Dear Parents,

At the May 18^th meeting of the Board of Education, there were two items that should be brought to your attention. The first item involves bus transportation for the 2010-2011 school year. The second item involves membership in the Niles Township District for Special Education Cooperative effective June 2012.

For the 2010-2011 school year. there will be a reduction in bussing services to the District. This change affects students who live: west of Caldwell (not including residences that are located on Caldwell), east of Waukegan, north of Howard and south of Oakton. This change will eliminate one bus. After review of the state approved hazardous routes, it was discovered that transportation was not mandatory in these areas. The school code requires school districts to transport students for free, who reside one and one-half miles or more, from any school, or if they reside in a serious hazardous zone without adequate public transportation. Since these areas are not located within the approved hazardous zones, we will no longer be providing transportation.

In order to help facilitate the bus driver’s knowledge of students who will ride the bus, a system will be developed and implemented in the fall. Students will not be permitted to ride home with friends unless there is an extreme emergency that has been discussed previously with the principal. It will be important that this rule be followed in order to make sure that students get home safely as parents expect, and that there is enough room on all of the buses for those who qualify to ride. Please feel free to contact me regarding this topic with your questions or concerns.

The Board of Education also gave notice to the Niles Township District for Special Education of our intent to withdraw, effective June 30, 2012. According to the Articles of Agreement, a two year notice must be given. Over the last two years we have brought back our students who were receiving services through the cooperative. This was done for two reasons. The first is to provide students with the opportunity to receive services with their neighborhood peers in the least restrictive environment. Our students have been successful being educated at Culver. The second reason was to reduce costs. The cooperative has provided services to our district for many years and has done an outstanding service. However, given the change in service delivery nationwide, and the loss of funds, cooperatives across the country are losing members. For the most part, as a parent, you will not notice any change from this withdrawal. Additional services will be pulled in house, provided by Culver staff, and student’s services will remain intact. The current legal obligations to the education of students with indentified IEP’s (individualized education plans) will remain within our school. The district will be able to reallocate these funds to maintain the current programs and services to all students.

Again, please feel free to contact me with any questions. As we continue to look at ways to save costs, we are moving to be proactive in our approach so that we may continue the outstanding education that we have been providing your children. We will continue to communicate with you regarding any changes that are occurring within the district. Have a great end of the school year. We are so very fortunate to be serving your families.

Respectfully,

Amy Kruppe
Superintendent