Seven eighth-graders at Schrum Memorial School were honored for their academic success Friday with pizza, buffalo wings and brownies for breakfast.

Teacher Susan Henke and Cynthia Revels-Young, Hoover-Schrum Elementary District 157 special services director, treated the students to a Breakfast for Champions for meeting state science standards on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test this past spring.

The youngsters' accomplishment was especially noteworthy because they are all special needs students and each one met the state's standards in science and some met the math standards as seventh-graders during the 2007-08 school year.

"It shows that special needs kids can learn," said Henke, who teaches science to Schrum's sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade special needs students.

"I'm just so proud of them," Revels-Young said.

D.157 approves hirings

The District 157 School Board last week approved hiring Tiffany Durham as a second-grade teacher at Hoover Elementary School, Pamela Davis as a part-time registered nurse at Schrum Memorial School, Judith Soltis as a reading specialist at Hoover school and Brad Ervin as a part-time technical assistant.

Durham will be placed on lane one, step one of the teacher's salary schedule. Davis will receive an hourly rate of $20, and Ervin will be paid a rate of $14 per hour and will work three days a week.

Soltis will work 115 days and receive a salary of $25,362.50, of which $20,000 will be paid by the Thornton Fractional Area Educational Cooperative using federal Title I funds, said Michele Morris, District 157 superintendent.

All of the hirings took effect Wednesday and are pending a criminal background check on each person.

Donation gets kudos

Sandridge Elementary District 172 officials recently praised Mike Atwood, the district's part-time information systems coordinator, for his efforts in helping obtain more than $7,000 in equipment through a donation from Panduit. Sandridge Elementary School will use the equipment for its expanded technology program. Atwood works as a support desk specialist at Panduit, a technology company.

D.158 to discuss special ed

Lansing Elementary District 158 will have a collaborative meeting at 9 a.m. Sept. 29 to discuss plans for providing special education services to students with disabilities who will attend private schools and home schools within the district's boundaries this school year.

Parents of children who attend a private school within the district, or home-schooled students who have been or may be identified as having a disability and reside within District 158's boundaries, are invited.

The district's special education meeting room at Lester Crawl School, 18300 Greenbay Ave. in Lansing, will host the meeting. For more information, call Rick Miller, assistant director of special education, at (708) 474-4868.

Preschool for All

Some south suburban nursery schools, child and day care centers, and an elementary school district are among the sites expanding or starting new Preschool for All early childhood education programs this year, according to an announcement last week by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Those expanding their services include Cuddle Care Child Care Center in Riverdale; Dolton Elementary District 149, which serves Burnham, Dolton, Calumet City and South Holland; and Tiny Town of Lansing Nursery.

Among those starting new programs are Smiling Faces Child Care Center, serving South Holland, Harvey and Phoenix; and Steps to the Future Day Care Center in Calumet City.

For more information on the program, visit www.isbe.net/earlychi. To find out if a child is eligible for the program, call (800) 649-1884.

Education notebook appears on Mondays. School news may be sent to Joan Carreon, c/o Assistant Metro Editor Melinda Moore at The Times, 601 W. 45th Ave., Munster, IN 46321.