Monday September 26 2005
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Jennifer Shroder thought she had a great idea for a parent group event in her St. Charles school district.
Everyone loves a free hayride, she reasoned, so she spent hours planning the logistics and putting the word out.
When the day came, Shroder showed up eager to see the smiling faces of fellow parents and children. After all, that's what parent groups like the Parent Teacher Association are all about.
Or so she thought.
"No one came," she said.
National and local trends suggest Shroder's hayride experience could be the new metaphor for parent volunteerism in local schools. Finding a mom or dad with the time and willingness to join a PTA is like a needle in a haystack - or the turnout at a hayride. You're lucky if you get just one, parent volunteers said.
"Volunteerism is probably last on parents' lists, if it's even on the radar," said Maureen Allen, co-president of Davis Elementary's parent group in St. Charles District 303. "It didn't always used to be that way. People used to fight each other and rush to be chairman of a committee. You can't even pay people to do it now."
That lament is echoed across the Chicago suburbs, but the numbers show it reverberates well beyond. There are about 6 million PTA members nationwide - that's roughly half what is was 40 years ago.
A Lombard school, for example, recruited new PTA members this year by promising they'd never be called on to help with any events.
For Amy Kerber's parent group at Elgin's Highland Elementary in District U-46, the problem is partially economic. Highland was part of a recent attendance boundary change that resulted in more low-income families than her group has ever tried to recruit.
Some have limited English-speaking ability, leaving parent group members wondering how to reach them.
"Their No. 1 priority is meeting the basic needs of their family," Kerber said. "Getting involved isn't necessarily something they can do."
Her strategy this year has been to abandon many of the activities her group used to do in favor of events requiring low manpower. Gone are the days of fairs and bake sales.
"We can continue to beat our heads against the wall, or we can get real about what our families can do," Kerber said. "We're going to be limited in what we can provide."
Recruiting grandmas
Palatine Township Elementary District 15 has seen a similar phenomenon, prompting the district to recruit grandparents to be PTA presidents in two schools. PTA newsletters in several schools are translated into Spanish and Japanese to reach an untapped parent pool.
A few parents do all the work, said District 15's PTA President Mary Podjasek. And, eventually, they move on.
"Once all these people that are really involved are gone, there's nobody left," she said.
PTAs in Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 know an affluent community in the heart of the family-friendly suburbs doesn't necessarily translate into more volunteers.
District 200 PTAs lost 1,500 members the past five years, said Betsy Bennett, president of the districtwide PTA. The problem is so acute that Lowell and Washington elementary schools in Wheaton no longer have enough parent volunteers to help teachers in the classroom when they ask for it. The Wheaton Women's Republican Club was recruited to read to students instead.
The lack of volunteers becomes self-fulfilling as it worsens, parents said. Potential recruits see only a few parents logging dozens of hours a week in the PTA and decide they don't want the stress.
Some of the decrease in PTA participation can likely be attributed to the fact that many schools are now affiliated with other parent groups like the Parent Teacher Organizations.
On the surface, the only difference is that PTAs have a national umbrella organization. PTOs do not.
National PTA President Anna Weselak of Lombard said the primary difference is focus. PTOs focus on children in their own schools and communities. PTAs have both a state and national perspective, she said.
That doesn't come for free. Every PTA member pays dues to national and state groups. Both use the money to lobby for education, leaving less money locally.
For example, at Keller PTA in Schaumburg Elementary District 54, dues are $4 per person this school year. Of that, $1.75 goes to the national PTA and $1.50 to the state PTA, leaving 75 cents left for the local group.
That's made PTA membership a hard sell for Jennifer Shroder. She'd like St. Charles' Channing Elementary School to be a PTA instead of an independent parent group. But she needs votes to do that. To get votes, she needs agreement on spending priorities.
In Elgin, Kerber would like Highland's PTO to be a PTA but said even $4 is a lot to ask some families to pay.
Weselak said the biggest myth of PTAs is that they impose strict fund-raising and spending rules. In reality, because PTAs are registered as not-for-profit groups, rules are imposed by the IRS, not the PTA, she said.
Contact is key
The groups have their differences, but both Weselak and Tim Sullivan of the PTO publication "PTO Today" agree the most important thing parents can do is get involved in their child's education.
"PTA versus PTO doesn't make a lick of a difference," Sullivan said. "Wherever kids happen to go to school, there's a parent group, and you should join it."
Sullivan and Weselak also agree that there's a new strategy all parent groups must adopt to get parents involved in a world that oftentimes makes other demands.
The first is one-to-one contact with potential members. Parents don't get involved unless they are asked to, they said. Events, including meetings, must be family-friendly so parents don't have to worry about child care. Every event should have a specific timeframe of commitment attached so parents can decide right away if they have time to participate.
Finally, parent group leaders must realize the practice of parents volunteering as a part of basic parental duties are over and start asking for two- to three-hour commitments with no strings.
"It's almost a sneaky strategy," Sullivan said. "If they give these parents a variety of one-hour events, some of them will like it and come back. If you get 50 percent of your parents to give one hour, you've fundamentally changed school involvement."
Maureen Allen said she believes the school programs will vanish as school districts turn back to the community to fund events formerly paid for by parent groups if change doesn't come.
"People just kind of think our events and the things we buy for the school happens magically," Allen said. "Something's got to give."
