At the Board meeting Monday, Feb. 7, the Niles Township School Board unanimously passed the restructuring plan for a second time, despite efforts made by students, teachers, and parents. These suggestions for restructuring, if followed through with, will affect physical welfare classes and many courses in the applied sciences and technology department.

In a 5-0 vote, the Board also approved the dismissal (as the result of discontinued courses) of Nicole Reynolds–in the physical welfare department at West; Heather Fitzgerald, Ariel Hurwitz-Green, Yoon Lee, Samuel Smith, and Terri Vanderjeugdt–in the physical welfare department at North; Andrea Davis, Brenda Houston, and Louis Metallo–in the department of applied science and technology at West; and Angela Hankes–in the department of applied science and technology at North. It is state law that if a tenured teacher has certification in another department, then they are guaranteed a position in that particular department. All of these teachers have tenure.

In addition to the tenured teachers, the board also approved the dismissal of two nontenured teachers: fourth-year teacher Michael Swiatkiewicz, an applied science and technology teacher at North; and Glenn Olson, a second-year physical welfare teacher at West.

The restructuring plan incorporates Health into the sophomore physical welfare classes and reduces the number of junior/senior electives offered for physical welfare. In addition, it eliminates Child Development from birth to 3 years, Business Marketing, Business Management, and Advanced Web Design.

According to school board president Bob Silverman, the main goal is to increase the the percent of students who go to college. To obtain that, the board wants an increased emphasis on Math and English in addition to saving $1 million dollars a year by eliminating other programs.

District 219 is currently the second highest school in the state for Operating Expense Per Pupil (OEPP). OEPP is the amount of money the district spends in total per student. This includes everything from instructional expenses to administration expenses and also depends on the average daily attendance. The Board wishes to keep the OEPP percent increase of 1.94% (as of 2009) flat.

According to the Niles Township Federation of Teachers, the district’s OEPP statistic is misleading because it reflects budget-to-budget data. NTFT is concerned with the Board’s focus on this number, said social studies teacher and NTFT executive vice president Joe Edwards.

“All north suburban schools have higher OEPPs and it reflects that we spend more on students even though the relative tax burden [in district 219] is relatively low,” he said.  “Also, there are things reflected in OEPP for which [the district] get[s] reimbursed [such as] title I [funds], some special ed services, etc. ”

Students, teachers, and parents defended the courses and teachers involved with the courses. Pankaj Sharma (president of the NTFT and a social studies teacher at North), Tim Miller (a math teacher at West and NTFT retirement chair), and Steve Grossman (a social studies teacher at West as well as the former president of NTFT) addressed the school board to take value into consideration. They said the administration and board were looking at the changes as a numerical figure and not seeing the values of the classes and teachers. Parents and students also asked that the Board look at quality over the percentage. Senior Isaac Park from Niles North said it was important to not only look at seniority of the teachers but the quality of their teaching.

The NTFT stated to the Board that District 219, OEPP aside, has the highest amount of total fund balance ($110,274,098) compared to other high schools in the area based on actual Fiscal Year data reported to the Illinois School Board of Education.