Tag Archives: Woodruff High School

Peoria Public Schools

District 150 continues to improvise plans for Lincoln, Central

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From the Journal Star:

Questions about eliminating four classrooms from an estimated $14 million to $17 million addition at Lincoln Middle School have led District 150 officials to step back and ask whether they should take up the project at all.

The plan was to build an addition onto Lincoln Middle School in order to transform it into a “birth through eighth” school, absorbing the students from the shuttered Kingman and Irving primary schools. Now the District 150 board wants to change or possibly eliminate that addition and use the funds to make more improvements to Peoria High School, which will be absorbing most of the students from Woodruff High School, which closes this Spring. There’s just one problem:

About $30 million in bonds have been sold, contracts signed and property deeded from District 150 to the Public Building Commission two months ago for about $24 million worth of work at Lincoln and Peoria High School. Both projects are expected to get under way this year.

So, this discussion is being held at the 11th hour — after the PBC approved the original plan, sold the bonds, and acquired the land. In other words, it may be too late to do anything about it.

This is what happens when you don’t have a clear plan and you’re working under a deadline to spend millions of dollars. The District 150 Board and former Superintendent Hinton had a five-year window of opportunity to use Public Building Commission money, and during that time they had trouble deciding on a plan. They vacillated on closing a high school for most of that time, finally voting to close it because the PBC supposedly required it in order to get the remaining $30 million available. That caused them to scramble to cobble together a plan to use that $30 million at the last minute. Now they’re having second thoughts about that plan.

Millions in taxpayer money about to be spent, primary school children wondering where they’re going to go to school next year, and the District is still trying to improvise a plan.

Peoria Public Schools

Savings of Woodruff closing keep getting lower

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First, District 150 officials estimated that closing Woodruff High School would save $2.7 million in salary costs plus $800-900k in operating costs. Then, on the night of the vote, the estimate was “$1.5 to $2.7 million.”

This morning on WCBU radio (89.9 FM), it was reported that closing Woodruff High School will save (drum-roll, please): $1.2 million.

District 150 apparently takes the Bullwinkle Moose approach to estimating savings: “Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a number out of my hat! Nothing up my sleeve. Presto!”

If only someone would have Rocky the Squirrel’s clarity of thought: “But that trick never works!”

Peoria Public Schools

D150: Woodruff to be closed

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The Peoria Public Schools Board of Education voted tonight 4-3 to close Woodruff High School at the end of this school year. Voting in favor of closing Woodruff were Board President Debbie Wolfmeyer, Linda Butler, David Gorenz, and Laura Petelle. Voting against were Rachael Parker, Martha Ross, and Jim Stowell.

What started in 1903 as Averyville High School was later renamed Kingman High School, then E. N. Woodruff High School. Averyville was annexed into Peoria in 1928, and a new building was erected at 1800 NE Perry in 1937. That was the year it was named after Edward Nelson Woodruff, who served as Peoria’s mayor for eleven terms. (Sources: Reading, Writing, and Religion by Monica Vest Wheeler; Woodruff High School website; Wikipedia)

Peoria Public Schools

D150 Analysis and Recommendation regarding Woodruff

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I don’t have the graphs and figures referred to in this document, but I do have the main text. This is the document that was given to the District 150 school board to support the administration’s recommendation to convert Woodruff High School to a grade school:

Narrative Summary on
High School Repurposing Analysis

Staff of PSA-Dewberry were asked to do an analysis of the feasibility of repurposing either the Woodruff High School or Peoria High School facilities as B-8 Community Learning Centers. That analysis involved the Educational Consultant for the B-8 new schools (Best Practices Inc.) and is summarized in this narrative. This summary also includes district-provided data and analyses of financial considerations and attendance boundaries.

This narrative summarizes the presentation by Ken Hinton, Superintendent, and Paul Kouri, Architect, PSA-Dewberry, to the board on July 20, 2009.

Status of the district.

