Bugle Newspapers 10-1-20

se PT e MBeR 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 vo l . 6 4 i ss u e 4 9

# Bugl e n e W s

buglenewspapers.com

news from Plainfield Joliet shorewood lockport crest hill Bolingbrook Romeoville downers grove Westmont Woodridge lisle niles Morton grove Park Ridge & more

Pag e 2 | Wednes day, sePTeM BeR 3 0 , 20 20 | B ugle n e W s Pa P e R s .c oM

Local businessman has product for the times originally a device for combating noise, it can now help with social distancing

By MaRk gRegoRy editorial director

@Hear_The_Beard mark@buglenewspapers.com What started out as a product to help coaches be heard in a crowded, loud gymnasium can now help people be heard from a socially appropriate distance.

When Bolingbrook resident Robert Reed watched his sons play basketball for Downers Grove North High School and watched coach Jim Thomas call a timeout during a sold out sectional

game with a ruckus crowd and the officials not hear him, he had an idea.

“I got to thinking that there had to be something coaches could use to amplify their voices - so I teamed up with a company from China to bring this product over here.” Reed said.

The product, called the Coacher, is a voice amplifier that features a headset and speaker, which can be attached to a belt.

The volume controls allow a coach to have their voice projected to call a timeout, but only be heard by their players in the huddle.

“I was a finalist to get on Shark Tank last year and I made it to the video submission portion, but I hadn’t sold enough units,” Reed said. “Then with COVID-19 this year, it slowed the pro-

duction. Now, we are back full speed.”

While the pandemic hurt his production line, the rules that have followed gave Reed more ideas for how the Coacher can be used.

“It is perfect for social distancing.

It will benefit the climate we are in right now,” Reed said. “We are talking to Chicago Public Schools so teachers can use it while they lecture. It is made to be used to amplify someone’s voice with clarity.”

He also hopes to partner with businesses like WeatherTech, which is produced in Bolingbrook.

“It is going to be a huge splash - I am excited about this,” Reed said of his product.

Before coming up with the idea for

see ‘coacheR’ Page 3

W e d n es day,SE P T E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 | b u g l e n e w spap e r s. c o m | pag e 3 ‘coacher’ from page 2 the Coacher, Reed has enjoyed a life full of ups and downs.

A product of Chicago’s south side, he has now lived in Bolingbrook for 20 years with most of his children attending Plainfield East High School.

“I grew up on the south side of Chicago - my dad was killed when I was seven and my mom died when I was in high school. I had dropped out, but I went back and graduated. I went to college and graduated. I turned my laugh around - I didn’t want to be like everyone else,” Reed said. “I have been around basketball my whole life. I went to Simeon, but only played one

year there because I was a little stubborn growing up.”

After college, Reed met his wife, married and began their family of six children.

Reed has his own company, Chicago Millionaires Entertainment and has three different podcasts, one which is a basketball podcast with Marcus Liberty, a member of the 1989 University of Illinois’ ‘Flying Illini’ basketball team that advanced to the final Four.

Liberty is one basketball great endorsing the Coacher.

“I got Detroit Mercy assistant coach Tracy Dildy and Marcus Liberty, former player for University of Illinois, to endorse it, so we are off and running.,”

Reed said. “People can go to Shopify and get it.”

Outside of podcasts and the Coacher, Reed has been in real estate for 17 years and taught special education and coached basketball for 12 years.

However, his greatest accomplishment came not from being a businessman, but from being a dad.

“In 2003 my daughter wrote an essay for a contest through the Chicago White Sox and wrote why I was the best dad in the world,” he said. “And out of 57,000 essays, she won and I got to throw out the first pitch at the Sox game.”

Reed can be reached at chicagomillion@aol.com.

Pag e 4 | Wednes day, sePTeM BeR 3 0 , 20 20 | B ugle n e W s Pa P e R s .c oM

Driver’s license expiration dates extended 3 months

By JeRRy noWicki

Capitol News Illinois

Expiration dates on Illinois driver’s licenses and state ID cards will be extended another three months, Secretary of State Jesse White announce Wednesday.

White announced expirations for licenses and IDs will be extended until Feb. 1, 2021, so the cards will remain valid throughout that span. The extension applies to those who have October, November, December and January expiration dates.

“Extending expiration dates until February 1 means people with an expired driver’s license and ID card do not need to visit a driver services facility immediately,” White said in a news release.

