Daily Archives: March 28, 2011

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Van Auken begs school board for what the Council denies

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I about spit out my soda when I read this in an article about District 150’s board meeting Monday night:

Some, including City Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken, asked the board to halt any decisions.

“I’m here to beg you — defer these decision until you have some community outreach,” said Van Auken, who represents District 2, which includes Columbia Middle School, 2612 N. Bootz Ave. “If you have a bad process, you’re going to have a bad outcome.”

Well, I agree with that statement 100%. But I have a few questions: Where was Council Member Van Auken when the City Council rammed through a $39 million hotel deal with only a single business day of public notice and no “community outreach” whatsoever? Where was her concern over “bad process” then? Why didn’t she “beg” the council to defer that decision?

Van Auken’s admonishment kind of reminds me of the Heart of Peoria Plan: something that’s adopted in principle but ignored in practice.

Peoria Public Schools

School board to vote on more school closures, cancelling Edison contract tonight

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Lots of controversial items on tonight’s District 150 Board of Education agenda. These recommendations were just revealed a couple of weeks ago by the Superintendent, Dr. Lathan. You can read more about the rationale behind these recommendations by clicking here (PDF).

12. CLOSING OF GARFIELD PRIMARY SCHOOL
Proposed Action: On the recommendation of the Administration the Board of Education closes Garfield Primary School at the end of the 2010 – 2011 school year and authorizes the Administration to set necessary school boundaries.

13. CLOSING OF COLUMBIA MIDDLE SCHOOL
Proposed Action: On the recommendation of the Administration the Board of Education closes Columbia Middle School at the end of the 2010 – 2011 school year and authorizes the Administration to set necessary school boundaries.

14. BOUNDARY CHANGE FOR WHITTIER PRIMARY SCHOOL
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent to make the necessary boundary changes to Whittier Primary School that were in force prior to the closing of Tyng Primary School.

15. CONFIGURATION FOR GLEN OAK COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent to change the configuration of Glen Oak Community Learning Center from K – 8 to K – 6.

16. CONFIGURATION OF TREWYN MIDDLE SCHOOL
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent to change the configuration of Trewyn Middle School to a K-8 school.

17. IB PROGRAM
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education authorize the Administration to implement The International Baccalaureate Program at the following schools: Charter Oak, Mark Bills, Sterling and Trewyn.

18. ESTABLISH A CAREER AND TECHNICAL CENTER
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent to establish a Career and Technical Center at the former Woodruff High School. The school will be named the Woodruff Career and Technical Center.

19. RESTRUCTURING OF PEORIA ALTERNATIVE HIGH SCHOOL
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education approves the restructuring of Peoria Alternative High School and relocation of the new program to the Woodruff Career and Technical Center.

20. RESTRUCTURING OF GREELEY ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education approves the restructuring of Greeley Alternative School and relocation of the new program to the Woodruff Career and Technical Center.

21. CONTRACT WITH EDISON LEARNING
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education terminates the contract with Edison Learning.

22. GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education increases the graduation requirements from 18 credits (16 academic and 2 physical education) to 22 credits for Peoria and Richwoods High School students and 28 for Manual High School students. The new requirements will apply to the 2014 graduating class.

23. HIGH SCHOOL REGISTRATION HANDBOOK
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education approves the High School Registration Handbook. The handbook reflects a change in how class rank is calculated, when the valedictorian calculation is completed and changes the PE requirement.

24. PARENT UNIVERSITY
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education authorizes the Superintendent to establish a District 150 Parent University.

a. The Parent University would be comprised of three academy sites located in the three high school regions within District 150 boundaries. There would be an academy site located at Glen Oak Primary School, Harrison Primary School and Richwoods High School. The responsibility for the development, implementation and coordination of the Parent University curriculum would be facilitated by the Family Community Coordinator in collaboration with the Title I Department. It is further recommended that the Parent-Teacher Advisory Committee serve in an advisory and advocacy capacity for the Parent University. Its primary role would be to oversee and promote the Parent University’s vision.

I haven’t seen an explanation of what’s going to happen to the vacated buildings as a result of these actions, except for the old social security administration office on Knoxville that District 150 inexplicably acquired and remodeled while trying to save money by closing other buildings several years ago. What will happen to Greeley? Or the old Washington School building on Moss? What impact will these decisions have on neighborhoods and transportation/busing overall? Perhaps these issues will be discussed tonight.

Peoria Journal Star

PJStar.com to start charging for content

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On April 4, the Journal Star will start charging to see their news articles online. You’ll get a few articles for free each month, but then the rest will be behind a pay wall. You can read about it here and here.

I think it’s a good idea. I cancelled my 7-day-a-week subscription to the Journal Star precisely because they were putting all the same information online for free. Why should I shell out around $200 a year for material everyone else is getting for free? I mean, if the Journal Star wants to give away their content, then I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, right?

Now that they’re going to start charging, I’ll consider resubscribing. However, I’m probably not going to subscribe to the print edition again. Why? Because it doesn’t include the web content.

Users who currently receive a seven-day subscription to the Journal Star are eligible for full online access for $1.49 a month or $9.95 per year. For those who do not subscribe to the Journal Star, the cost will be $6.95 per month or $69.95 per year.

That’s right: if you pay $200 a year for the print edition, they won’t throw in the web access for free (like, say, the New York Times does, even for its Sunday-only subscribers). You’ll have to pay even more to get the same information on the website. I think the news the Journal Star provides has value and is worth paying for — but not worth paying twice for the same thing (except when they endorsed me, I did buy a couple of print copies — it was worth it then!).

So, once the pay wall goes up, I think I’ll pick up the web-only subscription and leave it at that.

Bradley University

Bradley names new men’s basketball coach

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From my inbox:

Geno Ford, the Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year the last two seasons at Kent State University, will become the 13th head coach in Bradley Basketball history when he is formally introduced to the public during a noon press conference Monday in the Renaissance Coliseum arena.

The press conference will be open to the public and will be streamed live online at BradleyBraves.com. The Main Street Parking Deck will be open to members of the media and all attendees are encouraged to enter the arena through the Nick & Nancy Owens Atrium. The event also will be streamed live at http://www.bradley.edu/inthespotlight/story/?id=130731.

Ford replaces recently-fired men’s basketball coach Jim Les.