Monday
(News feature) Full-day kindergarten growing in popularity Early start to formal learning pays off down the road, experts say
Monday April 05 2004
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Just after Christmas, twin 5-year-olds John and Benjamin Cazel pulled off one last holiday miracle. They came home from kindergarten, picked up a book and started reading it to their mother, Debbie.
A couple of years ago, Debbie Cazel's twin daughters, Amanda and Allison, didn't accomplish that same feat until they graduated to first grade at Chesak Elementary School in Huntley Unit District 158.
"I was blown away," Debbie Cazel said. "When my boys started kindergarten they could recite their ABCs, and that's about it. They came from nothing, and now they're reading."
John and Benjamin didn't use Hooked on Phonics, and they aren't necessarily smarter than their female siblings. Instead, they are the product of an education revolution - full-day kindergarten.
There is little doubt in the education community that full-day kindergarten is beneficial. School districts are developing full-day programs to reach less-prepared students early on. But costs and space limitations are also holding back some school districts from extending the kindergarten day.
The number of educational opportunities for children 5 years old and under has exploded in the last 20 years. More and more brain research and studies on early education are showing the abilities of young children have been underestimated for a long time.
As classrooms catch up to the science, children such as John and Benjamin Cazel are becoming the beneficiaries of the added attention.
Their success and similar achievements are part of the reason full-day kindergarten programs are rapidly spreading throughout the suburbs, Illinois and the country. Just in Illinois, the number of kindergarten students in a full-day program increased more than 45 percent in the last 20 years.
The federal No Child Left Behind education law is pushing school districts to improve learning at all grade levels. If they don't, a number of penalties, including loss of federal funding, await them.
Less prepared
Improving test scores isn't so easy when it comes to certain students. No Child Left Behind standards are just now loosening up in certain areas because children with low-income, limited-English backgrounds or special education needs often lag behind their peers in the learning curve.
Also, some school districts are finding children are coming to school more unprepared than before. That means more classroom time is spent on concepts such as the alphabet that children used to learn at home.
"It's getting worse and worse, said Steve Midlock, assistant superintendent for instruction at Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59. The district offers full-day kindergarten through a "school of choice" for parents who want their children to get extra attention.
"Parents don't take the time or don't have the time to read to their children anymore," Midlock said. "So the thought is that if they are not learning their colors and names and numbers at home, then we need to have more time to teach them that."
Most children can neither read nor write when they start kindergarten, but there are few national statistics tracking trends in how much kids know coming into school.
However, District 59's entrance exam measures knowledge of basic skills, such as being able to recognize what the letter B sounds like. District 59 kindergarten students are expected to know 20 letter sounds when they begin school. In the 2000-01 school year, students knew an average of 18 sounds. In the most recent testing, beginning kindergarten students knew an average of only 10 sounds.
Reaching them early
The first chance most school districts have at snagging more teaching time is kindergarten. Preschool programs offer another chance at reaching students early, but such programs are not offered as widely. The latest census numbers show 95 percent of 5- and 6-year-olds are in school. Only 52 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds are in school.
Evolving research by educators from the early 1980s to today consistently shows kindergarten students can both withstand the rigors of a full school day and thrive in it. As a result, 15 states had mandated full-day kindergarten programs by 2002. More states, most recently Arizona, are quickly following the trend.
In Illinois, full-day kindergarten is optional for school districts. Those offering a full-day program must maintain a half-day version.
As the benefits of full-day kindergarten become apparent, more Illinois school districts are following the call of the full-day kindergarten piper. Only 2.3 percent of Illinois' schools offered full-day kindergarten in the 1980-81 school year. In 2001-02, 62 percent of schools offered it, and nearly half the kindergartners were in a full-day program.
Costs and benefits
For school districts, the move to full-day kindergarten can be a twofold benefit of better education and long-term savings.
Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 is looking to take advantage of both.
At least 20 percent of the school district's budget consistently goes to special education. That's a lot of cash for a district consistently spending more money than it takes in.
So school board member Tom Klingner is pitching a full-day kindergarten program for the district's at-risk students as part of a long-term solution.
"It gives teachers the opportunity to identify and give extra help through a longer school day," Klingner said. "If we can take the 18 percent (of students who now need special education programs) down to 10 or 12 percent, you've saved the district a ton of money. And, more importantly, those kids will be ready for high school by the time they leave us."
A similar setup exists in Lake Zurich Unit District 95. The district started a pilot extended-day kindergarten program for "at-risk" students three years ago. Students scoring below a certain level on an entrance exam are eligible for the program. About 50 children participate, and early tracking is showing increases in school performance so far, district officials said.
Some school districts want the full-day program but don't have the money for startup costs. District 23 is a relatively small school system, serving roughly 1,700 students. Naperville Unit District 203 is significantly larger with more than 19,000 students and 1,200 kindergarten students alone.
District 203 officials studied a full-day option and found nothing but pluses - except for the price tag. Like most school systems, District 203 found a full-day program would be at least twice as expensive as its current half-day program.
Because it offers only a half-day program, many District 203 parents opt for a full-day child-care program outside the district. Offering a more structured full-day kindergarten program would likely pull in many of those children. So to do it, the district estimates it would need 26 additional classrooms with teachers.
"That's the size of a whole school," said Susan Stuckey, principal of District 203's Highland Elementary. "Financially, it wasn't a possibility for us."
That reality isn't uncommon as a growing number of school districts are spending more money than they take in. It's led the Illinois Federation of Teachers and its parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, to put increased funding for full-day kindergarten on its lobbying platform.
