It only took me until the second paragraph of Clare Jellick’s story in the Journal Star to start shaking my head in disbelief:
The [Peoria Public School] district [150] has agreed to partner with the City of Peoria to identify a site of about 15 acres that includes [Glen Oak] primary school, U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood announced Monday at a press conference following a meeting between local officials.
What is it with the school board and their obsession with getting 15 acres for an urban school? This arbitrary standard is the single most destructive policy the school board is following — it is the reason they wanted to build next to Glen Oak Park in the first place, and if it is not abandoned, it will damage every neighborhood where they want to build a new urban school.
Any compromise the city makes with the school district must include a decrease in their minimum acreage standards.
Why? There are five main reasons: (1) Minimum acreage requirements have been officially abandoned by educational experts as of 2004, (2) the State of Illinois does not require any minimum acreage for school siting, (3) there is no evidence that the amount of acreage has any effect on student achievement, (4) acreage requirements are counter to the Heart of Peoria Plan, which the council adopted “in principle,” and (5) minimum acreage requirements have a negative impact on student health and the environment.