Outgoing D161 Board Members Reflect on their Legacy

Mary Drew School and the deficity reduction issues associated made a big impact.

Mary Drew and the Deficit Reduction: Outgoing D161 Board Members Reflect on Their Legacy

Patch recently caught up with Summit Hill School District's four outgoing board members to discuss their time with the district and why they're not running for another term.

Mary Kenny has been a member of the Summit Hill School District 161 Board of Education for so many years that she’s lost count — she guesses it’s somewhere between 25 and 30. In the late 1970s, Kenny canvassed residential construction sites in the area, talking to families who were building their homes in the district, to create support for the construction of Indian Trail Elementary School. She was the president of the Lincoln-Way Area Special Education District 843 Board of Education for more than ten years and she is currently president of the Summit Hill board. During her time with District 161, enrollment has grown from approximately 1,200 students to 3,400 students. For the first time in decades, Kenny’s name will not appear on the …

•  7 Comments
• Photos (1)

Square Dad

10:43 pm on Sunday, March 31, 2013

I agree 100%, John! Seems like they are trying to their crony the job before the election. That nonsense might work in Chicago and Springfield, but we shouldn't tolerate here.   more ›

Summit Hill District 161 Leases Mary Drew School Space To Church

Just a few months after closing Mary Drew School, district officials voted Tuesday to lease some of the vacant classroom space to a church.

Summit Hill School District 161 board members approved a contract Tuesday night to rent several classrooms at Mary Drew School in Frankfort Square to Cornerstone Church. “We’ve been working with the church to rent some space and decided to not make them wait another week,” said school board president Mary Kenny. READ: How Much Money Will be Saved From Closing Mary Drew? The school was shuttered at the end of the school year in June because of dwindling enrollment and to help the district cut its deficit. Church pastor Arvid Svendsen said the church would use two classrooms for office space for church staffers and then make use of other classrooms and the school gym as needed for classes and activities. “Most of our activities during the …

•  11 Comments
• Photos (2)

Back to School: What Do You Think About the New D161 Boundaries?

The 2012-13 school year brings new boundaries for the Summit Hill district. Do you know what school your child is attending?

The school year is right around the corner, and Patch is making sure parents and students have the information they need before the first class starts. One of the biggest aftershocks caused by the closing of Mary Drew Elementary School in February was the restructuring of the school boundaries for Summit Hill School District 161. In March, the D161 board reworked the boundaries with an eye to distributing students so the district could maximize capacity in all of its schools, Supt. Barb Rains said at the time. The new boundaries were presented to the recently formed superintendent's advisory committee before they were brought before the school board. Do you know what school your child is going to this school year? The above map outlines …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (1)

Mary Drew Memories: Remember the School by Sharing Your Stories and Photos

Mary Drew Elementary School will close at the end of this month, but parents, teachers, staff and students can share their stories, photos and videos about what made the school so special.

In less than a week, Mary Drew Elementary School will close its doors after four years, a casualty of declining enrollment and district budget cuts. The decision to close Mary Drew was an emotional one for everyone involved—parents, teachers, staff, administrators. It's a testament to the kind of education students received at Mary Drew that so many people worked to try to keep it open. READ: Go to Our Section on Mary Drew's Closing for Details on the Decision After May 29, students and teachers will be going to different schools, but that doesn't mean they have to forget the good times they had at Mary Drew. This page is designed for members of the Summit Hill School District 161 community to share their memories of the school and what it…

•  4 Comments
• Photos (1)

D161 Principals Switch Schools

With the closing of Mary Drew Elementary School and the upcoming retirement of Hilda Walker's principal, officials move some district principals to new schools.

