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Seeking a job? Get yourself noticed
Tax break may end for utilities owned by city ————
By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
Just because the country remains mired in the Great Recession, with unemployment persisting and wages stagnating and employee security This weakening series and consumer confidence This is w a n i n g , part two doesn’t mean in a series that workers exploring and anyone various looking for aspects work should of the wallow in local job frustration. market. Give yourself a boost by working harder when it comes to seeking advancement, employment or anything else related to a career. Rau In short: Be better by showing how you’re better. “Experience alone is not enough,” said Carol Rau, Nick Krug/Journal-World Photo owner of Career Advantage, a LYNE TUMLINSON, WHO DESCRIBES HERSELF as a career fitness coach, talks with client Lawrence-based employment Joel Wagler, a Lawrence resident who is looking for a job, during an appointment on consulting firm, where clients Thursday at Dunn Bros. Coffee. Tumlinson says she works to help her clients realize receive help with job searches their strengths and their interests before pursuing a job. Please see JOBS, page 2A
Commission to decide on policy that would transfer ratepayer money to general operating fund By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com
Here’s one property tax break City Hall leaders aren’t crazy about. Under state law, cityowned utilities, such as the city’s water and sewer department, aren’t required to pay property taxes on their assets. That means the multimillion-dollar treatment plants, the pipes in the ground, and the smaller pump stations and other facilities scattered throughout the city aren’t subject to a tax bill. That’s different from an investor-owned utility — like Westar, for example — which pays millions in property taxes that ultimately are paid by customers through their electric rates. But now, City Hall leaders are saying its own utility department shouldn’t get such a tax break. At their meeting today, city commissioners will consider a policy that would allow the city to transfer money paid by ratepayers into the city’s general operating fund to account for
how much property taxes the utility would pay if it were a privately operated business. “Like privately owned utilities who pay property taxes, city utilities benefit from public safety, parks and recreation, economic development, planning and development services, and other city functions,” a memo from City Manager Dever David Corliss’ office to commissioners states. But the idea is creating some questions. “It is a rationale I think we need to talk about a little more,” said City Commissioner Mike Dever. “We need some feedback from the community on this.” The new policy would not immediately increase water and sewer rates. That’s because the city already has been making a payment-inlieu of property taxes type Please see UTILITIES, page 5A
Halt to standards-based grades sought for middle schools By Mark Fagan mfagan@ljworld.com
Sixth-graders now are taking electives, using lockers, dressing out for gym and doing plenty of other things at school to prepare them for an eventual transition to high school. But they’re keeping their standards-based grading system, and that has some parents and teachers worried. “My students don’t know what they’re doing,” said Jill
Patton, whose daughter this year entered sixth-grade in the Lawrence school district after elementary school at Corpus Christi Catholic School, where traditional letter grades were the norm. “They do not know what is expected in the classroom.” While sixth-graders in the district still will receive letter grades — just as they would have last year in elementary school — they also will receive grades of E, S, M or T on more than a dozen catego-
ries spanning knowledge and learner behaviors, also just as they would have last year. SCHOOLS It’s just that this year all sixth-graders are in middle schools, and that means multiple classes, multiple teachers and multiple changes for students, parents and teachers grappling with a district that has been
“reconfigured for student success.” And parents such as Patton took their concerns Monday night to the Lawrence school board, hoping to halt the introduction of standardsbased grading into middle schools amid complaints of a lack of teacher training, absence of parental input and plenty of worries about student motivation. “We do not want to be the first class of trial and error,” said Patton, who has worked
as an elementary teacher. “We are asking you to stop this right now and save this school year and go back, retrain, start over, get the parents on board, get the students on board, (and) get the teachers on board. “We are floating and floundering, and that is not what Lawrence USD 497 is known for.” Board members listened as several parents and one district teacher made their way to the microphone, outlining
a series of complaints about notification and implementation and professional development and research and other shortcomings of the process. Their comments came after Kim Bodensteiner, the district’s chief academic officer, had explained that the grading system had been in the district for 10 years at the elementary level, had been planned to remain with sixth-graders as that grade Please see SCHOOL, page 5A
KU professor to receive honor for her work with aging population By Karrey Britt kbritt@ljworld.com
Kansas University professor Rosemary Chapin is a champion for seniors. The 64-year-old Lawrence resident is recognized internationally for her writing, teaching and research to improve care for older adults — at home, in the community or a nursing home. While she has helped lawmakers shape policies, she’s most proud of her work in training and mentoring students. “What animates me is an interest in building a coterie of people
who are passionate about aging issues and have the skills to be effective practitioners and also policymakers and researchers in that area,” she said. Among people she has mentored: Carleen Roberts, executive director of Douglas County Senior Services; Belinda Vierthaler, state long-term care ombudsman; Rick VanDyke, community options program coordinator of the Wyandotte/Leavenworth County Area Agency on Aging;
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KANSAS UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR and director of the Office of Aging and Long Term Care, Rosemary Chapin is pictured outside the Watkins Home Sept. 8. Chapin will receive a Caring Award from Kansas Advocates for Better Care for her work on aging issues.
and Rebecca Holmes, coordinator of Project Lively, a Douglas County program that assists seniors. Holmes said she did research at KU’s Office of Aging and Long Term Care, where Chapin is the founding director. The office receives between $300,000 and $500,000 in funding each year. Holmes said Chapin’s advocacy for seniors solidified her decision to work in aging. “She’s very optimistic and tries to find a way to make something happen instead of looking for rea-
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