Category Archives: Peoria Public Schools

Peoria Public Schools, Taxes

D150 to raise property taxes again

54 Comments

From the Journal Star:

The School Board on Monday voiced a consensus seeking what amounts to about $69 million in local property taxes next year, an increase of about 1 percent, but far less than the 6.5 percent increase requested last year…. The proposed levy would add about $18 [to a $100,000 home]…. Prompting that increase is District 150 has 15 schools in need of a mandated 10-year safety survey yet this year and another 11 schools next year.

According to 1470 WMBD:

[Interim Comptroller/Treasurer Dave] Kinney says the levy would allow for about $700,000 more to be collected toward the life safety inspections – which are required by law – but it’s just a start. “With the first eight schools on the list it’s looking like about a $6-million price tag over a five year period,” says Kinney. “It’s not anything we have to address immediately but going forward we know we’re going to have to address it at some point.” …Kinney says the levy alone does not completely solve the district’s budget deficit. “There are going to have to be other decisions made to help not only balance the budget this year but next year, too, “says Kinney.

In other words, once again we’re going to be paying more for less. It will be interesting to see how current school board member Jim Stowell votes on this tax increase, and how that decision affects his run for Peoria City Council.

City of Peoria, East Bluff, Economic Development, Peoria Public Schools

Open discussion on Peoria High and East Village TIF

28 Comments

I have mixed feelings about the recent windfalls of state money Peoria has been told its getting. In the news recently have been announcements that we’re getting $10 million to upgrade Washington Street and $17 million to renovate Peoria High School and build an addition onto Lincoln Middle School.

On the one hand, the money is going for a good cause, and we can certainly use it. On the other hand, the State of Illinois is in a financial crisis, and this additional spending is not helping to alleviate it.

It has led to an interesting question that I didn’t expect to hear while we’re still reeling from the recent recession: what should we do with all the money? Of course, the Warehouse District money is pretty cut and dried. But the District 150 money is another story. I got this comment recently from school board member Jim Stowell:

CJ – can I please ask if you could open the question of how we should best develop PHS and the surrounding feeder system/neighborhoods – what collaborations we should explore, etc. Thx! In light of the recent funding grant, there exists tremendous opportunity. I am optimistic about the East Bluff residential TIF, but I also have reservations. The Dist. will no doubt be convening meetings, but the discussion needs to begin now. Thanks for providing a forum.

I’d kind of sworn off open threads a while back, but this does sound like it would be an interesting discussion. Other readers have expressed interest in this as well. So, always being happy to oblige my readers, here’s an open thread to discuss Peoria High and the proposed East Village TIF.

I’ll just add that while Mr. Stowell may be “optimistic about the East Bluff residential TIF,” that doesn’t appear to be the official opinion of District 150. The District’s interim comptroller Dr. David Kinney has been attending recent City Council meetings, and when I asked him why, he said it was in case an opportunity came to speak about the proposed TIF. He’s not what you’d call a fan of the idea. On its face, he says it’s a recipe for disaster. The preferred outcome is that it would encourage families to move back into the East Bluff. If it’s successful in doing so, it will require more services from District 150 to educate the increasing number of children, but provide no additional tax revenue to support them. Thus, it would put even more of a strain on District 150’s already stretched finances.

The proposed East Village TIF area is currently being studied for eligibility (this is perfunctory, as no proposed TIF has ever been found ineligible), with the consultant’s report scheduled to come before the council November 9.

Peoria Public Schools

District 150 disputes press release from Rev. Watson

38 Comments

After I posted the press release from Rev. Raymond E. Watson, Jr., I was received some e-mail messages disputing the accusations made. So I made some inquiries. School Board member Laura Petelle stated, “Contrary to what this press release claims, I have not been contacted by this group or any individual claiming to be connected to it, though I realized people sometimes misspell my last name when attempting to e-mail me. However, I attempted to contact them after receiving this press release and they have not returned my attempts at contact.”

In addition, I requested an official response from District 150 through Stacey Shangraw, who referred me to the new FOIA officer. My e-mail to the new FOIA officer wasn’t acknowledged, but Petelle forwarded me this e-mail from Superintendent Lathan (with Lathan’s permission). She also forwarded the e-mail to Billy Dennis (Peoria Pundit) and Emerge Peoria.

Board Members,

In response to Reverend Watson’s “press release” here are the actual facts about PHS. To my knowledge, only one blogger has inquired about the press release.

