I've never seen anything like it. Administrators who have been with school districts for more than 30 years said they'd never seen anything like the crowd at this week's two special school board meetings to consider cutting 363 teachers to clear the way to restructure middle and high schools in Carpentersville area Community Unit School District 300.

In case you didn't get to see it, here's a quick video I nabbed on my smartphone Wednesday, before the board narrowly approved those cuts:

After the vote, students vowed to "continue the riots" every day. And on Thursday, video started popping up on YouTube of student walkouts at all three District 300 high schools: Dundee-Crown High School in Carpentersville, Jacobs High School in Algonquin and Hampshire High School.

While I can describe to you 1,000-plus students walking out of a school building, chanting and carrying signs, on YouTube, you can see the students in their own video. You can hear them in their own words. So I've started a playlist on YouTube of videos from this week's meetings and protests: http://www.youtube.com/user/mcemilywrites#grid/user/772036A9E73E4A7D

If you have posted or seen other videos, share those here in the comments, so I can add them.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here's a one movie playing this weekend...

Sucker Punch

This looks really awful -- a pulpy mess about some young hottie, locked away in a mental institution by her wicked stepfather, who plots her escape with other falsely committed babes while escaping into lurid fantasy sequences. It's gory porn for teenage boys who aren't smart enough to bypass the filters their parents have put on the home computer -- and probably has a worse plot line.

Beer rating: There's not enough cheap home brand at Walgreen's to get me to see this.

WHAT?! You were looking for a REAL movie review? Our Sun-Times Media colleague Roger Ebert at the Chicago Sun-Times does a swell job at that.

-- Mike Danahey, Staff Writer

You can hear answers to the questions I think are important to ask of school board candidates in The Courier-News. You can hear the questions moderators and other attendees ask at candidates forums.

But what do the candidates think is important? What do YOU think is important?

You can ask them yourself! Here's a list of campaign websites (and social media profiles) for many of the candidates running for area school boards in the April 5 elections:

Elgin School District U46

• Gary Percy's Blog: wishbone59.wordpress.com
• Citizens' to Elect Gary Percy to the U46 Board of Education on Facebook: facebook.com/#!/group_167526283289398
• Traci O'Neal Ellis: traci4u46.com
• Elect Traci O'Neal Ellis on Facebook: facebook.com/#!/ElectTraciONealEllis
• Elect Jennifer Shroder on Facebook: facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100002050989961

Elgin Community College

• "Three for ECC" (John Dalton, John Duffy and Eleanor MacKinney) on Facebook: facebook.com/#!/pages/Three-for-ECC/177338338962259


• John G. Dalton on Facebook: facebook.com/pages/John-G-Dalton/160662019553


• Eleanor "Ellie" MacKinney: ellie4ecc.com

Carpentersville Area Community Unit School District 300

• Chris Stanton: votechrisstanton.com
• Susie Kopacz: susie4d300.com
• Steve Fiorentino on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/fiorentinoconsulting14
• Fiorentino for D300 B.O.E. on Facebook: facebook.com/#!/pages/Fiorentino-For-D300-BOE/138441406217968

Are we missing any candidate websites? Post a comment here on Between the Bylines or e-mail emcfarlan@stmedianetwork.com, so we can add them.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here's a few of the movies playing this weekend...

Battle: Los Angeles

Did they make a Rage Against the Machine album into a movie? Nah. It's just another amped up version of "War of the Worlds," the kind you'll hear three screens over at the cineplex.

Beer rating: Looks like more of a Red Bull kind of movie.

Red Riding Hood, after the jump.

Truth is stranger than fiction. Hey, that's why we're all journalists.

In just this past week, we reported a flying car hit the second story of a house in Elgin. And every one of the top stories on our website today is about Charlie Sheen, who allegedly has warlock fangs and tiger blood.

Today, our cover story ("It's a miracle! Judson professor, former students find surprise success with documentary on miracles") is about Darren Wilson, who doesn't do strange things; he's a college professor, he said.

But Wilson certainly has captured many strange things on film in his two documentaries, "Finger of God" and "Furious Love." That includes gemstones falling from the sky during church services in the Chicago suburbs, a deaf woman responding to prayers that she speak in Africa... and, of course, gold teeth appearing in the mouths of Wilson's aunt and uncle.

See for yourself:

Finger of God

Furious Love

For more information about Wilson's documentaries and current projects, visit Wanderlust Productions' website. Learn more about the Furious Love Event Wanderlust is planning as a supplement to its films on the Furious Love website. And let us know what you think of the strange things Wilson has captured -- or the miracles you've witnessed -- in the comments here on Between the Bylines.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

Have you missed your regular blog posts, Twitter updates and Facebook posts from The Courier-News? That's because your Readers' Reporter has been in court for the past week covering McFadden v. U-46, the racial bias lawsuit against the Elgin school district.

The first phase of the trial deals with allegations U46's 2004 boundary changes discriminated against Hispanic and black students by placing them in overcrowded schools. That's being heard by Judge Robert Gettleman in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago through Tuesday, at the earliest. But there are three phases to this trial, and no dates have been set for the second and third yet.

Here's our coverage of the trial to date:

U46 bias trial begins with talk of mobiles (Tuesday, March 1, 2011)
U46: 'Mobiles' don't mean 'overcrowded' (Tuesday, March 2, 2011)
U46 demographer: Race no boundary factor (Thursday, March 3, 2011)
Former U46 officials testify about mobiles (Friday, March 4, 2011)

Today in court, the plaintiffs' attorneys plan to call several expert witnesses.

For full coverage of the U46 racial bias lawsuit every day, visit couriernewsonline.com.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here's a few of the movies playing this weekend...

Take Me Home Tonight

A movie named after an Eddie Money song and set in the 80s. There will be a quiz Monday comparing and contrasting this to "Hot Tub Time Machine."

Beer rating: A six pack of Heineken, which seems like it was big in the 80s.

The Adjustment Bureau, Rango, after the jump.