The "Official" Announcement

Email sent today from Dr. Schuster announcing her resignation:

"February 11, 2014

Dear District 181 Families,

During last night’s Board of Education meeting, the Board accepted my resignation. My last day as Superintendent of District 181 will be June 30, 2014. Deciding whether to leave District 181 at the end of this school year has been heavy on my heart, but I have family needs to address that require my time and care.

We have wonderful students, staff, and families and a supportive community that values education and our neighborhood schools. Through our collective efforts, our students are growing in excellence, becoming responsible contributing citizens, and developing their talents and interests.

We still have much to do this school year, and I look forward to continuing the work of leading our great school district through June 30. The Board will begin the process for filling the Superintendent position. Please stay tuned for opportunities to contribute to that process.

Sincerely,

Dr. Renée Schuster
Superintendent"

Revised 2013-2014 Calendar Discussed and Partially Approved During 2/10/14 Board Meeting

During last night's board meeting, two options were presented to the board for making up the missed instructional days due to the weather and mold school closings. Dr. Russell posted these two options on BoardDocs yesterday afternoon. (Click to open description of the options.) The board approved part of option 1 which calls for all students to attend school next Tuesday, and Hinsdale Middle School students to attend school next Monday. The board deferred a final decision on the remainder of the makeup days until a future meeting, but indicated it is leaning toward approving the rest of the Option 1 calendar. Assuming no more snow days occur, all students will be done on June 6 and there would be no need to extend the school year for students into the second week of June.  Below is the letter Dr. Schuster sent out to the D181 community this morning explaining the decision.  We applaud and thank the administration for crafting a solution that will allow most of the missed instructional time to be made up.* 

Letter from Dr. Schuster:

"February 11, 2014
Dear District 181 Families,
Yesterday evening, the Board of Education held a discussion regarding the 2013-14 school year calendar. We have had significant impact on our calendar this year due to four school cancelations for extreme cold temperatures and three days of cancelation for only Hinsdale Middle School to address water damage and mold remediation. The administration presented the Board with options to consider in determining how to make up those missed days. (You can hear the full Board discussion via podcast.d181.org.)

The Board determined that it was important to address lost instructional time, have the end of the school year conclude at the same time for all students, and minimize the time in school during June. Therefore, calendar changes as described below are being implemented for this school year. 

• School will be in session for HMS only on Monday, February 17. This day was previously a non-attendance day for Presidents Day.
• School will be in session for all schools on Tuesday, February 18. This day was previously scheduled as an Institute Day. 

We recognize that many families may have already made vacation plans around these days. HMS students not in attendance on February 17 and any students not in attendance on February 18 will have an excused absence.

The Board has further calendar decisions to make to account for the remaining make-up days. No decisions have been confirmed regarding the dates below, but families and staff should be aware of these potential calendar changes.  

• School is very likely to be in session for HMS only on Friday, April 18. This day was previously scheduled as a non-attendance day. 
• School is very likely to be in session for all schools on Friday, May 16. This day was previously scheduled as an Institute Day.
• School is very likely to be in session on Monday, June 2. This day was previously scheduled as Grading Day.
• 8th Grade Graduation may be moved to Thursday, June 5.
• School is very likely to be in session on June 5 and June 6 (except for 8th Grade), however both days would be half-days for students, per contract with our teachers association. In the afternoon on June 5 and 6, staff only would participate in In-Service and School Improvement Days.
• If the above changes were confirmed, Staff Institute Days would take place June 9 and 10. Students would not be in attendance on June 9 and 10.

The Board is likely to waive the third make up day that would have been needed for HMS. (The Illinois State Board of Education permits the waiving of up to two days due to the emergency work that was needed in the facility.)

If Additional Weather Closings are Called
If an additional school cancelation is called due to weather, the Board will need to re-visit the 2013-14 calendar. If more than one additional weather-related school cancelation is called, the Board may submit a request to the Illinois State Board of Education to waive the need to make up any further days.