1) All principals and Central Office administrators in the District, who were not already on multi-year contracts, have been offered one-year contracts. There were no exceptions. Any ongoing multi-year contracts prior to my arrival must be honored. New principals were offered multi-year contracts.

2) Textbooks are an ongoing issue throughout our District. Several years ago, we evaluated our textbook process as a Six-Sigma project. We improved the process, but our high student mobility rate is an issue. To correct his letter, the first Peoria High textbook request sent to the warehouse was dated August 19, not August 1. The warehouse has filled all of the received textbook requisitions that are able to be filled.

3) There are only two plumbing work orders outstanding for PHS. A Sept. 30 work order for a leaking drinking fountain and an Oct. 5 work order for two toilets – one fills slowly and the other has a broken flush handle. A nearby plumbing service would need to be contacted.

4) I am developing a schedule to meet with all parent groups to introduce myself and allow time for Q&A.

5) We have been working collaboratively with the City to address the after school safety issues :

a) The posting of new signs on North Street indicating “No Stopping or Standing” and indicating no left turn onto North Street between the hours of 2:00 & 4:00 PM Monday through Friday.

b) Requesting support from the Parking Enforcement Division to assist in the enforcement of parking violations.

c) The installation of gates that will prevent vehicles from exiting designated entrance / exits.

d) The moving of the public bus stop form Richmond/North to Nebraska/North

e) The purchase of video cameras to tape student dismissal and after school activities.

f) Conduct school assemblies at all high schools regarding sidewalk safety.

Grenita F. Lathan, Ph.D.
Superintendent
Peoria Public Schools
3202 N. Wisconsin Avenue
Peoria, IL 61603

Peoria Public Schools

PHS supporter(s) respond to negative press

46 Comments

I received an e-mail yesterday that said: “The attached is a press release from concerned parents of PHS students. This is a response to negative and comments that have been publicly made. We send this in hopes that it will posted on your information websites.” It was signed by “Concerned Parents of PHS Students,” but only one member of that group was named — Rev. Raymond E. Watson, Jr., who is listed as the “contact person.” Here’s the letter:

Once again the parents of Peoria High School students feel the need to stand up and speak out against false accusations by the District 150 Administration, School Board and certain individuals/groups in the public that have made it their personal agenda to attack Peoria High School and thus, our children.

We have repeatedly asked for Board Members to come meet with us to discuss our issues and no response. We have contacted Dr. Lathan as far back as May, and had no response. If The Chamber of Commerce or any other organization deemed important by the B.O.E. or Superintendent requested their presence, they would attend. We, as parents, are tired of groups/members of the public that have no children at PHS spreading false rumors and accusations against our children and school staff. We felt the closure of a high school was a mistake but we have to make the best out of the situation. Those in the public that are spreading rumors, we ask you to stop because it does nothing but harm all the students of PHS. There is much truth to the adage if you can’t say something positive, say nothing at all. You are there to represent all the students of District #150 and set an example.  How do you think our students feel after hearing these unwarranted accusations? Remember, the Board voted to close Woodruff and now it is a Peoria High problem?  It might behoove you in the future to have solutions before decisions are made.

We have asked for a reason behind the PHS staff being the only high school that has its administration on a year-to-year contract. There have been numerous administrators that have received multi-year contracts before they proved themselves capable. Some have not even lived in the District and yet they are given multi-year contracts. This is a double standard and we feel there are ulterior motives behind the lack of continuity from the Board and Administration on Wisconsin Ave. We have been told that the Superintendent wanted to evaluate things before making a decision. So, what is the reason for individual administrators unfamiliar with our District and yet having been relocated to District #150; how do they justify receiving contracts without proven results?
 
If you want results, here are some results.

The facts are as follows:

PHS ACHIEVED SAFE HARBOR

AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE IS 93%

ACT SCORES ARE UP AND NOT JUST FOR ONE YEAR

  2008 2009 2010
Average 16.28 17.08 17.7

The fact that discipline in school is being handled by our undermanned staff (add 500 students and only 2 additional campus police officers for a total of four) is a testament to the PHS Administrators who have made the best out of a difficult situation thrust upon them by a School Board and community leadership that failed to plan. Where are all the civic leaders that endorsed closing a school? Where are the business leaders that profess wanting the best for all the children of District 150? Talk is cheap!!!

The students are in a safe environment and learning in spite of the district’s failure to provide children with schoolbooks. It was not until e-mails were sent out that books were finally delivered 2 weeks into the school year and PHS staff requested the books August 1st.

