Publications & Sites 
Lyons Township High School District 204 Board
Updated: October 2, 2012 2:25PM
In action at its Sept. 18 meeting, board members:
• approved the 2012-13 budget for the La Grange Area Department of Special Education. The budget of $20.2 million represents a 1.3 percent increase over fiscal year 2012. Of the 1.3 percent increase, $259,000 is attributed to federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funds being given to member districts, instead of LADSE, representatives of the special ed co-op noted.
• Heard that the school calendar shift for 2013-14 will have the first day of school on Monday, Aug. 19, 83 days in the first semester and 94 days the second semester. The change was made to avoid students having to take final exams shortly after returning from winter break. Dec. 20 would be the last day of first-semester final exams. Graduation would be June 1. For 2014-15, the first day of school is planned for Monday, Aug. 18.
• Approved the first reading of a proposed board policy addition regard the use of electronic communication and social media. Edward M. Piotrowski, district director of human resources, noted the policy is “for the purposes of protecting the students and staff of LTHS, as well as to clearly define appropriate use and official means of communication between current LTHS students and staff members.” The new policy will reinforce existing policy regarding use of technology, and add electronic communication to include cell phones, text messaging and social media sites.
• Heard that 16 summer workshops were held for educators at at cost to the district of $27,571. The lion’s share of the individuals attending workshops were in the district’s curriculum division – with 64 of the 112 individuals attending summer workshops from the curriculum division. The issues tackled by the curriculum team included: the most frequent obstacles of student success at LTHS, identifying major characteristics of struggling students, developing a format for intervention and determining monthly email content that will be sent out.
• Received information from Scott D. Eggerding, director of curriculum and instruction, that the district’s Summer Program ended with a $37,482 surplus, which is in stark contrast to the 2011 program which finished with a $19,952 deficit. While summer academics in 2012 ran at a $44,692 deficit, the summer activities portion of the program made a $82,175 profit. Eggerding said “a detailed budget for all activity programs that did not allow additional coaches to be hired without available revenue” made the difference. “This resulted in all summer camps and activities ending the summer in the black for the first time in many years,” Eggerding said.
