District 67 Adds New Teacher, Tallies Budget

District 67's board meeting, held Thursday evening at Golf Middle School, included administrative and budget updates, as well as PTA news and a new teacher introduction.

Highlights include:

--Grant update: “We’ve received grants for Titles 1 and 2 from Illinois,” reported Supt. Jamie Reilly. The district received $55,300 for Title 1, and $13,900 for Title 2, slightly lower than last year’s grants. “The decrease means more money will have to come from local budgets in the coming year,” Reilly said.

--Budget update: “Our expenditures stand at about same as last year,” said Board Assistant Business Manager Jim Fitton. “At $7.4 million in expenditures, we’re right on target at month of the fiscal year. Our revenues of $9 million are a little higher than we had budgeted, thanks to state money that came in late for last year and has showed up on the books this year. We were also conservative in spending.”

--New security cameras at the Julia Malloy Education Center on Menard: Cameras are being installed to survey the back area of the Malloy Center, where activity has been observed after the facility has closed for the day. The cameras were donated by Jim Fitton.

--PTA highlights: The District 67 Parent Teacher Association’s new president Christine Hoffman gave an update on recent PTA activity, including new officers, an upcoming pool event and next year’s auction date.

New to the PTA officer’s roster, in addition to Hoffman, are Carol Albers as secretary, Liz Frake as program vice president, Karen Fucik as fundraising vice president and Cathy Reichert as membership vice president. Patty Gayser is serving as interim treasurer.

“We’ll be hosting a Back-to-School Bash at Oriole Pool on Saturday, Aug. 27, with Sunday Aug. 28 as our rain date,” Hoffman told the board. She also noted that the PTA has set a date for the organization’s big fund-raiser. The Bids for Kids silent auction and dinner will take place Feb. 25, 2012, at the Morton Grove Civic Center.

--New Fifth Grade Teacher: The District's newest teacher is Devin Lacko, who will be teaching fifth grade next year. “Candidates were asked to teach a class on the next-to-last day of class,” Reilly said. “Lacko really blew us away in terms of student engagement. He’s a very creative person.”

--NTDSE updates: Three new officers were named to the Niles Township District for Special Education board of governors: David Koder as board president, Brian Novak as vice president, and Vicki Goldberg as secretary. 

Also, Districts 67, 71 and 73 have decided to remain part of NTDSE instead of withdrawing, as had previously been discussed. “The cooperative approved a more equitable funding formula, which led the three districts to decide to remain as is,” said board member Robert Clark.

Next week, check back with Morton Grove Patch for more reporting on the finances of Golf District 67.