School Superintendent Urges Parents to Lobby for Moratorium on Virtual Charter Schools

Batavia School Superintendent Jack Barsinger is asking parents to write their legislators to support HB 494, which seeks a one-year moratorium on virtual charter schools.

  Dear Parents and Guardians, We need your help. You may have seen in the news that 18 school districts in the area received a proposal from Virtual Learning Solutions, Inc. to operate an online charter school in all 18 districts. Batavia Public School District 101 was included in this proposal. The online school would be open to students in kindergarten through grade 12. Funding for the online school would come directly from state dollars that normally go to fund our districts. We find this problematic at a time when state education funding is challenging, at best. The proposal calls for Virtual Learning Solutions, Inc. to receive over $8,000 in state funding for every BPS101 student who enrolls in the online school. If the student drops …

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Letter to the Editor

Batavia Parent: No Computers in Classroom? It's Time to Look at the Virtual School

Letter to the Editor: "It's time to seriously think about what is important for education ... and it's not artificial turf in my book."

As a parent of two Batavia High School graduates, a resident and a taxpayer, I of course want "our" public schools and education to be the best, which I always felt they were. How could our beautiful schools, gorgeous theater, huge field house, terrific teachers ... do anything but provide an excellent education? Then recently I heard news of a "virtual" charter school (K12) being discussed for the area. I decided to check it out and see if I wanted some of my tax dollars going to K12 instead of our existing public schools. I had not heard of a "virtual" school before, but a few years ago, someone introduced me to computer-based education and said I could see what it was all about (on my "computer" on the "Internet") at KhanAcademy.org. …

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Andrea Ahlsen

9:16 am on Sunday, April 7, 2013

Socratic is a great method Jeannie! I have taught face to face and virtually. The method is frustrating for those students who have been conditioned to be spoon-fed in a world that requires a lot of thinking. A teacher still needs to be present, whether virtual or face-to-face. Sadly, both sometimes lack that "present" teacher albeit physically on spot.   more ›

Batavia's Public Hearing on Controversial Online Charter School Set for 6PM Tuesday

Several districts are looking at the issue this week, including School District 101, whose hearing is set for 6 p.m. March 19.

Batavia School District 101 will discuss an application for a controversial online charter school proposal during a meeting at 6 p.m. tonight (Tuesday, March 19, 2013) at the Rosalie Jones Administration Center. Geneva was the first of the 18 school districts to hold a hearing on a proposal by an Illinois not-for-profit corporation called Virtual Learning Solutions, Inc., to establish an online, virtual charter school serving grades K-12. Virtual Learning Solutions is seeking to create the Illinois Virtual Charter School at Fox River Valley, which would open this fall. The company contracts with K12 Inc., a for-profit company, to provide the online instruction. The Batavia district said in a release on its website Monday that no decision …

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UPDATE Fox Valley Charter School Controversy: K12 Disputes NBC5 Tennessee Reports of Grade Tampering

The for-profit company that's trying to bring a virtual charter school to Geneva, Batavia, St. Charles and 15 other Fox Valley districts is under fire in Tennessee for allegedly deleting failing grades, but officials say the report has been "debunked."

A report by NBC5 in Tennessee says the K12 for-profit charter school that could be coming to the Fox Valley next year tried to delete grades of failing students in order to make results look better. But the company that wants to start online charter here says the report was inaccurate and contained a number of false claims. The Feb. 11 Nashville-based NBC report by Chief Investigative Reporter Phil Williams says the Tennessee Virtual Academy—the company's Nashville equivalent to the proposed Fox Valley charter—directed teachers to delete two months worth of failing grades. The proof was an email uncovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates that indicated a VLS middle school vice principal's directive to delete failing progress reports teachers …

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Batavia Could Spend $13 Million on Artificial Turf and Field Improvements

A Batavia committee proposes a $13 million plan that could give District 101 an artificial turf field and keep practices on the campus, area media report. Geneva spent $1.1 million by comparison, less a $450,000 donation from an anonymous donor.

