Stevenson DI team wins State, heads to Global Finals
Stevenson School's Destination Imagination team, "Dizzy Derby" placed 1st at State st weekend and advance to the Global Finals in Knoxville, TN on May 24th. Team members include: Phillip Gregory, Ricky Zamudio, Fatima El-Sayed, Jessica Gerdes, Madalyn Tatham and Jessica Sylvester. The students need to raise $5,000 to attend the finals and are currently accepting donations. Checks may be made to Stevenson Elementary School - DI and sent to 2106 Arrowhead Dr., Bloomington, IL 61704. BHS' team, "Sudden SerenDIpity," placed 2nd at State and won a Special Achievement award for exceptional creativity.

Board incumbents retain seats
District 87 residents voted overwhelmingly to retain the seats of incumbents, John Dirks, Cheryl Jackson, Millicent Roth and Janet Smith. The following results include total votes cast and percentage of total votes: Roth - 2,434 (23.7%); Dirks - 2,253 (21.9%); Jackson - 2,238 (21.8%); Smith - 2,096 (20.4%); and Halbert - 1,229 (12%).

Nielsen appointed President of statewide organization
Dr. Robert Nielsen, Superintendent, has been appointed President of the Large Unit District Association (LUDA) by his peers.  Nielsen recently served as Vice President of the group.

LUDA is comprised of fifty-three member school districts, with enrollments over 3,500, serving approximately half of all Illinois public school children. LUDA's goal is to promote educational programs that enable graduates to be competitive in the national and international marketplace, emphasizing the need for equitable educational opportunity for all students.

2004-05 budget on track to be balanced
David Wood, Chief Financial and Business Officer, provided the Board of Education with a status of the 2004-05 Budget at the April 13th meeting.

Wood revisited revenue assumptions at the local, state and federal levels that were made when the budget was being prepared. Although local revenues are up slightly, both State and Federal funding is down.

Revenue:
• The economy and local revenue will continue to grow, but at a slower pace.
• The State and Federal revenue will, at best, remain level but are more likely to decrease per the Governor's and President's budgets.
• Enrollment will continue to decrease
• Revenue growth, if any, will come from property tax. Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax (CPPRT) will likely slow as the Corporate Income Tax does.
• 2004 EAV for the 2006 budget increased by only 2.1%.

Expenditures:
• New labor agreements must be negotiated.
• Significant double digit benefit growth is expected to continue.
• It will become increasingly difficult to hold purchased services, materials, and supplies no more than an inflationary increase
• The goal will be to balance the budget and keep expenditures at or below revenues.

At the local level, our Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) continues to grow and receipts are 1% above the budget. Assumptions made regarding our expenditures appear on track, with salaries at budget and retirements at 5%. The medical insurance rate increased nearly 35% and liability insurance increased 12.5% over 2004.

At the federal level, funding for Title I and Titles II, IV and V were reduced by $45,000 and receipts are at 96% of budget. At the state level, Special Education pro-rations are actually worse than predicted and are $94,000 less than 2004.

Click HERE to download Powerpoint presentation.

Board of Ed. hears proposal for elementary music curriculum materials
At the April 13th meeting of the Board of Education, Jeff Lockenvitz and elementary music teachers requested that the Board approve new elementary textbooks and materials. After months of research, the group chose to purchase the Silver Burdett series, "Making Music" along with the purchase of projection devices to be connected to classroom computers to enhance the instruction and maximize the technological tools that are available. The total cost of the materials and projection devices for all six elementary buildings is under $72,000 and includes at least $42,000 worth of free materials from Scott Foresman Co. The Board is expected to vote on the proposal at their April 27th meeting.

BHS' Fine Arts Fest to showcase students' creative talents
BHS' Fine Arts Fest will be held on Friday, April 29 in the school's auditorium. Last year, the program changed to integrate and fuse four fine art disciplines into one program of alternating creative writing readings, strings performances and living paintings accompanied by docent interpretive performances. During Living Paintings, Senior Studio art students act as the figure in the painting in tableau in front of their life-sized painting while a drama student "docent" talks to the audience about the artist and the time period. The Living Paintings will be on display from 6-6:30, with the main program "Surrounded by Art" immediately following in the school's auditorium. An award ceremonly for creative writing and art will follow.

BHS' Envirothon team best in McLean County
EBHS' Envirothon Team recently competed in a four county area contest at Weldon Springs and beat all McLean County Schools again.... The team finished fourth overall. Team members were Troy Clark, BJ Enzweiler, Brandon Grice, Scott Wilson, and Jared Woodrey.

BHS' Science Olympiad and WYSE teams earn State honors
Science Olympiad Team won many honors at State. Compute This: Tabez Mohammed and Jonathan Powell; Bugs: Fred Hausman and Carrie Pruett earned first place honors.   Chem Lab: Kristen Skillrud and Aaron White; Health: Sasha Pradham and Kristen Skillrud earned 2nd place honors. Cell Bio: Sasha Pradham and Chad Russell; Experimental Design: Jamie, Jesics, Janis Nix; Phsysics: Tabrez Mohammed and Max Weiss earned 3rd place honors. Mission Possible: Jamie, Jesica, Janis Nix earned 4th place.

BHS' World Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) team placed 9th at the State Academic Challenge, earning three individual medals. Adam Kim earned BHS's top individual finish with a 2nd place medal in Biology. Shashwati Pradhan placed 5th in Biology. Troy Earley placed 5th in Computer Science. Team members included: Adam Kim, Shashwati Pradhan, Troy Earley, Kristina Warren, Max Weiss, Aaron White, Chad Russell, Tabrez Mohammed, Brian Mariani, Ryan Kernes, Vikram Karandikar, Libby Geison, Justin Gandhi, and Tyler Cain.

Women Build 2005 seeks volunteers - no experience necessary
Habitat for Humanity of McLean County will soon begin construction on their 3rd Women Build house. Women Build houses are constructed entirely by female volunteers. Last year, roughly 20 retired and current District 87 staff members volunteered at the site and were involved in every construction phase, from preparing the foundation to painting drywall and trimwork. Unlike the past two years, this year's house will be built within District 87 boundaries - specifically on Indiana St., located just west of Sarah E. Raymond School of Early Education. The future owner is a BHS graduate and her two oldest children attend Sheridan School.

If you are interested in volunteering for Women Build, or would like further information about Habitat for Humanity and/or Women Build, please visit the Women Build website.

Due to the recent rain, build sessions are now scheduled to start on April 26th and will occur on each Tuesday and Thursday from 4-8 p.m. and each Saturday from 8-1 until the house is completed.

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