Thank you for your attention to this important notice.
Sincerely,
Dr. Renée Schuster
Superintendent"

__________________________
*During the meeting, Dr. Russell stated that he and the communications director had already drafted a letter explaining Option 1 that could be sent out almost immediately. While we commend the administration for anticipating the decision and being prepared to announce it, we would suggest that if three sets of eyes are going to review something that goes out on Dr. Schuster's name, that it should be spell checked for accuracy. "Cancellation" and "cancelled" were misspelled four times. We know this is nit-picky, but if it requires the involvement of 3 highly paid administrators to send out one email, we expect that it not have mistakes.

Breaking News!!! Dr. Schuster Resigns: Last Day With D181 will be June 30, 2014

Tonight, President Marty Turek announced that Dr. Schuster’s submitted her resignation effective June 30, 2014. The reason provided was so she could move back to Missouri for family reasons.  

Stay tuned for further details…

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News Flash! Do District Parents Realize 107 Fourth-Grade Students Have Recently Been Identified as Needing Teacher Tutoring for Accelerated Math?

As a result of the Learning for All Plan and the automatic grade-level acceleration of math, which began in the Fall of 2012 and affected last year’s 3rd graders, there are now approximately 107 fourth graders who have been identified as needing tutoring services, twice weekly for a total of 2 hours. (Please review the board member question/answer segment under Dr. Schuster’s report on Boardocs.  Click to open tutoring data.) Remember, these students CAN perform at-grade level math; it is the acceleration to 5th grade level skills that these students are struggling with at this time. This means that because of the automatic one-year math acceleration, students are struggling, which in turn affects their self-esteem, which could have serious consequences for their long-term learning mindset (high school honors classes, etc.). Keep in mind: Dr. Schuster is on record of stating the Learning for All Plan will not incur additional cost. Well, this plan has proven to be costly with the recent additions of several math coaches and now teacher tutoring for at least $45/hour. And isn’t it against Board policy for teachers to tutor their own students?


The fact these students have been identified more than half way into the school year is appalling. We can only imagine the stress and anxiety that has been waged on the backs of these students and their parents. And for the other students who were not identified as needing district tutoring services, parents should ask if the district will compensate them for the private tutoring they have been providing their children all year. We have heard from numerous parents who have confirmed they have been providing private tutoring for the their children for more than a year as a result of Learning for All.


Folks, other districts simply do not operate like D181. A quick Google search of local school districts (Butler, Western Springs, Lincolnshire) will confirm this. They are tackling and focused on the demands of the Common Core and are not accelerating their entire student population.


Something is clearly wrong with the leadership and the current direction in D181. The fact that 107 fourth graders need tutoring confirms this to be the case.

Upcoming Monday Board Meeting: More “Celebrations,” Revised 2013-2014 Calendar, Shortened Summer School, Summer Fluff-Four-Day-Work-Week for Administrators, Non-Transparent Curriculum Committee Proposal and Proposed Staffing that Affects Class Size; What is the True Status of the District?

As we reviewed the upcoming board agenda for the Monday 2/10 BOE Meeting at Oak School at 7pm, we were once again struck by the lack of status reports offered by Dr. Schuster and her hand-picked administration. As has been the case for months, Schuster and her administrative foot soldiers (Schneider, Russell, Benaitis, Igoe) will be sitting in front of their computer screens during the course of the board meeting with little to no contribution or participation regarding the effectiveness and status of Learning for All, Special Education, or Testing and Assessment. By the way, it is common for Superintendents and Board Presidents to jointly decide on the meeting agenda, which probably means Marty Turek is actually approving the topics on the agenda recommended by Schuster. Truth be told: we see President Turek working on behalf of the administration rather than to represent and work for those he was elected to represent. We see this same pattern reflected in the participation of Mike Nelson (from afar) and Gary Clarin (recently elected and self-appointed administrative cheerleader).  May we remind these board members they were elected to represent and serve their constituents, not to promote the whims, spins, and tactics of Dr. Schuster and her administration.