Financial Considerations
The school district is currently facing financial challenges which necessitate reconsideration of the use of high school facilities. Improvement of the district’s financial condition is the primary reason for making changes. This also provides an opportunity to improve the educational services to all students. A reduction in the number of schools will result in savings in the number of staff needed to operate the school (administrative, custodial, teaching and support staff). An analysis by district staff shows that closing a high school saves money by reducing the district payroll by approximately 45 total staff members.

Another financial consideration is the use of Public Building Commission funds as a source for building construction and updating school facilities. There is a time limit on the utilization of Public Building Commission funding; construction must be substantially completed by June 30, 2011.

Educational Benefits
There are additional educational benefits in consolidating the district’s four high schools into three. Reduction in the number of high schools will reduce duplication of staff and enable a more focused and effective use of staff. Reducing the number of high schools will increase enrollment in courses with less demand. This will enable these courses to continue to be offered and will keep all high schools comprehensive. With a wider array of courses offered, the high schools are more likely to retain and attract students and families to the district.

Current Status of the District
Figure A shows the current status of the district and locations of the school facilities.

Previous Decisions
There are a number of previous decisions which provide guidelines for repurposing a high school. These include the following decisions made by the school board.

  1. To close one high school
  2. To close primary schools Kingman and Irving
  3. To build new schools following the B-8 or K-8 model.
  4. To utilize the remaining funds from the PBC for the Math, Science and Technology Academy, Career Vocational Center and a non-traditional school.

The requirements for the Peoria Public Schools B-8 Community Learning Centers (CLC) were developed through a community charette process in 2006 and accepted by the board in 2007. The approved CLC program includes access to and utilization of outdoor areas and green space, a village concept to encourage continuity and professional learning community development, space for project work and in-depth 21st century learning, space for extended day and week programs for students with community involvement, space for community use for adult education, neighborhood and community organizations, and child care support programming. In addition, the CLC design includes zoning of the building to enable community use during non-school times.

Decisions to be Made

The next decision which needs to be made is which high school can be repurposed most effectively. To assist in making that decision a financial analysis was done by district staff to see if there would be a financial advantage in repurposing one high school over the other. A utilization analysis was also completed to see which building could be used most effectively to meet the educational vision of the B-8 schools. The location of students in Kingman and Irving attendance area were also analyzed.

Financial Analysis Results

Financial scenarios were developed and then analyzed. These are summarized in graph 1.

Scenario 1: Current Status with all four high schools open. What will happen financially if a high school is not closed?

Scenario 2: What will happen financially if Woodruff remains the High School and Peoria High is repurposed as B-8 Community Learning Center?

Scenario 3: What will happen financially if Peoria High remains the High School and Woodruff becomes the B-8 Community Learning Center?

The Graph shows a slight financial advantage to having Woodruff repurposed as a B-8 (Scenario 3). A busing analysis shows approximately $45,000 less in busing costs if Woodruff is repurposed. However most of the $45,000 is reimbursed with a final impact on the budget of approximately $10,000.

Under the Woodruff B-8 Scenario, the busing analysis also showed that students attending from the Irving and Kingman attendance areas will spend less time riding buses.

Educational Analysis as a High School.

Both facilities are currently functioning well as high schools.

Utilization Analysis

The following questions were used to guide the process of analyzing how best to use the repurposed high school.

Question 1: Could the Kingman and Irving primary students all be placed together in one of the high school facilities (either Woodruff or Peoria High)?

The answer to this question is No. Research supports the district’s movement to a K-8 or B-8 model instead of separate primary and middle schools. Keeping Lincoln as a separate middle school would continue the separation of the primary and middle school. This is an opportunity to continue the positive B-8 initiative in the district.

Question 2: If we combined Lincoln middle school students with Kingman and Irving students, could this new B-8 school be placed in one high school?

The answer to this question is No. Two “schools” would be required to accommodate the approximately 1000 student population which would result from combining the two primary schools with the reconfigured Lincoln middle school. One thousand children in one elementary school program is not recommended.

