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The following is a list of questions frequently asked by parents. You may search for specific words or phases, or shorten the list by selecting a specific category.
Coretta Scott King Magnet
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We have 406 students. We have filled two classrooms per grade level, K-7, with one 8th grade class. Our maximum class size is 25 students. We have between 22-25 students in all grade levels with the exception of 8th grade where we have 20 students.
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This is a question to ask of our Bus Coordinators in August.
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At this time, we have not planned the sports. It will truly depend on how many students are interested. If we are not going to be offering a particular sport, we will have the 7th/8th graders go to the Middle School.
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No. You will pay the standard fees dependent upon the grade level.
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We have a maximum classroom size of 25 students.
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We are planning on having structured time for our older and younger students to interact. This may be as mentors or tutors or just reading buddies. The 7th/8th graders may be volunteering in classrooms as well.
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No. We will be dividing our lunch periods up by grade level to some extent. Our 6th-8th graders will eat together. We will then have grades 3-5 eat together and have recess. Our K-2nd graders will eat and have recess together
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At this point we have not considered this option due to all of our elementary schools offering at least one all day program in their buildings. We also find that in order to fit in the Units of Inquiry, we do need a full day program.
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Illinois School Code policy is if you live more than 1.5 miles from the school, the district will provide transportation for your child(ren) at no extra cost. We have all of the magnet school students riding the bus together. The bus route information is available to all parents during registration in August.
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The district will not provide transportation unless there are hazardous routes.
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Yes. The University Park District will be providing these services for a cost. The times of service will be provided at a later date.
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No. We will not have buses for this purpose. It will be the responsibility of the parent to provide transportation.
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Yes. Hot lunches are available each day.
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This is a difficult question to answer because it would look different at each grade level. This question will be specifically answered for you in August at our Open House and Curriculum Nights in September.
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The IBO offers a structure for our academic curriculum but it does not offer attitudes that we will be working on all students across all grade levels. These attitudes include respect, tolerance, integrity, independence, enthusiasm, empathy, curiosity, cooperation, confidence, commitment, appreciation, and creativity. The students are also working on their learner profile on a daily basis. We will be working together on developing students who are: risk takers, inquirers, thinkers, communicators, open-minded, principled, caring, reflective, well balanced, knowledgeable and reflective. We assess students' concept of these attitudes and their learner profile on a daily basis.
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The building is a highly secure building. The only way to get into the building is to get buzzed into the Office. We are very serious about the safety of your children!
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Yes. We have Learning Resources teachers to help our students in areas they are struggling in and we also have a Reading Specialist to work with our students on specific reading strategies. These teachers bring a wealth of resources with them to our school.
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The school has a structured inquiry learning approach along with offering students Spanish.
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Yes. We work closely with CMMS.
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We will abide by the same policies that all schools in the district abide by with regards to discipline. Our ultimate goal is to maximize learning time therefore we will be proactive in ensuring that this happens in every classroom.
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There are a few benefits and these include smaller class sizes, a smaller overall building, Spanish, and inquiry based learning.
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e~Funds for Schools
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This program offers various options for parents/guardians who choose to make payments on-line and is extremely user friendly. Families may set up and maintain their own log-ons, passwords, and payment preferences (i.e., credit card, checking, etc.)
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Yes. Your account information is retained in a password-protected file.
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Yes. Parents/guardians may establish a reoccurring payment or may opt to make a one-time payment.
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The e~Funds for Schools site is secure and uses industry standard data encryption. The district does not request or keep records of family checking or credit card account information. No payments will be allowed without your knowledge and authorization through this secure payment system.
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e~Funds for Schools will help to eliminate last minute check writing hassles, improve efficiencies, and help cut costs for both you and the school district. Online payments will help eliminate the worry that your children could lose or forget the money intended for school items or that it might be spent on other non-school related items.
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Yes. Your payment history for the year is available with a click of the mouse.
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Yes. The e-Funds program is available to all District 201-U schools.
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Yes. The District will notify parents when the service will be made available to all district schools.
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The District does not request or keep records of family checking or credit card account information. You must contact e-Funds for Schools directly to inquire about your account.
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Click here to register with e~Funds for Schools. After registering, when you are asked for your "Family Number" enter the Student’s primary 10 digit home phone number in the following format (do not enter any spaces or dashes).
Example: 7085551212
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F.A.Q. from the Special Board Meeting – 3/12/2008 concerning the topic of the High School Restructuring Plan
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The Board of Education will make that choice at their next special board meeting on Monday, March 31, 2008.
