Post by doctorwho on Jul 24, 2011 8:18:17 GMT -6
Everyone needs to keep an eye on this development as I fear the head of our SB and SD with our open checkbook once again.
The question is with IMSA do we really need another Math/Science magnet school ? Is IMSA full ? Are we being partnered with Oswego/East Aurora & West Aurora to be the 'tallest midget' ? Anyone else notice the other school districts are more financially strapped then we are- hene my concern over what our 'leaders' will commit us to. Will the kids be bussed there ?- If so , from our budget-- not that bussing kids across the globe bothers this bunch, Losing another potential 100-150 high school kids only makes the MVHS decision look worse- but hey that is burnt money in the past now right ? Are our classes not good enough for this - I mean hey they've got just about everyone taking at least one AP class now anyway to meet criteria for 'top schools'
---I ask that everyone keep an eye on this and what it will cost us.
napervillesun.suntimes.com/news/schools/6477951-418/quinn-signs-math-science-school-bill-at-aurora-university.html
Quinn signs math, science school bill at Aurora University
By Jenette Sturges jsturges@stmedianetwork.com July 13, 2011 5:36PM
ReprintsShare
Gov. Pat Quinn and a number of public officials gather at Aurora University on Wednesday for the signing of a bill creating the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Academy. The new school will serve as a magnet school for students in four are
Article Extras
View Gallery Updated: July 14, 2011 11:34AM
AURORA — Gov. Pat Quinn passed around the pens Wednesday afternoon at the microbiology lab of Aurora University, signing into law a bill that will allow the university and school districts in the Fox Valley to open a new science and math school for students in third through eighth grades.
The new law, passed as Senate Bill 621, gives the go-ahead to the East Aurora, West Aurora, Indian Prairie and Oswego school districts to form a partnership school, which will pool students, teachers and resources in a science-, technology-, engineering- and math-based curriculum for high-performing students.
“We need more chemists, we need more physicists, and we need more people who know biology and a lot of other sciences,” said Quinn, flanked by middle school students taking part in a summer science camp. “Science and technology and engineering and math are vital to our state’s future and to our country’s future.”
In addition to instructing talented youngsters, the partnership school would also train math and science teachers in the four districts who would then return to teach in their home schools.
The bill to create the school was introduced by state Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, and sponsored in the House by Reps. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, Kay Hatcher, a Yorkville Republican, and Tom Cross, an Oswego Republican.
Cross called the bill “one of the best pieces of legislation I’ve ever been involved in.”
Schools cautious
While representatives expressed excitement at the prospect of the partnership school, Aurora University and the four districts now face the challenge of making it all come together. Board members in particular said they were concerned about how to fund the school’s operations.
“This is just the first hurdle,” said Curt Bradshaw, president of the Indian Prairie School Board. “The devil is in the details. We want to make sure that the school will be an asset to our students and not a distraction for the district before we fully commit.”
East Aurora now funds its own district-wide magnet school, and while the district is in favor of a citywide school, East plans to continue to concentrate on growing its own, according to board President Annette Johnson.
“(The partnership school) doesn’t seem to have a funding source, and so right now our district is very committed to our own magnet school. The parents like it and the way it works, and we’ve been very happy with it so far,” said Johnson.
Funding needed
The bill signed Wednesday does not actually create the school or allocate any state funding for its operations. It only gives school districts the power to jointly operate a school though a partner college or university.
Districts will be left to decide details like financing, administration, staffing and transportation, as well as selection criteria — students will be selected based on academic talent in math and science, and each district would be allotted the same number of spots at the school.
The biggest hurdle, of course, will be securing funding to get the doors open.
“We have more work to do. If we are to realize the whole vision we must now turn our attention to building the school,” said AU President Rebecca Sherrick.
She said the university would next begin raising the $15 million necessary through private sources for “the bricks, mortar, beakers, test tubes and laboratories.”
Original plans called for the school to open in existing space on the Aurora University campus for about 200 students for the 2012-2013 school year, to be followed with construction of a new building in 2014 that could serve more than 400 students from the four districts.
The partnership school was initially proposed by school and community leaders and the Institute for Collaboration at AU, winning the Dunham Challenge for Change Award in March 2009.
The Dunham Fund has since awarded other grants to the partnership school.
The mayors of Aurora, Oswego, Naperville, North Aurora, Montgomery and Sugar Grove were all in attendance Wednesday to applaud the bill’s signing as Quinn called Aurora, dubbed the City of Lights more than 100 years ago, an ideal setting for a school designed to prepare students for the technological challenges of the 21st century.
“We can tackle the tough challenges of our time,” Quinn said.
“We have to be an energy efficient society, we have to use renewable energy.