Appropriate learning
For districts with enough startup cash, the question of what to offer in a full-day program is another obstacle. Anything involving change is often a hard sell at first. And what's "good for students" is a matter of opinion.
That's where research comes into play.
Not all kindergarten programs are created equally. Illinois does not require school districts to offer kindergarten because children are not required to be in school until they turn 7. Because it's not mandatory, there are no state standards for what a child should learn in kindergarten, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Some full-day kindergarten critics, including some parents and tax watchdog groups, worry that full-day programs can sometimes amount to little more than taxpayer-funded baby-sitting. Others worry that the extra class time puts too much pressure on young children to learn and perform.
"They are not physiologically and psychologically ready for that long of a school day," said Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center in Rockford. "Our society, broadly, is making it more difficult for children to get what they need, which is first and foremost time with their parents."
The center's mission is to promote the institution of families as a fundamental part of society.
"Children need time to be a child," Carlson said. "A glorified day-care center doesn't allow them to be children."
In a properly organized full-day program, those concerns have no basis, said Suzie Nall, a professor of early childhood education at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Nall said the growth of full-day kindergarten programs is a result of the education field waking up to the learning abilities of young children. Full-day kindergarten programs have arrived not so much because parents are working more, but because educators understand young children better, Nall said.
As far as what to offer, Nall said it's up to each school district and teacher to create a curriculum suitable for the children being taught. Full-day kindergarten should not be baby-sitting, high-pressure learning or a replacement for first grade. It's about letting the child learn what he or she is ready to learn.
"The school needs to be ready for the child, rather than the child being ready for the school," Nall said. "The program should accommodate the total child so that the child should be emotionally, intellectually stimulated and motor skills are allowed to develop."
That means hands-on, active learning mixed with play and rest time.
Students lead the way
Huntley Unit District 158 intended its full-day kindergarten to offer just a longer version of its half-day program.
In its first semester of existence, it hasn't turned out that way.
"The children have taken us in a different direction," said Chesak kindergarten teacher Meg Coppedge, who teaches John and Benjamin Cazel. "They want to learn more. I've taught for 18 years, and this is more than I would have ever imagined being able to teach a 5-year-old."
Because she spends nearly triple the time with them, Coppedge knows her students and their parents better than ever before. Graduating students in Coppedge's class know how to write sentences that make sense, read at a beginner's level and make friends. Those results have stripped any apprehension parents had about converting to full-day kindergarten.
"I'm amazed at some of the things she knows already," said Sheila Marcinkiewicz, whose daughter, Sydney, is in Coppedge's class. "My daughter has matured a lot. She's eager to learn and go to school in the morning. So you don't feel bad about having your kid there all day because you know she's with a good teacher."
GRAPHIC: What should children learn in kindergarten?
Illinois does not have learning standards for kindergarten. The Illinois State Board of Education is developing standards that most likely will be in line with what other states have in place.
Some common kindergarten learning expectations:
- Understand water can be solid, liquid or gas and change back and forth from one form to another.
- Identify the five senses and use them to observe common objects.
- Compare and sort common objects by color, shape, texture, size and weight.
- Know that people read and write from left to right and from top to bottom.
- Compare people, objects and events of today with those of the past.
- Use words related to location, direction and distance, such as here/there, over/under, left/right and up/down.
- Identify maps, what they are used for and the difference between land and water.
- Identify different kinds of jobs that people do.
- Learn what rules are and the consequences of breaking them.
- Recognize rhyming words.
- Identify sounds and blend them to make words.
- Discuss characters, setting and events of a story.
- Recognize that people use money to purchase goods.
- Understand the concepts of length, weight, temperature and time.
Sources: Indiana State Board of Education, California Department of Education, Virginia Department of Education.
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Just after Christmas, twin 5-year-olds John and Benjamin Cazel pulled off one last holiday miracle. They came home from kindergarten, picked up a book and started reading it to their mother, Debbie.
A couple of years ago, Debbie Cazel's twin daughters, Amanda and Allison, didn't accomplish that same feat until they graduated to first grade at Chesak Elementary School in Huntley Unit District 158.
"I was blown away," Debbie Cazel said. "When my boys started kindergarten they could recite their ABCs, and that's about it. They came from nothing, and now they're reading."
John and Benjamin didn't use Hooked on Phonics, and they aren't necessarily smarter than their female siblings. Instead, they are the product of an education revolution - full-day kindergarten.
There is little doubt in the education community that full-day kindergarten is beneficial. School districts are developing full-day programs to reach less-prepared students early on. But costs and space limitations are also holding back some school districts from extending the kindergarten day.
The number of educational opportunities for children 5 years old and under has exploded in the last 20 years. More and more brain research and studies on early education are showing the abilities of young children have been underestimated for a long time.
As classrooms catch up to the science, children such as John and Benjamin Cazel are becoming the beneficiaries of the added attention.
Their success and similar achievements are part of the reason full-day kindergarten programs are rapidly spreading throughout the suburbs, Illinois and the country. Just in Illinois, the number of kindergarten students in a full-day program increased more than 45 percent in the last 20 years.
The federal No Child Left Behind education law is pushing school districts to improve learning at all grade levels. If they don't, a number of penalties, including loss of federal funding, await them.
Less prepared
Improving test scores isn't so easy when it comes to certain students. No Child Left Behind standards are just now loosening up in certain areas because children with low-income, limited-English backgrounds or special education needs often lag behind their peers in the learning curve.
Also, some school districts are finding children are coming to school more unprepared than before. That means more classroom time is spent on concepts such as the alphabet that children used to learn at home.
