Maine Township High School District 207

Maine Township High School District 207

Together we educate students to be informed, inquisitive, responsible, creative, and reasoning individuals.
Location
1131 S. Dee Rd.
Park Ridge, Illinois
United States
Coordinates 41°59′57″N 87°51′16″W / 41.999093°N 87.854335°W / 41.999093; -87.854335Coordinates: 41°59′57″N 87°51′16″W / 41.999093°N 87.854335°W / 41.999093; -87.854335
District information
Type public secondary
Grades 9-12
Established 1902
Superintendent Dr. Ken Wallace
Budget $139.7 million (2010)[1]
District ID 1724090[2].
Students and staff
Students 6,960 (2010)[3]
Teachers 508 (2010)[4]
Student-teacher ratio 20.4 (2010)[5]
Other information
Website http://www.maine207.org/

Maine Township High School District 207 is a school district based in Illinois.

Composed of all of Park Ridge and most of Des Plaines, as well as portions of Glenview, Harwood Heights, Morton Grove, Niles, Norridge, and Norwood Park Township, the 36-square-mile (93 km2) district lies 30 minutes from downtown Chicago. Primarily residential with some light industry, office developments and shopping centers, the district is adjacent to O'Hare International Airport and lies at the hub of rail and highway transportation (sections of I-90, I-190, and I-294 lie within the district boundaries).

Schools

Academies

District 207 also helps administer the Youth Campus; a residential facility for homeless teens as well as teens in various stages of foster care or adoption.
The Youth Campus was once the Illinois Industrial School for Girls.
The Youth Campus traces its origins to 1877, when the facility was located in Evanston and called the Industrial School for Girls.[6] In 1906, a scandal over placement of some girls into poor homes, and the mismanagement of money, caused a change in leadership.[7][8][9][10] After the directors were reorganized, Jane Addams served on the school's board of directors.[6][10]
In early 1907, the Board of Directors announced that they planned to leave Evanston and relocate to a new rural location in Park Ridge.[11] With 125 girls and mounting financial difficulties, the school arranged for a charity baseball game that included a semi-professional team run by Cap Anson to be played at West Side Park.[12][13]
The facility was relocated to its current Park Ridge location in 1908, and renamed the Park Ridge School for Girls in 1913. When boys were first admitted in 1980, the facility was renamed the Park Ridge Youth Campus, before being simply renamed Youth Campus in the 1990s.[6]
Several of the buildings were funded by Julius Rosenwald, and were designed by Holabird & Roche (the same firm which designed the Chicago Board of Trade Building and Soldier Field).[6] Eight of the campus buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.[6]
District 207 operates an Alternative Resource Center (ARC) in Morton Grove. ARC is an alternative placement for students who have not adjusted socially to a traditional school setting, and require a more structured environment.[14]

Notable alumni

District Headquarters

The district administrative offices were formerly located in a small building at 1171 S. Dee Road; the southwest corner of the property on which Maine South is located. This building was later sold to the Tooling and Manufacturing Association of Chicago. The district offices were then moved into a section of Maine South. This section was refurbished to provide a board room for meetings as well as offices for the superintendent, his assistants, and the business office.

Ralph J. Frost Administrative Center

Despite being housed in the same building, the district offices have an address of 1131 S. Dee Road, compared to the address for Maine South which is 1111 S. Dee Road.

District Leadership

Maine Township High School District 207 is governed by a seven member board of education. This board is the legislative, policy-setting authority of the school district and while the board is the hiring authority and approves all hiring (following recommendations by the Superintendent or their designee), the board's only direct employee is the Superintendent of Schools. The Superintendent of Schools is the executive authority of the school district.

The Board undergoes an annual reorganization each April, where the Board elects a president and vice president from among their number.

Board of Education

Members of the Board of Education are elected to four year terms, with elections held in the Spring of odd-numbered years. Candidates must be 18 years old, a legal resident of the district for at least one year prior to the election, and must be a registered voter. School trustees and the school treasure for the township are specifically forbidden from running for the Board. Board members cannot have any interest in any contract with the District, and are required to file an Economic Interest Statement each year for verification.

In odd-numbered years, the Board elects a president, vice president, and secretary from among its members in the first meeting after the election. These positions are held for a period of one year. In even-numbered years, the election is held at the first meeting in the month of April.

Position Board Member[15][16] Term Expires
President Margaret McGrath 2017
Vice President Donna Pellar-Ryden 2015
Member Mary C. Childers 2017
Member Jin Lee 2017
Member Eric Leys 2015
Member Carla R. Owen 2017
Member Eric Leys 2015
Member Sean Sullivan 2015

During the April 2013 consolidated election, incumbents Margaret McGrath, Carla R. Owen and Eric Leys were each re-elected, and newcomer Mary C. Childers was elected, while incumbent Eldon E. Burk and challengers Jeffrey S. Spero and Sean M. Story were unsuccessful in their candidacies.

Superintendent of Schools

The Superintendent of Schools for Maine Township High School District 207 is Dr. Ken Wallace who assumed those duties on July 1, 2009.[17]

The Superintendent is supported by four assistant superintendents; one in curriculum, one in business, one in technology and learning, and one in general administration who deals primarily with personnel.

Wiemerslage vs. Maine Township High School District 207

The district was a defendant in a federal court case, Wiemerslage vs. Maine Township High School District 207, 29 F.3d 1149, which helped reaffirm the doctrine of In loco parentis, the rights of schools to act in the place of parents in certain situations. The case involved a Maine South High School student who was suspended for loitering near a gate which gave access to school grounds from a neighborhood area. Students were permitted to use the gate to get to and from school, but were explicitly forbidden to loiter in the area due to complaints from neighbors about property damage and other problematic behavior.

