Category Archives: Peoria Public Schools

No mystery why D150 public meetings are poorly attended

District 150 is mystified — mystified! — as to why they can’t get more parents to give the school board their input. After only 13 parents showed up to a recent public meeting, board president David Gorenz was quoted by the Journal Star as saying, “It’s one of the most difficult issues districts face, how to get input.”

It’s no mystery to me. I think people see these meetings (rightly so) as a complete and total waste of their time. Why? Because the school board has already decided what they are going to do, and the only reasons they have public meetings are (1) to satisfy legal requirements in some cases, and (2) to gain public support for their inevitable decision.

There is no shortage of examples to choose from:

  • In August of this year, the school district had two public hearings to talk about their plans for the new Glen Oak and Harrison school buildings. Although supposedly a chance for the public to give their input, the district had no intention of changing anything about these plans, and they didn’t. Not one idea from the public was entertained; not one slightest variation from the district’s plan was made.
  • When Ken Hinton unveiled his plan to cut 45 minutes of instructional time out of every primary student’s school day, parents came out en masse to oppose it. Did the district listen? Nope. They voted 5-1 to approve it. Then, after weeks of letter-writing, demonstrating, petitioning (over 1,000 people signed petitions against the plan), etc., Hinton decided to restore 60% of the time. Instructional time was still cut despite parents’ pleas that all the time be restored, and despite being presented with alternative plans that would have accomplished the same goals without cutting instructional time.
  • Debbie Wolfmeyer, the new board vice president, when asked to meet with a parent regarding the aforementioned issue, responded, “It is not my role as a Board member to meet with individuals or groups.” So much for getting input from parents.
  • Without any public input at all, the school district decided it was going to build a school in Glen Oak Park and started buying up houses to make that a reality. When parents and neighbors turned out en masse to oppose it (including five neighborhood organizations and a city councilman), they were dismissed as a “vocal minority” by one school board member. Only a lawsuit against the park board stopped that from going through.

Eventually, people get the hint. The school board isn’t really interested in hearing their opinions or input — unless it agrees with what they’ve already decided. They’ve already made up their minds what they’re going to do, and “public input” meetings are, at best, an attempt to convince the ignorant masses why the board’s ideas are best.

The school board should be happy that fewer people are coming to the meetings — it makes their jobs so much easier when there’s no one around to disagree with their predetermined plans.

Note: Merle Widmer has a different take on Gorenz’s comment.

Wacky Wednesday #1

Today, most, but not all, District 150 primary school students will be getting out of school 90 minutes early (1:45 instead of 3:15) as part of the School Board’s new “Wacky Wednesday” plan. During the 90 minutes of school the children will be missing, the teachers are supposed to be collaborating, learning from each other, making alterations to their curriculum and instructional techniques as a result, with the end goal of being more effective teachers. This is supposed to translate into better student performance — enough improvement to more than compensate for the lost instructional time during Wacky Wednesdays.

I encourage all parents to ask their children’s teachers tomorrow what they did during their teacher collaboration time this afternoon, what new techniques they learned, and how they’re altering their teaching styles as a result. I’d also like to find out what metrics the district is using to determine if this effort is successful or not. Are they going to base it on the rise or fall of standardized test scores?

“In the News” for 9/23/08

In the news today:

  • An allegedly inebriated council member confronts Bradley fraternity students over being too noisy in the middle of the night. Bradley police, then Peoria police are called to break things up. Van Auken says that neighbors have complained about this fraternity, Sigma Nu, 1300 W. Fredonia Ave., multiple times, but that things haven’t improved. Bradley police wouldn’t give the fraternity a citation for being too loud, but Peoria police did. The fraternity thinks they’re being treated unfairly, since the police didn’t cite Van Auken for disorderly conduct and trespassing after she and her companions refused to leave the premises. Van Auken says she acted appropriately. She also admitted to having a few drinks before the confrontation, and fraternity members and Bradley police said she showed signs of inebriation. My take: It’s laudable that Van Auken is willing to stand up to the university on this issue, but her apparent lack of sobriety calls her judgment — about the loudness of the party, for one thing — into question. It would have been better if she had confronted them while sober.
  • Public Works is going to recommend lane reductions for Main Street. The purpose of the meeting last night was to present their proposal and convince everyone in attendance that it was the best solution. They keep saying they want to hear from residents and are willing to do what the residents want, but when the residents asked for things, they were told that those ideas won’t work and we have to go with Public Works’ plans, based on their computer models. Perhaps the most telling statement was when I talked to Public Works Director Dave Barber after the meeting and expressed my concern over the traffic on Main Street consistently going 10-15 mph over the speed limit between University and Farmington Road, his response was, “The street was that way when you moved there, right?” So, apparently, if people are breaking the law, they’ve got a right to keep breaking the law. Good to know. Nevertheless, narrowing Main east of University will be a good thing.
  • District 150 is considering mandatory uniforms for primary and middle school students. My take: Great idea. Make it so.