Here are our immediate concerns:

1. Dr. Schuster’s report (click to open report) consists of “celebrations” instead of offering a summary on how and where the district is heading. We congratulate Oak School for its nomination to apply for the blue ribbon award, however, there are 9 schools in this district, 4 blue ribbon winners in their midst, that have pressing curriculum issues that must be addressed right now. Parents need and want data and solid information on how the curriculum changes Dr. Schuster has mandated have affected our children. Mentioning a presentation by Dr. Ginsburg and her upcoming Lunch and Learn get together is hardly providing a comprehensive update to parents, especially after the instruction middle school students has been greatly impacted. Where is this discussion item?  (Considering that two of the last three Lunch and Learns have been cancelled and registered attendance extremely poor, perhaps it is time for Dr. Schuster to offer a real Town Hall meeting, open to all –- registered and unregistered participants – at which she and the board will have to answer questions on the spot.)
2. The MAP test was given in mid January, yet no formal summary of results has been given by Dr. Schuster, Kurt Schneider, Kevin Russell or Dawn Benaitis. We have been contacted by parents who are concerned that the MAP scores for their children have gone down from Fall to Winter.  Test results should be communicated immediately; parents want and deserve this. Note: It appears Kevin Russell will be giving a presentation on MAP test results on 2/20 in yet another controlled setting with no opportunity for questions. This session is listed on the district homepage, but why isn’t Russell providing the test interpretation information at the board meeting where the board members can ask questions and discuss the results? And shouldn’t Dawn Benaitis, who was hired to be the assessment director, be providing a comprehensive report and presentation of the MAP results? What is she really getting paid to do as an assessment director?
3. Class size is an important issue in the face of the Learning for All plan. It is obvious that the Learning for All plan cannot be effectively managed with class sizes are large as they are in most cases across the district. How is the administration handling class size? Is their recommendation reasonable?
4. One positive, and yet concerning note: Dr. Moon and the newly hired consultant Dr. Friedman will apparently be presenting reports on the Learning for All (formerly the Advanced Learning Plan) at the next BOE meeting on Monday 2/24. Should be interesting to hear their take on the state of learning and differentiation in the district.  Our concern is that they will have only spent one day visiting classrooms across the district before they present their "report" to the BOE that same night.  How thorough and thoughtful can their report actually be if they do not spend more time in the classrooms, meeting with teachers, or even talking to parents about how the plan has impacted students? Also, what is the purpose of Dr. Friedman's involvement?  She is a

She Knows Not What Her Nose Doesn’t Know; The Peril of Schuster’s “Leadership” on Our Children and Teachers, and the Prowess Needed by the Community

If the information we have been provided is accurate, that Superintendent Renee Schuster sat on a plane in route to Chicago from her retirement home in Arizona on Monday, January 20, we wonder what was going through her mind? After all, Hinsdale Middle School was now in the throws of massive disarray and cleanup from a busted pipe that resulted in extensive damage and flooding and the school closing on January 17, after the discovery of mold. To discuss the status action plan, the Board of Education was holding an emergency meeting that evening, which meant Schuster would have to head to HMS prior to the meeting to inspect the damage herself. 

According to multiple sources that have contacted the bloggers, Schuster did show up at HMS briefly during the afternoon, long enough to make a quick inspection before heading to the administrative offices at Elm School just several hours before the board meeting. Surprisingly, this is not the only time Schuster had been absent from the district, as it is well known by teachers and staff that she frequently enjoys long weekends, which results in an actual three-four day work week at the D181 central office. This was especially the case last December. In fact, after taking two weeks of vacation during the holiday break, she then left town again during the exact days the pipe had burst at HMS and several thereafter. This is simply not acceptable to parents, teachers and children of this district; we expect more from the individual in charge of D181 and more of a commitment than just phoning it in or emailing updates from a distance as a semi-retired employee.