Question 3: Could a closed high school and Lincoln school be combined to create the complete B-8 model?

Yes. The analysis of the spaces available in the two high school buildings revealed that either high school facility could be repurposed to create one B-8 Community Learning Center. Additional space will be required for either high school facility to meet the guidelines of the Community Learning Center previously accepted by the school board. Two B-8 schools would be required to provide the approved CLC program. The addition of Lincoln school is required to have adequate, efficient and effective space for the two new schools.

PSA then analyzed the differences between these two options: Peoria High plus Lincoln repurposed; and Woodruff plus Lincoln repurposed. (see figures b-l)

The primary differences in these two alternatives are as follows:

  • Location of student population from the school
  • Length of time students are riding on the bus
  • Accessibility of shared community resources to both B-8 Centers
  • Access to outdoors and green space

III. Recommendation

After reviewing the previous decisions and the analyses of student distribution, financial scenarios and facility utilization, the recommendation is to repurpose Lincoln and Woodruff schools as two new B-8. (See figure M.) Lincoln School would house all components of the B-8 model except for early childhood and the community components. The early childhood and community components at the Woodruff facility will be available for use by the Lincoln Community Learning Center children and families. Air conditioning already in the Lincoln facility will enable this B-8 CLC to be a year-round school.

The second B-8 CLC will be located in the Woodruff facility. Additional upper floor spaces not fully utilized by the B-8 components will enable this CLC to serve as a special focus school with the focus yet to be determined.

The last recommendation is to develop a task force to review the vision of high school education in the district and determine how to best meet needs of all students.

Peoria Public Schools

Counter proposals offered for D150

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While Ken Hinton continues working on his plans to close schools and cut expenses, others have been trying to come up with counter proposals. There are two so far that I’ve been told. The first one comes from Board of Education member Jim Stowell:

Proposal

Purchase homes on Perry that front Lincoln

  • Build out a birth through sixth facility – beautiful new back entrance (or North end entrance to Woodruff campus)

Push up into Woodruff 7th and 8th from Lincoln

  • Mirror academy model @ Manual
  • Use best practices and cut contract and cost
  • Focus on technology (CISCO bias)

Close Peoria High; immediately begin:

  1. utilizing Peoria High as the much needed alternative school
  2. empanel group of Admin., etc. to begin planning for a better Peoria High

Planning and completion would take 3 probably 4 years – while it is being done – facilities are temporarily used as alternative school. Other programs might co-exist, but primary purpose is for much needed alternative school

Planning Part and Vision

Collaboratively with City and Park District acquire land from Peoria High North St. to Nebraska, and Nebraska to Herke Field

With city help – vacate maintenance and the two lane cut through to create Center Bluff Campus

Acquire homes on North St. to stop light. Close through traffic on North. The 74 overpass becomes gateway to new Campus.

Seen from I-74, it replaces cafeteria area and becomes a beacon on the hill.

Design curriculum to align with UIC College of Medicine and hospitals needs – have it be the choice school for a Medical Career path.

City concurrently working in planning phase to engage in the Impact Zone concept – on both sides of interstate.

North to Richmond becomes park like one-way exiting out on Knoxville.

Park-like campus helps shape revitalization of Sheridan North.

For 3 – 4 years we gain control over our costs by consolidating to 3 full service high schools.

We begin preparing what Peoria High School becomes.

oundaries for entering could be changed to south of Nebraska (McClure)?

