Category Archives: Peoria Public Schools

Peoria Public Schools

D150 Analysis and Recommendation regarding Woodruff

106 Comments

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

Peoria Charter School Initiative with some observations

53 Comments

From a press release:

Community Leaders Form
Peoria Charter School Initiative

PEORIA, IL…July 6, 2009…

Please join us Tuesday, July 7th at 10am at the Peoria NEXT Innovation Center at 801 Main Street, Peoria as we announce details on the formation of the Peoria Charter School Initiative (PCSI).

This combined group of business leaders, educators and citizens, led by former Caterpillar Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Glen Barton, hopes to establish the first charter public school in Peoria.

PCSI, a not-for-profit organization, recently submitted its Letter of Intent to the Peoria District 150 Board of Education for consideration as the local entity that will be awarded the charter for the Peoria Math, Science & Technology Charter School (PMST).

Tuesday morning you will be meeting the members of the PCSI and hear more on their plans for PMST.

About PCSI
The Peoria Charter School Initiative is a not-for-profit 501c3 organization established to become the charter public school entity for Peoria Public School District 150. For more information, please visit www.peoriacharterschools.com.

I took a look at the website — here’s a list of people who are on the advisory and steering committees of the proposed charter school:

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

  • Ken Hinton – Peoria Public Schools
  • Dr. David Gorenz – Peoria Board of Ed/OSF
  • Mary Spangler – Peoria Board of Ed/Parent
  • Glen Barton – Caterpillar (retired)
  • Dr. John Erwin – Illinois Central College
  • Dr. Jeff Nelson – Regional Office of Education
  • Dr. John Avendano – Illinois Central College
  • Barbara VanAuken – City of Peoria Councilwoman/Renaissance Park
  • Mike Dugard – Renaissance Park Commissioner/OLLI, Retired Teacher
  • Sue Wozniak – Methodist Medical Center
  • Dr. Cindy Fischer – Peoria Public Schools/Renaissance Park Commissioner
  • James Richmond – E-Serve
  • Alice Price – Methodist Medical Center
  • Dr. Sarah Rush – UNICOMP
  • Dr. John Halverson – UNICOMP
  • Jeff Bennington – CGN
  • Elizabeth Shultz – Caterpillar
  • Carry Wahlfeld – Parent
  • Jeff McCombs – Farnsworth Group
  • Mac Pogue – Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Bradley University; IBM, retired
  • Dr. Bob Bolla – Bradley University
  • Dr. Joan Sattler – Bradley University
  • McFarland Bragg – PCCEO
  • Jim Montelongo – Advanced CAD/CAM, City of Peoria – Councilman
  • Laraine Bryson – Tri-County Urban League
  • Ginger Johnson – PALM/TRICON
  • Patrick Roesler – G&D Integrated and Chamber of Commerce Ed. Comm.
  • Marty Clinch – IBEW and Chamber Education Committee
  • Rob Parks – Chamber of Commerce
  • Dr. Vicky Stewart – ICC/Chamber Education Committee
  • David Henebry – LZT
  • Ray Lees – PSA Dewberry
  • Paul Kouri – PSA Dewberry
  • Ed Berry – Farnsworth Group

STEERING COMMITTEE

  • Glen Barton – CEO Caterpillar, retired
  • Dr. Vicky Stewart – Vice President, Illinois Central College
  • McFarland Bragg – CEO, PCCEO
  • Mac Pogue – Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Bradley University; IBM, retired
  • Jeff McCombs – Marketing and Public Relations Director, Farnsworth Group
  • Roberta Parks – COO, Chamber of Commerce
  • Cindy Fischer – Former Associate Superintendent, Peoria Public Schools; Renaissance Park Commissioner

Hinton, Gorenz, Spangler, and Fischer are all current or former District 150 staff or board members. Roesler, Clinch, Parks, and Stewart are all part of the Chamber of Commerce. Architects are surprisingly heavily represented with five members: McCombs, Henebry, Lees, Kouri, and Berry. Caterpillar, Bradley, ICC, and Methodist each have two to three members on the advisory committee.

Here is the vision for this new charter school:

Peoria Public Schools is seeking an MST Charter School that will provide students with an innovative, world-class education rich in math, science and technology, focused on preparing students to become bold inquirers, problem solvers and ethical leaders, skill-ready for post-secondary education to meet the challenges of a competitive global workforce.

Note the first three words: Peoria Public Schools. This charter school is getting its vision from District 150, and District 150 appears to be in the driver’s seat, despite its long list of advisory committee members.