Yes, unfortunately, the fact that Schuster can rest her laurels on her current Missouri pension affords her, in our opinion, a feeling of fierce empowerment, which has been displayed and used in settings/meetings with various district parents who have complained about the effects of the Learning for All Plan (renamed from the Advanced Learning Plan) on their children. In addition, we have now witnessed first hand her “leadership” skills in the time of crisis, that being the HMS flooding and mold situation, wherein she largely depended on her administrators Kevin Russell, Doug Eccarius, Gary Frisch, and Principal Pena. Questions that were asked of Schuster during board meetings were deflected from her to her staff because it was obvious she did not have the answers. Even more startling to us is the fact that Gary Clarin, according to our sources, spent many more hours at HMS during the clean up phase than Dr. Schuster, and was instrumental in providing more information and status summaries at the board meetings, than she was. While we applaud his efforts in trying to assist with the clean up, we have to ask why Mr. Clarin thought that Schuster should spend so much time away from HMS, as it was widely known she spent little time observing the work and participating in walk throughs with staff and board members. Why is this acceptable to him? We believe being visible and active monitoring of an emergency situation is the role of a superintendent when a building is in crisis. She is accountable, ultimately, for the safety and well being of the teachers and children of this district. And this responsibility, for which she is highly paid (see sidebar Page of the administrative salary chart), she cannot phone in or email from afar. Period. Where is the accountability promised by President Marty Turek?

So, given that students have finally returned to HMS this week and the crisis will eventually subside, we thought we would offer a brief summary of, in our opinion, the blatant weak-kneed/ineffective leadership we have witnessed by Renee Schuster and members of the BOE regarding the HMS crisis and curriculum/administrative issues:

Middle Schools are Back in Business, but What About Missed Learning?

Hinsdale Middle School is back in business. Earlier today Dr. Schuster sent an email update thanking everyone and outlining next steps. Her email is copied below. We are relieved that full time learning has returned for the nearly 1500 6th, 7th and 8th graders at HMS and CHMS. We hope that the mold situation has been fully remediated and that no future health concerns caused by the infestation of mold will be reported. However, we will not rest comfortably until significant time has elapsed, and unless regular air quality and mold tests are continued that come back negative. And of course, not until the Board publicly reports, also on a regular basis, whether new health concerns have been raised. After all, despite weeks of mold removal and cleaning, the district had to scramble with additional cleaning and expedited tests yesterday to clear a building that still had mold spores in its midst. Even today, Dr. Schuster states that additional cleaning will continue. What exactly does she mean by that?

In her email today, Dr. Schuster points out that the Board will be discussing what to do about the missed days of school. By her count HMS students missed 7 and everyone else missed 4 due to snow/cold days off. Well, by our count HMS and CHMS students missed the equivalent of an additional 2 1/2 days because of the 5 days during which they attended only 4 hours per day (1/23,24,29,30,31). Those missed hours are significant due to the shortened class periods, in particular in math where a large percentage of students are taking high school algebra and geometry classes. Those classes will form the foundation of their high school math experience and it is imperative that D181 takes no short cuts or skips any of the materials they are expected to learn.

Will this issue be discussed by the Board before it votes to waive up to four of the missed days? At the last meeting, Dr. Kevin Russell reported that 2 snow days days can be waived for all and 2 additional "emergency" days can be waived for HMS. Would that really be in the best educational interest of the students? It will be interesting to hear what recommendation he makes to the Board and what questions they ask.

We will just have to wait and see...

Dr. Schuster's email update:

Schuster Fails to Disclose That Not All Rooms at HMS Have Been Cleared for Re-occupancy

Here is the question for the night: Will the community ever be able to believe that Dr. Schuster's email updates are telling us the complete truth? After tonight, we have lost all hope and think its time for the Board of Education to find cause to terminate her.  Tonight's email from her declared and celebrated that HMS has been cleared for re-occupancy. All of it. Well that is simply not true. But don't believe us, read the documentary support for yourselves.

