Gary fighting shortage in classroom with online teachers
Staff members and school board members wore white T-shirts with a QR code on the back and the message, 'We are Hiring!'
The first day of school is Aug. 7.
Teachers are the most prized employees, including special education, physics, and secondary content teachers.
Gary's website cited 81 job openings, including 36 teacher vacancies.
To ensure students have a qualified teacher in each classroom, the board retained Proximity Learning, an Austin, Texas-based company that operates a virtual teaching program led by licensed teachers.
Locally, Lake Ridge Schools have used Proximity teachers and its former superintendent, Sharon Johnson-Shirley, offered a testimonial featured on Proximity's website. She said Lake Ridge had been relying on substitutes, and she praised the impact Proximity teachers provided.
In many cases, Gary has been relying on classroom teachers who work under emergency state permits. Those teachers have a bachelor's degree, but they aren't licensed to teach.
Chief human resources officer Jovanka Cvitkovich said about one-third of the district's teachers worked under emergency permits last year. She said many had permits that could not be renewed because the teachers didn't meet Indiana's requirements.
'We'd prefer someone who has expertise, albeit on a screen with a classroom facilitator in place,' Cvitkovich said.
The district's ultimate goal is to have a live teacher, she said.
'This provides flexibility, they're here for us as that backup…. We can't keep doing the same thing we've been doing for the past seven years, which is having teachers not licensed. This is a backup to make sure students get what they need, which is high-quality instruction.'
Chief academic officer Cynthia Treadwell also endorsed Proximity.
'It's a very unique opportunity given what's at stake. We are really trying to drive academic outcomes. When we have teachers that don't have that pedagogy, there's a huge gap. We know high-quality teachers make a difference.'
Superintendent Yvonne Stokes said each Proximity teacher would cost the district about $70,000, but the district would also have to hire a facilitator in each classroom as a backup for the online teacher.
Proximity vice president Michael Robinson said there's a national teaching shortage with 600,000 open jobs.
'Don't feel like you're in this by yourselves,' he said.
Founded in 2009, Robinson said Proximity has served more than 500,000 students in states across the country.
The board also gave Superintendent Stokes temporary authority to hire new staff members because the board doesn't have a meeting before school starts. Teachers start work Aug. 4.
In other business, the board voted 4-0, without discussion, to allow Gary-based Edgewater Health to offer an on-site student health center at the West Side Leadership Academy.
Stokes said the collaboration wouldn't cost the district, other than the space at West Side.
Community HealthNet, of Gary, was the other applicant.
Board member Danita Johnson-Woods, president and chief executive officer of Edgewater, recused herself from the vote.
Cvitkovich said Edgewater has offered day treatment services to the district for the past 50 years, including counseling, crisis and trauma services, teacher training and parenting workshops.
She said it should be a seamless transition.
Karen Bishop Morris, Edgewater's chief development officer and communications director, said the board's support represented a vote for integrated health services.
'This is an amazing opportunity for us to continue and expand our partnership… improving access to care. We hope it will reduce absenteeism,' she said.
