District 181 needs to replace current superintendent
I sincerely believe our children, our community schools and our property values are at risk. Although I do not have a child in elementary or middle school, this belief prompts me to write my letter to raise community awareness about these risks and help initiate positive action.

Our elementary District 181 is in crisis, resulting from the dysfunctional leadership of the current superintendent. Do not take my word; ask around, investigate for yourself the multiple missteps and poor judgments which have squandered too much time, energy and money.

The current superintendent, James Tenbusch, has no experience managing a large, demanding system such as ours. The District 181 School Board would best serve all constituents, including the superintendent, by releasing him soon in favor of one who can put our nine schools back on track. Delaying a change only compounds the problem. Our School Board cannot fix these issues by trying to do the job themselves — nor are part-time administrators the answer. Top-notch administrators must be hired and then allowed the freedom to employ their expertise.

Whether or not you have children enrolled in District 181, you have a stake in this outcome. A review of the cutting-edge administrators who have left and the level of school systems which have quickly hired them, says it all. Please share your feelings with the School Board now before more damage is done to our children’s education, the school district’s reputation and, ultimately, to our property values.
Joni Holinger, Hinsdale

Editor’s Note: Community Consolidated School District 181 announced this week Superintendent James Tenbusch will remain the district’s top administrator after conducting his yearly evaluation.

Residents did not allow meeting to be ‘hijacked’
On April 8, the Downers Grove Township annual meeting was held according to rules dating back to the days of horse and buggy that allow any voter who attends the meeting to vote on township matters.

Unfortunately, a small group of activists tried to take advantage of the procedure by attempting to flood the meeting with enough people to take over control of the meeting and vote to place a resolution regarding the war in Iraq on the ballot in the Township.

Thanks to the efforts of the Downers Grove Township Republican Organization, this flood of people trying hijack the annual township meeting was met by a tidal wave of more than 200 voters who voted “no” to their shenanigans, kept the meeting on track with local issues and prevented it from being used to promote a small group’s national policy agenda.

I would like to thank all the voters who took the time to come to this meeting, and I would like to thank the members of the Republican committeemen’s organization who made numerous phone calls to neighbors and friends to attend the meeting to prevent the township from being taken over by the activists with their single agenda. Thanks also to Mr. Gilbert — whose son died in Iraq — for sharing with us his words of support for our brave troops and their mission. His words touched us all and put a sober perspective on why we all showed up to protect our local democratic institution.
Gary Roth, Darien

Shillingburg will be missed in School District 181
It was with great sadness that we learned Dr. Warren Shillingburg had resigned as assistant superintendent for teaching and learning for District 181.

We would like to publicly thank him for his accomplishments during the past three years. Dr. Shillingburg showed a talent for generating new ideas, fostering collaboration and implementing change. He:

• Implemented AIMSWEB and MAP testing, which allow all parents and educators to monitor the actual yearly progress of their students and identify lexile scores to help them identify appropriate reading books.

• Led task forces which overhauled and upgraded middle school math and language arts programs.

• Implemented the Response to Intervention model for reading which brought a full-time reading specialist to every school, helping struggling readers succeed before they fall too far behind and are unnecessarily labeled with learning disabilities.

• Led the revision of the gifted and talented program for elementary, which expanded services from about 6 percent of students to the tiered model serving more than 40 percent of students in language arts and/or math. The need for these changes had been discussed and studied by outside experts and task forces for 10 years, but Dr. Shillingburg was the one who gained consensus and spear-headed actual changes. 

• Completed many other tasks, including curriculum reevaluation, selection of new textbooks and creation of a set review cycle for every subject.

Dr. Shillingburg’s expertise, consensus-building skills and ability to implement change have brought benefits to our district that are numerous and varied. He will be missed.
Susan Portland, president, Gifted Education Cooperative