Her email is copied below with specific language highlighted in red by us, but we want to emphasize the following 2 statements in it:

"We are so pleased to confirm that HMS will be open for classes tomorrow, Tuesday, February 4. The building has been cleared for students and staff following a fire inspection, inspection by the Regional Office of Education, and inspection by architects from Healy, Bender & Associates. Additionally, reports from Integrity Environmental Services on sampling conducted January 31, February 1, and February 3 indicate the school is safe for occupancy."

"Again, all inspections confirm the building is safe for student and staff use. "

Anyone reading Dr. Schuster's email would conclude that every room in the building has been cleared. There is no mention of any exception. Her letter confirms what sources notified bloggers of earlier today, that there were rooms that tested positive for mold even after weeks of being de-molded and cleaned multiple times. According to Dr. Schuster's email, those rooms were re-cleaned in the last two days and retested.

Her emails suggests that those rooms were retested and ALL have now been cleared. What she fails to inform parents of is that one room that tested negative in the previous test -- Room 200 -- but was retested today has come back positive. And she also fails to tell us that Integrity Environmental Services has unequivocally recommended that the room should be restricted from entry by all non environmental professionals and maintenance personnel until additional cleaning or replacement of flex duct portions can't be completed.

We have reviewed both Re-occupancy reports prepared by Integrity. These reports are available on the D181 website. Part of the retesting the took place today required duct system supply surface swab samples to be taken. According to the last page of the second report, issued today, February 3:

"Five (5) supplemental surface swab samples were collected and analyzed. Four (4) samples exhibited either no detection of mold spores or only traces of mold spores at levels far below the acceptable levels. 

The remaining sample exhibited the presence of a mold spore type that still warrants additional cleaning and anti-microbial treatment: 

-- Room 200    Stachybotrys, "Rare" concentration.

As Stachybotrys was not detected within the subject room on the previously collected air sample, it is our recommendation that all personnel other than environmental professionals and maintenance personnel be restricted from entering this room until additional cleaning of, or replacement of the "flex duct" portions can be completed."

So, it appears that it is not true that the entire building has been cleared for re-occupancy starting tomorrow. Room 200 should be restricted from teachers and students until the black mold is eradicated. That is the recommendation of the testing company. Does Dr. Schuster plan to ignore this recommendation? Why didn't she tell the parents and community about this finding and recommendation in the report from Integrity.

While her email refers everyone to the two reports prepared by Integrity, it should not be the job of each individual parent to sit down and read every line of the report to see if there is information that the superintendent is withholding. Findings such as the one Integrity issued recommending restrictions of even one classroom should have been brought to everyone's attention by Dr. Schuster. We guess that the last questions we will pose tonight are:

1. Who teaches in Room 200?
2. How many students will be displaced starting tomorrow from that classroom because it has not been cleared?
3. When will the Board of Education finally start holding Dr. Schuster accountable for not telling the full story in her celebratory emails to the community?

Email from Dr. Schuster:

BREAKING NEWS!

Multiple sources have confirmed to us that mold has tested positively in approximately 10 rooms at HMS. This is, of course, after the huge clean up and remediation that has taken place during the past two weeks. Will this positive identification be disclosed at the walk through this evening at HMS beginning at 6:30 or will Dr. Schuster and her administration spin the positive mold discovery? We shall see….

Plans Continue for HMS to Reopen on Tuesday

Pending a final clearance after Integrity Environmental Services tests the school, Hinsdale Middle School will reopen to students on Tuesday morning. We had hoped it would open on Monday so that students would not miss more instructional time, but after receiving Dr. Schuster's daily update on Friday afternoon, it appears that that will not happen. Her email is copied below. While we are thrilled  that "full time" school is going to resume, we still do not understand the additional day of delay. We have heard that community members have sent letters to the board asking for an explanation as to why it was not told at the 3 prior meetings that the Regional Office of Education and an architecture firm would first need to tour the school, and we hope to get an answer at next Monday's board meeting. If there is a regulation that requires the ROE to clear the school for occupancy we would like to know what the regulation is.

Dr.Schuster's email: