Daily Archives: May 26, 2009

City of Peoria, History

Name That Peoria Landmark* – Sandy’s Sheridan Road

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*With apologies to PeoriaIllinoisan and NTPL.

 

peoria-landmark

Hint: The building still stands today.

Many readers remembered Sandy’s on Sheridan, across the street from Sheridan Village. The building is now occupied by Dairy Queen. I got the above picture and the following information from this website on the history of the fast food chain:

Peoria Sandy’s Sheridan Road was Sandy’s number one. It opened on August 8th, 1958 and was originally planned to be one of the first McDonalds east of the Mississippi River. Ray Krok, however, changed the leasing agreement to his favor when the building was being built. The founders of Sandy’s were not happy with the new terms which were violations of the original contract. They decided to follow the McDonald’s playbook and open their own drive-in and called it Sandy’s which is a Scottish play on the Irish McDonalds and to present a theme of swift and thrift service….

The choice of Peoria turned out to be a great one and by 1961 there were three Sandy’s locations in the city which were incredibly popular. Supported by Peoria’s numerous high schools as well as Bradley University, they became powerhouse businesses and Sandy’s was on its way spreading across the nation and becoming a dominant force in the fast food industry….

Sandy’s Peoria was not only the birthplace of the chain but it also was the spearhead of the transition between Hardees and Sandy’s. Sandy’s was in need of capital for expansion as well as to keep up with the leading fast food rivals in the nation. Based in Kewanee, Illinois, Sandy’s had one bank for financing. McDonalds, on the other hand was based in Chicago and had many of the most powerful banks in the world to choose from to finance their expansion plans. In order to compete, Sandy’s had to either issue stock or merge with a competitor. Hardees, on the other hand, needed Sandy’s strength, which was its board of directors and had plenty of capital. The merger made total sense….

The merger itself was announced in December of 1971. At some point, most likely in 1972, Sandy’s decided that it was in its interest to allow Hardees to buy the corporation out and become one…. Ninety percent of Sandy’s by this point had converted into Hardees. A few locations such as the Muscatine, Iowa Sandy’s remained Sandy’s well into the late 1970’s! Other locations became independant operators such as Bucky’s in Lawrence Kansas which continues to this day in 2004!

Peoria Public Schools

Plan to cut library managers surprises board members

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Last week, word started getting out that District 150 was looking at possibly saving money by getting rid of nearly all library managers:

The recommendation calls for the elimination of 23 library positions, said Deb Chavez, president of the Local 6099 support staff and cafeteria union. It would affect nearly all of the primary and middle schools in the district.

Not affected are the four high schools, the two Edison-operated schools and Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Center, where the positions are either certified teachers or set up differently than the rest of the district, Hinton said.

Parents started writing to their school board members protesting this latest plan as ill-advised. Here’s an example of one of the letters that was sent:

Dear [board member],

We have a kindergartner at Whittier Primary School. We are very pleased with our experience at the school and with the staff. Our son loves school and has enjoyed learning. He has specifically enjoyed learning how to read and experiencing the Accelerated Reader program with our school librarian Mrs. Burtsfield. Hence, the proposal of eliminating school library managers saddens my family and me.

The importance of reading and learning how to utilize the library system is a value tool that will follow these children through life. School library programs and resources play a vital role in the development of information-literate students. Research studies continue to show that an active school library program makes a significant difference to student learning outcomes.

In closing, we urge you to please vote against the proposal of eliminating library managers at the primary and middle schools. This measure would be detrimental to our children.

Then parents started getting responses from board members. Several board members said they learned of the proposal like everyone else — from the media. They expressed surprise, and more than a few said they were opposed to such a move. Now there’s speculation that the administration might abandon the proposal. While I would welcome such an outcome, I’ll believe it when I see it (or don’t see it, in this case).

The question I’ve heard over and over is this: Where’s the proposal for deep cuts to the administration? Why are administrator jobs being protected, while those with direct student contact are being heaviest hit with these cost-saving proposals?