LIVE BLOG: D161 Board Discusses School Safety

The Summit Hill School Board talked about how best to keep Summit Hill students safe in the wake of recent incidents in the area.

Updated: 3:46 a.m. Thursday Check out Wednesday's live blog for a play-by-play recap of the meeting. --- The Summit Hill School District Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m on Jan. 9 at the district administration office board room. The board will discuss developments in technology and software, the destruction of closed session recordings, a state local debt recovery program and the rental status of Mary Drew Elementary School. As always, Patch will live blog the meeting. Readers are welcome to share opinions and questions in the feed above. Get news alerts and Facebook updates from these Lincoln-Way Patch sites:

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Anna Schier

9:13 pm on Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Hi Steve Webster, The board went straight into closed session after the meeting, and I didn't get a chance to ask Barb your question. I did schedule a call with her tomorrow though, and I've added your inquiry on my list of discussion topics. Thanks! Anna   more ›

UPDATED: D161 Board Fills Administrative Openings at Summit Hill, Hilda Walker

The Summit Hill school board approved hiring Pam Hodgson as the new principal of Summit Hill Junior High School and Dana Wright as assistant principal at Hilda Walker Intermediate School.

After a closed-session interview process the same evening, the Summit Hill School District 161 board of education approved Wednesday, June 13, the hiring of two women to fill administrative openings at Summit Hill Junior High and Hilda Walker Intermediate schools. Pam Hodgson, the current principal at Norbert Jerling Junior High School in Orland Park, was hired as the new principal of Summit Hill. She was approved by a 4-0 vote, with board members Denise Lenz and George Perros abstaining. Board member Sean William Doyle was absent for the meeting. READ: Beth Lind Becomes Principal at Lisle School In an e-mail response, Perros said he abstained because of an administrative and procedural issue, but because it was an issue discussed in …

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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…

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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 …

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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 ›

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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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Editor's Notebook

POLL: Should Parents Try to Stop Mary Drew Closure in the 11th Hour?

Tuesday's re-vote over closing the elementary school has given some parents and residents cause to try to make a final attempt to save Mary Drew. But is that the right thing to do? Tell us what you think.

Tuesday's re-vote by the Summit Hill School District 161 board to close Mary Drew Elementary School for the 2012-13 school year might be a formality. But it hasn't stopped parents from trying to persuade the board to reverse course. The board scheduled a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the district offices to vote again on the closing after a community member filed a grievance Friday that the board didn't sufficiently notify the public that it would be taking action to close Mary Drew at its Feb. 22 meeting. The closing was included under the "Planning for the Future" agenda item at last week's meeting, where board members voted to shutter the school next school year. READ: Board Will Vote Again to Close Mary Drew Parents and other…

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Tracy

10:32 pm on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Well, reality is it was never off the table, and neither is a second school, or programs or busing or activities... it's just begining. I'm on the blogfs and pod casts when not at meetings, feel free to sit by me at the next one. Still doesn't change that the board snuck it on the agenda, vote wise, and that guilt was acknowledged.   more ›

UPDATE: D161 Board Will Vote Again to Close Mary Drew

The Summit Hill school district board has set a special meeting for Tuesday, Feb. 28, after a grievance was filed, claiming the public wasn't properly told that the board would be discussing closing the elementary school at last week's meeting.

The board of education for Summit Hill School District 161 will hold a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, at the district offices redo its vote concerning the closing of Mary Drew Elementary School, said board President Mary Kenny on Sunday. A community member filed a grievance Friday that the board didn't sufficiently notify the public that it would be taking action to close the school at its Feb. 22 meeting, Kenny said. The closing was included under the "Planning for the Future" agenda item at last week's meeting, where board members voted to shutter the school next school year. READ: D161 Board Votes to Close Mary Drew Elementary School Although board members can discuss items that aren't on the agenda during a public …

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Connie

10:21 pm on Monday, February 27, 2012

We can leave all the comments we want and they are great, but please make it a point no matter what school you are from to come to this meeting tomorrow. Trust me, it isn't just about MD, it is about every school in this district. All kids will be affected and all schools will be as well. Come and hear what this board has to say, and what the community has to say. I just hope the board truly …   more ›

Community, Parents Respond to Mary Drew's Closing

Find out what Summit Hill D161 residents had to say about the board's decision to shutter the school.

The closing of Mary Drew Elementary School had parents and residents of Summit Hill School District 161 reacted Thursday to the news. Patch spoke with some of them and compiled comments from the story about the board's decision to shutter the school. Tony Pietrzak, two children attending Mary Drew Tony Pietrzak said Thursday he was organizing a group of parents that would petition the board to reconsider its decision on cutting full-day kindergarten, as well as hiring an outside consulting firm to develop the best financial plan for dealing with the district's $3 million projected deficit over three years. Pietrzak, who has two children that attend Mary Drew, also applied for the open board position recently filled by Denise Wildeveld. …

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