The first test // Bus changes, outages frazzle some nerves

Freshly sharpened pencils and new notebook tucked into his LooneyTunes backpack, Tom Passarelli has only one thing to do beforeheading out to the bus and beginning the school year.

He has to run out to the garden and pick a fresh tomato andpepper for his teacher.

"It'll be fun," the 6-year-old said when asked what he expected offirst grade at Orland Park Elementary. "Fun" was the same adjectivehe used to describe the professional wrestling match he and hisbrother, J.J., had seen the night before. It's also not the firstword many school administrators would pick to describe a day thatoften brings headaches along with smiles.

Tuesday was the first day back for Orland Park District 135 andmore than a dozen districts from Chicago to Arlington Heights andAurora East to Waukegan. In addition to normal headaches of missedbuses and getting students assigned to the right schools and rooms,many struggled with problems that ranged from power outages to staffshortages.

Students in Glenbard High School District 87 stayed home whilestriking teachers walked picket lines for a second day.

Besides keeping about 8,000 students out of classes, the firststrike in the district's history also forced Glenbard East andGlenbard North to forfeit Friday's football games. Glenbard Southand Glenbard West will forfeit Saturday games unless the strike isresolved today.

In Chicago, the year opened with the news that 26 schools wereoff the academic probation list. The decrease in the number ofschools where less than 15 percent of students are reading atnational norms is "further evidence that test scores are up and kidsare improving academically," schools chief Paul Vallas said.

Three grade schools were added to the list, bringing the finalnumber on probation to 36 of 74 high schools - or nearly half - and55 of 484 elementary schools.

At Disney Magnet, a new early-start busing plan left 200 parentscomplaining about problems. But Vallas said Disney was one of onlyfour schools with busing problems, and the number was not unusual foropening day.

Storms knocked out electricity to 20 Chicago schools, but bymidday only six or seven were operating without power.

Aurora East had power outages Monday afternoon but managed tohave everything working before Tuesday's opening bell, said Supt.Charles Ponquinette. The tougher problem to solve is teachervacancies, he said. His schools need bilingual, special educationand industrial arts instructors.

"They're specialized areas and there's great demand," he said.Classes will be covered by other teachers or substitutes untilteachers are found.

Waukegan District 60 is having similar problems.

"We had them filled, but employees can shop in a variety ofdistricts for the best deal they can get," Supt. George R. Kurtzsaid.

While school administrators deal with the problems of opening aschool year, second-grader J.J. Passarelli has been telling hisbrother all about first grade. "It's challenging," he said of hisschool. "The thing I missed most was recess."

Contributing: Dan Rozek