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Chicago Tribune
44 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
From fast casual to fine dining: 50 years of the American gyro, and a look at the dish's Chicago history
It's the lunch rush on a busy Wednesday at Dengeos in suburban Skokie. The restaurant's menu reads like the guest list for a party dedicated to fans of Chicago greasy spoons — mustardy hot dogs, Italian beefs, Polish sausages and mostaccioli abound. And, of course, gyros. Dengeos is a Greek restaurant first and foremost, and it's been serving up the yogurty, salty pita pockets since 1972. Behind the counter, between the shuffle of cooks and kitchen staff, Dengeos owner Nick Theodosis shows off the key to the joint's long-running success: three large machines, each with its own cone of rotating, sizzling gyro meat. 'These are the autodoners,' said Theodosis. 'And this,' he picked up a device that looked like a handheld Dyson fan, 'is called the Wizard. It shaves the gyro paper thin.' In 1974 and 1975, only a few years after Dengeos first opened, two Chicago-based companies, Grecian Delights and Kronos Foods, began mass-producing the world's first hydraulically pressed gyro cones. This modern marvel of rotisserie meat allowed for a more consistent, and therefore easier-to-sell, product. Eventually, the two companies merged in 2020, but in the years prior, they helped turn an ancient dish (some estimate the cooking techniques behind the gyro could be at least 2,000 years old) into a fast-casual staple, one that launched as many Dengeos-style Greek eateries as Helen launched ships from Troy. Now, over 50 years later, the popularity of the gyro has waned, as the classic Greek spots that once covered Chicago's North and West sides have dwindled, replaced by taquerías and shawarma joints as new waves of immigration have changed the city's culinary landscape. With fast-casual options out, Greek food in Chicago has moved in a more upscale direction, entering a new era of Greek fine dining that looks like it is here to stay. When Theodosis' father opened Dengeos, he had just fled a Greece where the economy had been ravaged by Nazi occupation and a bitter civil war. Long before that, however, Chicago had been a major hub for Greek immigration. According to Katherine Kelaidis, director of research and content at Chicago's National Hellenic Museum, between approximately 40,000 and 60,000 Greek immigrants settled in the Chicago area in the years immediately following World War I. Between 1945 and 1974, it's estimated that an additional 80,000 to 100,000 Greek immigrants came to the Windy City, many of whom expected to earn money they could send back to the homeland. There is actually a word in Greek for this periodic exodus, ',' said Kelaidis. Loosely translated, it means 'to go live in a foreign place to make money. Chicago is one of the first landing places for (Greek) people,' she said. When Greeks began arriving in Chicago in the 20th century, said Kelaidis, they settled on the city's West and Southwest sides, neighborhoods such as Little Italy, West Town and, of course, Greektown. Those with expendable capital began purchasing restaurants and gyro joints, places like Greektown's famed Greek Islands, which has been around since 1971, or the nearby Parthenon (where Kelaidis' grandparents had their first wedding anniversary), which closed in 2016 after 48 years in business. These restaurants were important spaces where the Greek community could gather, said Kelaidis, and they also created avenues for Greek immigrants to assimilate into the wider culture of the United States. Dino Sakkas certainly remembers his family's Lakeview restaurant, Gyros on the Spit, as a community gathering space. Open from 1973 to 2000, the restaurant was an old-school counter-service spot. Gyros, kebabs, baklava and spanakopita would arrive in red baskets lined with wax paper and a side of fries. There was always Greek music playing that would bounce off the restaurant's fake candelabras, gingham tablecloths and wood paneling, Sakkas said. 'It was a Greek restaurant, but a lot of people used to say it kind of looked like an old German brew ,' Sakkas said. Sakkas' uncle, one of the original owners of Greek Islands, helped his father start the business, but running the restaurant was really an all-hands-on-deck affair. When Sakkas' parents moved to Chicago from Greece in the 1970s, they didn't know many people, and Sakkas and his sister would spend most days after school hanging out at the restaurant. By 17, Sakkas was fully running the place. Sakkas is proud to say that, unlike most gyro spots at the time, Gyros on the Spit never made the switch to Grecian Delight Kronos Food's hydraulically pressed gyro cones, preferring instead to do it the old-fashioned way, marinating, slicing and stacking their meats by hand. This earned them a loyal following in the neighborhood. The lunch shift would see local building engineers, dinner would welcome large families (some Greek, some not) and the bar crowd would start rolling in around 2 in the morning and stay until 4 a.m. Sakkas' father would give everyone a shot of ouzo on their way out — complimentary, of course. 