Education: January 2008 Archives

BY DAVE PARRO

Kaneland school officials have identified at least six seniors as the vandals who deflated dozens of bus tires last week and unplugged diesel engines in subzero weather.

While there will definitely be discipline coming from the school, including making the students pay back $4,000 in damages, no criminal charges have been filed. Meanwhile, in Naperville, police are asking for information on vandalism that caused $30,000 in damages to school bus tires.

What punishment best fits the crime for what essentially amounts to a student prank?

BY MIKE CETERA

The East Aurora School District has unveiled a plan to open its first magnet school next year for 150 high-achieving students. The plan still must receive school board approval, but district proponents say opening a school specializing in math, science and technology will help an underserved population -- gifted students.

Clearly, administrators want to make East Aurora more attractive to its bright students. Some suggest students likely to attend these schools predominately come from "two-parent households with employed parents who have college or graduate degrees." Could it be the district is also attempting to make East more attractive to the very parents who will be asked to approve a referendum some day?

On their face, magnet schools look attractive. Why shouldn't the district offer more opportunities for its brightest students? Magnet schools, however, do have their detractors.

BY MIKE CETERA

More than 2,700 East Aurora School District students live in poverty. Just nine other school districts in the state can claim more children living in poverty, an analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data shows.

It's clear to see there are many poor families in the East Aurora School District. But it's simply shocking that nearly 18 percent of the students come from families who qualify for the federal government's definition of living in poverty. Using the government's data, a household with two adults and one child would have to make $16,227 or less annually to fit the definition.