Thursday, May 9, 2013
A $10,000 settlement has been made after Andrew Ladendorf filed a federal lawsuit against the district, the Chicago Tribune reports.
A settlement has been reached between Maine Township High School District 207 and a former music teacher who claims he was fired because he’s a man, the Chicago Tribune reports. The settlement of $10,000 was made this week after a federal lawsuit was filed by former Maine West teacher Andrew Ladendorf. Ladendorf said he was let go from the district because of sexual discrimination. District 207 officials have denied allegations made in the lawsuit, the newspaper reports.
Monday, May 6, 2013
The Sun-Times reports District 207 has spent the money on an attorney at Hinshaw & Culbertson to investigate hazing allegations.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Monday, May 6
Maine Township High School District 207 has paid more than $73,000 to a Chicago law firm to look into sexual abuse allegations regarding the Maine West High School hazing scandal, the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate reports. The district hired Sergio Acosta’s law firm, Hinshaw & Culbertson early in 2013. For one month of work, adding up to 352 hours among other expenses, the district was billed $73,787. More expenses could be forthcoming for work conducted after March 1, the newspaper reports. The firm was hired to look into allegations that multiple soccer players on the boys’ soccer team were sexually assaulted by teammates as an act of hazing. Several teachers and administrators have been charged with being the responsible adults in charge…
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Community Matters will hold focus groups at three high schools this spring, the Daily Herald reports.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Tuesday, March 12
Maine Township High School District 207 has hired a consulting company to lead focus groups addressing hazing and bullying, the Daily Herald reports. Consulting company Community Matters has been hired by the district following the recent hazing allegations at Maine West High School. Six Varsity boys’ soccer team players have been charged with hazing underclassman as part of initiation. Two soccer coaches have been fired as a result of the incident as well. Community Matters will be leading focus groups at three high schools this spring. The group teaches kids and adults to “speak up when they see intolerance or incivility in the form of bullying and hazing,” the Daily Herald reports.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Jannon Kirley's lawsuit claims she was almost run over by a car driven by the superintendent of schools, the Daily Herald reports.
- POLICE & FIRE
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Friday, March 8
A lawsuit has been filed against Maine Township High School District 207 by a former physical education teacher, the Daily Herald reports. Jannon Kirley, former teacher at Maine West and South, is suing the district for employment discrimination, age discrimination, retaliation for exercising her First Amendment right to free speech, and for retaliatory discharge under the Illinois Whistleblower’s Act. The school district has responded, saying Kirley’s dismissal from the district “involved insubordinate, unprofessional conduct” toward District 207 staff and students, the newspaper reports.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Parent, student urge Maine Township High Schools to reconsider using Google Chromebooks. The Internet was down at Maine South for 5 days recently, and in such a case, no learning would happen, they said.
Jon and James Dombro are worried that District 207 students might not be able to study next year if the Internet goes down. Citing the fact that the Internet was down, or had interruptions, at Maine South High School four days last week and was down again Monday, they said this was a real concern. James, a sophomore at Maine South, and his father Jon Dombro addressed District 207 board members at their meeting Monday. Earlier: District 207 replacing texts with Chromebooks When Internet service failed last week and this week, the Chromebooks would have been rendered useless, James Dombro said. Devices need Internet, and Internet has been down "Right now the Internet (at Maine South) can’t seem to support the devices," said James Dombro…
Monday, February 11, 2013
Maine South, West and East freshman and sophomores will be toting laptops, not textbooks, next year. The district says it will save money in the long run.
As other neighboring school districts have done, the Maine Township High School District 207 board voted Monday to move from textbooks to Google Chromebooks, which are a type of laptop computer. The Chromebooks will cost each student a technology fee of $319, plus an optional insurance charge. However, over a three-year span, that would result in cost savings of $225 over what each student would normally pay in textbook charges, according to a D-207 presentation. Students who will be freshman and sophomores in the 2013-14 school year will be the first to get the Chromebooks. Juniors will be added in the 2014-15 school year and all students will have them by the 2015-16 school year. “The Education Committee supports the proposal because…
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Employee discipline and other issues related to the investigation of bullying and hazing reports at Maine West High School in Des Plaines will be discussed by Maine Township High School District 207 Board of Education in Park Ridge on Thursday.
A special school district meeting to discuss a variety of issues related to bullying and hazing reports at Maine West High School in Des Plaines will be held in Park Ridge on Thursday. Maine Township High School District 207 Board of Education voted in favor of initiating the dismissal process on one coach, Michael DiVincenzo, named in a lawsuit filed by four families of current or former students in November at a meeting in December, and other administrators, coaches and district employees are named in the complaint. Listed on the agenda for the closed session portion of the special board meeting, announced by D-207 on Tuesday, are matters related to individual students, appointment, employment, compensation, performance, discipline or …
Monday, January 7, 2013
The measure is one of several Maine Township High School District 207 has planned in response to allegations of hazing and bullying at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, D-207 stated on Jan. 3.
Maine Township High School District 207 has a series of preventative measures regarding hazing and bullying planned, and has taken several steps already to address the issue, D-207 stated on Jan. 3. The statement came in response to allegations outlined by a former Maine West student at his attorney’s office in Chicago on Jan. 3. Among the accusations, the former student and soccer player, now 19, said he believed coaches were aware of the physical and sexual assaults that he and many other players endured because, in part, he saw former boys varsity soccer coach Michael Divincenzo wink before and after the assaults took place. The D-207 board of education voted unanimously to begin dismissal proceedings on Divincenzo in December, and the …
Saturday, January 5, 2013
A former Maine West student said he believes his former soccer coach, Michael Divincenzo, was aware of and encouraged hazing and bullying at Maine West High School in Des Plaines, WGN reported.
One of the four Maine West High School students who is suing Maine Township High School District 207 administrators, faculty and staff over hazing and bullying allegations described his experiences, and said he believes his coach, Michael Divincenzo, knew about the assaults because he saw him wink at players, WGN reported. D-207 suspended Divincenzo without pay, pending the dismissal process, in December. Divincenzo sent a request to D-207 for a hearing before a hearing officer on the matter, TribLocal reported. Supporters of Divincenzo and another coach named in the lawsuit, Emilio Rodriguez, organized a “peace fire” for Jan. 1, an activity promoted by the coaches with their teams, but canceled it due to low attendance, according to posts…
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Hundreds attended a special Maine Township High School District 207 meeting in Park Ridge on Wednesday to discuss personnel issues related to the bullying and hazing allegations at Maine West High School.
Impassioned statements made by current and former Maine West High School students, and one parent, in support of coaches scrutinized by the school district over bullying and hazing allegations were not enough to convince board members to continue employing the varsity soccer coach and high school teacher Michael DiVincenzo. Tait Jensen said he played on the varsity soccer team at Maine West for three years, and was co-captain of the team for one year. “The culture Divo and Rodriguez created and sanctioned was exactly what you want your schools’ athletic programs to have,” Jensen said. “It wasn’t a culture of hazing or mistreatment or assault; it was an atmosphere of friendship and understanding that fostered trust amongst players and …
Caroline9087
9:17 pm on Tuesday, May 14, 2013
false. I believe kids will have a harder time working on those dinky devices. and more devices will add more strain and can potentially bring other things ONTO the network its self. What about managing? If I as a student buy the laptop south has no jurisdiction managing my device. They have the right to manage their own network and the devices using it. But not my own device. Only my connection … more ›