District 150 has trouble hitting moving target

I’ve had my fair share of criticism for District 150, but I think any critic has to admit that they’re fighting an uphill battle when it comes to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. The Journal Star reports that, even though many of District 150’s schools have made gains in Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the NCLB standards have risen this year:

This year, 19 of the district’s 30 schools improved in both reading and math. That is compared to last year, when only nine showed improvement in both areas.

But many quickly note that fewer schools – 13 – met federal “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, versus those that did not, which this year increased to 18 schools. That’s compared to 16 schools that met AYP last year and 14 schools that did not.

So what’s changed?

Federal testing standards. This year the threshold increased by 7.5 percent – from 55 percent to now 62.5 percent – meaning more students must meet or exceed the threshold to meet AYP.

And it’s only going to get harder. Next year, the threshold increases to 70%. Then in 2010 it goes up to 77.5%. By 2014, the standard will be 100%, at which point District 150 will most likely have only one school making AYP — Washington Gifted.

I appreciate and even welcome high standards for our students. In fact, I think it’s making a difference, as evidenced by the higher test scores many of the schools in District 150 have achieved. And I certainly am against the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” But 100%? That seems a bit unrealistic, doesn’t it?

For instance, they expect special needs students to make adequate yearly progress at their physical grade level, not their mental grade level. Are schools supposed to work wonders of nature now, too?

The other problem is a bit more fundamental. I was always taught that I’m responsible for my learning. The school provides the opportunity, but I have take advantage of it because no one can make me learn. But NCLB puts the responsibility for learning completely and totally on the shoulders of the school. That’s unfair.

If you have a student who has no support at home from his or her parents, has been brought up with little discipline, and shows no interest in doing the work that learning requires, why should the school be blamed when he or she fails? The “soft bigotry of low expectations” in that scenario is coming from the parents, not the teachers or administrators. The government apparently expects schools to be surrogate parents, something they’re not designed or equipped to do — nor should they be.

On the other hand, I’m not saying that District 150 is doing everything right and their low test scores are all the government’s fault. But I do think the federal/state standards are rising too fast, and that their final goal is not realistic.

A sneak peek at the new Glen Oak School

If you couldn’t make it to the public hearing on Monday and are dying to know what the new Glen Oak School will look like, here’s the 3-D rendering of the new campus, as presented Monday in the gym of the existing Glen Oak School:

[flashvideo filename=https://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Video/Glen-Oak-flyover.flv /]

This plan and the plans for the new Harrison School and updates at other school properties were all approved Tuesday night at a special School Board meeting about 28 hours after the last public hearing ended. Public Building Commission approval is expected at today’s PBC meeting.

Harrison School plans presented at public hearing

There was a public hearing Friday on the building plans of the new Harrison School. I couldn’t stay for the whole hearing, but I did get a little video to share of the presentation by Dave Henebry of LZT Associates (architects):

[flashvideo filename=https://peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Video/Harrison-School-pres-082208.flv /]

By the way, if you’re wondering why everything looks yellow, it’s not because the camera wasn’t white balanced. It’s because everything really looked yellow in the gymnasium where this hearing was held. The hearing was attended by about 28 people, including several District 150 administrators, teachers, custodians, a couple of city employees, and city councilman Clyde Gulley.

District 150 Superintendent Ken Hinton gushed that this would be a “world class school” and that “people from all over the world will be coming” to see it. It will be patterned after the Valeska-Hinton Early Learning Center.

In addition to what he said in the video above, Henebry also stated that the building materials will be load-bearing masonry with brick veneer, and that the reason the school is set so far back from the street is for security purposes. There will also be no fence along Griswold to keep people out of the “park-like setting.” Hinton would like that area to be able to be used by the surrounding neighborhoods as a community center.

There’s a public hearing for the new Glen Oak School today at 1:00. The hearing will be held at 809 East Frye Avenue, in the current Glen Oak School building. As someone has already pointed out, these “hearings” are really just “show and tell” sessions. All decisions have been made, and nothing will be changed as a result of community input at this point. But if you’re just looking for information, stop by and see the show.