"It's getting worse and worse, said Steve Midlock, assistant superintendent for instruction at Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59. The district offers full-day kindergarten through a "school of choice" for parents who want their children to get extra attention.
"Parents don't take the time or don't have the time to read to their children anymore," Midlock said. "So the thought is that if they are not learning their colors and names and numbers at home, then we need to have more time to teach them that."
Most children can neither read nor write when they start kindergarten, but there are few national statistics tracking trends in how much kids know coming into school.
However, District 59's entrance exam measures knowledge of basic skills, such as being able to recognize what the letter B sounds like. District 59 kindergarten students are expected to know 20 letter sounds when they begin school. In the 2000-01 school year, students knew an average of 18 sounds. In the most recent testing, beginning kindergarten students knew an average of only 10 sounds.
Reaching them early
The first chance most school districts have at snagging more teaching time is kindergarten. Preschool programs offer another chance at reaching students early, but such programs are not offered as widely. The latest census numbers show 95 percent of 5- and 6-year-olds are in school. Only 52 percent of 3- and 4-year-olds are in school.
Evolving research by educators from the early 1980s to today consistently shows kindergarten students can both withstand the rigors of a full school day and thrive in it. As a result, 15 states had mandated full-day kindergarten programs by 2002. More states, most recently Arizona, are quickly following the trend.
In Illinois, full-day kindergarten is optional for school districts. Those offering a full-day program must maintain a half-day version.
As the benefits of full-day kindergarten become apparent, more Illinois school districts are following the call of the full-day kindergarten piper. Only 2.3 percent of Illinois' schools offered full-day kindergarten in the 1980-81 school year. In 2001-02, 62 percent of schools offered it, and nearly half the kindergartners were in a full-day program.
Costs and benefits
For school districts, the move to full-day kindergarten can be a twofold benefit of better education and long-term savings.
Prospect Heights Elementary District 23 is looking to take advantage of both.
At least 20 percent of the school district's budget consistently goes to special education. That's a lot of cash for a district consistently spending more money than it takes in.
So school board member Tom Klingner is pitching a full-day kindergarten program for the district's at-risk students as part of a long-term solution.
"It gives teachers the opportunity to identify and give extra help through a longer school day," Klingner said. "If we can take the 18 percent (of students who now need special education programs) down to 10 or 12 percent, you've saved the district a ton of money. And, more importantly, those kids will be ready for high school by the time they leave us."
A similar setup exists in Lake Zurich Unit District 95. The district started a pilot extended-day kindergarten program for "at-risk" students three years ago. Students scoring below a certain level on an entrance exam are eligible for the program. About 50 children participate, and early tracking is showing increases in school performance so far, district officials said.
Some school districts want the full-day program but don't have the money for startup costs. District 23 is a relatively small school system, serving roughly 1,700 students. Naperville Unit District 203 is significantly larger with more than 19,000 students and 1,200 kindergarten students alone.
District 203 officials studied a full-day option and found nothing but pluses - except for the price tag. Like most school systems, District 203 found a full-day program would be at least twice as expensive as its current half-day program.
Because it offers only a half-day program, many District 203 parents opt for a full-day child-care program outside the district. Offering a more structured full-day kindergarten program would likely pull in many of those children. So to do it, the district estimates it would need 26 additional classrooms with teachers.
"That's the size of a whole school," said Susan Stuckey, principal of District 203's Highland Elementary. "Financially, it wasn't a possibility for us."
That reality isn't uncommon as a growing number of school districts are spending more money than they take in. It's led the Illinois Federation of Teachers and its parent organization, the American Federation of Teachers, to put increased funding for full-day kindergarten on its lobbying platform.
Appropriate learning
For districts with enough startup cash, the question of what to offer in a full-day program is another obstacle. Anything involving change is often a hard sell at first. And what's "good for students" is a matter of opinion.
That's where research comes into play.
Not all kindergarten programs are created equally. Illinois does not require school districts to offer kindergarten because children are not required to be in school until they turn 7. Because it's not mandatory, there are no state standards for what a child should learn in kindergarten, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.
Some full-day kindergarten critics, including some parents and tax watchdog groups, worry that full-day programs can sometimes amount to little more than taxpayer-funded baby-sitting. Others worry that the extra class time puts too much pressure on young children to learn and perform.
"They are not physiologically and psychologically ready for that long of a school day," said Allan Carlson, president of The Howard Center in Rockford. "Our society, broadly, is making it more difficult for children to get what they need, which is first and foremost time with their parents."
The center's mission is to promote the institution of families as a fundamental part of society.
"Children need time to be a child," Carlson said. "A glorified day-care center doesn't allow them to be children."
In a properly organized full-day program, those concerns have no basis, said Suzie Nall, a professor of early childhood education at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Nall said the growth of full-day kindergarten programs is a result of the education field waking up to the learning abilities of young children. Full-day kindergarten programs have arrived not so much because parents are working more, but because educators understand young children better, Nall said.
As far as what to offer, Nall said it's up to each school district and teacher to create a curriculum suitable for the children being taught. Full-day kindergarten should not be baby-sitting, high-pressure learning or a replacement for first grade. It's about letting the child learn what he or she is ready to learn.
"The school needs to be ready for the child, rather than the child being ready for the school," Nall said. "The program should accommodate the total child so that the child should be emotionally, intellectually stimulated and motor skills are allowed to develop."