  • go to Manual – Manual 1100, Richwoods 1400 and Woodruff 1400
    (Manual has been land-locked)

Redraw once new Central opened

  • also with academies
  • but potentially aligned with proposed Math and Science, which, should take on a lower priority currently than the needed alternative school environment

Back fill permanent alternative program into a vacated building that could be renovated

The other counter proposal comes from District 150 teacher Scott Donahue and is based on the 2005 Structural Budget Imbalance Task Force report. The SBI Task Force was made up of community members, D150 support staff, school principals, and board member David Gorenz. Many of the savings opportunities outlined in this plan were never implemented:

SBI Task Force Recommendations:
District chose to ignore these potential savings
Item Savings Recommendation
RIF Administrator $234,000 RIF Minimum 2-3 Administrators
Three Tier Bell Schedule $525,000
Eliminate Edison Contract $3,825,000 (2009-2014) Figuring district would pay $135,000 for benchmark testing each of the five years
Eliminate Department Heads @ HS $160,000
Eliminate Controller-Treasurer $150,000 Re-assign responsibilities to other central office administrators
Reduce Admin in Buildings $1,014,000 $78,000 per person for 13 positions
Eliminate Alternative High School $525,000
Eliminate Adult Education $171,000
Eliminate Transition to Success $184,000
TOTAL Savings: $6,788,000

This did not count more administrative cuts that could be made for additional savings if reducing programs and buildings.

Questions for the board:

  1. If most items from the SBI Task Force Document were implemented then where is money/savings?

    • Administration claimed to get a “Freeze” only to receive retroactive pay later on
    • The District got better than projected savings in union’s insurance package
    • The District got better than projected savings in previous teacher contract
    • The District got better than projected savings by limiting professional development for teachers thus no advancement on payscale

  2. What cuts has the District made to reduce the deficit?

My guess is that more questions and counter proposals will be coming forward in the next few weeks.

Peoria Public Schools

Mayoral candidate opposes high school closing

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Parents and teachers gathered at Godfather’s Pizza again Sunday night to further discuss ways to keep Central and Woodruff high schools from being closed. General Parker, candidate for Mayor of Peoria, assured those in attendance that he will “stand behind [them] all the way”:

[flashvideo filename=http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Video/WHS-Protest-01252009.flv /]

Parker distributed copies of a summary report from the House Appropriations Committee on the proposed stimulus package known officially as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. The summary stated that a large amount of funding will be going toward education:

Education for the 21st Century: To enable more children to learn in 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries to help our kids compete with any worker in the world, this package provides:

  • $41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion).
  • $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $15 billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.

Parker emphasized that last bullet point, implying the closing of a high school would qualify as a “[cutback] to key services.” Thus, he encouraged everyone to write their senators and congressmen asking them to pass the stimulus bill, and then ask their school board representatives to pursue some of that stimulus money to help them through these tough economic times instead of closing schools.

Parker also criticized city employees — especially [acknowledged that many city employees, including] our “most highly paid city workers,” such as police officers and firefighters — who don’t live in Peoria. By living outside the city, the school district loses revenue that would come from their property tax dollars, he said. [Parker states in the comments section of this post that another quote from last night better summarizes his feelings about this: “We need to make District 150 the best school district in the area to make the firefighters and police want to move back into the district.”]

Others who spoke at the meeting questioned whether the school district’s plan to redraw attendance area boundary lines is legal. In the state’s school code, there is a section (105 ILCS 5/10?21.3) also known as the Armstrong Act. It says the school board has the duty:

To establish one or more attendance units within the district. As soon as practicable, and from time to time thereafter, the board shall change or revise existing units or create new units in a manner which will take into consideration the prevention of segregation [emphasis added] and the elimination of separation of children in public schools because of color, race or nationality. All records pertaining to the creation, alteration or revision of attendance units shall be open to the public.

The argument is that Peoria’s schools would become more segregated if Hines and Von Steuben students are sent to Richwoods, as is currently proposed, and that is illegal under the school code. A legal opinion on the matter is being sought.

Several people opposed to the school closings are also getting together to go over (1) Treasurer Guy Cahill’s deficit projections to verify their accuracy, and (2) the district’s budget to see what other cuts could be made instead of closing a high school.

