A lot of votes so far but no comments...what are your solutions?

Curious as to what we have in reserves. Have heard that it is in the multi-millions (this could be incorrect). But if so, could we not tap into that instead of total disruption to families daily lives? Also, what about all the new businesses in town, do they contribute to education costs and if so, how much? Has Supt. Sass, Dr. Manville, or anyone exhausted all efforts with the state to secure all monies due us?
Unfortunately, the horribly phrased question on the survey did not establish much needed good will between the board and the community. The choice of either insane bus schedule or firing teachers?? Really, that's the best way to address this? How about pulling back on admin salary packages and retract the 2% raises in 2011. May not cover the $372k, but it's a start.

This district continually want the parents, students, and teachers to take the brunt of the financial burden. When has one of the people already getting an overinflated salary been willing to cut back and not take a raise? Millions of people in this country are struggling in this economy. Many people have been in the unemployment line and companies have had a pay freeze in place for more than a year. None of this seems to be a consideration in this district. We are always faced with the threat to cut services and fire teachers. When is it going to be a threat that there won't be administration raises for one year? When is Sass going to supply his own transportation like 99% of the rest of the working American people? Let's start with cuts in the administration building for once. I won't even ask why we are paying a principal a salary when he's not a principal over there.

Honestly, the 4-6th grade bussing schedule works for me. Due to the early start, I am able to get my child on the bus and then get on with my day. As a working parent, the district does not always consider working parents (with all of the days off, early releases, activities involving parents occurring in the middle of the day, etc.). One of the strong points was the addition of the Park Dist. ACES programs in each of the buildlings, helping to ease the burden of the 2:00 release time.

Once again I would suggest allowing out of district students to attend New Lenox schools. Their tuition would definitely help with any shortfall to revert back to the old bus schedule or modify it for the smaller children and teachers wouldn't have to be laid off. We already have New Lenox students attending Joliet schools and Joliet students attending New Lenox schools, so what's the big deal? Charging a couple or few thousand dollars a year would help the school district and since the out of district parents would have to transport their children; there wouldn't be any additional busing costs. If we work together, we can find a solution.

My guess...my guess is that 372k CAN be found to be cut somewhere but just not where the board wants to cut it. I have heard from a lot of parent's that these changes have been extremely difficult for their family - some not being able to send their youngest to preschool because the adult is home hour 1 to load off, hour 2 to load off, hour 3 to load off and then turns around to do pick up at three different ours. And by not having Junior students home after the youngers students is very difficult for parent's, especially working parent's.

This is in response to Jeff M. This district has had a 4 day weekend on Martin Luther King weekend for years and years. Probably dating back as far as 20 years or more. This was the first all day teacher institute of the school year. I don't have a problem with it, although working parents seem to. In the defense of the school district, daycare is not their problem. Their responsibility is to educate the district's children, not provide a babysitting service. This years winter break was no more or less generous than any other year. It really has nothing to do with the financial status of the school district. Slice it, dice it however you want, they are in school no more or less than 180 days a year as mandated by the state of Illinois.

For me the times work out fine.. It was a struggle at first but we just had to get used to it, and now that we are used to it(everyone in the district has somehow mananged to deal) just keep it. You can't make everyone happy!! And I have kids in 3 different schools... I am wondering if they do revert back~what will they take away from the kids next??

I think it should just stay the same. Everyone has already made arrangements and why go through this again in August.

Kellie Hoge

I have 5 children of multiple ages and this bus schedule is ridiculous! I so wish parents would vote for the old schedule. I am a stay-at-home mom and would like to work when my kids are all in school but will not be able to afford daycare or the ACES program. I am dropping a kid off or picking one up every hour! I also know way to many 4-6th graders that come home to empty houses. This is not safe! Nor is it healthy for them to have to be at the bus stop at 7 a.m. My 3rd grader starts school 2 hrs after my 5th grader and comes home 2 hrs earlier. All I do all day is drop kids off and pick them up. I also spoke with the Assoc. Superintendent at the beginning of the year and she informed me that with the money saved this year...we should have a surplus for the next 4-5 years and will most likely be able to go back to the old schedule. Then on the parent surveys the district makes parents think that by going back to the old schedule we are going to have to get bigger class sizes and fire teachers. They are screwing with us. Obviously they saw how much money they were saving and don't want to spend it again. New Lenox charges $280 per kid for school. Plainfield charges $75. How with all that money and us buying $100 worth of supplies for the classrooms every year, do they not have the money for buses. We have just sold our house and if New Lenox is going to continue with the same schedule for busing...we will not be staying in New Lenox.