That means hands-on, active learning mixed with play and rest time.
Students lead the way
Huntley Unit District 158 intended its full-day kindergarten to offer just a longer version of its half-day program.
In its first semester of existence, it hasn't turned out that way.
"The children have taken us in a different direction," said Chesak kindergarten teacher Meg Coppedge, who teaches John and Benjamin Cazel. "They want to learn more. I've taught for 18 years, and this is more than I would have ever imagined being able to teach a 5-year-old."
Because she spends nearly triple the time with them, Coppedge knows her students and their parents better than ever before. Graduating students in Coppedge's class know how to write sentences that make sense, read at a beginner's level and make friends. Those results have stripped any apprehension parents had about converting to full-day kindergarten.
"I'm amazed at some of the things she knows already," said Sheila Marcinkiewicz, whose daughter, Sydney, is in Coppedge's class. "My daughter has matured a lot. She's eager to learn and go to school in the morning. So you don't feel bad about having your kid there all day because you know she's with a good teacher."
GRAPHIC: What should children learn in kindergarten?
Illinois does not have learning standards for kindergarten. The Illinois State Board of Education is developing standards that most likely will be in line with what other states have in place.
Some common kindergarten learning expectations:
- Understand water can be solid, liquid or gas and change back and forth from one form to another.
- Identify the five senses and use them to observe common objects.
- Compare and sort common objects by color, shape, texture, size and weight.
- Know that people read and write from left to right and from top to bottom.
- Compare people, objects and events of today with those of the past.
- Use words related to location, direction and distance, such as here/there, over/under, left/right and up/down.
- Identify maps, what they are used for and the difference between land and water.
- Identify different kinds of jobs that people do.
- Learn what rules are and the consequences of breaking them.
- Recognize rhyming words.
- Identify sounds and blend them to make words.
- Discuss characters, setting and events of a story.
- Recognize that people use money to purchase goods.
- Understand the concepts of length, weight, temperature and time.
Sources: Indiana State Board of Education, California Department of Education, Virginia Department of Education.
(Human interest) Marines bond with long-distance cups of joe
Sunday May 23 2004
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Ed Bartt has been a Marine since he was 10 years old.
Growing up in Chicago during World War II, Bartt fell in love with the heroes who came in and out of his four-room apartment. His father would meet Marines in the corner taverns while they were on leave. Occasionally, he'd bring them back to the apartment for a home-cooked meal. Sometimes they'd stay the night, and Bartt would sleep on the floor so the Marines had a comfortable place to rest their heads.
He loved the Marines. And they loved him back. They brought his mom flowers. They'd swipe sugar and butter from the base to help with the meals. They'd even bring the knives and forks to eat with.
"For 10 to 15 years after World War II, we still had silverware with 'USMC' stamped on it," Bartt said.
So it wasn't surprising to his family when he joined the Marines just one week out of high school. Bartt became a scout in the 3rd Marine Division stationed in Japan in 1954. The training was fierce, the days sometimes long. But he always had his brother Marines.
Fifty years later, Bartt's eyes well up as his mind travels back to those days of brotherhood. He doesn't wear the uniform anymore, but he's still a Marine.
So, when a friend traveled to Iraq to entertain the troops, the retiree sent along a present for the Marines. Coffee.
Not charred, liquid blackness in a cup, but real coffee with real flavor, and a pot to brew it in, from one of Bartt's favorite restaurants, Egg Harbor in Barrington.
When Col. Dennis Arinello received the present at Victory Camp in Baghdad, Iraq, he was touched by the sentiment.
"You can't imagine how comforting it is to know that the average person understands what is going on here," said Arinello in an e-mail interview.
Arinello wrote a thank you note to Bartt touching off a correspondence that's produced nearly 30 letters between the two of them since February.
"I've never met Ed other than through e-mails, but I can honestly say I know more about the man than many who've probably known him for years simply because of the uniform he and I both share," Arinello said.
In that first thank-you letter, Arinello sent back a medallion with the Marine emblem on the front and his name stamped on the back.
"If a colonel, a high-ranking officer, takes the time to thank me and remember me as another Marine from another generation, that means a great deal to me," Bartt said.
The medallion is safe in Bartt's pocket wherever he travels from his Elgin home. It will be with him, he says, until Arinello is safe back home. Until then, Bartt will send as much coffee as he can to a brother whose face he's never seen, and dozens of other faceless Marines he keeps in his thoughts.
"These guys are getting shot and killed," Bartt said. "There's nothing waiting for them in the tent. They've got water and whatever they've got in their pack, and they may be in the field for a week at a time. They carry back their buddies dead and wounded. So if I can at least give them a cup of coffee, I've found my niche. It's a chance to participate."
Boxes and bags of Egg Harbor coffee brew in the pot Bartt sent to Iraq. The 12-cup, stainless steel pot he sent in February is posted where Ambassador L. Paul Bremer grabs a steaming mug in the morning. Another 50-cup pot sits in the 24-hour Joint Combat Operations Center where more than 150 personnel line up for a cup to start their day. Among them are Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commanding general in Iraq, and his deputy commanding general, Thomas Metz, Arinello said.
Bartt will send another 60-pound shipment of Egg Harbor coffee this week. He's also recruited another former Marine, Lou Ferrante from Richard Walker's Pancake House in Schaumburg, to send a case of coffee.
In his civilian life, Arinello is an NCAA referee. In July, he'll be in the Chicago area and meet Bartt face to face for the first time.