Peoria Public Schools

Central or Woodruff campus? Pros and cons

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For all of you who wondered “why Woodruff?” here’s your answer. School board member Jim Stowell forwarded me the district’s “Merged High School Campus Selection Analysis.” It basically is a detailed pro and con list for each campus. I think it helps explain the administration’s recommendation that Peoria High be used for the new “merged” high school and Woodruff be used for grade school.

On a side note, did you know that “Woodruff [was] originally designed to be [a] junior high school”? I didn’t. I’d love to know the rest of the story on that. I wonder how it went from being a junior high school to another high school.

Peoria Public Schools

Budget not the only reason to merge Central, Woodruff

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I was able to obtain a copy of District 150’s draft “Educational Enhancement and Budget Alignment Plan.” I discovered something. I thought that the district was planning to close Woodruff and distribute its students to Central and Richwoods. That is practically what’s going to happen, but it’s not technically what will happen. Technically, the plan calls for Woodruff and Central both to be closed, and a new school created:

Close Irving and Kingman primary schools, Lincoln middle school, Woodruff and Peoria high schools … re-draw boundaries and re-allocate entering Woodruff-Peoria high sophomore through senior year students to a merged Woodruff-Peoria high school on the existing Peoria high campus.

So the question that immediately comes to my mind is, “Why?” Why state it that way? I believe the answer is that both Central and Woodruff have been in “academic watch status,” or AWS, for five years as of 2008. Do you know what happens if they are still in AWS after six years? They go into State Intervention and Federal Restructuring, and that means some really drastic action could be taken by the state:

The Regional Superintendent removes the local school board OR the State Superintendent appoints an independent authority to operate the school or district. The State Board may dissolve the entity OR the State Superintendent may reassign pupils and reassign or remove administrative staff. Title I schools must continue to offer school choice and supplemental services. Federal restructuring options include the following: classify the school as a charter school OR replace principal and staff OR select an outside management entity OR state takeover and management.

However, if both schools are closed, then the academic warning status is moot. The AWS disappears into history along with the schools’ independent identities. A new combined school will essentially reset the clock of state accountability. A cynic might say that a plan to close and merge schools ostensibly for budgetary reasons is really just an end-run around the state’s accountability standards — and their consequences.

So, despite the protests that will take place Tuesday night before the school board meeting, I’ll bet this plan is put into action anyway. It not only helps fix budgetary shortfalls, it also obviates state action against failing schools.

Peoria Public Schools

Protest planned against school closings

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Well over 100 people crowded into the banquet room at Godfather’s Pizza Thursday night in reaction to District 150’s proposal to balance the budget by closing and consolidating schools. Included in the crowd were teachers, students, coaches, staff members, parents, alumni, and other concerned citizens. The meeting started at 5 p.m. and lasted about an hour and a half. Terry Knapp was the moderator and several people spoke. Here’s a small sampling:

[flashvideo filename=http://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Video/WHS-Protest.flv /]

My thanks to Terry, Jeff Adkins-Dutro, and Hedy Elliot-Gardner for letting me publish their comments. Jeff and Hedy are running for union president and vice president, respectively.

In case you didn’t catch it, the plan is to hold a protest outside the District 150 offices on Wisconsin next Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., prior to the board meeting. School board meetings are normally on Mondays, but next Monday is the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday. The goal is to have 300-400 people from demonstrating against closing Woodruff High and other schools slated for closure.

The concerns with closing schools are many:

  • Larger class sizes — When Manual was restructured, the district emphasized that it was important to establish/maintain “small learning communities.” Now they want to combine schools that will lead to large classes of 29+ students. To make matters worse, the district is also trying to take special education children out of their special classes and integrate them into regular classrooms. So now, in addition to having larger class sizes, teachers are going to have the added pressure of helping special ed kids keep up with the rest of the class.

  • Mixing rival gangs — I’m not up on Peoria’s gang situation, but several attendees who are aware of it expressed concern about putting a lot of kids from rival gangs in the same school building. It poses a number of security problems.