Another issue is the transportation system that is the fault of District Administrators who were unprepared due to a failure to plan. This is unacceptable and continues as buses fail to show for extra-curricular activities, or do not have heat or are mechanically unsound putting our children in danger.

In addition, why has it taken 5 months to get work orders regarding plumbing issues addressed? Why is it that basic maintenance issues that should have been addressed years prior as part of routine upkeep of the building were presented to the public as ‘major updates’?

It is not the responsibility of school staff to follow students home. The responsibility to ensure your child gets to school and home safely is the responsibility of the parent, student, District #150 Board and District #150Administrators. It is unrealistic to think that school staff can follow every child home. There are numerous after-school activities and teachers are available for students that need extra help with their studies. The responsibility lies mostly with the District #150 Board and Administrators, not PHS staff. We realize that buses are provided for students who live a certain distance from their respective school and for students who have to cross hazard-deemed streets. However, again, this all comes back to a failure to plan, to obtain correct information; and it certainly points to the fact that the knowledge was not present when the Board or District Administration decided to close a high school. The due diligence was not done to plan for such possible events since the District has encountered similar issues with the other high schools. The onus is on the Board and Administration who failed to work cooperatively with the proper entities with whom they should have a good-working relationship to see how potential issues could or would be addressed. It is always best to plan for unforeseen happenings

We also are offended by the fact that nothing was done by the Administrative staff to prevent these stories from exacerbating on Channel 25 and in the Peoria Journal Star. Stories like this could likely be ran about every school in America, but the Board and Administration reacted to the stories by recommending staggering dismissal times, etc., in essence, blaming PHS. Again, more assumptions about our Peoria High students. We understand that there will happenings, but it is not exclusive to Peoria High. These incidents occur across every school, across every city, across the nation.

In summary, we feel we are receiving disparate treatment as issues are ongoing at the other schools, yet they do not receive the unwarranted attention that has been thrust upon the Peoria High School community. The Board of Education and the Superintendent have failed to address and plan regarding the issues mentioned above. We do not appreciate the inaccurate perception that is being portrayed to the general public about our school and we are extremely disappointed and frustrated with the lack of information and support that we have received. Randy Simmons and his staff are the best of the best and we expect to be treated as such, which provides for a domino effect to the education and fulfillment for the PHS students. Our children deserve no less.

We have asked for School Board involvement and been ignored. We have asked for District150 Administration involvement and been ignored. We will no longer be silent about the injustice being perpetrated against PHS and our children. Let all who read this know if you want your child to be taught by the best and cared for by the best then PHS is the right place for your child!

Peoria Public Schools

Bus driver shouldn’t have even had a bus license

16 Comments

I read this Journal Star article with a combination of horror and incredulity:

About a week after a District 150 bus driver [Gary H. Stewart, 46] was arrested for allegedly driving while under the influence when he crashed into two parked cars and sent more than a dozen children to two Peoria hospitals, the School Board fired him. Driving while under the influence in Syracuse is a serious offense. It can lead to you losing your driving privileges, possibly getting jail time, and it may even trickle down to other aspects of your life, such as your chances of employment.

Stewart, hired by the school district last year, had been arrested numerous times on various charges ranging from armed robbery to attempted murder, as well as a drug conviction, according to Peoria County circuit clerk records.

But sources at District 150 say they knew only of a misdemeanor conviction for criminal damage to property and a felony conviction for retail theft – which both date back to the 1980s – and did not know of the 1993 drug conviction, nor other arrests. They said it was not on the criminal history check conducted by the Illinois State Police.

Transcripts from the Illinois State Police Criminal History Record Check Information database include records of arrests, state’s attorney filing decisions, court dispositions, sentence information and custodial data, but law permits only conviction information to be disseminated to the public.

Officials with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office also said they did not know about the drug conviction, which under law would have prevented Stewart from receiving a bus driving permit.

Tammi Kestel, assistant bureau chief of the Illinois State Police’s Bureau of Identification based in Joliet, said some arrests and conviction information may fall through the cracks because they are not reported to them.

Some arrests and conviction information may fall through the cracks? That’s comforting. I mean, it’s just our children’s lives that are at stake. Let’s not get too concerned about it, right? Hey, convictions sometimes just don’t get reported, so convicts may be driving your kids’ school bus. And your children might be in danger. But, not to worry. We’ve determined that the following agencies are not to blame: District 150, Illinois Secretary of State, Illinois State Police Bureau of Identification. Don’t you feel better now?