"I'm coming home to do some serious 'coffee drinking' with the boys," Arinello said.
When that moment comes, Ed Bartt will know he's given back everything the Marines gave him as a 10-year-old boy.
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Ed Bartt has been a Marine since he was 10 years old.
Growing up in Chicago during World War II, Bartt fell in love with the heroes who came in and out of his four-room apartment. His father would meet Marines in the corner taverns while they were on leave. Occasionally, he'd bring them back to the apartment for a home-cooked meal. Sometimes they'd stay the night, and Bartt would sleep on the floor so the Marines had a comfortable place to rest their heads.
He loved the Marines. And they loved him back. They brought his mom flowers. They'd swipe sugar and butter from the base to help with the meals. They'd even bring the knives and forks to eat with.
"For 10 to 15 years after World War II, we still had silverware with 'USMC' stamped on it," Bartt said.
So it wasn't surprising to his family when he joined the Marines just one week out of high school. Bartt became a scout in the 3rd Marine Division stationed in Japan in 1954. The training was fierce, the days sometimes long. But he always had his brother Marines.
Fifty years later, Bartt's eyes well up as his mind travels back to those days of brotherhood. He doesn't wear the uniform anymore, but he's still a Marine.
So, when a friend traveled to Iraq to entertain the troops, the retiree sent along a present for the Marines. Coffee.
Not charred, liquid blackness in a cup, but real coffee with real flavor, and a pot to brew it in, from one of Bartt's favorite restaurants, Egg Harbor in Barrington.
When Col. Dennis Arinello received the present at Victory Camp in Baghdad, Iraq, he was touched by the sentiment.
"You can't imagine how comforting it is to know that the average person understands what is going on here," said Arinello in an e-mail interview.
Arinello wrote a thank you note to Bartt touching off a correspondence that's produced nearly 30 letters between the two of them since February.
"I've never met Ed other than through e-mails, but I can honestly say I know more about the man than many who've probably known him for years simply because of the uniform he and I both share," Arinello said.
In that first thank-you letter, Arinello sent back a medallion with the Marine emblem on the front and his name stamped on the back.
"If a colonel, a high-ranking officer, takes the time to thank me and remember me as another Marine from another generation, that means a great deal to me," Bartt said.
The medallion is safe in Bartt's pocket wherever he travels from his Elgin home. It will be with him, he says, until Arinello is safe back home. Until then, Bartt will send as much coffee as he can to a brother whose face he's never seen, and dozens of other faceless Marines he keeps in his thoughts.
"These guys are getting shot and killed," Bartt said. "There's nothing waiting for them in the tent. They've got water and whatever they've got in their pack, and they may be in the field for a week at a time. They carry back their buddies dead and wounded. So if I can at least give them a cup of coffee, I've found my niche. It's a chance to participate."
Boxes and bags of Egg Harbor coffee brew in the pot Bartt sent to Iraq. The 12-cup, stainless steel pot he sent in February is posted where Ambassador L. Paul Bremer grabs a steaming mug in the morning. Another 50-cup pot sits in the 24-hour Joint Combat Operations Center where more than 150 personnel line up for a cup to start their day. Among them are Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the commanding general in Iraq, and his deputy commanding general, Thomas Metz, Arinello said.
Bartt will send another 60-pound shipment of Egg Harbor coffee this week. He's also recruited another former Marine, Lou Ferrante from Richard Walker's Pancake House in Schaumburg, to send a case of coffee.
In his civilian life, Arinello is an NCAA referee. In July, he'll be in the Chicago area and meet Bartt face to face for the first time.
"I'm coming home to do some serious 'coffee drinking' with the boys," Arinello said.
When that moment comes, Ed Bartt will know he's given back everything the Marines gave him as a 10-year-old boy.
(News feature) Should you get a Medicare prescription card or stick with your insurance plan? Many seniors are finding it difficult to navigate
Wednesday June 23 2004
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Even into her 70s, Hazel Leahy never thought of herself as a senior citizen. Then she took a tumble at work that damaged her nerves so badly she can no longer walk.
"I had to face the music," said Leahy, a West Chicago resident.
As her medical problems mounted, she felt the pain in her pocketbook, too. Without a job, Leahy, now 75, had to buy her own health insurance plan.
"Oh my God, is that expensive," she said. "It's enough to choke a horse."
Leahy quickly found it didn't pay for everything. The monthly bill for her 11 prescriptions still hit $800, even with her insurance. That's just $100 less than her total monthly income, which comes from her Social Security check.
Leahy needed help. She turned to the Medicare department at Central DuPage Hospital and quickly learned what many other Illinois seniors are finding: Benefits from a new federal Medicare discount drug card program begin this month, but experts say Leahy and many other seniors in Illinois are better off sticking with programs the state already offers.
It's not so easy to figure that out, though.
The world of discount drug cards is a confusing game of mix-and-match. No one card covers all drugs for all conditions.
"That would just be too easy," said Sue Davison, Medicare advocate for Central DuPage Health, based in Winfield. "A lot of people don't want this new card. What they have to realize is if they have their own insurance coverage, they probably don't need it."
Determining who can benefit from the new Medicare prescription discount card is a multi-step process of comparisons.
'Extremely confusing'
Medicare's will be one of more than 50 drug discount cards offered in Illinois, which debuted its own discount card this year called the Illinois Rx Buying Club. Determining which card offers the deepest discount for a particular drug is key. For seniors with multiple prescriptions, the choice can come down to picking the card with the largest discount on their most costly prescription, then paying full price for all the others.
