Daily Archives: November 16, 2009

League of Women Voters, Peoria Public Schools

League of Women Voters to host charter school debate

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From my inbox:

League of Women Voters Invites the Public to hear about the Charter Schools Proposal in Peoria – Will this “fix” District 150 or cost money & hurt other schools?

Peoria – Should Peoria School District 150 approve a math, science and technology charter school, a middle school to be expanded into a high school? How will this impact other schools and students? How will it be financed?

Cindy Fisher and Vicky Stewart will explain the plans of the Peoria Charter School Initiative to open a math, science and technology charter school in District 150 by August, 2010, beginning with grades 5 – 7 then expanding yearly into high school. The plan contemplates a school with 600 students, with the students chosen by lottery.

Gerry Brookhart, the Regional Supt of Schools, will explain what charter schools are and the restrictions the state of Illinois places on them.

Tom McLauglin and Sharon Teefey from the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) will present their alternative view on charter schools.

The presentations will be followed by a question and answer session.

When: 9-11am Saturday, November 21, (free) Program (8:30am optional light breakfast $8)
Where: Peoria Castle Lodge (formerly Jumers) 117 N Western Ave.

Having heard the charter school proponents’ view quite a bit as of late, it should be interesting to hear the union’s take on the issue.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Police

No council meeting Tuesday

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From Alma Brown, City of Peoria Communications Manager:

Pursuant to Rule 32 of the Council Rules, the Peoria City Council Meeting scheduled for November 17, 2009 is hereby canceled.

The cancellation is due to the City Council’s inability to make budget decisions necessary to close the deficit and bring forward a balanced budget in the absence of specific concession information from our Police Benevolent and AFSCME bargaining units.

The City Council has directed staff to continue meeting with these units in order to reach agreement on the requested concessions.

My sources say that some sort of concessions might be forthcoming from the Police union, thus accounting for the delay in making final budget decisions. Despite the wording in the e-mail, there doesn’t appear to be the same optimism regarding AFSCME. But we’ll see what happens between now and next Tuesday.