License plate stickers remain extended until Nov. 1, 2020, as they can be renewed online. White encouraged those who have business with the sec-

retary of state to consider using online services instead of visiting a facility when possible.

Online services at www.cyberdriveillinois.com can be used to renew license plate stickers, obtain a duplicate driver’s license or ID card, obtain a driving record abstract or renew a standard driver’s license through the Safe Driver renewal program.

Online transactions continue to rise, according to White’s office, with online license plate sticker renewals increasing 84 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

From June 1 through Sept. 20, more than 1.2 million such renewals have been conducted online, compared to 654,596 during the same period a year ago.

White recently extended by one year the driver’s license expiration date for drivers age 75 and older.

The new expiration date is their birthday in 2021.

W e d n es day,SE P T E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 | b u g l e n e w spap e r s. c o m | pag e 5

pag e 6 | Wednes day, SEPTEM BER 3 0 -THU RSDAY, OCTO B E R 1 , 2 02 0 | b ugle n e w s pa p e r s .c om

W e d n es day, SE P T E MB E R 30 -T HU R SDAY, OC TO B E R 1, 2 0 2 0 | b u g l e n e w spap e r s. c o m | pag e 7

pag e 8 | Wednes day, SEPTEM BER 3 0 , 20 20 | b ugle n e w s pa p e r s .c om

W e d n es day,s e P T e M B e R 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 | B u g l e n e W sPaP e R s. c o M | Pag e 9

Lawmakers discuss lowering compulsory school age

By PeTeR hancock

Capitol News Illinois

Illinois lawmakers may soon consider legislation to lower the state’s compulsory attendance law to include 5-year-olds, a measure advocates see as a way to expand access to early childhood education opportunities, especially among Black and low-income families.

That was just one of the issues dis-

cussed Thursday during a virtual joint hearing of the Illinois Senate Education and Higher Education committees, and it’s one that has the strong backing of the Illinois State Board of Education.

“We firmly believe that lowering the compulsory school age to five will ensure that all children have a better opportunity to receive a strong foundation of literacy and reading skills that will set them up for success in all

aspects of their lives,” Brenda Dixon, ISBE’s chief research and evaluation director, said during the hearing that was conducted via Zoom.

Currently, Illinois only requires children between the ages of six and 17 to attend school, which effectively makes kindergarten optional. Currently, Dixon said, about 130,000 children attend kindergarten in Illinois public schools, but lowering the compulsory attendance age to five could boost that number by as many as 3,000, or 2.3 percent.

“We believe lowering the compulsory school age to five will support more equitable educational opportunities for our youngest learners, and build on the state’s investment in early childhood education,” Dixon said.

“Kindergarten for all will strengthen the learning continuum for Illinois students.”

Thursday’s hearing was just one in a series of hearings that the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus has called to discuss issues surrounding racial inequities. Earlier this month, the ILBC said it was developing a legislative agenda for racial equity that would be based on four “pillars.”

Besides education and workforce development, which was the subject of Thursday’s hearing, the other pillars include criminal justice reform; economic access, equity and opportunity; and health care and human services.

Dixon noted that students who don’t start school until the first grade are at an immediate disadvantage

with their peers who went to kindergarten, and they rarely get the opportunity to catch up.

“There is no catch-up time built into our school calendar for children who enter the public school system underprepared,” she said. “Once established, gaps in school readiness skills are difficult and costly to remedy, leading to pronounced gaps in achievement. We firmly believe that lowering the compulsory school age to five will ensure that all children have a better opportunity to receive a strong foundation of literacy and reading skills that will set them up for success in all aspects of their lives.”

Christopher Span, a researcher and associate dean at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s College of Education, said that for most of America’s history, Black children were specifically excluded from access to public education, even after the landmark 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education.

“One thing that I was able to kind of show in my research is that as schooling became more compulsory, you saw African Americans close the gap in what we call gaps of achievement in school communities,” he said. “And we also see it with regards to the closing of the gap in terms of educational attainment – so, gaining access to high school, gaining access to college degrees.”

While there appeared to be broad support among educators for lowering the mandatory school age in order to expand access to kindergarten, there was much less support for the one of the other proposals being considered – a requirement that students

be held back in the third grade if, by the end of that year, they still are not meeting state standards for reading and math skills.

It is often said among educators that from kindergarten through third grade, students learn to read, and from fourth grade on, they read to learn. That means students who enter fourth grade without the reading skills needed for fourth-grade work are likely to fall further and further behind for the rest of their time in school.

