Boys Soccer Coach Schartner Retires After 34 Seasons
Mark Schartner, the winningest boys soccer coach in Stevenson history, is retiring after 34 seasons. Schartner finishes his career with a 426-208-102 record, which ranks among the top 10 for victories in IHSA history.
After taking the reins in 1987, Schartner’s squads captured one supersectional and three sectional championships, plus 10 regional titles, and the 2012 team finished fourth in the state. He also led the girls program for 19 seasons, from 1995 to 2013. During his tenure, the Patriot girls were 225-108-54 with five regional championships.
Schartner was inducted into the Illinois High School Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2017, the first person from Stevenson selected for the honor, and was added to the Lake County High Schools Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
He will continue to coach the Allied Soccer team with Shannon Mauro.
O’Connell to Start at QB for Purdue on Saturday
SHS alumnus Aidan O’Connell (Class of 2017) will be the starting quarterback when Purdue travels to Evanston on Saturday to take on Northwestern. He is believed to be the first walk-on to start at QB for the Boilermakers.
O’Connell, a walk-on sophomore, came off the bench last week for injured starter Jack Plummer last week and led the game-winning touchdown drive against Nebraska. He completed six of seven passes for 62 yards against the Cornhuskers, and is 15-of-22 for 133 yards and one TD in three games this year, the first in which he has seen playing time. He opened the year as third-string QB, but injuries have sidelined No. 1 Elijah Sindelar and Plummer, who was No. 2. Another QB retired from football last month due to back issues.
O’Connell’s head coach at Stevenson, Bill McNamara, and current head coach Brent Becker, an assistant with McNamara, talked about their former player with Tom Dienhart of the Gold and Black website. During his one year as the starting quarterback at Stevenson, in 2016, O’Connell set school records for passing yards (2,741), touchdown passes (26) and completion percentage (61.6, with 183 completions in 297 attempts). Saturday’s game kicks off at 11 a.m. and will be shown on the Big Ten Network.
The College Career Center will hold its annual Military Week next week. Representatives from all four branches of the military will visit, along with recruiters from the Coast Guard, Merchant Marines and National Guard. To sign up for a Military Week session, fill out this form. Here is the schedule for the week:
Monday, Nov. 11: A speaker will cover the differences between enlistment, ROTC, National Guard, reserves and military academies. There also will be a discussion about the ASVAB, a career exploration assessment that is required prior to joining the military. This will be offered during each lunch period.
Tuesday, Nov. 12: Representatives of the National Guard (third hour), Army (fourth), Marines (fifth), Navy (sixth), Coast Guard (seventh), and Coast Guard Academy/Merchant Marines Academy (seventh).
Wednesday, Nov. 13: Visitors will include the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (fourth), Army ROTC (fourth), U.S. Naval Academy (sixth) and U.S. Air Force Academy (eighth).
Thursday, Nov. 14: A member of the Army Reserves will be here during fifth period.
Juniors and seniors can be excused from classes to attend, if given permission from their teacher with their signature. (You must pick up the pink pass in the CCC.) Sophomores are only permitted to attend military academy sessions during class time; they may attend others that occur during their lunch period. If you have questions, stop by the CCC.
ILLINOIS EDUCATION NEWS
Springfield teachers are headed back to the bargaining table after their union, the Springfield Education Association, voted Monday night to reject the latest proposal from School District 186. Although the district made an offer that included raises, only 300 union members voted to accept the contract, while 448 voted against.
A plan by Chicago Public Schools to shorten school holidays to make up days lost to the teachers strike has been met with criticism by the teachers union and mixed reaction from parents. The plan would cut into both Thanksgiving and winter breaks.
The resignation of Western Illinois University’s first African-American president and racial divides within Macomb are the focus of this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Jack Thomas resigned last spring after eight years at WIU’s helm. The campaign to remove the president pitted Macomb’s mostly white business community against one of the town’s most prominent black residents, offering a tableau of “us vs. them.”
His school newspaper couldn’t publish during the Chicago teachers strike, but a senior at Walter Payton College Prep covered the walkout anyway. Knowing he’d lose access to his newspaper teacher while she was on picket lines, Will Foster consulted her and started pulling together coverage.
NATIONAL EDUCATION NEWS
A Washington state measure that reinstates the use of affirmative action in admission to public colleges and universities, state employment and contracting was narrowly losing Tuesday night in early returns. Washington is one of eight states that bans affirmative action in public colleges and universities admissions decisions.
Kentucky Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, who clashed with the state’s teachers over proposed changes to their pension plan, appeared to have lost his re-election bid Tuesday night. Bevin trailed his opponent, Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear, by 4,658 votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting. More than 1.4 million votes were cast.
Over the past five years, 18 private colleges and universities in Massachusetts have closed or merged. But those schools were not alone in facing challenges. Many of the key pressures that pushed them under — fewer available students and more competition to enroll them — present similar challenges to the state’s public colleges. Over the past decade, 18 of Massachusetts’ 28 public colleges and universities have experienced a decline in undergraduate student enrollment, half of which have seen drops of at least 20 percent.
More than 500 schools have been hit by ransomware virus attacks this year. These attacks can be devastating for schools. Fortunately, there’s plenty administrators can do about it. Even if a school district is restricted in terms of their budget for cybersecurity protection, there are certain best practices they can follow to avoid major fallout. The tricky part is getting all administrators, teachers and students to follow them.
Stevenson Daily Digest 