106 thoughts on “D150 Analysis and Recommendation regarding Woodruff”

1. Here we go….

2. But where are “they” going to go? With this plan, there are 900 Woodruff students with no place to go. The first time around with this plan, Woodruff and Peoria High freshmen were supposed to be at Loucks for a year while an addition was built at Peoria High. Now Hinton wants the board to vote on a plan that will put 500 K-8 kids at Lincoln and 500 at Woodruff–but the 900 Woodruff kids will be like the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years.

3. It’s all about the kids.

4. Once we get the new museum, this will all be a distant memory.

5. It’s all about the children–that’s what Ken says. I believe it’s all about the children’s education–a slogan that would lead to very different decisions. I loved Martha’s comments last night–especially, telling Ken that he didn’t invent early childhood education in Peoria. In one part of the meeting, Ken advocates closing down adult education and then he presents his birth through graduation plan that relies heavily on educating parents (adults) as to how to prepare their children for school. From where will that money come? Also, many of these parents (the teenagers who do not know how to be parents) are actually students in District 150 schools. District 150 could teach them how to be parents–they are a captive audience–many of whom will not be showing up at night at the birth through 8th grade schools to learn how to be parents.

6. What will the class size be in these 3 high schools? I come from a city of about 40,000 with people outside the city of about 10,000 so 50,000 that has 3 high schools.

   Peoria is a city of 112,000 that is also going to fit into 3 schools. It seems like we may have some classroom that may be too crowded for a proper education.

7. INFO needed, please: The NCLB figures quoted in today’s PJS: Only 16 percent of students at Woodruff met or exceeded state academic achievement standards last year. That’s compared to 23 percent at Peoria High, only 8 percent at Manual and 56 percent at Richwoods High School, according to the 2008 Illinois Report Card. The statewide average was 52 percent met or exceeded standards.
   Are these the figures for last spring’s test (2009)–I didn’t know the results of the test had been published yet.? Are they listed on the District’s website as the 2008 figures–I assume 2008 would indicated 2008-2009, not 2007-2008? I know that Stowell made some excuse for Manual’s decline in scores this year–I believe that a bit more was expected of the “new” Manual. At least, expectations probably were that the scores would be the same–but not so much lower–as the year before with the “old” Manual teachers, etc.

8. Anyone interested in the Woodruff situation, please come to Godfather’s at 6 p.m. on Sunday, July 26–not the usual time for our meeting–to get ready for the next board meeting in August.

9. I wonder if Hinton is planning on taking over Royster’s job down in St Louis area when he leaves here… or is he looking for consultant work?

10. “56 percent at Richwoods High School” … and that is the best 150 can do.

    Who was it that arguing that public schools work well for some students?

    I am sure that 70% of students who didn’t attend ANY high school could meet or exceed state academic achievement standards… what are the home school figures?

11. Sharon-

    My understanding is preliminary ISAT scores were available to administrators a week or two ago.

12. Time for a change: Another question–so do you think the scores in today’s PJS are the new ones (from spring 2009) that haven’t been published yet in their entirety or put on the District 150 Dashboard?

13. Sharon-
    I believe the PJS numbers are from Spring 2008.

14. Instead of closing a perfectly good high school, wouldn’t it be cheaper and make more sense to buy Hinton a bus ticket?

    IF one high school needs to close, the obvious choice would be Manual. A city the size of Peoria shouldn’t have a high school with just 400 students. It’s laughable.

15. JW, that makes entirely too much sense so it won’t fly. They are obviously putting a very high value on saving face.

16. The administration (and board?)’s stated goal is to eliminate 45 high school teacher positions next year – and have a place to put the kids from the schools that have already been closed – or sold like Irving. Perhaps they could move a couple of grades (7-8) (the 7-8 village) into the Woodruff building while maintaining it as a high school and have the displaced lower grade kids use the Lincoln school next door. That would probably make it too crowded if all the current Woodruff students stayed so some would probably have to go to a different school – but the high school wouldn’t have to be closed.

17. Kohlrabi–the 7-8 village with tepees 🙂 is a good idea–one that I believe should be proposed (and probably will be by someone at the next BOE meeting). I didn’t like the idea for Manual–but it’s being done there, so why not Woodruff?
    Time for a change: If the scores are for 2008 spring, not 2009, I am confused because they don’t match the scores on the 150 dashboard (on their website). At least, I don’t think there are any scores over the last six years for Manual as low as 8. Also, Jim was referring to the “new” numbers last night.