The student and his family sued, citing violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The District's motion to dismiss the case was granted by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal, holding that the school had acted "appropriately".[18][19]

2010 budget cuts

The 2009–10 school year saw the need for a $15 million cut to the district's budget.[20] The cuts included the dismissal of 75 teachers and 62 other staff members.[20] According to district officials, the cause of the financial crisis was due to a "flat Consumer Price Index" which helps determine property values and the corresponding property taxes from which the school raises a large percentage of its monies.[20] The problem was identified in July 2009 when the projected deficit spending of $3.8 million for the year was found to be $10.3 million; 2.7 times larger than anticipated.[20] At a public meeting that drew more than 3,000 community members, a representative of the teachers' union claimed that the deficit spending was due to a lack of oversight from school officials.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Illinois Interactive Report Card for Maine Township High School District 207: Expenditure amounts". Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  2. ↑ "Search for Public School Districts – District Detail for Maine Township Hsd 207". National Center for Education Statistics. Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Illinois Interactive Report Card for Maine Township High School District 207: Enrollments". Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  4. ↑ "Illinois Interactive Report Card for Maine Township High School District 207: Teacher Characteristics". Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  5. ↑ "Illinois Interactive Report Card for Maine Township High School District 207: Class Size". Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Youth Campus". History. Maine Township High School District 207. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
  7. ↑ "EVANSTON SCHOOL IS HIT.; WOMEN ATTACK INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTION FOR GIRLS. Girls Serve as Drudges. Wants Records of Servants.", Chicago Daily Tibune, 28 January 1906, p. 3, The Evanston Industrial School for Girls, its management and its methods, were subjected to a scorching attack yesterday ... As a result of the meeting, an effort will be made to force a reorganization managing board ...
  8. ↑ "COUNTY TO AID OF GIRLS.; BOARD ORDERS INVESTIGATION OF INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL. Can't Ignore Grave Charges. Reports Are Published Seldom.", Chicago Daily Tribune, 30 January 1906, p. 4, President Brundage and the Cook county commissioners took a hand yesterday in the factional fight which has broken out in the directorate of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston by appointing a committee of five to investigate the charges of extravagance and incompetency ...
  9. ↑ "NEW ERA IN GIRLS' SCHOOL; OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS MUST HAND IN RESIGNATIONS.", Chicago Daily Tribune, 20 February 1906, p. 7, Every director and officer of the Evanston Industrial School for Girls will be called upon to resign as a result of investigation made by the committee appointed a few weeks ago by the board of county commissioners.
  10. 1 2 "DELINQUENT GIRLS TO FARE BETTER.; Changes in the Industrial School at Evanston Follow Brundage's Threat. NEW DIRECTORS CHOSEN. Promise Made of Improving Conditions Which Called for Many Protests. some of the New Directors. Change Made in Superintendent.", Chicago Daily Tribune, 26 October 1906, p. 7, Promise of new life under a regime entirely different from that which caused President E.J. Brundage of the county board to threaten the withdrawal of the dependent children from the Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston was seen in the personnel of the directorate and the executive committee chosen for the institution yesterday ... The following names were given as those certain to take their places as directors ... Miss Jane Addams ...
  11. ↑ "WANTS FARM FOR GIRLS.; EVANSTON INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL IS CONDEMNED BY DIRECTOR. Mrs. Hannah G. Solomon, in an Address to the Women's Guild of St. Peter's Church, Outlines Her Plan for Disposing of That Institution and Providing Model Cottages in the Country for Dependent Female Children--Assails Former Board. Assails the Former Board. Would Bar Out Delinquents. Wants Cottages for Girls.", Chicago Daily Tribune, 19 January 1907, p. 16, A model farm school for dependent girls where they may live in cottages and grow healthy in the open country ... is the institution planned ... to take the place of the Evanston Industrial School for Girls ... she explained that arrangements would be made early in February to dispose of the Evanston property and establish a well equipped farm in the country, possibly at Park Ridge.
  12. ↑ ".GAME TO AID GIRLS' SCHOOL.; Anson's Colts and the Gunthers to Play for Benefit of Industrial Institution at Evanston.", Chicago Daily Tribune, 24 June 1907, p. 6, The Illinois Industrial School for Girls at Evanston is to have a "baseball benefit" ... The game will be played by "Cap" Anson's Colts and the Gunthers July 17 at west side ball park.
  13. ↑ "ANSONS WIN BUSSE CUP FROM GUNTHERS IN CHARITY GAME.; Receipts of Yesterday's Semi-Pro Ball Contest Will Reach $4,000--To Enrich Evanston Girls' School.", Chicago Daily Tribune, 18 July 1907, p. 8
  14. ↑ "ARC". Maine Township High School District 207. Retrieved 3 July 2011.
  15. ↑ District 207 Board of Ed; accessed 7 May 2011
  16. ↑ Directory of the Board; accessed 7 May 2011
  17. ↑ 6 April 2009 Board of Education Meeting Summary; accessed 14 April 2009
  18. ↑ Decision in Wiemerslage vs. Maine Township High School District 207, line 20
  19. ↑ Decision in Wiemerslage vs. Maine Township High School District 207
  20. 1 2 3 4 Krishnamurthy, Madhu (12 January 2010), "Maine Twp. District 207 to cut 137 jobs next year", Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL, USA), retrieved 21 January 2010
  21. ↑ Krishnamurthy, Madhu (21 January 2010), "More than 3,000 rally against proposed Dist. 207 cuts", Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL, USA), retrieved 21 January 2010, Maine Teacher's Association President Emma Visee questioned how district administrators could miss a nearly $6 million increase in the projected deficit for the 2008-09 school year. "The current economic problem the district faces is not about teachers," she said. "This district's budget problems beg the question who was watching the store? How do we find ourself in a double-digit budget deficit now."

External links

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