Public hearings for D150 school designs

I haven’t heard this promoted much, but also in the Issues Update this week was a notice that District 150 will be having public hearings starting tomorrow on several building projects (I’ve put some of the text in boldface for emphasis):

The District has scheduled the following public hearings:

  1. August 21, 2008 RHS and Elementary School [Lindbergh, Kellar, Northmooor] Additions Public Hearing @ 1:00 – 3:00. Hearing at Richwoods High School, 6301 North University, Complex Gym – West Front Entrance
  2. August 22, 2008 New Harrison School Public Hearing @ 1:00 – 3:00. Hearing at Harrison School, 2702 West Krause, Gym
  3. August 25, 2008 New Glen Oak School Public Hearing @ 1:00 – 3:00. Hearing at Glen Oak School, 809 East Frye Avenue

The District has also scheduled August 27, 2008 for a Special Session for Action Items that will be submitted August 28, 2008 – Public Building Commission for Schematic Design Approvals.

Previous meetings involving all review departments have brought about positive safety and design outcomes and will allow a more expedient review, while still meeting all deadlines. Josh Naven, Senior Urban Planner, Planning Department is the Review Project Manager for the City of Peoria if there are any questions and can be contacted at extension 8657 or jnaven@ci.peoria.il.us.

I know that several of my readers will want to comment on the design of the buildings, especially Harrison and Glen Oak. Here’s your chance.

It doesn’t take much to be “remarkable” these days

On the stage of history, it takes tremendous achievement to be considered “remarkable.” Abraham Lincoln (preserved the union), Martin Luther King Jr. (fought segregation), Orville and Wilbur Wright (first in flight), Theodore Roosevelt (what didn’t he do?) — these are just a few truly remarkable men.

But here in Peoria, you can be “remarkable” by simply taking your child to school. One day. And it doesn’t even have to be your child, actually. Here’s the Journal Star’s explanation:

Peoria School District 150 is trying to get men involved in the education of the district’s students. It is launching an initiative called “1,000 Remarkable Guys,” in which men accompany children to school on Aug. 27, the first day back at classes.

“Remarkable” means “notably or conspicuously unusual; extraordinary” and “worthy of notice or attention.” So, evidently (and regrettably), adult male involvement in children’s education is so “conspicuously unusual” that the mere act of walking a child into the general vicinity of a classroom is now “worthy of notice or attention.”

They’re not asking these guys to help with homework, or to stay with the mother of their child, or to be a good role model in general, or any of the things that would have a real impact on these kids’ education. They’re simply asking some adult male relative to take the child to school the first day of classes. I find that neither remarkable nor effective.

Perhaps it would be better to emulate a program like this one in Baltimore, Maryland:

Here are some things the high school seniors have done:

At the beginning of the school year, they sponsored a “Teacher Appreciation” banquet. During Thanksgiving and Christmas, they fed hundreds of families and distributed donated gifts to area children. They mentor students at Windsor Mill Middle School to help them prepare for the transition to high school. They tutor each other and others who need help at school.

During a six-week leadership camp last summer, they painted bathroom stalls at the school, planted a garden at the building’s entrance, got pest control with the help of experts, plastered encouraging posters along the hallways and invested in combination locks for every locker so students could use them for storage.

Now that’s remarkable.

D150 votes to use PBC funding for all building projects

The District 150 Board of Education met Monday night and voted unanimously to approve this agenda item:

10. REQUEST PUBLIC BUILDING COMMISSION OF PEORIA TO ISSUE BONDS FOR NEW LINCOLN SCHOOL – Cahill
Proposed Action: That the Board of Education approve and authorize the submission of a letter to the Public Building Commission of Peoria requesting a commitment to issue bonds for purposes of constructing a new primary school on the Lincoln School South site.

This is a departure from District 150’s original plan, which was to issue bonds for part of the building costs under their “Health-Life-Safety” (HLS) bonding authority. According to District Controller/Treasurer Guy Cahill, there are a number of reasons why they are now choosing to issue all the bonds through the Public Building Commission:

  • “Inaction on the state level” — Under the School Construction Grant Program, HLS dollars can be matched by the state. However, the grant program has not been funded for three years now, and doesn’t look likely to be funded in the near future.
  • “Greater flexibility in use” — Money from the PBC can be used for property acquisition; HLS money cannot.
  • “Limited amount of time” — The state authorized District 150 to access PBC funding for only five years. They have until 2011 to use it or lose it.
  • “Operation/maintenance dollars” — PBC funding can be used for ongoing maintenance of the buildings, including custodial/operational support.