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Two years ago Hickory Elementary in University Park was restructured. The Superintendent and the Board of Education at that time chose to close the school down and re-open the school as a Magnet School. Forty percent of the students in University Park were sent to other schools, many staff members were reassigned to other schools including the administration. The Board was able to do this because there were other elementary schools that students and staff could go to. With only one high school in our district the Board could chose to close the school down and reopen it as a charter school or a magnet school but all high school age students in our district would have to attend the school, therefore there would be no selection process or children going to other schools.
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The reason why some Board’s might chose the "charter school" option is because it gives the Board of Education more latitude to operate the school without having to comply with all of the constraints of union contracts and state board of education policies. A charter allows exemptions to certain rules and regulations. The other reason why a charter school option is popular is because everyone would have to reapply for their job; therefore making staff changes easier to do. However, in our case, because we do not have more than one high school the current school laws do not allow tenured staff to lose their jobs as a result of creating a charter school. They would have to teach at the charter high school or be reassigned to schools within the district in which they are certified to teach. This would be very difficult to accomplish since most high school teachers do not have elementary school certifications. Most Charter Schools also offer a very different curriculum when they open usually coupled with a different method of instructional delivery as the new curriculum is implemented.
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Under the No Child Left Behind Law we could contact other districts and ask whether or not they would allow our students to attend their high schools. The problem with this consideration is that the petitioned high school or district does not have to comply or accept the request. We have already petitioned neighboring high schools and the answer has been no. Furthermore, no district is going to make such an agreement unless the agreement works both ways---meaning if they accept our students, we would have to accept students any students they want to send to us. The Board of Education at this time has not indicated any interest that they would be willing to enter into a two-way agreement with neighboring high schools to accept other students from other high schools.
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The performance of newly hired teachers in our district is appraised every year for four consecutive years. If teachers are not meeting the expectations of the organization they are terminated. If teachers have been teaching more than four years in our district, their performance evaluations are conducted every other year. If teachers who are tenured are not meeting the expectations of the organization, they are offered more support to address any identified needs. After a period of time, if there is no improvement, these teachers are also considered for termination or reassignment. We are constantly examining the quality of teaching in our high school and are providing support in terms of staff development. We plan on increasing the support to enhance and improve teaching by providing more training or coaching. We also agree that academic rigor in some courses needs to be raised and our central office curriculum department along with the high school administration will be working with core academic departments to address these issues.
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We have a very young administration at the high school. Only one administrator has been in their position for more than five years. We have had seven different principals in sixteen years which averages to a new principal every two years. We will continue to give our administration support and training. We will also carefully appraise the performance of our administrative staff and if changes need to take place we will make those changes.
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The very first year that scores were low the superintendent at that time immediately began having conversations with the Board of Education and public about increasing the support and academic achievement of our high school. There were many public meetings to educate our public about the needs of the high school and the results of those meetings were to build new facilities and to add more programs. This has been accomplished. The administration has also been proactive in looking at model schools around the nation that have similar populations and have been academically successful. We have adopted a nationally recognized model to be the framework that will guide our work over the next three to five years. We have seen some increases as a result of our work but we know there is more work to be done.
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The administration and the Board of Education realize that their work in terms of extra support for students who struggle academically is not complete. There are very few support programs at the high school to help students who are behind in reading and mathematics. The administration will be proposing to the Board of Education at the March 31, 2008 board meeting a series of recommendations that need to be put in place next year to address this need of supporting students who need additional academic support.
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Right now we are proud to say that no other school in the district is on the academic watch list. We are striving to continually support our staff, our students, and our administration with curricular support and training in hopes to continually have our students achieve at high levels.
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This is an option that is talked about every once in a while within our communities when we have difficult problems to solve but it has been an option that has been soundly rejected by the Board of Education and the majority of community members. Separating the district into three or four smaller school districts is not thought of by our current Board of Education as being a viable option or one that would be in the best interest of all communities. Not only would it take massive legal fees to accomplish such a decision but those legal fees would be at the tax payers’ expense. Also many law suits would be filed against the Board of Education concerning what would be done to resolve the issue of having one Middle School and one High School if the communities all separated and had their own school districts. Each community would have a legal claim to the assets of these buildings and to try to build a high school and a middle school for each community would be a massive burden to the tax payer. The Board of Education and administration feels it is better to have all four communities work together toward real solutions that can work for all children and families rather than to divide, separate and go our separate ways which in turn would cost the taxpayer a lot of money with no promise that the services would be better and that any real solutions to closing the achievement gap would be reached as a result of such a decision.
