John Asplund's Blog Page
Greetings! Welcome to my blog. To be honest, I have never posted a blog before and am a bit unsure of what to include in here. I thought it would be appropriate to introduce myself and my family, so I have included a picture below (hint: I'm the one with glasses).
The story of my family is also somewhat the story of what led me to Lake Bluff. I have held several positions in different districts throughout Illinois. At one time, I was a high school principal near Decatur. While principal there, I married my wonderful wife, Julie. After spending two years at that district, where I was also district curriculum director, athletic director and part-time guidance counselor, Julie and I moved to a community near Bloomington-Normal, where I served as High School Principal and District Curriculum Director. During our stay, Isaac was born. Isaac is now in 3rd grade at LBES.
After two years, we moved again...this time to a district near Champaign/Urbana, where I was Superintendent, Business Manager, Curriculum Director, Special Education Director and Director of Food Service (I even served as K-8 Principal for a semester). During our two-year stay, Elijah (we call him Eli) was born. Eli is now in 1st grade at LBES.
From there, we moved to a community and school district near Joliet, where I was Superintendent and Business Manager for five years. In our first year there, our daughter Clara was born. Clara is currently attending preschool in Lake Forest and will be a kindergartner at LBES next year.
Julie is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where she earned a degree in Dietetics.
As for me, I am a graduate of Augustana College, with a degree in English Literature and Speech Communications. I also hold a Master's and Specialist Degree from Western Illinois University and a Doctor of Education Degree from Illinois State University.
We are thrilled to be in this community and I am proud to serve as the district superintendent.
Comments
(unauthenticated)
Jan 24, 2010
Nice picture
mfoster
Jan 28, 2010
Cool!
(unauthenticated)
Feb 28, 2010
You really do look like that!
Ed (unauthenticated)
Mar 3, 2010
Dr. Asplund, With an increase in the amount of technology being used in the district (i.e. a whole additional grade of lap tops), why is there a decrease in technology support staff. Was there redundancy in tech positions and duties? How will computer/tech remain a viable learning tool without, experienced people to maintain it? That does not seem "cost effective" whatsoever.
Also, what Administrative cutbacks are being made? Have you Dr. Asplund, taken a pay cut? I'm not exactly sure what your salary is but I would imagine it is almost 3 times (or more) that of some of the staff or teachers being let go.
John Asplund
Mar 3, 2010
Ed, we feel that we still have an appropriate number of technical support staff employed to maintain a viable technology program K-8. I am not at liberty to fully discuss administrative cuts at this time, and, no I am not taking a pay cut, but I am taking a pay freeze for next year. The decision to freeze my salary was the very first decision made when we began taking measures to reduce our costs for next year.
Cheri (unauthenticated)
Mar 5, 2010
I'm curious why the School District held Kindergarten registration at the Park District when it has a new state-of-the-art building as well as an unoccupied East School building?
John Asplund
Mar 5, 2010
Cheri, we held it at the Park District so that parents would have an easier time finding a parking place, as opposed to the school, where little parking could be offered due to the fact that school was in session on that day.
As for East, it isn't vacant. All District offices are still housed at East, but that wasn't the reason we decided against using it. The Park District building is much more wheelchair accessible and we wanted to make sure we were providing for the comfort of all parents who needed to register their child(ren).
The Park District was very generous to us in offering a great deal of space to us that day, and we are very appreciative of our strong working relationship with them.
Cheri (unauthenticated)
Mar 6, 2010
What was the cost associated with using the Park District space (for Kindergarten registration and Special Ed classroom)? Are all the rooms at East in use and for what purpose?
John Asplund
Mar 6, 2010
Cheri, the Park District did not charge us for use of their space for Kindergarten registration. We pay the Park District approximately $10,000 for the use of their space for our Early Childhood Program.
We don't use any of the rooms in the West wing of East School. Almost all of the rooms on the East side are used for either office space or storage.
Bill (unauthenticated)
Mar 16, 2010
With the reduction in work force that is occurring in your district, how can you be sure that you are maintaining the highest level quality education? Also, has the board looked into making some positions "part time" so as to save on paying benefits that add to costs? I know that there are many educators out there who receive health care, etc. through a district, but are also covered through a spouse's insurance and don't need that benefit.
John Asplund
Mar 16, 2010
Bill, the reductions in our work force will require some duties to be shared by remaining employees. Whether we cut or don't cut, we still must ensure that we are maintaining and increasing our expectations for a quality education for our children. Much of that evaluative process continues to fall on our administrators, who evaluate teachers and programs each year. A new element will be added for the 2010-2011 school year, a formal program evaluation instrument. This instrument will be based on an outcomes model of evaluation, whereby certain expectations will be explicitly stated prior to conducting any evaluation. We will then compare what we found we accomplished versus what we said we wished to accomplish. Over time, every program in the district will be evaluated in this manner.
As to your other question, we have looked at the issue of part time versus full time. In fact, we endeavor to do that each year and will continue to do that in the future. In fact, next year we will be able to fill one of our full-time positions with a part-time position, saving the district approximately $40,000.