'I think the familiarity with Greek food, and an Americanized Greek food like the gyro, gave white Americans permission to see their Greek neighbors as one of them,' said Kelaidis of Chicago's Hellenic Museum. According to Kelaidis, by the 1960s, Greeks had moved from being seen as an ethnic minority to being seen more simply as white Americans. With white flight pushing most second-generation Greeks out to the suburbs, Greektown was soon Greek in name only. This exodus also meant fewer gyro spots. 'The block that my dad was on back in the early '70s, all the way to, I'd say mid-'90s, there were five (gyro places) on that block,' said Sakkas, 'and now there's none.' With the loss of many classic gyro spots, the Greek restaurant void has been filled by second- and third-generation Greek chefs who are putting their own spins on the classics they grew up eating. Among them is Doug Psaltis, a Greek restaurateur and chef-owner of Andros Taverna in the Logan Square neighborhood. One of the largest changes Psaltis sees from his grandfather's generation of Greek restaurants is their design. According to Psaltis, Greek restaurants used to have the 'Greek restaurant kit' — white stucco walls, azure blue ceilings and fake frescos of the motherland. This has since been replaced by more modern designs that feel more artistically driven, a change that is reflected in the food as well, said Psaltis. Whereas before you might have Greek dishes that were tweaked for an American palette, restaurants (and restaurantgoers) have now begun embracing more modern takes on traditional dishes that highlight the freshness of Mediterranean cuisine. At Andros Taverna, this looks like flying in fresh fish from markets in Athens and Barcelona, and baking their spanakopita to order rather than in large tray bakes that were more popular in the Greek diner generation of Psaltis' grandfather. When Psaltis first opened Andros Taverna in 2021, he wasn't planning on doing a gyro at all. 'I was like, no, it's not that kind of restaurant… This isn't like a quick eats place. It's a restaurant.' After playing around with the recipe, the restaurant now serves its signature gyro made with Midwestern pork, cooked over a charcoal grill and nestled in their made-to-order pitas. It's one of the most popular items on their menu, said Psaltis. Upscale gyros are also doing well on the menu at Meze Table, a Greek catering business based in Bridgeport run by best friends and collaborators Elizabeth Morris and Beth Salentiny. Like Theodosis and Psaltis, Salentiny also comes from a family of Greek restaurant owners and grew up eating Hellenic classics with a Midwestern bent. Her mother used to make a meatloaf with beef, pork and Greek spices that she would slice thin and serve pita-gyro style. She would also replace the more traditional fixings with Midwest staples like mayo, onions and lettuce — a Mediterranean meatloaf turned rustic gyro. Salentiny and Morris still make their gyros in a meatloaf pan before slicing thin strips that are crisped up on the stove. As if a meatloaf gyro wasn't Midwestern enough, the duo debuted their latest creation, the 'Gyro Hero' at a pop-up in June at Electric Funeral in Bridgeport. The sandwich features their homestyle gyro on a hoagie roll topped with a tzatziki-style slaw. You can try the sandwich at their next pop-up at Maria's Bar in Bridgeport on July 22. 'I'm so stoked to do it. It's a good blend of Maxwell Street-style counter food and gyros and Greek food together,' said Salentiny. Avgeria Stapaki, chef-owner of the Greek fusion restaurant Táma in the Bucktown neighborhood, is working on plans to open a counter service gyro joint where she will serve 'authentic Greek gyros' alongside Greek potatoes and Greek wines. The Greek-born and -raised Stapaki is known for fusing food from her homeland with cuisine from other cultures, creating flavors as uniquely Chicago as they are classically Greek; dishes like Táma's guacamole, which comes with a pico de gallo that mimics the flavor profiles of a Greek horiatiki salad, or their avgolemono ramen, which switches out the Greek soup's traditional starchy rice with ramen noodles. Stapaki said the number of Greek fine dining restaurants has more than doubled since she first visited the city in 2016. For evidence of this trend, she points toward fine dining darlings like Avli Taverna, which opened in 2018 and has a kitchen staff led by Greek-born chefs. Amid the fine dining fog, Theodosis, the owner of Dengeos in Skokie, said he will continue to serve up the classic gyros that have kept his customers coming back for the last 50 years. 'When we go to Greece, every corner has a gyro stand,' said Theodosis, 'It's just an awesome fire: Flaming saganaki sparks interest worldwide decades after its Greektown origin
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
A Massachusetts nonprofit got a $9.3 million shelter contract. A big chunk went to a board member's business.
