this commitment. We believe that we all seek the same goal, excellence in education for our children. We firmly believe that the community must work through and support the Board.

Documents on this Site

March 2001 letter from the Board of Education and Superintendent inviting the community to participate in the strategic plan.

Archived information and links on William Spady and the Strategic Design Process.This was the home page during the time Dr. Spady was a consultant to the district. It provides a reference for where we've been.

Parent questions changes occurring in our District. Statement read at the May 7th Board Meeting.

Letter to the District 46 Board about Dr. Clark's radical reform philosophies and the teacher workshop (later canceled) in our district.

Superintendent Goals, July 2000 - June 2005. This is an attachment to Dr. Anderson's employment contract. This document has been provided by a Board member and is also available to the general public through a Freedom of Information request.

Letter to Board President Nancy Arens about our current direction towards reform minded philosophies like those of Drs. Clark and Spady.

Another viewpoint: "Curriculum vote misguided effort", by Michael Landers. This commentary about Friends of District 46 and their proposed Core Knowledge referendum was published in the 10/26/01 Grayslake Times. It was sent to us by the author who requested that we post it in the interest of balance. The full text of the letter is presented here unedited as originally submitted to the newspaper.

Rebuttal: "Parent input valuable to shape curriculum", by Greg Kveton. This commentary about Friends of District 46 and their proposed Core Knowledge referendum was published in the 11/9/01 Grayslake Times. It is a rebuttal to the above commentary by Michael Landers.

General Introduction from the series, "What Your Kindergartner through Sixth Grader Needs to Know". This forward by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., presents a clear and compelling explanation as to why all children need a shared core of knowledge as a necessary step in advancing learning and developing a first-rate educational system.

"Are we protecting our kids right out of their best skills?"  This article by Dr. Sherri Singer, takes a look at the issue of false self esteem and why it is not a good idea to shield children from failure. It was published in the Grayslake Times, 11/23/01.

The following links present various viewpoints on education or provide general information on our schools. These links are to outside web sites and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this group. Please hit the BACK button on your browser to return to this site.

Links to other Web Sites

The Six Habits of Fiscally Responsible Public School Districts - An assessment of what public school districts can do to save money without laying off teachers or other essential staff. Published by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonpartisan research and educational institution in Michigan. The Center focuses its research on economic policy and is an advocate of school choice as a means of improving education.

Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, based in Washington, D.C., supports research, publications, and action projects of national significance in elementary/secondary education reform.

District 46 Home Page.  Also, a link to the D46 Board of Education Page with a list of School Board members and their phone numbers.

Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE)

Illinois Association of School Boards - Your School Board + You. Some insights for school board candidates and other interested citizens.

Core Knowledge Program - Elementary and middle schools need a solid, specific, shared core curriculum in order to help children establish strong foundations of knowledge grade by grade.

You Can Always Look It Up - Or Can You? An article by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., that disputes the progressive theory that students should gain knowledge through a limited number of projects instead of by taking courses in separate subjects.  Another article, Why General Knowledge Should Be a Goal of Education in a Democracy, also by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., explains why learning basic facts must occur before attaining higher-order thinking skills.

Advances in Research on Instruction, by Dr. Barak Rosenshine, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois at Urbana. Dr. Rosenshine is a well known authority on classroom instruction and teaching methods. He has done considerable research on effective teaching methods by studying teachers' classes and identifying the behaviors that produced the highest achievement gains.

"Honest follow-through needed on this project", by Marian Kester Coombs, Washington Times. This article asks why the results of Project Follow Through were shunned by educators. "The most puzzling thing is how the very models like whole language and discovery learning that the data showed to be ineffective and even harmful are still being pushed. Parents should be asking, 'Where is the proof these programs work?'"

Illinoisloop.org  is a web site providing information on issues in Illinois education to the parents who are consumers of that education, to the taxpayers who pay for it, and to activists who want to restore quality to Illinois schools.

"What Really Works in the Classroom? - How Teaching Style Affects Student Achievement." This article by J. E. Stone, of Education Consumers ClearingHouse, is a review of the book, "The Academic Achievement Challenge" by Jeanne Chall, a distinguished professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at the time of her death in 1999. Chall's book is the culmination of a 50-year career of teaching, research, and consulting. The Education Consumers Clearinghouse is a subscriber supported, online forum serving the consumers of public education.

"Direct Instruction and the Teaching of Early Reading", a report by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. WPRI is a not-for-profit institute established to study public policy issues affecting the state of Wisconsin. Their stated goal is to provide nonpartisan research on key education, welfare, social services, criminal justice, tax and spending, and economic development issues affecting Wisconsinites.

"Detriment to Students: Education reformers take aim at flawed, incomplete research." This article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution examines how flawed research influences education reform. "Good research, whether it be for the Journal of the American Medical Association or scientific publications, uses random samples and large pools and has peer reviews. When it comes to education research, too often those rules are out the window."

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last updated 4/5/2005

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