Rock Island High School - Watchtower Yearbook (Rock Island, IL)

Page 22 text:

No Virginia, Santa Claus Students participated in Saturation Sat¬ urday , a program to make the voters aware of the issue, by distributing leaflets in various public areas. Six of these stu¬ dents, shown leaving the high school, are Jamie Eng man, Eric Fields, Rob Kritzmire, Julie Goodwin, Cindy Moore, and Patti Johnson. Save Our Schools Darkness descended on the Rock land School District, December 18th when the voters of Rock Island and Milan defeated a proposed school tax increase. In one of the largest voter turnouts, 14,000 citizens went to the polls with 6,100 voting in support of the proposal, and 7,800 voting no. The severe financial situation of the sys¬ tem was brought to a climax after the 1975-76 budget had been adopted. Four things happened which radically reduced the districts actual finances. Governor Dan Walker vetoed general state aid funding which had previously been a law, also vetoed a bill for special education funds and signed a bill which reduced the district ' s projected tax receipts. With the Walker cuts and the pay increase, a $1,365,000 deficit now existed. In order to meet the 7976-77 budget, $1.3 million was cut. Cuts made included administrators, teachers, and other staff members. Class sizes were increased to an average of 28 students, and all differ¬ entials for extra-curricular activities, with the exception of the Watchtower, were eliminated. The entire athletic program was cut out, as well as cuts on numerous other programs. The school board now called upon the public to help ease the financial crunch. The voters were asked to approve a tax increase of .63 cents per $100 assessed valuation. Clarifying some final details of the stu¬ dent solidarity march is, student school board member, Joel Press. 18 Education

Page 21 text:

A Happy Homecoming To inititate the Homecoming week a helium balloon lift-off was held. A bed race down 25th Avenue was held with a five man team, one rider and four pushers. The overall winners of the race were sophmores Rick Plaisance , Marion Strickler, Judy Schneider , Lori Eckhardt, Shawn Moore and Cathy Csorba. The location for the student-versus-the faculty tug-of-war was a slimy ditch. The students pulled off a mudriffic victory leaving the faculty to waller in their defeat.

Page 23 text:

Forgot Us This Year Teacher ' s unions launched several pro¬ grams pushing for approval of the school tax increase. Dick Sias, RIFT president and Phil Dennis, RIEA president coordinate the final moves to help gain support for the referendum. Around 7 00 students, carrying signs urg¬ ing voters to vote yes, participated in a student solidarity march from the audi¬ torium through the downtown area and back to the high school. Serious decisions, regarding the fate of education of the Rock Island system, faced a divided school board. Teachers, students, and concerned citi¬ zens launched a campaign to push for the approval of the referendum. Spearhead¬ ing the drive were David Hendrix, Dick Sias, and Phil Dennis. Saturation Satur¬ day , a program to distribute leaflets throughout the community, a student march from the school to the downtown area, and a public meeting to answer questions were a few of the group ' s ac¬ tions. Hendrix eloquently states the im¬ portance of these actions, We ' re talking here about the quality of students, the quality of education, and the quality of our community . Regardless of the outcome, it ' s a trag¬ edy for the students of the Rock Island school system. They will suffer for some time to come , said history teacher Ted Dickerson after the referendum defeat. Disbelief by voters that sports would be abolished may have been a key factor in the failure of the December 18th propos¬ al. It ' s that attitude that defeated the ref¬ erendum , stated William Bailey, a school board member. Another school board member, Harry Pells, after the defeat, launched a drive to sell season football tickets for $12 each. The plan will save all extra-curricular ac¬ tivities for only one year. Even though the drive succeeded, funding for future years activities will have to be through regular school channels. In a report released by the Illinois Of¬ fice of Education it was stated that, Overall it appears that the source of Rock Island ' s financial problem is inad¬ equate local tax support. Until the peo¬ ple wake up and are willing to accept their responsibilities to education, there will be darkness long before the dawn. Education 19