And here are the “elements of the school design”:

The MST Charter, unique to the Peoria community, should:

  1. Prepare students for a demanding workforce and competitive world by offering an innovative, world class education with a strong academic foundation infused with math, science and technology.
  2. Provide a challenging, engaging and integrated environment that utilizes creativity, inquiry, discovery, problem solving, critical thinking, project-based learning and best practice.
  3. Focus on student learning that consistently makes connections between the school world and the dynamic real world job opportunities in the Peoria community and beyond.
  4. Establish and maintain a culture of excellence and accountability, where student success is defined through academic progress, relationship building and strong character.
  5. Graduate students with a strong sense of civic responsibility, a passion for learning and an eagerness to assume leadership positions in an increasingly scientific and technology based society.
  6. Demand a research-driven, highly qualified, energized leader and faculty with deep pedagogical knowledge and extensive field experience, total commitment to the guiding principles of the school and a desire to serve as daily role models and mentors to students.
  7. Be a research-based, innovative model school, including a Professional Development Center that becomes a beacon of teaching excellence and professional development for the District and beyond.
  8. Engage partners in the local community that will support the mission and design of the school.

In short, this will be a vocational school, with the goal being to produce workers for companies like Caterpillar and Methodist. Note all the references to the “workforce” and “job opportunities.” The purpose of education at this school appears to be, in the words of the late Neil Postman, “economic utility” (i.e., the ultimate reward of education is a well-paying job).

Peoria Public Schools

D150: Spending money for advice on how to spend money

60 Comments

If this isn’t an example of bureaucratic inefficiency, I don’t know what is:

Over two years in both special education and Title I, District 150 is set to receive some $8.5 million, more than most of the area school districts’ funds combined.

District officials are still studying what it will be used for, but Mary O’Brian, the district’s special education director, said they are looking to upgrade a number of areas – not surprising given nearly one in four students at District 150 has been identified as having some special education need.

The district is looking at “assistive technologies,” which could range from special keyboards or listening devices for students with disabilities to software and training to run the new equipment. In fact, the district has hired an outside consulting firm to help direct the best use of the money. [emphasis added] There’s also talk about being able to use some of the money to pay for teacher’s aides.

So, we pay Mary O’Brian $93,840 a year as special education director, and she doesn’t know how best to spend the money earmarked for special education? They have to hire an outside consultant (at additional expense) to tell them how to spend the money? Are they just out there looking for ways to waste money? I suppose the next thing they’ll do is hire a consultant to help them choose the consultant that will tell them how to spend their money.

Hopeless.

Peoria Public Schools

Here we go again: D150 overspending already

36 Comments

District 150 recently voted to close Kingman, Irving, and Tyng schools — and a high school to be named later. This was supposed to save $11 million — and even that might not be enough, we were told. More drastic cuts may need to be made. Not only that, but the district had overspent for so long that they had no reserves, and they needed to issue $38 million in bonds to replenish those reserves and go on a fiscal diet.

Then last night, they voted to create three new schools:

The School Board on Monday unanimously approved a request for $25.5 million from the Public Building Commission of Peoria to build a math, science and technology academy, a career vocational and technical center as well as facilities for an alternative or nontraditional high school.

WCBU News added that they are planning to renovate and use existing buildings for these three schools.

But what about the $11 million in savings? How is it that just two months ago, the situation was so dire that we had to close four schools and increase class sizes, but now we can magically afford to reopen three other schools? Oh sure, the renovation costs are coming from the Public Building Commission (God forbid they not use every last penny of bonding capacity before this district’s five-year limited access to the PBC expires!). But those three buildings are still going to need staff and maintenance once they open — just like the schools that were closed. Aren’t they going to be eating up their savings? Aren’t they going to be overspending again, causing them to draw down their recently replenished reserves? Isn’t this setting up the district to be broke again in just a few years, like when they closed Blaine-Sumner and White, but then acquired the old Social Security office on Knoxville and renovated Blaine-Sumner for offices?

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against establishing these schools they talked about last night. These sounds like great additions. My questions is simple: How can they afford it? I thought they were broke. Either they were bluffing about the severity of their structural deficit when they voted to close four schools two months ago, or they are now bluffing about being able to afford the establishment of three new schools. They can’t have it both ways.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Vallas returning to Peoria

106 Comments

Education reformer Paul Vallas, who last visited Peoria in late 2007, is returning this Saturday morning to meet with Peoria City Council members at Mayor Ardis’s request. The Council has scheduled a full-day retreat this Saturday at the Peoria Civic Center’s Lexus Room starting at 9 a.m. The agenda for the meeting includes several guest speakers including Vallas, a representative from Mesirow Financial, and Heart of Illinois United Way Vice President of Community Investment Don Johnson.

Ardis says he didn’t ask Vallas to speak on any specific topic, but about reforming schools in general. “His experience in successfully reforming urban school districts should make his comments informative and relevant,” Ardis said Tuesday.

