Tuesday, April 23, 2013
About 17 students from the Batavia Highlands neighborhood will be bused to Western Avenue School instead of Williamsburg Elementary School, starting next year.
Parents of elementary-school students in the Batavia Highlands area did everything they could to dissuade School District 304 School Board members from voting on a boundary change for "Area 20." They carried picket signs, they attended School Board meetings, they wrote letters and emails to district officials, they posted blogs. They brought their children to the podium to make emotional pleas, they talked about their kids crying themselves to sleep. They argued that their neighborhood was being singled out and disciminated against because they are in the Batavia city limits. They pointed to the numerous moves from school to school that Batavia Highlands kids have had to make over the past 25 years. In the end, Geneva School Board members …
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Parents of Batavia Highlands students are protesting a proposal to move children from Williamsburg Elementary School to Western Avenue School.
The School District 304 Board of Education is expected to decide Monday whether to move students who live in the Batavia Highlands neighborhood from Williamsburg Elementary School to Western Avenue School for the 2013-14 school year. Parents of grade-school students protested at the April 8 School Board meeting, carrying signs and offering an empassioned plea to keep their kids from having to make the move. "Somebody come to my house at night and put my 8-year-old to bed when he's crying, because he has friends he's not going to see next year," said Heather Anderson. Parents also said they believe the School District is showing bias toward "Area 20," which is a Batavia neighborhood that falls within the Geneva School District boundaries…
41.891549
-88.32821
Williamsburg Elementary School
1812 Williamsburg Ave, Geneva, IL
/articles/geneva-school-boundary-adjustment-decision-expected-monday
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Friday, January 18, 2013
After a long wait, the Geneva School Board votes unanimously to sell land it purchased in 2007 at the northwest corner of Keslinger and Brundige roads.
Geneva School District 304 hopes to get $2.2 million for about 28 acres of vacant land it purchased in 2007 at the northwest corner of Keslinger and Brundige roads. The Geneva Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to authorize the sale of the property, which it bought for bus parking and maintenance. But that was in the halcyon days of 2007, when it seemed as if new development would go on forever and home prices would do nothing but rise. The fiscal knots have tightened significantly since then, and Geneva's public school buses have been parking on the middle school campus with no need for additional space. School Board President Mark Grosso has been pushing for the sale of the surplus property since he joined the board four years …
41.88251
-88.38505
Brundige Dr & Keslinger Rd, Geneva, IL
/articles/district-304-ready-to-unload-28-acres-of-surplus-property
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Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The GEA "reluctantly" intends to drop its unfair labor practices complaint against School District 304, according to an article in the Kane County Chronicle.
A report in the Kane County Chronicle says the Geneva Education Association intends to drop its unfair labor practices complaint against School District 304. The article says the GEA is dropping the complaint "reluctantly." GEA President Carol Young said the action was prompted by statements made from an attorney from the Illinois Education Association—the statewide teachers union organization. The GEA filed the complaint in November, prior to an 11th-hour agreement that averted a potential teachers strike. School Board members said they expected the complaint to be dropped after both sides signed a new three-year contract, but were surprised when the GEA indicated its intent to follow through. In December, School District 304 filed a …
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Teachers union vote garners three-fifths majority it needed for ratification. The School Board votes next.
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Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Residents, educators and School Board members breathed a sigh and smiled Wednesday, when the Kane County Chronicle and Daily Herald posted a note that the Geneva Education Association voted Wednesday to ratify the tentative contract agreed upon in the wee hours of Monday morning. The reports said more than a two-thirds majority of the GEA members voted to ratify the agreement. The Board of Education and the GEA struck a confidentiality agreement that said details of the new three-year contract would not be made public until it was ratified by both parties. School Board President Mark Grosso said after Monday's meeting that District 304 would call a special meeting for that purpose, most likely Monday or Tuesday. The GEA vote almost …
Friday, November 9, 2012
The Geneva Education Association says Geneva teachers will go on strike Monday.
A Geneva Education Association press release says a teachers strike will happen Monday. Geneva Education Association President Carol Young says Thursday's 10-hour negotiating session was productive but did not result in an agreement. Young said the GEA offered to meet over the weekend, but the School Board task force said Tuesday would be the soonest that talks could resume. The board has a meeting scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Monday. A press release from School District 304 is expected later this morning. Geneva Patch will update this post when additional information is available. Here's the GEA press release: The following statement may be attributed to Carol Young, president of the Geneva Education Association (GEA). “The GEA negotiation …
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
An eight-hour negotiating session doesn't come up with a tentative contract agreement, but both sides will meet again in hopes of an 11th-hour settlement prior to a possible Nov. 9 teachers strike.
For Genevans hoping and praying for a settlement prior to a Friday teachers-strike deadline, the initial news from Tuesday's negotiating session was mixed and a little sketchy. School District 304 issued a press release and sent an email via 304 Connects informing the community that the Board of Education and the Geneva Education Association continued negotiations Tuesday evening with the help of a federal mediator. "Proposals were exchanged, and both parties agreed to meet again on Thursday, Nov. 8," the release said. As of 10:50 a.m. Tuesday, the GEA had not issued a press release regarding the issue or posted one on its website, gea4students.com. Following the Oct. 26 negotiations session, the School Board and GEA released details and …
Friday, October 26, 2012
After a day-long negotiating session, the School Board and GEA get closer to resolution but salaries remain the sticking point.
Geneva School Board President Mark Grosso delivered the sad news in a brief telephone conversation around 10:30 p.m. Friday, after a long day of negotiations with the Geneva Education Association. "Despite progress on several of the issues, the GEA has given notice of its intent to strike," Grosso said. The soonest date that a strike could take place is Nov. 9. The next mediation session has tentatively been set for Tuesday, Nov. 6. Grosso said he felt the negotiations made tremendous progress and both sides were close to agreement on many of the major points outlined in the final offers posted by the School Board and the GEA—with one important exception. "Salary is the issue, I can tell you that," Grosso said. The board and the union have…
Bob McQuillan
10:37 pm on Wednesday, April 24, 2013
I agree children adapt better than parents and some parents didn't help their cause by their over reaction. Lets not overlook the reasons given for deciding to move these children. From the board's own report: Moving #20 did not address the top 2 goals of balancing enrollment & efficiencies in staff. It did address: keeping the neighborhood intact, distance in busing, busing to the nearest school… more ›