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We do have such programs at the elementary level and that is why we feel that our other schools have done so well academically and none of them are on the academic watch list for the state. However, we will have to continue to re-evaluate each year the needs of our schools in terms of support because as the needs within our elementary schools may change from year to year the level of support may also need to change.
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At the high school level there is only one academic snapshot taken of students by the state in their four year career. That snapshot takes place in the junior year of high school and the measure that determines the academic health of a school in the state of Illinois is the Prairie State Exam. The results of the Prairie State Exam are compared year to year to each other but they are comparing two different sets of children every time a comparison is made. The reason for the fluctuation in results is that some cohorts of students start in different academic places prior to getting to their junior year. If the classes start in different academic places, the classes usually end in different places. Another reason why our scores have fluctuated is because we have had an increase in the mobility of students entering and leaving the high school and a large turn over in staff leaving the high school within in key departments.
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The only way we can compensate for the students who do so poorly on the Prairie State Exam is we have to have programs in place that will address the needs of these students. Right now there are very few programs in the high school that do this. At the March 31, 2008 Board meeting there will be a series of recommendations given to the Board for their consideration that will address this concern.
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Right now the only ACT prep courses that are offered to students are on a voluntary basis. These classes are usually held after school for a period of weeks and one must pay a fee to enroll in such a course. Teachers do spend a lot of time in classes preparing students for the ACT and Prairie State Exam. However one of the recommendations to the Board will be to have a college preparation class taught as a mandatory elective to all juniors next year.
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Because all of our elementary schools are making AYP we feel we have been addressing the needs of our students from the ground up. One of our problems is that a lot of our students leave the school system after the elementary grades and move to other school districts or enroll in private schools. This is all the more reason why we have to ensure that our climate, curricular programming and academic achievement is where it should be in the upper grades so that residents see the Crete-Monee School District as a viable option for their children to continue their education through high school.
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The presentation that you saw tonight is only reporting the results of academic achievement by sub groups and their comparison with the state of Illinois which does vary from sub-group to sub-group. However we do not have different standards for different sub-groups. The standards that have been set by the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law are the same for all groups of children regardless of race or social economic status. The standard we have to reach each year is listed on the ISBE website at http://www.isbe.net/ayp/htmls/illini_equal_steps.htm
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We are looking at the best programs and models across the country that has proven results with students from all backgrounds and social economic status. We have some of those programs in our high school now and we are planning on bringing more research based programs and instructional delivery models into the high school within the next year.
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People come and go for different reasons and they come from all over the south suburban region as well as the Chicago metropolitan area. Many people come to our school district with the dream that they will get a better education here than where they came from. Many people leave the system because of situations or reasons of a personal matter. We are aware that in the last few years parents have been concerned about climate and academic issues in our high school. We feel the Board of Education has been proactive in addressing those needs with the addition of a new high school facility and the addition new programming. We still know that our work is not finished and there are still improvements that need to be made. We have created a Transitional High School program in Monee, Illinois for students who need extra time and attention to try to improve their basic skills so that they can be ready to be successful in a traditional high school setting.
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We work with the families of struggling readers to provide extra services at the elementary level to help students including providing summer school instruction. We also will retain students if they do not meet certain academic benchmarks. If a child is still struggling after two years, we begin to have another set of meetings with the parents to talk about other interventions and services which may include consideration for special education. Again, we want to reiterate that many of the students who may be struggling readers come to us in later grades and have not been in our elementary schools where we could have the chance to teach them reading and give them the proper support they may have needed when they were younger students.
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We think this is a great idea and are in the process of looking into how this can be accomplished.
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General Questions
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While the school year is in session, children can be registered at Crete-Monee School District 201-U, Administration Center, 1500 Sangamon Street, Crete, IL 60417. Proof of residency must be available and shown to school officials before they can register. A certified copy of the official birth certificate (not a hospital certificate) must be shown to school officials when registering a child. Registration forms may be acquired in advance or when visiting District 201-U.
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The Board of Education recently completed a thorough analysis and reorganization of district operations to ensure that our systems are poised for the future and prepared for growth. This five-year long process has resulted in the formation of a Strategic Plan for Improvement, a Long-range Financial Plan and a Long-range Facilities Plan. These Plans work together to streamline curriculum goals and improve test scores; project future revenue and expenditures; and finally, to evaluate current and future physical space needs. The community has supported the district’s plans for expansion with the construction of a new elementary school in Monee and a new high school in Crete.