The last time Vallas was in town (also at Ardis’s request), the Journal Star reported (12/22/2007):

Vallas said if District 150 were to engage in reform efforts, he would spend his spring break in Peoria working with the district. He would recruit one or more persons to work on the project locally, and he would come back to Peoria periodically to monitor the progress.

He said Ardis has agreed to pay for his gas expenses driving to and from Peoria, along with occasional overnight hotel stays during his road trips.

But despite the City’s efforts to help improve the City’s schools, District 150 said, “no thanks.” Since then, the District has shortened the school day for several Wednesdays at a number of primary schools for no justifiable reason, fired their Comptroller/Treasurer for undisclosed reasons, decided to close four schools (including a high school yet to be named), and issue bonds for $38 million to dig out of a budget deficit. No need for outside advice from a proven reformer here, huh?

Peoria Public Schools

D150 approves charter school applications

39 Comments

The Journal Star’s website is not up-to-date this morning, but 1470 WMBD has the story:

The board voted 7-0 to allow the application process to begin for non-profit agencies who may want to operate the school. But the school board will still have a say on what benchmarks should be met and how often it’s presented with progress reports….

Cindy Fischer, a former District 150 Associate Superintendent, who is a working as a consultant on the issue says the charter school will be open to all District 150 students. There will be 288 students in grades 5 through 8 the first year expanding to include all high school grades and a total of 576 students in five years…. It’s hoped the charter school will begin in the fall of 2010.

For more information on the Math, Science & Technology Academy, see my previous post. It will be interesting to see who steps forward to operate this proposed charter school. The teacher’s union is opposed.

In other news, District 150 also voted unanimously to join the Enterprise Zone so that tax incentives can be doled out to developers from Champaign to build student housing on Main Street.

Note: I’m moving all the D150-related comments from the previous post to this one.

Peoria Public Schools

Plan to cut library managers surprises board members

65 Comments

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?

Peoria Public Schools

District 150 approves $38 million bond issuance

9 Comments

The deed is done:

The School Board unanimously approved the sale of $38 million in working cash bonds on Monday, estimated to add some 21.7 cents to the tax rate. . . .

Much like the cost of a loan to purchase a home or car is much more than what is actually borrowed, the amortized cost to issue the $38 million bonds, essentially borrowing the cash, will cost taxpayers $60,461,887.

The $38 million goes into the district’s reserve fund and will hopefully mean that the district no longer has to issue tax anticipation warrants, which will preserve more money for the education fund. It’s unfortunate that it’s come to this, but there are few options left after several years of irresponsible spending by the school district. The real question is, will the school board stick to the plan and not deplete their reserves again?

Peoria Journal Star, Peoria Public Schools

Journal Star might want to pay closer attention to numbers, especially when they come from District 150

263 Comments

Eleven District 150 schools will split $1.3 million earmarked for underprivileged students under a plan still being finalized by school officials.

Okay, remember those numbers: 11, $1.3 million.

But the plan, nearly doubling the number of schools designated as Title I, comes at a cost to 13 other schools within the district already receiving the grants.

Ah, so 13 other schools already receive Title 1 funding. If we take that number, plus the aforementioned 11 schools that will be added, we come up with 24 schools total. Got it.

Despite the district increasing the number of Title I schools from 15 to 24, it won’t receive any additional money.

Wait a minute. Now they’re saying 15 schools already receive Title I funding, but the total is still only going to be 24, which is an increase of 9. This must be a typo; I’m sure they meant to say “from 13 to 24.” Maybe the editor will catch it before the paper copy goes to press.

Essentially, it would redistribute the same $7.5 million it receives annually.

What? How did we get from $1.3 million to $7.5 million? From the article, it appears the $7.5 million is the total funding District 150 gets, and of that amount, $1.3 million is going to be going to the 11 additional schools. But how is that figured? How did they arrive at that number?

Enrollment at the 13 additional schools represents a combined 5,000 students.

I thought it was 11 additional schools. Thirteen was the number of schools “already receiving the grants,” wasn’t it? This is so confusing!

Of the little more than $7.5 million District 150 receives, $2.2 million is set aside for pre-school, $755,000 for professional development, $75,500 for parental involvement and $255,000 for administrative needs. The remaining $3.5 million goes directly to the schools.

$2.2 million, plus $755,000, plus $75,500, plus $255,000, plus $3.5 million equals $6,785,500. Where does the other “little more than” $714,500 go? That ain’t chump change, especially on an annual basis!

Not being factored in is some $4.4 million in federal stimulus money headed for Title I programs at District 150.

Good, because none of the other numbers are adding up anyway. Does anybody at 1 News Plaza have a calculator?