Key Food won the job without submitting a written bid or even signing a written contract. Diaz's company doesn't appear on invoices Valley Opportunity Council regularly submitted to the state. Advertisement Officials with Massachusetts' Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, which oversees the state's shelter system, became aware Diaz was providing food last November, state officials said, after receiving an anonymous complaint. That was more than a year and half after the shelter opened. Stephen Huntley, executive director of Valley Opportunity Council, declined to say how much the nonprofit paid Diaz's company or how many meals were delivered to the shelter. But in a public audit, Valley Opportunity Council disclosed that in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2024, the nonprofit spent $945,865 on food with a company that employed a board member. The vast bulk of it was for meals delivered to the Chicopee shelter, Huntley said. In the most recent fiscal year, the state budgeted $879,887 for meals at the shelter, but with just 55 families on average staying at the hotel, the final bill will likely be less, state officials said. Advertisement The shelter closed last month after just over two years in operation. In total, the state paid Valley Opportunity Council $9.3 million through the end of April to provide various services to shelter residents, including feeding them and helping them find more permanent housing. Huntley defended the nonprofit's use of Diaz's company. He said he called at least three other food vendors for prices, adding that, unlike the state, the nonprofit is not required to put out requests for bids. Some other vendors were only able to deliver food during the week, while others were more expensive, according to Huntley. Key Food charged $9.99 a meal, according to the state housing agency. 'You can't get that anywhere,' Huntley said. 'Should I have paid $20 for a meal and not paid a board member?' He declined to provide the names of the other companies he called for estimates. The nonprofit's board didn't vote on the arrangement, but was informed of it in April 2023 and updated routinely afterward, Huntley said. The nonprofit didn't sign a written contract with Key Food because 'we trust each other… . We had an oral agreement that was good enough,' Huntley said. The cost per meal Key Food charged was 'reasonable and appropriate,' said Tara Smith, a spokesperson for the state housing agency. But Mary Connaughton, chief operating officer for the Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based free-market think tank, said the opaque selection process and lack of paperwork raise all kinds of questions. Advertisement 'Unfortunately, the people living in the shelters and the taxpayers got a raw deal here,' Connaughton said. 'Even if the price were considered low, without a contract, where are the controls over the quality of the food being served? And how do the taxpayers footing the bill know their dollars were well spent without a formal bid?' Zuzanna Zaluga, a board member, confirmed to the Globe that the deal was disclosed to the board two years ago. She couldn't recall any discussion about a contract. Diaz's family operates two grocery stores in the Springfield area, one in Chicopee and another in Holyoke, which they have owned since 2003. The stores cater to the region's growing Latino population. Diaz has been on Valley Opportunity Council's board since 2019, but said his position didn't give him a leg up. 'They could have picked anyone; I'm glad they picked me,' Diaz said. 'We could use the extra income, and also, I'm glad to help.' His company initially provided peanut-butter sandwiches and other simple meals to a small number of families staying at the Quality Inn, but as the shelter population grew, so did their needs, Diaz said. Key Food eventually hired a Haitian chef to cook more hot meals, he said. Diaz said Key Food gave Valley Opportunity Council a discount because of the higher volume of customers: charging the nonprofit $1 less per meal than its usual $10.99 catering price. It is unclear how many meals Key Food delivered to the shelter over the course of the arrangement. In November, state officials visited the shelter after being alerted of the potential conflict. Advertisement During that visit, state officials 'determined the quality to be satisfactory,' Smith said. 'They also spoke directly with families who indicated they were satisfied with the food and had no complaints.' Governor Maura Healey's administration rapidly expanded the state's shelter system in 2023 in response to the skyrocketing number of homeless and migrant families in Massachusetts, and complaints and questions about food cost and quality soon followed. The state housing agency signed a or about $19.38 a meal — even though it received complaints about the quality of its food, state records showed. Caterers have told the Globe that Spinelli's rate was an outlier, and another state agency that also provided food to homeless shelters paid its vendors 30 percent less per meal. At its peak last year, the The state is ending the program and has been closing the shelters in recent months, with just In May, State Auditor Diana DiZoglio issued a scathing Her report highlighted Spinelli's contract. It concluded that Healey officials didn't provide enough oversight and overpaid the caterer. The audit did not look at how nonprofits such as Valley Opportunity Council managed taxpayer funds in their deals with subcontractors, or what kind of oversight the state provided for those arrangements. Advertisement The state's shelter contracts only require providers to inform their own governing boards of any potential conflicts of interests. There is no requirement that they inform the state. That was a mistake, said the Pioneer Institute's Connaughton. 'That's a weakness in the contract and poor oversight in my opinion,' she said. Deirdre Fernandes can be reached at
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
What's Happening With D.R. Horton Stock?