Neighboring Batavia might be doing more than keep up with the Jones' by recommending an artificial turf field and other athletic improvements—at a cost of $13 million. Batavia School District 101 could spend as much that much to build an artifical turf field and keep sports and extracurricular practices on the school campus, the Daily Herald reports. School District 101 had talked about taking land from Mooseheart and using elementary schools for practice fields, but Batavia Buildings and Grounds Director Pat Browne told the Batavia School Board at last week's meeting that a committee of school officials, parents and boosters would prefer to keep practice fields on campus. The plan calls for eliminating the arboretum on the southwest …

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Tri-Cities School Superintendent Salary Range: $219,000 to $233,000, Plus Benefits

School district superintendents' salaries in Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles public schools are all above the national average. Batavia is tops of the Tri-Cities, but with District 101 hiring from within, the number will soon drop significantly.

A quick look at superintendent salaries in Geneva, Batavia and St. Charles school districts shows all three earn more than $200,000 in base salary, and with benefits, the compensation package is even better. Statistics on the Illinois State Board of Education website were updated recently to include salary numbers from the 2012 school year. As you can see by the chart below, Batavia School District 101 Superintendent Jack Barshinger leads the league in the Tri-Cities with a $233,620 base salary, plus $7,300 in bonuses, $25,000 in annuities and $62,522.65 in other benefits, according to the ISBE. Barshinger, of course, is set to retire at the end of the school year. Batavia High School Principal Dr. Lisa Hichens will take the helm as the …

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Batavia Schools Lead League for Lavish Dining at Chicago Leadership Conference

Daily Herald Report: Superintendent Jack Barshinger ponies up district funds for hotels and a $2,000 dinner for 16 at Morton's Steakhouse. A Geneva board member characterizes the spending as "just ridiculous."

Batavia School District 101 was the poster child for a front-page Daily Herald report Wednesday that reveals some excessive hotel and travel spending at the November statewide school leadership conference in November. Daily Herald suburban tax watchdog Jake Griffin did the legwork, filling out Freedom of Information Act requests to districts throughout the suburbs and hitting the jackpot when he saw the $1,929.75 tab Batavia School Board members rung up at Morton's Steakhouse. The article reports that the Morton's bill usually is picked up by "one of our vendors," according to Batavia Superintendent Jack Barshinger—a practice that is a little eyebrow-raising in and of itself. Sixteen guests enjoyed entrees including New York strip steak …

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Batavia School on Brief 'Lockdown' Thursday

Hallways are cleared to address a situation with a student, the school's principal said.

A situation with a student Thursday prompted a brief shutdown of a Batavia school, the principal announced. The incident occurred at about noon at Grace McWayne School, 3501 Hapner Way, said Principal Jeff Modaff. As a result, staff cleared the school hallways and closed classroom doors for about 10 minutes. "This allowed staff and emergency personnel to support this student safely and confidentially," Modaff said in an online message sent at 4:30 p.m. Thursday to the school community. "The staff, students and guests of the building were never in danger as this was only a safety and privacy precaution." A Batavia Fire Department medical unit responded to Grace McWayne at about noon today, Battalion Chief Randy Zies confirmed. One patient …

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Batavia High School Principal Will Become Next District 101 Superintendent

News Next Door: The Batavia School Board selects Batavia High School's Lisa Hichens as the district's next leader.

A current Batavia principal will become the district's next superintendent. The Batavia School Board unanimously selected Batavia High School Principal Dr. Lisa Hichens as the future leader of Batavia Public Schools. The decision was first announced during a special school board meeting on Tuesday night. “This is an exciting time to be in education and I’m thrilled with the opportunity to serve as the next superintendent,” Hichens said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to collaborating with the Batavia community to continue the district’s tradition of academic excellence and continuous improvement.” Hichens will officially begin her role as superintendent on July 1, 2013, when Dr. Jack Barshinger retires from the leadership post he …

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