18. Kohlrabi I do believe a Woodruff teacher had presented that exact plan to Ms. Davis back in March 09. I want to confirm that for sure, however, if there is anything that makes sense, this certainly does.

19. Perfect debbieb! I would bet you all the money stolen from Lindbergh’s activity fund that “Ms.” Davis never passed on any of that information for Woodruff restructuring. lol…………..it’s called LIP service. No one on Wisconsin has any desire to do anything that the teachers think would work. All the consultants that they pay the big bucks to, know better than ANYONE…..don’t ya know!!!

20. So kcdad you are “sure that 70% of students who didn’t attend ANY high school could meet or exceed state academic achievement standards…”
    Maybe you would like to consider these comments that I posted earlier on a PJS article as follows before you sound off without any basis:

    I’m no statistician but analyzing School Report Cards as found on the State Board of Education site (http://webprod.isbe.net/ereportcard/publicsite/getsearchcriteria.aspx) certainly provides substantial insight for me. The following information can be found there:

    41.1% low income; 54.0% white; 19.2% black – Statewide students
    70.3% low income; 30.5% white; 61.1% black – District150 students
    29.6% low income; 62.9% white; 28.2% black – Richwoods students
    12.7% low income; 96.4% white; 00.4% black – Washington students
    35.9% low income; 95.0% white; 01.1% black – East Peoria students
    09.5% low income; 97.8% white; 00.4% black – Metamora students
    04.3% low income; 84.7% white; 03.2% black – Dunlap students.

    Fail to Meet or Exceed Standards in Reading
    71.6% low income; 46.7% all – Statewide Students
    81.5% low income; 63.5% all – District 150 Students
    69.3% low income; 39.5% all – Richwoods Students
    66.7% low income; 40.8% all – Washington Students
    63.3% low income; 49.8% all – East Peoria Students
    65.0% low income; 29.2% all – Metamora Students
    40.0% low income; 22.1% all – Dunlap Students

    Fail to Meet or Exceed Standards in Math
    72.6% low income; 47.0% all – Statewide Students
    84.0% low income; 68.7% all – District 150 Students
    64.8% low income; 48.3% all – Richwoods Students
    83.4% low income; 40.8% all – Washington Students
    75.3% low income; 60.3% all – East Peoria Students
    60.0% low income; 27.2% all – Metamora Students
    60.0% low income; 16.8% all – Dunlap Students

    Fail to Meet or Exceed Standards in Science
    76.4% low income; 48.6% all – Statewide Students
    87.7% low income; 73.3% all – District 150 Students
    72.8% low income; 49.3% all – Richwoods Students
    83.3% low income; 38.9% all – Washington Students
    64.9% low income; 54.3% all – East Peoria Students
    65.0% low income; 33.0% all – Metamora Students
    60.0% low income; 18.6% all – Dunlap Students.

    These numbers tell me that poverty and failure to place sufficient value on education are robbing us of our next generations’ chances for success. They also tell me that those posters who are so smug about the inferiority of a District 150 education should compare apples to apples. So-called ‘white flight’ has decimated education in Peoria, not because of race, but rather because of poverty. Every school district struggles to overcome the adverse effects of poverty with very little success. Unfortunately for District 150 the poverty of students is THE way of life.

21. I don’ t understand what your point is.
    Are you saying public schools are failing poor kids? I don’t see anyone here disagreeing with that.

    Are you suggesting that poor kids are failing public schools? You might get an argument there.

    Where do you see the problem? In the school system or in the children? (or somewhere else?)

22. oh… and where the records of those students that don’t attend any public school?

23. Kohlrabi someone made that exact suggestion at the board meeting last night.

24. General – Didn’t mean to be redundant. I didn’t catch the whole meeting.

25. Kcdad – my point is that people like you excoriate District 150, its teacher and administrators for test results while applauding the non-District 150 area schools “success”. These figures seemingly show that in addition to District 150 the non-District 150 schools are unable to cause their sub-poverty level students to succeed at standardized testing. My conclusion is that if those schools were populated by similar high levels of sub-poverty level students as District 150 is, then their overall results would be similarly moribund.