  • Combining of athletic teams — Kids who are able to make the cut for, say, basketball in their respective schools now will end up being cut from the team when players from both high schools are combined to make one team. For some of those kids, sports is what keeps them in school and keeps them connected; and being cut from the team will raise the likelihood of them dropping out.

  • Edison schools not on the chopping block — No one can understand why the district wouldn’t cut Edison schools’ contract before closing down schools. A lot of money could be saved by getting rid of that private, for-profit company’s contract.

  • Consultants/administrators not on the chopping block — At the same time the administration is talking about closing schools and cutting teachers, they are adding more administrative staff. Why wouldn’t they cut the fat in the administration before they start making cuts that impact students?

As I listened closely to the rally Thursday, I noticed that this was not just about schools closing. There are some deeper issues that are frustrating the teachers. Consider that the teachers and principals found out about the District’s proposal to close and consolidate schools from the press. The assistant principal of Woodruff first heard it on the 10:00 news Wednesday night. It’s bad enough that the administration doesn’t consult their teachers and staff for input on these matters; the least they can do is inform them of their plans before they tell the news media and general public.

There was also frustration that no union representatives were at the meeting Thursday. Many teachers were incensed that Peoria Federation of Teachers president Scott Schifeling wasn’t at the meeting Thursday night, nor was anyone from the union’s executive board. An attendee who had talked to several board members reported to the group that they weren’t attending the meeting because they “felt slighted that they weren’t invited.” Not exactly the way to inspire confidence among the teachers.

Expect a lot of protesters Tuesday night, and a lot of people lined up to speak to the school board during the public comment period of Tuesday’s meeting.

Peoria Public Schools

Woodruff High School may close

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From WMBD-TV:

The district is proposing the following: Closing Tyng primary school and consolidating Harrison, Garfield, Tyng and Trewyn into three pre-kindergarten through 8th grade buildings. The district also wants to close Woodruff High School and essentially merge it with Peoria High.

And from the Journal Star:

With the proposed closure of Tyng this year, students from Tyng, Garfield, Harrison and Trewyn will be consolidated, making the three open schools all pre-K through eighth-grade buildings.

Irving and Kingman also are on the list to close by the end of this school year; the Lincoln-Woodruff site would reopen as a pre-K through eighth-grade campus.

To curb the total number of students at a merged Woodruff-Peoria high school, officials proposed creating a “ninth-grade academy” to be housed at Loucks School for a year until Peoria High could be expanded. That’s provided the renovations at Thomas Jefferson school, closed this year because of a fire, are completed in time, because those students now are at Loucks. Eighth-graders at Hines and Von Steuben schools who would have attended Woodruff or Peoria High would attend Richwoods under the plan.

This plan actually makes sense. Don’t get me wrong — I’m not at all happy about school consolidation, larger class sizes, fewer teachers, or the loss of neighborhood schools. I still think that District 150 administration is top-heavy (and heavy on consultants, aka rehired retirees) and that cuts should start there. But assuming that the school district’s financial situation is as dire as they say it is, and assuming that consolidation is the only way to bridge the funding gap, this makes sense.

High school enrollment is not high enough to support four high schools in Peoria. Geographically, we have one high school to the north (Richwoods), one to the south (Manual), and two that are very close to each other in the middle (Central and Woodruff). It would make sense to close one of the high schools in the middle. Central is the older and more geographically centered of those two schools; it makes sense to keep it.

Reusing the Woodruff/Lincoln campus accomplishes two things: it lowers construction costs because a new primary school won’t need to be built on the campus, and it preserves the building for future use as a high school if enrollments go up again someday. I also like the return to K-8 schools instead of the primary/middle school setup.

However, Terry Knapp and Martha Ross are right. The board needs to solicit and seriously consider ideas from parents, teachers, principals, and staff members — not just make decisions in a vacuum. “It seems like just one or two people are making the decisions,” Martha Ross said, according to the Journal Star. Unfortunately, that’s standard operating procedure for District 150.