Maine Township High School District 207

Schools

Maine East High School

Maine South High School

Maine West High School

Maine North High School (1970–1981)

Academies

Youth Campus

District 207 also helps administer the Youth Campus; a residential facility for homeless teens as well as teens in various stages of foster care or adoption. The Youth Campus traces its origins to 1877, when the facility was located in Evanston and called the Industrial School for Girls. In 1906, a scandal over placement of some girls into poor homes, and the mismanagement of money, caused a change in leadership. After the directors were reorganized, Jane Addams served on the school's board of directors. In early 1907, the Board of Directors announced that they planned to leave Evanston and relocate to a new rural location in Park Ridge. With 125 girls and mounting financial difficulties, the school arranged for a charity baseball game that included a semi-professional team run by Cap Anson to be played at West Side Park. The facility was relocated to its current Park Ridge location in 1908, and renamed the Park Ridge School for Girls in 1913. When boys were first admitted in 1980, the facility was renamed the Park Ridge Youth Campus, before being simply renamed Youth Campus in the 1990s. Several of the buildings were funded by Julius Rosenwald, and were designed by Holabird & Roche (the same firm which designed the Chicago Board of Trade Building and Soldier Field). Eight of the campus buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

ARC

District 207 operates an Alternative Resource Center (ARC) in Morton Grove. ARC is an alternative placement for students who have not adjusted socially to a traditional school setting, and require a more structured environment.

District Headquarters

The district administrative offices were formerly located in a small building at 1171 S. Dee Road; the southwest corner of the property on which Maine South is located. This building was later sold to the Tooling and Manufacturing Association of Chicago. The district offices were then moved into a section of Maine South. This section was refurbished to provide a board room for meetings as well as offices for the superintendent, his assistants, and the business office.

Despite being housed in the same building, the district offices have an address of 1131 S. Dee Road, compared to the address for Maine South which is 1111 S. Dee Road.

District Leadership

Maine Township High School District 207 is governed by a seven-member board of education. This board is the legislative, policy-setting authority of the school district and while the board is the hiring authority and approves all hiring (following recommendations by the Superintendent or their designee), the board's only direct employee is the Superintendent of Schools. The Superintendent of Schools is the executive authority of the school district.

The Board undergoes an annual reorganization each April, where the Board elects a president and vice president from among their number.

Board of Education

Members of the Board of Education are elected to four year terms, with elections held in the Spring of odd-numbered years. Candidates must be 18 years old, a legal resident of the district for at least one year prior to the election, and must be a registered voter. School trustees and the school treasure for the township are specifically forbidden from running for the Board. Board members cannot have any interest in any contract with the District, and are required to file an Economic Interest Statement each year for verification.

In odd-numbered years, the Board elects a president, vice president, and secretary from among its members in the first meeting after the election. These positions are held for a period of one year. In even-numbered years, the election is held at the first meeting in the month of April.

During the April 2013 consolidated election, incumbents Margaret McGrath, Carla R. Owen and Eric Leys were each re-elected, and newcomer Mary C. Childers was elected, while incumbent Eldon E. Burk and challengers Jeffrey S. Spero and Sean M. Story were unsuccessful in their candidacies.

Superintendent of Schools

The Superintendent of Schools for Maine Township High School District 207 is Dr. Ken Wallace who assumed those duties on July 1, 2009.

The Superintendent is supported by four assistant superintendents; one in curriculum, one in business, one in technology and learning, and one in general administration who deals primarily with personnel.

Wiemerslage vs. Maine Township High School District 207

The district was a defendant in a federal court case, Wiemerslage vs. Maine Township High School District 207, 29 F.3d 1149, which helped reaffirm the doctrine of In loco parentis, the rights of schools to act in the place of parents in certain situations. The case involved a Maine South High School student who was suspended for loitering near a gate which gave access to school grounds from a neighborhood area. Students were permitted to use the gate to get to and from school, but were explicitly forbidden to loiter in the area due to complaints from neighbors about property damage and other problematic behavior.

The student and his family sued in 2012, citing violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The District's motion to dismiss the case was granted by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal, holding that the school had acted "appropriately".

2010 budget cuts

The 2009–10 school year saw the need for a $15 million cut to the district's budget. The cuts included the dismissal of 75 teachers and 62 other staff members. According to district officials, the cause of the financial crisis was due to a "flat Consumer Price Index" which helps determine property values and the corresponding property taxes from which the school raises a large percentage of its monies. The problem was identified in July 2009 when the projected deficit spending of $3.8 million for the year was found to be $10.3 million; 2.7 times larger than anticipated. At a public meeting that drew more than 3,000 community members, a representative of the teachers' union claimed that the deficit spending was due to a lack of oversight from school officials.