"This gets extremely confusing," said Mary Bean, manager of DuPage County's Senior Services Department. "It's something that everyone is still trying to sort their way through."
Bean admitted even she hasn't mastered all the aspects of the card.
Bill Anderson, co-owner of Oswald's Pharmacy in Naperville, hasn't noticed a groundswell of seniors using the card. He likewise said the number of options has made it difficult for elderly customers to choose which is best for them.
"It's so new, and I think most people are so confused that they hang back," he said.
One thing seems clear so far to local experts: The new federal Medicare discount cards don't offer that much for Illinois residents.
For instance, the Medicare cards offer a $600 credit to people falling below the federal poverty level. Illinois' SeniorCare program offers a similar credit, but it provides $1,750.
"There may be a situation that someone may benefit more by the federal card than SeniorCare, but I don't know what that situation is," said Linda Seyler of the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging.
The Medicare card and SeniorCare program both siphon from the same pool of federal dollars. Seniors can't double-dip by enrolling in both programs. They must choose one or the other.
"If I could only have the Medicare card or SeniorCare, I'll take the latter," Seyler said.
Of Illinois' three pharmaceutical programs, SeniorCare is for the poorest senior citizens. That includes Leahy. Her monthly income is so low she easily qualifies for the SeniorCare program. Her $800 monthly drug bill will shrink to as low as $1 per prescription if she can find a generic version.
In the other two programs, Circuit Breaker and the Illinois Rx Buying Club, seniors can also carry a Medicare discount card.
'No card compares'
Circuit Breaker covers most drugs that treat 10 of the most common conditions of old age, such as Alzheimer's disease. Drugs through that program come with either a $3 co-pay or no co-pay at all.
"It's comprehensive for those who qualify," Seyler said. "No discount card from any source can compare to that."
Circuit Breaker participants are also enrolled in the Illinois Rx Buying Club, for which all seniors qualify, regardless of income. The club offers discounts up to 20 percent for drugs on the program's list. That's one instance where a Medicare discount card might be useful, Seyler said. If Illinois' programs don't offer a discount for a particular drug, a Medicare card might.
The other benefit will be to procrastinators, said Polly Maschinski, coordinator of advocacy and support for senior services at Kenneth Young Center in Elk Grove Village. Illinois seniors who forgot to enroll or re-enroll in state programs earlier this year will lose benefits July 1. The Medicare card could serve as a small bridge until those seniors can re-apply, Maschinski said. Only about 66,000 Illinois seniors re-enrolled in the circuit breaker program this year.
"We know there's more seniors than that," she said. "So where are the rest of them?"
Drug vendors offer their own Medicare-approved cards. Those work for all drugs the particular vendor provides. But those companies also set the discounts, so they often change from week to week. That's when a senior may get stuck with a useless card.
A senior could sort through all the information, find a card with the best discount for him or her, then end up with a useless card if the discount evaporates. Once seniors pick a Medicare drug card, they can't change cards for one year, except in several unusual circumstances such as a move out of state. Only one Medicare-approved card can be had at any time.
A piece of the action
Then there's the option of drug discount cards that don't carry the Medicare-approval stamp. Dozens of those cards exist, and there's no limit to how many a person can have. The Medicare-approved card can cost no more than $30 per year by law. Cards without the Medicare stamp don't have membership fee limits. Aside from not carrying the Medicare label, the cards work the same.
"Individual companies, drug houses, pharmacies, insurance companies, anybody under the sun can just jump their butt right in here and do this," Maschinski said. "Everybody wants a piece of the action."
The process of weeding out which card, if any, is a good buy is so tough that Lake County's Warren Township is offering counseling with a social worker for the confused.
"People can't just pick a card and go with it," said Joanne Adams, director of the township's senior services. "They need to research it. Most of the people who come in find, if they already have a discount of any kind, the discount the cards offer isn't any cheaper."
Illinois' Rx Buying Club card costs $25. Seyler used to be a big advocate of it and promoted it - until reports of the actual benefits trickled back to her. That's when she decided all the discount cards, Illinois' included, only provide the illusion of relief.
"The market works in way where a 10- to 20-percent discount is just not that much," Seyler said. "When you have a senior living on limited income and they are paying $500 a month for medications, the savings just doesn't get them there. They're still choosing between medicine and food."
So how many Illinois seniors will see any benefit from the new Medicare drug cards?
"Not many," Maschinski said. "It's going to be few and far between."
That's OK with Leahy. She still has diabetes and high cholesterol. She has to call the senior citizens cab service to make her doctors appointments. But now she has enough money to get by.
"Now," she said, "I can live."
James Fuller Daily Herald Staff Writer
Even into her 70s, Hazel Leahy never thought of herself as a senior citizen. Then she took a tumble at work that damaged her nerves so badly she can no longer walk.
"I had to face the music," said Leahy, a West Chicago resident.
As her medical problems mounted, she felt the pain in her pocketbook, too. Without a job, Leahy, now 75, had to buy her own health insurance plan.
"Oh my God, is that expensive," she said. "It's enough to choke a horse."
Leahy quickly found it didn't pay for everything. The monthly bill for her 11 prescriptions still hit $800, even with her insurance. That's just $100 less than her total monthly income, which comes from her Social Security check.
Leahy needed help. She turned to the Medicare department at Central DuPage Hospital and quickly learned what many other Illinois seniors are finding: Benefits from a new federal Medicare discount drug card program begin this month, but experts say Leahy and many other seniors in Illinois are better off sticking with programs the state already offers.
