Construction debt reduced to $91.2M By Caryl Dierksen news@thewoodstockindependent.com The Woodstock School District 200 Board of Education unanimously approved the budget for the 2024-2025 school year at its Sept. 24 meeting. The budget includes $121.7 million in revenue and $138.5 million in expenditures. The difference between revenue and expenditures comes from the board’s decision to […]
D200 Music Boosters help the bands and orchestras play on By Janet Dovidio news@thewoodstockindependent.com D200 Music Boosters have provided invaluable support and assistance to the district’s music programs for many years. “I have been in the district 27 years and have seen the Music Boosters help in so many ways,” said Debra Schweihs, band director […]
By Caryl Dierksen news@the woodstockindependent.com “It’s all a gray area.” – Heather Brown Woodstock High School English teacher Heather Brown thought she had seen it all in her 32 years in the classroom. But she hadn’t. Last school year some of her students began handing in papers that she knew they had not written themselves. […]
Using money from its “savings account” will allow Woodstock School District 200 to avoid a tax rate explosion in two coming years. The District 200 Board of Education last week adopted a tax levy resolution that, thanks to increasingly higher property values in the Woodstock area, will lower the district’s tax rate for the eighth […]
Woodstock School District 200’s Celebrate Families Birth to 3 parenting program has been recognized with a Blue Ribbon awarded by a national organization that promotes early development education by supporting parents in their communities. Parents as Teachers Inc., based in St. Louis, designated the team at Verda Dierzen Early Learning Center as exemplary in following […]
Woodstock and Woodstock North High Schools earned places on the College Board’s AP School Honor Roll for their outstanding work welcoming more students to advanced placement courses and supporting them on their path toward college success. Both schools earned Silver recognition for expanding their buildings’ college culture, helping students earn college credit and optimizing students’ […]
Dozens of people showed up last week for the District 200 Board of Education meeting, when a public hearing was scheduled on D-200’s 2023-24 budget, which projects spending at $126.7 million during this fiscal year. None of those people, however, were there to comment on the budget, whose $9.8 million deficit mostly involves paying down […]
Staff Report news@thewoodstockindependent With an excessive heat warning in effect until 9 p.m. Wednesday and temperatures expected in the upper 90s Thursday, Woodstock School District 200 has notified parents that schools without air conditioning throughout the buildings will have early dismissal times those two days. The National Weather Service’s heat advisory extends until 8 p.m. […]
Another debt bomb looms for Woodstock School District 200. The Board of Education last week approved a preliminary 2023-24 budget that would pay $13 million next year toward the school construction bond debt that dates as far back as 2006. That payment would come from an $8 million property tax levy and a $5 million […]
For Deb Fuller, variety was the secret to career success. During the span of her career with Woodstock School District 200, she has worked in various capacities at Woodstock High School, Vierda Dierzen Early Learning Center, Clay Academy, and every elementary schools. A Crystal Lake native, Fuller followed her passion to become a certified athletic […]
Larry Lough is editor of The Independent and reports local news.
Janet Dovidio has been a freelance correspondent for The Independent for eight years.
Susan W. Murray wrote for The Independent, covering various beats, from 2005 to 2008.
Tricia Carzoli is a freelance writer and photographer that on community news.
