Daily Archives: May 20, 2008

Peoria Public Schools

School Board should get used to hearing from parents

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Peoria Public Schools logoThe District 150 Board of Education again listened to parents express their grievances about the decision to shorten the school day by 45 minutes. The school board should get used to hearing these comments; they can expect to hear them at every meeting until this ill-advised decision is rescinded.

Superintendent Ken Hinton had the first word as he informed the board he would be meeting with parents to talk about alternatives:

[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/05192008-Hinton.mp3]

That meeting will take place Thursday. Ideally, this would be all it takes to get the district to reverse the decision. If this does the trick, I’ll be ecstatic, presuming the shock doesn’t kill me.

Hinton is hanging his hat on the idea of providing a common prep period for teachers. The thing is, he never explains how or why that is tied to shortening the school day. It’s a red herring. I thought it was funny when he talked about the “highest producing countries” (presumably producing well-educated students) having “three important aspects” of their success. He only mentioned one: common prep time. What are the other two? Something tells me one of them is longer academic learning time.

Notable quotes from Hinton’s speech: “My mind is always open.” “I’m more than open.”

Here are some other comments from concerned parents and teachers:

Mimi McDonald:
[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/05192008-McDonald.mp3]

Diane Vespa:
[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/05192008-Vespa.mp3]

Terry Knapp:
[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/05192008-Knapp.mp3]

Bill Luthy:
[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/05192008-Luthy.mp3]

Hedy Elliott-Gardner:
[audio:http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/05192008-Elliott-Gardner.mp3]

My favorite quote of the night was from Elliott-Gardner, who is a teacher at Garfield school. After Superintendent Hinton’s big speech about the research-supported importance of common prep time for teachers, Elliott-Gardner reminded the board that Loucks-Edison has had common prep time for teachers for the past ten years, and the school board voted to close it.

As far as research goes, I’d like to submit this 2007 report from the American Educational Research Association for your consideration. Citing peer-reviewed, published studies, it has this to say:

Research on instructional time has consistently found that extended time has the most powerful impact on learning in schools serving low-performing students.

Don’t be fooled. Cutting the day by 45 minutes does not simply remove dead allocated time. It removes academic learning time. It reduces fine arts education. It’s a bad decision and needs to be reversed.

2008 Campaign

Darin LaHood pizza party at Agatucci’s

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From a press release:

Mayor Ardis, City Leaders Hosting Free Pizza Party Featuring State’s Attorney Candidate Darin LaHood
Crime in City to be among topics for discussion
at Agatucci’s on Thursday evening

Peoria, IL – Darin LaHood, candidate for Peoria County State’s Attorney, is the featured guest this Thursday (May 22) at Agatucci’s Restaurant (2607 N. University) from 5-8 p.m. Mayor Jim Ardis and seven members of the Peoria City Council are organizing the event designed to open dialogue between Peorians and the City’s elected leadership on issues related to crime and how that affects area employment, education and quality of life. LaHood is considered by many in the community to be the candidate for State’s Attorney who understands individual community members’ perspectives on such issues and is open to continued discussions and working together to find solutions.

“Peoria is fortunate to have a very diverse and accessible leadership on its City Council,” said LaHood. “I believe that when it comes to fighting crime in our community there are some weak spots, the State’s Attorney’s office among those. For Peoria to grow and flourish as a community, we must continue to elect individuals who know their constituencies, who don’t shy away from frank discussions about our problems and who aggressively want to work for solutions.”

In addition to Mayor Ardis, seven Peoria City Council Members are listed as organizers of this community outreach event, including: Gary Sandberg, Eric Turner, Patrick Nichting, Bob Manning, George Jacob, Ryan Spain and Jim Montelongo. All Peorians with concerns about the community are encouraged to attend some portion of the evening.

Darin LaHood, 39, was born and raised in Peoria. He is a former Chief Terrorism and Federal Prosecutor who served four years with U.S. Department of Justice in Las Vegas, Nevada. LaHood was also an Assistant State’s Attorney in both Tazewell and Cook counties. LaHood and his wife Kristen returned home to Peoria in 2005 to raise their three children: McKay, Luke, and Teddy. LaHood currently practices law with the firm of Miller, Hall, & Triggs. Darin and Kristen are active in numerous Peoria charitable and civic organizations and are members of St. Vincent de Paul Church. Visit www.DarinLaHood.com to learn more about the candidate, volunteer opportunities, or to contribute to the campaign.