But Dixon and others said mandatory retention policies have been shown to do more harm than good.

“In fact, studies have long shown that mandatory retention increases dropout risk,” Dixon said. “Now, while there are some recent studies that associate mandatory retention policies with short-term academic gains, those effects disappear by middle school, again suggesting that there are no lasting positive impacts of mandatory retention policies.”

Dixon said if that policy were in place today, based on the most recent state assessments, 85,000 to 90,000 third graders, or 72 percent, would be held back from going on to fourth grade. Of those, roughly 80 percent are Black and brown students, and 85 percent are from low-income families.

“What is most important when it comes to the policy on third grade retention is what we do the years preceding third grade,” Dixon said.

The two committees are scheduled to hold another joint hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 30. The subjects of that hearing will be COVID-19 responses in K-12 education and equitable funding.

pag e 1 0 | Wednesday, SEPTEM BER 3 0 , 20 2 0 | b ugle n e w s pa p e r s .c om

deadline for cl assifieds: friday at 11 a .m.

11

Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 | buglenewspapers.com

Business & Private Party Classified Ads: $21 per week, 20 words or less. Weddings, Births & Engagements: Black & White - $45, Color - $55. Obituaries: start at $45.

Help Wanted HELP WANTED Job Description: Machine Operators/Mechanics-1st-2nd shifts *Just off I-55 Direct mail facility in Lemont and Bolingbrook location is looking for operators and Mechanics to join our team. Responsible for performing tasks associated with set-up, operation, and problem resolution of equipment.

Signing Bonus, Referral Program, Quota Bonuses •Operators •Letter shop Mechanicsexperience preferred (Flow Master Experience Wanted) •Supervisors-experience preferred •QC-experience preferred The right pay for the right person Apply within, Monday through Friday 7:30am-3:30pm JETSON MAILERS 1005 101ST. STREET - SUITE A •LEMONT, Il 60439 Call 331-318-7323 or email your questions to LBarajas@ JetsonMailers.com SE BUSCA AYUDA Descripción del Trabajo: Operadores de máquinas/ Mechanicos-1er-2do turnos *Justo de la autopista I-55 El servicio de correo directo en Lemont y locación en Bolingbrook, está buscando operadores y mechanicos para unirse a nuestro equipo.

Responsable de realizar tareas asociadas con la configuración, operación y resolución de problemas del equipo.

Bono de firma, Programa de recomendación, Bonos de cuota.

• Operadores • Mecánica-experiencia preferida (Se busca la experiencia de Flow Master) • Supervisores-experiencia preferida • Control de calidadexperiencia preferida El pago correcto para la persona adecuada Aplicar de lunes a viernes de 7:30 a.m. a 3:30 p.m.

JETSON MAILERS 1005 101st Street-Suite A • Lemont IL 60439 Llame al 331-318-7323, o envíe sus preguntas por correo electrónico a LBarajas@JetsonMailers.com

For Rent For Rent, Country Home, nice location. Security Deposit.

630-554-9238.

Garage Sale

Services

Fri. Sept. 25 & Sat. Sept 26 9:00-5:00 25615 W Plantation Rd, Plainfield Vintage Cedar Chest, tools, Men’s/women’s clothes small-big/ Tall, decor galore, Xmas, Harley clothes, Camera, China for 6 and much more!!!

Cash only!

Skin By Korana Licensed Esthetician & Lash Tech Now Open A’lainn Salon Suites 200 S. Prospect Ave Park Ridge, IL 60068 Suite 208 skinbykorana. glossgenius.com Instagram:@ skinbykorana

Phone: 1515.436.2431 web: buglenewspapers.com/classifieds email: classifieds@buglenewspapers.com

12 Wednesday, SEPTEMBER 30, 2020 | buglenewspapers.com

Phone: 1515.436.2431 >> Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. FAX: 1515.439.25415 email: classifieds@enterprisepublications.com IN PERSON: Enterprise Publications >> 231556 Andrew Rd. >> Plainfield, IL

W e d n es day, SE P T E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 | b u g l e n e w spap e r s. c o m | pag e 13

pag e 1 4 | Wednesday, SEPTEM BER 3 0 , 20 20 | b ugle n e w s pa p e r s .c om

We d n es day, SE P T E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 2 0 | b u g l e n e w spap e r s. c o m | pag e 15

pag e 1 6 | Wednesday, SEPTEM BER 3 0 , 20 20 | b ugle n e w s pa p e r s .c om