AUSTIN, TEXAS - APRIL 17: Houses undergo construction in a neighborhood on April 17, 2025 in Austin, ... More Texas. Housing starts dropped 11.4% in March according to recent Census Bureau data. D.R. Horton has further indicated a slow start after the company missed earnings expectations earlier today. (Photo by) D.R. Horton (NYSE: DHI), a U.S.-based home construction firm, has seen a 12% increase over the past month, outpacing the S&P 500's 4% rise. Although the company has not provided any financial or operational updates recently, this surge is part of a larger sector-wide increase resulting from improved sentiment in the housing market. If you are looking for potential gains with less volatility than individual stocks, the Trefis High Quality portfolio offers an alternative, outperforming the S&P 500 and yielding returns of over 91% since its launch. Confidence in the housing market is growing as mortgage rates decline from nearly 7% to approximately 6%, enhancing affordability and encouraging buyer activity. With an increase in listings and a decrease in investor demand, buyers are starting to regain power. The National Association of Realtors projects that if rates remain near 6%, 6.2 million households may afford a median-priced home, possibly stimulating sales. For homebuilders, this could result in a renewed demand, buoyed by a decade of underbuilding and consistent demographic growth. Is DHI Stock a Buy? DHI stock is trading significantly below its 52-week peak of $197, currently sitting around $140. At first glance, the valuation seems attractive, especially in relation to the broader market. D.R. Horton has a price-to-sales ratio of 1.2, which is considerably lower than the S&P 500's 3.1. Its price-to-earnings ratio is merely 10.5 compared to the benchmark's 26.9, and its price-to-free cash flow stands at 15.0, lower than 20.9 for the benchmark. These figures indicate that investors are spending much less for each dollar of the company's revenue, profit, and cash flow. Nevertheless, a more detailed examination of the fundamentals presents a more complex scenario. Although the U.S. housing sector exhibits long-term strength, D.R. Horton's recent operational trends raise concerns. Revenue growth has averaged just 5.3% annually over the past three years, which is slightly less than the S&P 500's 5.5%. In the last year, revenue fell by 4.7% to $35 billion, and in the most recent quarter, sales decreased by 15.1% year-over-year to $7.7 billion, while the broader market achieved modest gains. Profitability appears mixed. DHI retains an operating margin of 15.1% and a net income margin of 12.2%, which are solid figures, but its operating cash flow margin of 8.1% significantly trails the S&P 500's average of 14.9%. Regarding financial stability, the company seems reasonably robust, with $6.6 billion in debt and a modest debt-to-equity ratio of 16.1%, slightly better than the S&P 19.4%. It also possesses $2.5 billion in cash—or about 6.9% of its total assets—which provides some financial maneuverability. The Bottom Line In conclusion, while D.R. Horton's valuation might seem inexpensive, this discount is arguably warranted due to weak recent growth and average profitability. The stock has potential upside if housing indicators continue to improve, but the mixed fundamentals suggest it is a cautious purchase at the present prices. Although it doesn't appear that there is significant upside for DHI stock currently, the Trefis Reinforced Value (RV) Portfolio has surpassed its all-cap stocks benchmark (a combination of the S&P 500, S&P mid-cap, and Russell 2000 benchmark indices) to deliver strong returns for investors. Why is that? The quarterly rebalanced mix of large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks in the RV Portfolio offered a flexible approach to capitalize on favorable market conditions while minimizing losses during market downturns, as explained in RV Portfolio performance metrics.
