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Wednesday, April 17, 2013
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D-428 rejects online charter school By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com
and STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com DeKALB – DeKalb School District 428 board members joined at least a dozen of their counterparts by rejecting a proposal for a virtual charter school. Board members voted, 7-0, Tuesday to reject a proposal from Virtual Learning Solutions to open the charter
school that would pull both students and dollars from the district. District 428 officials had estimated the charter school could attract about 60 students and $480,000 in state funding from District 428, if it were ultimately approved. Douglas Moeller, assistant superintendent, said administrators thought charter school leaders were not responsive to the district’s concerns, pointing to the generic 1,100page response they received. “This PowerPoint they showed us,
which is at best misleading or worse deceptive,” Moeller said. “That to me is one of the most egregious tips that something was really wrong here.” The nonprofit organization, which formed in February, has petitioned to open the Illinois Virtual Charter School at Fox River Valley in 18 districts throughout the region. Sycamore School District 427 board members unanimously rejected the proposal last week, challenging the supervision students would have and
the 1,100-page response to school district leaders’ concerns. Valley View CUSD 365U’s board, which is expected to vote on the proposal tonight, will be the last district to consider it. The Valley View school board vote will trigger action from Virtual Learning Solutions. Late last week, Sharnell Jackson, the nonprofit’s board president, reaffirmed that charter school leaders plan to appeal every denial to the state charter com-
DEKALB’S EGYPTIAN THEATRE RENOVATIONS
mission once the last school board affected by the charter votes. Virtual Learning Solutions will have 30 days to file an appeal to the state commission. The commission then has 45 days to hold public hearings and interview both Virtual Learning Solutions and school districts. After the fact-finding period, the commission has 30 days to decide the appeal.
See VIRTUAL SCHOOL, page A4
Pressure-cooker bombs suspected in Boston blast By EILEEN SULLIVAN and JAY LINDSAY The Associated Press
Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Patrick Mlady updates the marquee outside the Egyptian Theatre on Thursday in DeKalb.
Eye on the future Egyptian Theatre supporters plan for projects, funding Voice your opinion
By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The Egyptian Theatre has been a work in progress for 35 years. The theater has replaced its sound system and its 1,400 seats. This year, a fire-sprinkler system will be installed throughout the building. But Alex Nerad, the theater’s executive director, said he already was thinking of other needed expansions: an expanded box office, a bigger concession stand, more stalls in the bathroom, an air-conditioning unit. “I think anyone who has been to a show here when it’s busy knows that our three-stall women’s restroom is not big enough,” Nerad said. “I don’t know what they were thinking in 1929. ... The math doesn’t re-
BOSTON – Federal agents zeroed in Tuesday on how the Boston Marathon bombing was carried out – with kitchen pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails and other lethal shrapnel – but said they still didn’t know who did it and why. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies repeatedly pleaded for members of the public to come forward with photos, videos or anything suspicious they might have seen or heard. “The range of suspects and motives remains wide open,” Richard DesLau- More riers, FBI agent in charge in Boston, inside said at a news conference. He vowed to “go to the ends of the Earth to identify For more the subject or subjects who are respon- concerning sible for this despicable crime.” the Boston President Barack Obama branded Marathon the attack an act of terrorism but said explosions, officials don’t know “whether it was see pages planned and executed by a terrorist organization, foreign or domestic, or was A2 and B1 the act of a malevolent individual.” Scores of victims of the Boston bombing remained in hospitals, many with grievous injuries, a day after the twin explosions near the marathon’s finish line killed three people, wounded more than 170 and reawakened fears of terrorism. A 9-year-old girl and 10-year-old boy were among 17 victims listed in critical condition. Officials found that the bombs in Boston consisted of explosives put in ordinary, 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails, according to a person close to the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the probe was still going on. Both bombs were stuffed into black duffel bags and left on the ground, the person said.
Have you visited the Egyptian Theatre this year? Vote online at Daily-Chronicle.com.
The stained-glass window featuring a scarab and the sun god Ra is seen from inside the Egyptian Theatre on Thursday in DeKalb. ally add up.” The city of DeKalb has been a major backer of the theater. Since 1989, the city has funneled $2.2 million to the theater’s capital projects, said Jennifer Diedrich, DeKalb’s economic development coordi-
nator. Diedrich added that city staff has earmarked $100,000 in tax increment financing annually to the theater until 2020. Assuming the City Council approves these allocations without any changes, the theater
will have collected $3 million from the city by that point. “Not only is the theater an economic driver to the downtown area, but it’s a significant cultural and artistic draw,” Diedrich said. The city’s TIF district is set to expire in 2020. These districts, which allow municipalities to renovate blighted properties using a special tax mechanism, have a 23-year life span that can be expanded once for 12 years.
See EGYPTIAN THEATRE, page A4
AP photo
FBI agents gather near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Tuesday in Boston. The bombs that ripped through the crowd at the Boston Marathon, killing at least three people and wounding more than 170, were fashioned out of pressure cookers and packed with shards of metal, nails and ball bearings to inflict maximum carnage, a person briefed on the investigation said Tuesday.
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