“We have to have water conservation, and all of these principles of sustainability are going to require our best scientific minds and mathematical minds.”
The question is with IMSA do we really need another Math/Science magnet school ? Is IMSA full ? Are we being partnered with Oswego/East Aurora & West Aurora to be the 'tallest midget' ? Anyone else notice the other school districts are more financially strapped then we are- hene my concern over what our 'leaders' will commit us to. Will the kids be bussed there ?- If so , from our budget-- not that bussing kids across the globe bothers this bunch, Losing another potential 100-150 high school kids only makes the MVHS decision look worse- but hey that is burnt money in the past now right ? Are our classes not good enough for this - I mean hey they've got just about everyone taking at least one AP class now anyway to meet criteria for 'top schools'
---I ask that everyone keep an eye on this and what it will cost us.
napervillesun.suntimes.com/news/schools/6477951-418/quinn-signs-math-science-school-bill-at-aurora-university.html
Quinn signs math, science school bill at Aurora University
By Jenette Sturges jsturges@stmedianetwork.com July 13, 2011 5:36PM
ReprintsShare
Gov. Pat Quinn and a number of public officials gather at Aurora University on Wednesday for the signing of a bill creating the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Academy. The new school will serve as a magnet school for students in four are
Article Extras
View Gallery Updated: July 14, 2011 11:34AM
AURORA — Gov. Pat Quinn passed around the pens Wednesday afternoon at the microbiology lab of Aurora University, signing into law a bill that will allow the university and school districts in the Fox Valley to open a new science and math school for students in third through eighth grades.
The new law, passed as Senate Bill 621, gives the go-ahead to the East Aurora, West Aurora, Indian Prairie and Oswego school districts to form a partnership school, which will pool students, teachers and resources in a science-, technology-, engineering- and math-based curriculum for high-performing students.
“We need more chemists, we need more physicists, and we need more people who know biology and a lot of other sciences,” said Quinn, flanked by middle school students taking part in a summer science camp. “Science and technology and engineering and math are vital to our state’s future and to our country’s future.”
In addition to instructing talented youngsters, the partnership school would also train math and science teachers in the four districts who would then return to teach in their home schools.
The bill to create the school was introduced by state Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, and sponsored in the House by Reps. Linda Chapa LaVia, an Aurora Democrat, Kay Hatcher, a Yorkville Republican, and Tom Cross, an Oswego Republican.
Cross called the bill “one of the best pieces of legislation I’ve ever been involved in.”
Schools cautious
While representatives expressed excitement at the prospect of the partnership school, Aurora University and the four districts now face the challenge of making it all come together. Board members in particular said they were concerned about how to fund the school’s operations.
“This is just the first hurdle,” said Curt Bradshaw, president of the Indian Prairie School Board. “The devil is in the details. We want to make sure that the school will be an asset to our students and not a distraction for the district before we fully commit.”
East Aurora now funds its own district-wide magnet school, and while the district is in favor of a citywide school, East plans to continue to concentrate on growing its own, according to board President Annette Johnson.
“(The partnership school) doesn’t seem to have a funding source, and so right now our district is very committed to our own magnet school. The parents like it and the way it works, and we’ve been very happy with it so far,” said Johnson.
Funding needed
The bill signed Wednesday does not actually create the school or allocate any state funding for its operations. It only gives school districts the power to jointly operate a school though a partner college or university.
Districts will be left to decide details like financing, administration, staffing and transportation, as well as selection criteria — students will be selected based on academic talent in math and science, and each district would be allotted the same number of spots at the school.
The biggest hurdle, of course, will be securing funding to get the doors open.
“We have more work to do. If we are to realize the whole vision we must now turn our attention to building the school,” said AU President Rebecca Sherrick.
She said the university would next begin raising the $15 million necessary through private sources for “the bricks, mortar, beakers, test tubes and laboratories.”
Original plans called for the school to open in existing space on the Aurora University campus for about 200 students for the 2012-2013 school year, to be followed with construction of a new building in 2014 that could serve more than 400 students from the four districts.
The partnership school was initially proposed by school and community leaders and the Institute for Collaboration at AU, winning the Dunham Challenge for Change Award in March 2009.
The Dunham Fund has since awarded other grants to the partnership school.
The mayors of Aurora, Oswego, Naperville, North Aurora, Montgomery and Sugar Grove were all in attendance Wednesday to applaud the bill’s signing as Quinn called Aurora, dubbed the City of Lights more than 100 years ago, an ideal setting for a school designed to prepare students for the technological challenges of the 21st century.
“We can tackle the tough challenges of our time,” Quinn said.
“We have to be an energy efficient society, we have to use renewable energy.
“We have to have water conservation, and all of these principles of sustainability are going to require our best scientific minds and mathematical minds.”