Peoria Public Schools

Bench honors indicted principal

90 Comments

A new bench has been installed outside Charles Lindbergh Middle School:

The plaque on the bench says “Simply the Best” and “Ms. Davis.” Former Lindbergh principal Mary Davis was charged in April of this year with 16 felony counts of official misconduct and theft. She has since been terminated by the District. Some are questioning why a bench is being installed on District 150 grounds to honor this former District 150 employee. I wonder if they will leave the plaque there if Davis is convicted?

Peoria Public Schools

Dimke leaving District 150 Oct. 8

76 Comments

There’s only one mainstream news source I could find that covered this, and it was WCBU News:

District 150’s Director of Human Resources resigned earlier this week. District spokeswoman Stacey Shangraw says Deb Dimke resigned for personal reasons.

Dimke started with the district in July 2009, replacing Thomas Broderick who had resigned. WCBU reports that her last day will be October 8.

Peoria Public Schools

Operational expense goes up as enrollment goes down in D150

457 Comments

I’ve been looking at the Interactive Illinois Report Card for District 150. Here are the total expenditures of District 150 for a period of eleven years, 1997-2008; in the last column, I converted all the amounts into constant 2008 dollars to make it easier to compare apples to apples:

Fiscal Year Actual $ 2008 $
1997-1998 $107,936,064.00 $141,958,238.53
1998-1999 $115,530,704.00 $147,952,054.74
1999-2000 $126,520,944.00 $156,698,726.18
2000-2001 $133,724,155.00 $163,011,857.72
2001-2002 $141,804,220.00 $168,810,141.23
2002-2003 $144,820,439.00 $169,186,245.74
2003-2004 $150,635,231.00 $170,357,567.44
2004-2005 $156,088,426.00 $170,720,248.71
2005-2006 $171,085,329.00 $182,558,995.50
2006-2007 $161,209,034.00 $167,334,977.29
2007-2008 $166,503,198.00 $166,503,198.00

Looking at the inflation-adjusted dollars, and acknowledging that it does appear to have started a downward trend, you’ll nevertheless notice that from 1997 to 2008, operational expense per student has increased over 17%. However, if you look at enrollment over roughly the same period (1998-2009), the trend is different:

Fiscal Year Enrollment
1998-1999 15,258
1999-2000 15,134
2000-2001 14,910
2001-2002 14,910
2002-2003 14,889
2003-2004 15,001
2004-2005 14,701
2005-2006 14,469
2006-2007 13,961
2007-2008 13,642
2008-2009 13,825

I wanted to include the 2008-2009 data so you could see that enrollment did go up slightly that year. Nevertheless, enrollment from 1998 through 2009 fell by 9.4%. As a result, operating expense per student has increased over 24% — from $9,184 in 1997 (in inflation-adjusted dollars) to $11,398 in 2008.

Questions: Why have operational expenses continued to climb while enrollment has been decreasing? Why are expenses $25.4 million more in 2008 than in 1997 (in inflation-adjusted dollars) when enrollment fell by over 1,400 students? Where is the money going?

Peoria Public Schools

Always winter but never Christmas at District 150

71 Comments

[Note to the humor-impaired: This post is all tongue-in-cheek.]

We just got the official District 150 school calendar. Now I know we haven’t had “Christmas Vacation” for a long time now. I understand the religious sensitivities that led to changing it to “Winter Vacation.”

Nevertheless, the calendar has nearly every conceivable religious and non-religious observance listed on it. There’s “Islamic Ramadan” (Aug. 11), “Jewish Rosh Hashanah” (Sept. 9), “Patriot Day” (Sept. 11), “Leif Erickson Day” (Oct. 9), “All Saints’ Day” (Nov. 1), “Groundhog Day” (Feb. 2), “Chinese New Year” (Feb. 3), and even “Dr. Suess Birthday” (Mar. 2). “Palm Sunday” and “Easter” (Apr. 17 & 24) are listed, as well as “Jewish Pesach” (Apr. 19-25).

But what holiday is printed on December 25? “National Children’s Day.”

National Children’s Day?

What’s even more strange is that this particular holiday is printed twice on the calendar — once on Dec. 25, and once on Oct. 8. Any holiday that’s celebrated twice a year must be something special. So I Googled “National Children’s Day” to find out more about it. It has its own official site, naturally: http://www.nationalchildrensday.us/. It even has an official song (“I Love Being a Kid” by a guy who calls himself “Mr. Nicky”). However, the site says it’s celebrated on the second Sunday in June. (I checked the school calendar to see if perhaps “Christmas” got printed on June 12. Nope.) So, District 150 put this holiday on their calendar twice and were wrong both times?