Some Summit Hill School District 161 principals will be in new schools next year thanks to some reshuffling announced in a district e-mail Wednesday. Sent by Supt. Barb Rains, the e-mail, which went to district parents, laid out the following changes (the parentheses denote the principals' previous schools): The moves come as district officials continue to adjust to the closing of Mary Drew. At the time, board members and Rains said Klein, Mary Drew's principal, would stay in the district. Another reason for the changes are because of the retirement of Hilda Walker Principal Jan Zevkovich at the end of this school year. The following is the complete text of the e-mail: Dear Parents, As we begin to plan for the next school year, I would …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

Joe Vince

10:19 am on Thursday, April 12, 2012

@Donny and @Spring 2013: Unfortunately, this story broke late yesterday (http://patch.com/A-sxhT), which meant I was covering it instead of being at the meeting. The agenda was light, however. Largely, I'm sure, because the district is on spring break (which probably explains the absence of some of the board members). I'll be following up today. Joe Vince Local Editor, Frankfort   more ›

Board Approves Cutting 22 D161 Teachers; Raises Club, Band and Sports Fees

Because of decreasing enrollment, the Summit Hill school district board reduced its workforce, honorably dismissing teachers. The board also raised fees for clubs, band and sports at Wednesday's meeting to help with the district's bottom line.

CORRECTION: An early version of this story listed the wrong fee amount for clubs. It has been changed to the correct amount, $30. For the first time in its history, the Summit Hill School District 161 board of education approved the honorable dismissal of 22 teachers at its Wednesday meeting as part of an overall staff reduction in the district. The dismissals come as the district's student enrollment is projected to decrease and the board needs to cut more than $3 million from the D161 budget over the next three years. No tenured teachers were let go by the district, Supt. Barb Rains said, adding that a list of eliminated teachers would not be released in accordance with board policy. Rains said she would provide Patch with a full list of…

•  121 Comments
• Photos (1)
• Documents (1)

By the Numbers: How Much Money Will be Saved From Closing Mary Drew?

Patch lays out the item-by-item estimates generated by Summit Hill school district officials.

At the tail end of Wednesday night's Summit Hill School District 161 board meeting, Dean Gerdes, the district's finance director, went over the amount D161 is estimated to save after closing Mary Drew Elementary School, totaling it at $670,808. READ: Find Out About the New School Boundaries for District The estimates were based on this year's budget, and this financial model will be used to build next year's budget, Gerdes said. But Gerdes didn't go over the line-item estimates, because the meeting was moving into its fifth hour, and limited his presentation to questions from the board members. Patch was able to get a breakdown of the estimates the district has worked out so far. After Gerdes' short presentation, board member Sean William …

•  11 Comments
• Photos (1)

Joe Vince

6:33 pm on Friday, March 16, 2012

@Was There: I asked. Dean Gerdes would've gone over the items if it wasn't so late by the time it came up on the agenda. Joe Vince Local Editor, Frankfort   more ›

Board Approves New School Boundaries for D161

With the closing of Mary Drew Elementary School next year, the Summit Hill school board gave the OK to a new map that distributes the students to maximize the remaining schools.

The Summit Hill School District 161 board unveiled and approved new boundaries Wednesday, outlining which schools students will attend in a post-Mary Drew world.  The new boundary lines were drawn with an eye to distributing students so the district could maximize capacity in all of its schools, said Supt. Barb Rains, who presented the new map to the new superintendent's advisory committee earlier this month before bringing it before the board to vote on at Wednesday night's meeting.  The new district map was needed after the board voted to close Mary Drew Elementary School as part of a three-year budget-cutting plan developed to eliminate a more than $3 million deficit.  READ: Board Votes Again to Close Mary Drew Using the above map, the …

•  6 Comments
• Photos (1)

D161 Parents Attend Fundraiser to Support Mary Drew School

In a symbolic gesture, community members from the Summit Hill school district came out Thursday to the Cooks Night Off event run by the elementary's school community organization.

The last time Summit Hill School District 161 parents came to show support for Mary Drew Elementary School--at Tuesday's special meeting where the board of education voted to close the school starting in 2012-13--the atmosphere was loud, heated and contentious. That was in stark contrast to the mood at Thursday's Cooks Night Off at Wendy's in Tinley Park where district parents and community members came together for the Mary Drew School Community Organization fundraiser. READ: Board Votes Again; Mary Drew to Close Next School Year The event, which is held the first Thursday of every month, raises money for the Mary Drew SCO, which uses it to fund student parties, assemblies and other activities. The wrinkle this Thursday was that many of …

•  1 Comment
• Photos (4)