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In 2004, after the failed referendum, the Board of Education was forced to make spending cuts in excess of $1.4 million. The majority of these cuts were in the form of staff reductions, which resulted in the elimination of Art, Music, PE, Orchestra and Middle School electives. However, in order to reinstate these programs, the Board of Education believes that it needs to be able to provide a sustainable, long-term revenue stream to meet these priorities. The Board of Education along with the Superintendent has been looking for ways to fund these programs internally. It is important to recognize that the School District would need roughly $400,000 to reduce class sizes and restore art, music and PE, on an annual basis for each. The Board of Education has been working with LUDA (Large Unit District Association) to pressure our state legislature for a change in the funding formulas. The Board has also gone on record as supporting HB750 or a similar measure. Passage of which will provide much needed property tax relief as well as increased funding for public education. Unfortunately, we are still a long way from finding the sustained $800,000 to $1 million needed to restore all that was cut in 2004.
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Human Resources
PBIS - Positive Behavior Intervention and Support
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Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) is a process for creating safer and more effective schools, the process focuses on improving a school's ability to teach and support positive behavior for all students, all staff, and in all settings.
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No. PBIS is a broad range of systemic and individualized strategies for achieving important social and learning outcomes while preventing problem behavior. PBIS is not new; it is based on a long history of behavioral practices and effective instructional desing and strategies.
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Traditional behavior management focuses on eliminating undesired behavior with punishment. PBIS focuses on teaching, modeling, practicing, and reinforcing desired behaviors. Different and more intense instructional strategies are used with students who stuggle with behavior, just the same as schools help students who struggle with academics.
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- Systems: Schools focus on consistent teaching and reinforcing good behavioral skills.
- Practices: School use proven teaching strategies to improve student academic and behavioral skills.
- Data: Schools collect their own information to help decide how to best manage their own students, staff, and settings.
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PBIS schools utilize the School-Wide Information System (SWIS) to make decisions about discipline systems. SWIS is a web-based information system used to improve behavior support in the elementary, middle, and high schools. Schools are trained in the use of SWIS when they implement PBIS.
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PBIS uses the science of behavior to model, teach, and practice socially appropriate behavior in the places where students learn and staff teaches. Three systems are designed to make problem behavior less rewarding and teach desired behavior.
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These three systems operate in a school and are phased in over time:- Universal (Primary) Systems: Staff develop, model, teach, and reinforce expectations, rules, and routines to prevent initial occurrences of problem behavior throughout the school. All students learn, practice, and are supported for displaying positive behavior.
- Target Group (Secondary) Systems: Staff is provided support to implement interventions for students who are having difficulty learning the rules and routines of the universal system and who are at risk for more serious problem behavior. Interventions at the secondary level may inclue such practices as Social Skill Club, Check In/Check Out systems, or a Behavior Education Plan. These can be used for small groups of studies or individually for simple ongoing behavior problems.
- Intense Individual (Tertiary) Systems: The focus is on the needs and characteristics of individual students and specific circumstances related to them. These are students who exhibit behaviors that are highly disruptive, and/or impede learning and result in social or educational exclusion.
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PBIS is open for all schools district-wide. District 201-U will offer unique training and technical support to schools. Because this is a process, it takes at least three years to implement all systems, levels, and components of PBIS within a school.
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Registration/Residency
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- Yes. An original birth certificate is required for new EC, PK or K students.
- A copy of the birth certificate for incoming students in grades 1 thru 12 will be accepted for a grace period of 30 days. At the end of 30 days, a determination will be made by the building principal whether or not to extend the grace period.
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Copies of the placement papers need to be presented at the time of registration. The caseworker is to accompany you to the registration appointment.
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Students entering grades K, 5 and 9 require physicals. A student may not attend classes until their physical is completed and on file. Forms are available at our Central Office. Call 367-8300 to request copies.
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Students entering grades K, 2 and 6 are required to have a dental examination. Forms are available at our Central Office. Call 367-8300 to request copies.
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You may contact our Food Service Department, at 672-2837 for the guidelines established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. When enrolling please bring along documentation to support your request for a waiver. Applications will be taken during registration on August 9th.
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Please bring whatever school documents you have in your possession. If you do not have the current transcripts we have a form that you can sign and we will contact the previous school for your child's records.
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Transportation
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The Five Mile Policy is strictly for students who require transportation to daycare and attend Balmoral, Crete, Monee or Talala Elementary. The daycare facility or provider must be located along an existing route, more than one and one-half miles from school but not more than five miles from school. PLEASE NOTE: This policy only applies to Daycare Providers within the district boundaries. Excluded from this policy are our district-wide schools such as Coretta Scott King, Sixth Grade Center, Crete-Monee Middle School & Crete-Monee High School.
Five Mile Policy Document [PDF]
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