I thought we pay Dr. Sass the big bucks to figure out these problems? This bussing schedule is ridiculus for most of us and I hope they change it next year. I have my youngest getting home at 2:05, nearly an hour before my highschoolers. My kid is also a walker, so if the weather is bad that is a whole other complication. It is a difficult time to work with for most parents as most of us don't have jobs that get off that early. And please don't mention paying for the after school programs to me, the benefit of the small second income would vanish with that! Another thought, perhaps if they went back to the old junior high boundaries instead of this non-sensical one, they would have less students who need bussing, not to mention saving money on the gas to drive busses from one deep end of the town to the other.

Start by cutting the art classes. It's an unnecessary extravagance for 1-6th graders to have a separarte art classroom and art teacher, and then do art projects in the classroom.

Obviously you don't know what teachers do in the classroom when it comes to covering curriculum in a day or year. This is a small thing that won't make much of a difference in budget cuts. The admin. constantly tries to pin problems on the teachers' salaries and health benefits. The admin. ( and board of ed.) pass the raises for themselves constantly. I am a teacher and have been for 20 years and I love what I do. Unfortunately, we do not make what we should for all the work we do at school and outside of school. Many of us still work over the summer too, planning for the following year. The health benefits stink too. I am not complaining, but merely stating the facts. The big bucks are made at the admin. level and they are the ones with the great benefits and salaries. I would suggest starting there with any type of cuts to start savings for the tax payers/schools. Many of the articles from the papers support the fact that Sass and other jobs at that level are making way too much. They are constantly adding positions too, and who knows what their job descriptions are supposed to be. Start from the top and cut.

I think they should change the schedule back or change the start times to something more appropriate. With the band students not coming into the building until almost 8am, why does anyone else have to be there? They aren't teaching anything until the band kids arrive anyway. The schedule change was not thought out very well in the first place. Now if we want it changed back they say they'll have to let teachers go. That's BS. Sounds like a spoiled child that isn't getting their way so they'll take it out on someone. Is trying to use fear and intimidation the best they can do? It's pathetic.

How about taking a look at the average dist 122 admin salary 112,000 compared to state average 109,000...d 122 teachers average salary 58,000 state average 64,000. Stop admin raises and benefits

Does anyone realize that the students in 4-6 start their day with "advisory". This is not a graded class that I don't even think has a curriculum. It is the districts attempt at R.T.I. Response to Intervention should be done on an individual basis within each discipline for ALL students. If your child has band/orchestra they miss out on the R.T.I. activity. All the students must wait for the band/orchestra students to arrive to begin their "core courses." How did the district build in this time? They took time away from their core courses. So your child arrives early to wait for all of the students to arrive before they begin their courses they are graded on. Most of the schools in D122 did not make AYP on the ISAT's so what is the districts solution...take time away from math, etc. And why did they add advisory??? To accommodate the new bus schedule. Band/Orchestra should be a class they add at the beginning or at the end of the day as an elective. Students should not be hindered in the classroom waiting for the band students to arrive. I for one think that NO student should start school before 8:00. If that isn't the solution then we need to go back to the old schedule. The district saved money at the students expense. They need more contact time within their core courses, not less. Go back to the schedule from last year and give the kids a solid curriculum!

For anyone who feels that this is a hardship my grandson moved back here from a Califorina
school that did not offer any bus service of any type to either lower grades up into high school and it was not an easy commute by foot to be able to make it to school. also the schools still started at different times so parents were very upset about their situation

First step would be to match days off with Dist210 since they provide the Bus service, I can imagine bringing drivers, dispatch and maintenance workers in for extra work days to cover dist122 while dist210 is off, is costly in wages.

With the size of the 2 kindergarten schools, couldn't an option be to operate 1 FULL school and perhaps even lengthen the day beyond 2and a half hours? I know S. Trail barely fills 2 of its 4 colors, this could eliminate quite a bit from buses to school operating expenses.

I do hope the board and DO are reading these comments and taking to heart the frustration this community feels. I can assure you this mirrors every conversation I have with parents. Might I suggest, instead of a poorly phrased question buried in a survey, perhaps they send home a letter asking for each parent to check a box, yes or no, to the current busing schedule. Let the majority rule. If my calculations are correct, we would only need about 2% of the reserves to make the change. I think most people would be willing to bless that decision.

I do not agree with the opinoin that the board does not need to be concerned with additional daycare costs or challenges families have faced as a result of this decision. The board is comprised of elected officials. I believe as an elected official they have a duty to consider the community they serve when making any decision. New Lenox is a working class community with many families struggling in this economy. To say they don't have to be concerned about the additional burden of childcare on families is very concerning to me. As a board member I believe their job is #1 to ensure the best possible education for our children #2 to do so in a way that is representative of the community you serve. If the majority of your families are unhappy with the new bussing system, then the board is not doing their job. We are never going to make everyone happy, I agree. This is bigger than a simple excuse like that. We knew our families were not happy about this from the beginning. The alternative is absolutely not to cut teachers and programs. But, make no mistake, when this decision was approved it was no different than approving an annual fee increase that discriminated against many working parents. Many of these families have been faced with loss of jobs, periods of unemployment or at the very least cuts in pay and benefits. They have dipped into their reserves (sometimes to pay high school fees) to get through these difficult times. Maybe it's time D122 does the same.

I wasn't talking about day to day daycare for families. Yes, I do believe when making a daily schedule they should take the working parents into consideration. I was talking about when they schedule the rare teacher's institute. I believe we only have 2 full day institutes during the course of the school year. I think we could do without all the half days off. We do seem to have an overabundance of those. As far as the current schedule it's a hardship on many 2 income and one income families. My 4th grader is exhausted by 6p.m. because of this schedule.
When they raised the fees it was an impact to single income families too. Single income families sacrifice a lot as do working families. We are all in the same boat here. This school district and board have made it a "them against us" situation for years and it shouldn't be that way.

I have kids in 4 different schools and yes, my day is chopped up but I don't see that as something the school district should have to consider. My personal schedule is not something the district should have to worry about. I'd rather keep the schedule as it is now. The goal is to educate our children. Whether or not the parents day is chopped up should not be the responsibility of the district. If your child is tired in the morning from getting up so early then put them to bed earlier. I have kids at Trail, Pointe, Crossing and Martino and we are adapting fine. My child that gets on the earliest bus has time to do homework in a quiet house after school before after school activities kick in. And it is not the responsibility of the district to make sure older kids are at home before younger ones to babysit!!!

I am not trying to offend any stay at home mothers, I wish I could. My husband is a teacher and doesn't earn enough to allow such a privledge. The constant hour changes make it more difficult for parents who have to work. I was paying $1000 a month in childcare that is about 48% of my pay. It is only temp so I deal with it. It is hard to hear complaints about 2-3 different start/end times and the inconvience of them. The district charges way too much to even attend school,then the cost of supplies and all the classrooms in kindergarten is rediculous. The district doesn't pay our teachers enough. I know this because my husband interviewed with it and earns $15,000 more a year someplace else. I don't have the answers to the problems we have, it seems to me the resources are there, just not being used properly.

Dr Sass has also made comments in defense of the bus timing (why the youngest students start the latest, etc), saying that older students should not be responsible for watching their younger siblings, they should be outside or doing extracurricular activities. That's a nice idea, but when my 7 year-old isn't getting off the bus until 4:10pm and goes to bed at 8pm (which is an average bedtime for that age), how do you fit in the activities for that child or a sibling, schoolwork, dinner, bathing, and just some downtime for play in under 4 hours? Also, like a lot of younger children, my child wakes up around 6-6:30am. By the time school starts, he has already been up and active for almost 3 hours! Seems like physically the preteens could use the extra sleep and the youngest students could take advantage of their early wake-up times. I seriously question how much learning is taking place in the last hour or two of school when the kids are already exhausted (not saying I would want a shorter day, just one more in-tune to the natural sleep and wake cycles of most children). I also think the day is too choppy when you have students in different levels and it is creating a lot of problems that our well-paid school administrators should be trying to fix.

Dr. Sass is simply passing the financial burden on to parents. My family pays 3x the property taxes we paid in Wisconsin and we pay twice the school fees. I now pay around $700 to register two small children for school and then get the first fundraiser the first week of school. Now, I have to rebudget my household to account for the extra daycare for a 3rd grader in Haines and a 4th grader in Oakview. On half days of school, the 4th grader needs to come home at 10:30 in the morning. LOL! Maybe, we should be looking into Sass' salary and benefits package as one of the highest paid administrators in IL. There is absolutely no common sense or consideration for families placed in the bussing decision. That is why it was so quiet and kept under cover until the last minute. They knew they were delivering a sucker punch to working families.

Thanks for your comments, everyone. Make sure to check THIS LINK: http://newlenox.patch.com/articles/live-blog-d122-strategic-plan-meeting later tonight for live updates from the board meeting. I'm trying something new tonight and the best way it'll work is with your interaction!

Here's $107,000 right here to save towards busing. Let's not pay someone who stepped down from his position as principal a principal's salary. What is he doing in the district office that justifies that salary? It's a valid question. Where did the district get the money for another principal for Liberty when that former principal still has his salary and is doing whatever at the district office? Why can they find money for that kind of stuff?

Remember to check here for live updates! http://newlenox.patch.com/articles/live-blog-d122-strategic-plan-meeting

Go back to old schedule. It's time to think about our children and no child in 4-6th grade, ESP. 4th should be starting school at 7:30AM.

They definitely need to cut unnecessary spending. They tell us not to let our kids watch too much tv, yet there's a tv in every classroom. What happend to having a couple of tvs that need to be signed out and rolled from room to room? Why does every teacher have to have a projector? Why can't they write on the board? That's just part of it. There are so many things that are unnecessary luxury items that can be done without. It's time for schools to cut back by going "old school" instead of changing schedules. And yes...get rid of Sass and his inflated ego and salary.