It's not so easy to figure that out, though.
The world of discount drug cards is a confusing game of mix-and-match. No one card covers all drugs for all conditions.
"That would just be too easy," said Sue Davison, Medicare advocate for Central DuPage Health, based in Winfield. "A lot of people don't want this new card. What they have to realize is if they have their own insurance coverage, they probably don't need it."
Determining who can benefit from the new Medicare prescription discount card is a multi-step process of comparisons.
'Extremely confusing'
Medicare's will be one of more than 50 drug discount cards offered in Illinois, which debuted its own discount card this year called the Illinois Rx Buying Club. Determining which card offers the deepest discount for a particular drug is key. For seniors with multiple prescriptions, the choice can come down to picking the card with the largest discount on their most costly prescription, then paying full price for all the others.
"This gets extremely confusing," said Mary Bean, manager of DuPage County's Senior Services Department. "It's something that everyone is still trying to sort their way through."
Bean admitted even she hasn't mastered all the aspects of the card.
Bill Anderson, co-owner of Oswald's Pharmacy in Naperville, hasn't noticed a groundswell of seniors using the card. He likewise said the number of options has made it difficult for elderly customers to choose which is best for them.
"It's so new, and I think most people are so confused that they hang back," he said.
One thing seems clear so far to local experts: The new federal Medicare discount cards don't offer that much for Illinois residents.
For instance, the Medicare cards offer a $600 credit to people falling below the federal poverty level. Illinois' SeniorCare program offers a similar credit, but it provides $1,750.
"There may be a situation that someone may benefit more by the federal card than SeniorCare, but I don't know what that situation is," said Linda Seyler of the Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging.
The Medicare card and SeniorCare program both siphon from the same pool of federal dollars. Seniors can't double-dip by enrolling in both programs. They must choose one or the other.
"If I could only have the Medicare card or SeniorCare, I'll take the latter," Seyler said.
Of Illinois' three pharmaceutical programs, SeniorCare is for the poorest senior citizens. That includes Leahy. Her monthly income is so low she easily qualifies for the SeniorCare program. Her $800 monthly drug bill will shrink to as low as $1 per prescription if she can find a generic version.
In the other two programs, Circuit Breaker and the Illinois Rx Buying Club, seniors can also carry a Medicare discount card.
'No card compares'
Circuit Breaker covers most drugs that treat 10 of the most common conditions of old age, such as Alzheimer's disease. Drugs through that program come with either a $3 co-pay or no co-pay at all.
"It's comprehensive for those who qualify," Seyler said. "No discount card from any source can compare to that."
Circuit Breaker participants are also enrolled in the Illinois Rx Buying Club, for which all seniors qualify, regardless of income. The club offers discounts up to 20 percent for drugs on the program's list. That's one instance where a Medicare discount card might be useful, Seyler said. If Illinois' programs don't offer a discount for a particular drug, a Medicare card might.
The other benefit will be to procrastinators, said Polly Maschinski, coordinator of advocacy and support for senior services at Kenneth Young Center in Elk Grove Village. Illinois seniors who forgot to enroll or re-enroll in state programs earlier this year will lose benefits July 1. The Medicare card could serve as a small bridge until those seniors can re-apply, Maschinski said. Only about 66,000 Illinois seniors re-enrolled in the circuit breaker program this year.
"We know there's more seniors than that," she said. "So where are the rest of them?"
Drug vendors offer their own Medicare-approved cards. Those work for all drugs the particular vendor provides. But those companies also set the discounts, so they often change from week to week. That's when a senior may get stuck with a useless card.
A senior could sort through all the information, find a card with the best discount for him or her, then end up with a useless card if the discount evaporates. Once seniors pick a Medicare drug card, they can't change cards for one year, except in several unusual circumstances such as a move out of state. Only one Medicare-approved card can be had at any time.
A piece of the action
Then there's the option of drug discount cards that don't carry the Medicare-approval stamp. Dozens of those cards exist, and there's no limit to how many a person can have. The Medicare-approved card can cost no more than $30 per year by law. Cards without the Medicare stamp don't have membership fee limits. Aside from not carrying the Medicare label, the cards work the same.
"Individual companies, drug houses, pharmacies, insurance companies, anybody under the sun can just jump their butt right in here and do this," Maschinski said. "Everybody wants a piece of the action."
The process of weeding out which card, if any, is a good buy is so tough that Lake County's Warren Township is offering counseling with a social worker for the confused.
"People can't just pick a card and go with it," said Joanne Adams, director of the township's senior services. "They need to research it. Most of the people who come in find, if they already have a discount of any kind, the discount the cards offer isn't any cheaper."
Illinois' Rx Buying Club card costs $25. Seyler used to be a big advocate of it and promoted it - until reports of the actual benefits trickled back to her. That's when she decided all the discount cards, Illinois' included, only provide the illusion of relief.
"The market works in way where a 10- to 20-percent discount is just not that much," Seyler said. "When you have a senior living on limited income and they are paying $500 a month for medications, the savings just doesn't get them there. They're still choosing between medicine and food."
So how many Illinois seniors will see any benefit from the new Medicare drug cards?
"Not many," Maschinski said. "It's going to be few and far between."
That's OK with Leahy. She still has diabetes and high cholesterol. She has to call the senior citizens cab service to make her doctors appointments. But now she has enough money to get by.
"Now," she said, "I can live."
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