Hear the school board’s deliberation of this item yourself:

[audio:http://www.peoriachronicle.com/wp-content/uploads/Audio/D150-BOE-07212008.mp3]

The school district still maintains that by limiting their borrowing to $85 million, they will not have to increase their property tax rate.

Also at the school board meeting Monday, Diane Vespa spoke to the board about the shortened Wednesday schedule the district is planning to institute this fall for primary schools. You can read a transcript of her comments on her blog.

Did racism keep Ross from being president?

That’s the question everyone is debating around the water cooler. I’ll rush in where angels fear to tread and posit my opinion. I was going to leave this as a comment on my previous post, but decided to just post it separately due to its length.

The way I see it is this. First, we have to look at the possibilities.

Is it possible that racism was a factor in this vote? I think we have to say yes. We have to acknowledge that racism could be a factor. Why? For a few reasons. Ross has the education and experience to be president, but has been passed over twice now — this time by a president who ran for an unprecedented (I’m told) third term. The vote for president was along racial lines. And the school board has a history of strained race relations, resulting in lawsuits and mediation. I think there’s sufficient cause to suspect some degree of racism.

Next, is it possible that racism was not a factor? Well, from the standpoint of personal racial prejudice, I would have to say yes. As someone pointed out, we don’t know the hearts and motivations of the board members. I think in fairness to them we have to take them at their word (unless someone can provide hard evidence — not hearsay — that they had racist motivations) that race was not a factor in their vote. To accuse someone of racism (personal prejudice) is a serious charge, and it should not be leveled lightly. It attacks the character and motives of a person. I don’t think that voting for a white guy for president of the board is intrinsically a racist act. It would be incumbent on those making such claims to prove (a) Ross was better qualified and (b) the white board members voted against her anyway on the basis of her race. I think it’s clear from comments on the previous post that there were numerous reasons why a board member would vote against Ross — reasons that have nothing to do with race (e.g., voting record, lack of participation in important discussions, etc.).

But there’s one other thing to consider, and it’s called “structural racism” (also called “institutional racism” or “cultural racism”). This doesn’t get talked about much, but it should be. I think it’s the key to understanding what’s going on here. I found a good definition at, of all places, About.com:

The term “institutional racism” describes societal patterns that have the net effect of imposing oppressive or otherwise negative conditions against identifiable groups on the basis of race or ethnicity. […]

Examples:

  • Opposing public school funding is not necessarily an act of individual racism; one can certainly oppose public school funding for valid, non-racist reasons. But to the extent that opposing public school funding has a disproportionate and detrimental effect on minority youth, it furthers the agenda of institutional racism.
  • Most other positions contrary to the civil rights agenda–opposition to affirmative action, support for racial profiling, and so forth–also have the (often unintended) effect of sustaining institutional racism.

The idea here is that racism manifests itself in cultural norms that can’t be reduced to a single act or the result of personal racial prejudice.

In the case of the school board, we have to ask ourselves why all the white people on the board perceived Gorenz as the better candidate while all the black people perceived Ross as the better candidate. If you took race out of the equation, one could make a compelling case for or against either candidate. I think the answer is cultural, and not the result of intentional personal racial bias. Take a look around Peoria and look at how little integration there is in our neighborhoods. The result of that is that black people grow up predominantly around other black people and white people grow up predominantly around other white people. And this leads to certain cultural and value differences. Generally speaking, for instance, white culture places a higher value on individualism (and, in religious circles, a secular/sacred dichotomy), whereas black culture places a higher value on community and integrity (i.e., “the state of being whole or undivided”). I realize these are simplifications, but hey, this is a blog, not a doctoral dissertation. 🙂

So, when it comes to two candidates who are equally qualified for the job of president of the board, the white people don’t think “I’m going to vote for Gorenz because he’s white,” they think about what they value in a leader, and Gorenz fits those values, so they see him as their best choice. The black members of the board don’t think, “I’m going to vote for Ross because she’s black,” they think about what they value, and Ross fits those values, so they vote for her. And thus, all the board members can legitimately claim that they voted for who they thought was the “right” or “best” person for the job.

And this is where structural racism comes to a head. Because blacks are still a minority in the city and on the school board, the white guy wins under this scenario. And that’s why I think racism is in play to that degree in this decision.

When someone says that the vote of the board was racist, most people (I would wager) immediately think that such a claim is a personal attack on the motives of one or more board members. And it could be (there are still racist people among us, and there are those who play the “race card” unjustifiably). But I think we should consider the possibility that it might also be a reference to institutional racism — a racism that isn’t directed at anyone personally, but is directed at cultural norms and structures that can disadvantage minorities just the same.