I had to investigate further, so I checked out Wikipedia. (I know Wikipedia is reliable because I looked up “Reliability of Wikipedia” on Wikipedia, and it said it was reliable.) The Children’s Day entry explained that this holiday “is celebrated on various days in many places around the world, in particular to honor children.” I’m glad they added that last part, because I was wondering who, in particular, was being honored on Children’s Day. It appears the holiday was aptly named. “Major global variants include an International Children’s Day on June 1 as adopted in the former Communist bloc, and a Universal Children’s Day on November 20, by United Nations recommendation.” (This was established during the height of the Cold War, so the adjectival escalation should come as no shock; I’m surprised Khrushchev didn’t counter with a Multiversal Children’s Day.) So far, still no Oct. 8 or Dec. 25. But wait: “Many nations declare days for children on other dates.”

Next, all the countries are listed with their various dates for celebrating Children’s Day. Searching through them, I did discover that Children’s Day is celebrated on Oct. 8 in one country: Iran. Well, the U.S. did celebrate Children’s Day on Oct. 8 one year. “Children’s Day was proclaimed by President Bill Clinton to be held on October 8, 2000.” However the next year, in a show of partisan eye-poking, newly-elected President Bush officially moved it to the first Sunday in June. My guess is he thought the kids would have more fun if the could celebrate their day at the beginning of summer vacation. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, ever the non-conformist, “issued a proclamation proclaiming the second Sunday in June as Children’s Day…” [emphasis added]. Well, that will show the federal government they can’t push our state around! We’ll just have our Children’s Day on the second Sunday of June and see if Obama tries to stop us.

Getting back to Christmas, there are some countries that celebrate Children’s Day on December 25, according to Wikipedia. They’re all in central Africa: “In Congo, Congo DR, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Chad, Central African Republic, São Tomé and Príncipe Children’s Day is celebrated on December 25 to honour all the children there.” But how many countries celebrate Christmas on December 25? Just about all of them. Even Orthodox churches that celebrate Christmas in January by the Gregorian calendar are actually celebrating on December 25 on the Julian calendar.

Finally, I decided to get an authoritative answer instead of all this Wikipedia stuff. I asked District 150 board member Laura Petelle why District 150 didn’t print Christmas on their calendar. Her answer: “I am forced to assume typo.”

Oh, sure, give the obvious answer! 🙂

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Entitlement mentality fostering discontent with the city

42 Comments

There was a meeting Wednesday at Friendship House where residents could talk with City and School District officials about their concerns. I was dumbfounded by this one:

Another [attendee] said she was worried for two of her younger children because of a lack of youth activities.

“After 5:30 (p.m.), there’s just nothing for them to do . . . when are you going to give them something to do to keep them off the streets, out of the gangs . . . and be part of the community,” the woman said.

First of all, I can’t believe someone actually said that. There are a lot of ellipses — perhaps she was misquoted or taken out of context. But if that’s an accurate representation of the question, God have mercy on our nation. Think about the philosophy described here: she believes the reason her kids are on the streets and joining gangs is because the government hasn’t provided sufficient youth activities. And “when are you going to give them something” exhibits a textbook definition of “entitlement mentality.” I wonder what she thinks her responsibility is, if anything, as the parent of her children.

That said, there are, in fact, plenty of free entertainment options. We just expanded the libraries in Peoria, so there is more opportunity to borrow and read good books. The libraries even have organized summer reading programs that include prizes. District 150 has just built two new schools with huge outdoor playground areas where kids can play basketball or baseball. The park system has baseball diamonds, tennis courts, frisbee golf courses, and other amenities. Lots of churches have youth activities. The Christian Center has bowling, pool, ping-pong, and other games at low prices. There is no shortage of opportunities for young people to entertain themselves in this city.

I wish someone would have pointed out to her that it’s not the City’s or the School District’s job to entertain her children. The City and School District don’t have the resources or responsibility to raise the children of Peoria — that’s the parents’ responsibility. We can and do provide a number of resources, but parents and children need to take some initiative to avail themselves of those resources.

Here’s the answer she got:

Riggenbach said with dwindling money that it could be difficult to fund such activities.

“I think it’s time the churches stand up and join all the forces, the park district and schools and hit this head-on,” Riggenbach said. “I don’t have an easy answer tonight but I do hear you.”

In essence, Riggenbach reinforced her entitlement mentality. He didn’t dispute it. He just said there wasn’t enough money or church involvement to provide those entitlements. Ironically, he’s a Republican.