We need fiscal sustainability for the long term in this district and in this state to protect and ensure the future education of ALL children.

I was clear during the strike in Jan. that the union was arguing for higher class sizes and more cuts to staff. I heard this myself when one person stated, "They are going to lay off teachers anyway". A couple teachers made an almost identical statements to myself and my wife.

Lastly, it is wrong to be cutting programs while adding more administrative staff. Yes, the Spanish cut is to phase out the program and they added a curriculum director at the last board meeting.

I can't wait for the new board to be elected. The current board is dysfunctional and unproductive. Lets hire a new director for 60k but not raise student fees to pay for it. Lets not cut spanish, but now lets talk about abating more money back. Politics do not belong in schools. School boards need to keep the best interest of the children in mind at all times.

Sorry, blame is on both sides here, not just with the majority. The "minority" has done nothing but argue and make a spectical of themselves. Have you meat with anyone running for the board? There has not been a lot of press on them. Any opinions?

I wonder if they are cutting the trips to Boston? http://www.championnews.net/blog/2012/07/06/grayslake-d46-board-members-go-to-boston-on-the-taxpayers/

Will they also start cutting the lobbying groups they pay for? http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120607/news/706079654/

Sorry Lennie, but this seems to be an example of you going off the rails. Should have left the conversation as it was.

How is this out on a rail when exorbitant spending towards things that went above and beyond normal school operations? We are talking about laying off teachers and larger class sizes? How much do things like this add up? Were these activities really necessary? The answer is no, they weren't. It is necessary to raise taxes every year though. Why would you not want to talk about waste? These were examples of potential wasteful spending that GOT US HERE!

So if we are talking about laying off teachers, and larger class sizes, they obviously have cut as much of the budget to the bare bones, maybe even over cut.. So why would those responsible for the financial well being of the school district and the quality of education, fail to raise revenue to support that outcome. Why would they freeze taxes? Why would they not raise student fees? As far as Lennies comments all I was saying was he should have left well enough alone.

The board obviously didn't cut all they could as my comments prove.

Second you missed my story about the board DID raise taxes. At a meeting now. Will provide link later if you do not find it.

Unfortunately, tough times require tough decisions. The only alternative to making these cuts is to continue reaching deeper and deeper into the pocket of the district residents. Many of which are already dealing with their own personal tough decisions during these tough times.

Administrative cuts should be top priority. As in corporate America, the worker bee is the first to go, and the savings of those salaries is spread out to top management, in this case administration. They are managing a school, not a corporation. School district leaders know they can spend beyond the budget, as they can have taxes raised to pay for their poor decisions and overspending. Why is it schools always cry for more money to solve they're incompetency, yet the problem continues to fester & grow. Many of my neighbors say they wish they purchased their homes in the last 5-6 yrs, this way they could just walk away. More $$$ does not equal better schools as some here have suggested in the past. It is actually a deterrent to new home buyers in Grayslake to have 4-6% taxes on a home barely worth $200K. My home is worth $10K less than what I paid for it in 1998, yet my taxes have doubled, even with my appeals.

Lennie Jarratt, I appreciate your due diligence in all you do to keep residents and tax payers informed of the incompetence, fuzzy math, deceit, and extortion that Dist 127 & 46 use in order to extort more $$$ from residents. Perhaps the Administrations would find more suitable work with Wall St or our federal govt to put their talents to better use.

Very disappointed, Special Ed Teachers and Social Workers. I'm sure there can be other cuts made. Poor kids, lets cut from the children who need services the most. Tell me that makes sense. The board needs to take the needle out of the arm.

HelloKitty - it is disappointing to cut services from ANY student. They all "need services the most". They cut everything from the gifted kids years ago. Those kids need a lot too, and they have gotten nothing for years. Thankfully there are fantastic teachers at the middle school who work tirelessly with these kids to make up for all the accelerated instruction that is lacking in K-5. Now, with no spanish, and fewer teachers, all of the kids will suffer.

Can't say any of this is a surprise. We have all known for years this deficit was looming, and no one did anything about it. The administration kept spending, the union insisted on increases, the board took trips. Nope. No surprises here.

The only thing I have to say is that a lot of people didn't use common sense. The board did not do its constitutional elected job to represent the taxpayers and community of Grayslake & now 25 people will be out of work. It to me is an angering and frustrating short sighted example of mob menatlity. So now we see federal stupidity has invaded local politics where our representatives think the well can't go dry & they no longer have to make the tough decisions. "SO", Now 25 real living families will be hurt, real people will lose their jobs. Then of course children have to still be taught so class sizes will now increase.

I don't think this blame should go on to the new board members. It will be worn as a legacy by the existing ones who supported a world of bloviated pomposity and ludicrous spending. Three cheers to shortsighted ignorance that has managed to kill years of work by other boards by letting petty politics interfere with doing the right thing for everyone. As expected it is the teachers who are ultimately hurt. So it has been said, so it has now to be written. This could have been avoided if only the board, the striking teachers, and everyone involved used a little more common sense. Hay, teachers union where are you now? The district tried to tell you it didn't have the money & you used a shot gun, a strike, and threats to get your action passed. As for referendums, Grayslake people are still hurting, that would be a really really tough sell.

Are you campaigning for something, Hal? Yes this mess can be attributed to the current board. I don't know how much the union should also be held responsible- I haven't followed its every move in the last decade, though I'm sure it's partially to blame. What angers me, Hal, are those who continue to bash the union and the teachers at the public's expense. If the board had managed the money properly, the strike could have been averted in the first place. The teachers could have been properly compensated. When one continues to blame teachers (the people who are trying to educate the next generation), it causes unnecessary and damaging conflict. The teachers are part of the economy too, if anyone cares to remember. The constant barrage of criticism at the local and national level does nothing to help these teachers teach. It causes low morale and runs good people out of the education field. Why would anyone want to be a teacher in these conditions? This hostility toward teachers, which is not apparent in any other civilized country, is detrimental to education on the whole and very bad for this country.

Losing 4 FTE Special Education teachers? These teachers are providing all of the RTI interventions to the students without IEP's in addition to their IEP students. If you eliminate these teachers you need to create RTI teachers to provide support for those students. Just Saying.