    Additionally, a post on PJS purportedly by Jeff Adkins Dutro, a Peoria teacher, captures a significant point about standardized testing when he stated
    “I bet that 80% or more of the college educated people in Peoria couldn’t meet or exceed on every area of the PSAE. Make that 87%. Go the the ACT web site and try out a few questions. Many of the most successful people in the Peoria area (or any area, for that matter) wouldn’t have had a prayer on the PSAE when they were in high school. It’s not the school, the families, and the community that are failing us so much as it is the big-business testing . . . this abstract high dollar testing that costs taxpayers a pretty penny while painting a horrific picture of failure for schools that really aren’t that bad.

    Low test scores decimate schools and, by association, whole communities (via the real estate market, etc.). In twenty to fifty years we will look back and see the era of high stakes testing for what it really was — arguably the most unjust era in the history of our education system. “

26. Spikeless: You are so right. NCLB isn’t done doing it’s damage. Remember that the ultimate goal is that all schools have to reach 100% meeting AYP (I think within a certain number of years–the goal gets higher every year). There isn’t a school that can do that. The expectations are ridiculous. I have believed from the beginning that NCLB was a political tool to discredit public schools to provide ammunition to win acceptance of the voucher system. All that said, there is a literacy problem, not just in District 150, but throughout the country. That is a problem that needs to be addressed; however, NCLB is not doing anything but pointing at the problem–actually putting the problem in neon lights. NCLB offers no solutions. That’s one of the reasons that I am so upset about what has happened at Manual. District 150 bought into the trap. Now Sharon Kherat is stuck with the impossible job of turning the school around. At the first board meeting this year, Sharon did the right thing–went before the board and explained to them that the task was not going to be easy. Somebody got to her–and now everyone is playing the PR game (the smoke and mirrors) to make everyone think Manual is a success when none of the problems have been resolved–they are getting worse. Honesty about the problems would go a long way toward solving the problems.

27. “My conclusion is that if those schools were populated by similar high levels of sub-poverty level students as District 150 is, then their overall results would be similarly moribund.”

    You really don’t get it, do you? If only we had more rich, white, protestant students in 150 our scores would be higher… And you are right!!!! Those that don’t need school are the ones that succeed and those that DO NEED IT fail….

    Schools DON’T work. The non- “sub-poverty” students don’t learn anything either. They would be better off without schools. As would ALL of society… although, frankly, because we are so financially invested in them the economy might go apoplectic for a short period.

    We, you, they, NO ONE can fix the school system. It is useless. It is a waste of time and money… except for the administrators. THEY love it!

28. People want to blame failure on poverty, but I’m not buying it. My mother was poor as dirt, raised in an orphanage and she still managed to get an education. My father had 11 brothers and sisters, they lost their farm during the depression and he still managed to get an education. Why? Because education was held in high esteem. They knew it was a gift and their lives would be better off for it. It was something that was instilled in them since childhood. District 150 has great teachers and education is there for the taking, if you so choose. It’s the attitude toward education that has changed. If you are poor and you want out, an education is the way out, and it’s free.

    What has changed in our society that makes people not value education? How do we get it back?

29. MAWB nailed it. It’s not poverty per se’, it’s Society’s willingness to allow poverty to be used as an acceptable excuse to fail. Paul Vallas calls it the “racism of low expectations”. District 150 needs to demand more from its parents and its students. That will take a strong political and legislative will – not to mention a propensity to “think outside the box”. Not to beat a dead horse – but that won’t happen under current district leadership.

30. Where is Joe Carter when we need him? When you put some real discipline in 150 schools, “they will come”! Any teacher wlll tell you that.

31. Wacko. Agreed! The worst thing that happened at Manual was the first time I heard a student holler out, “Let me see my dean” when he was unhappy about getting a bad grade or being disciplined–probably a conference. That became the rule of the day. Deans became student advocates–friends of the students. That left teachers as the “bad guys” and the deans as the “good guys.” Teachers no longer had any leverage in the classroom. In the earlier days before things got skewed, I could bargain with kids to keep them out of the dean’s office. I guess the deans (once teachers themselves) missed that daily contact with students–the kind that makes you feel good when you go home at night. They forgot what their role was–after they accepted a job at a pay scale higher than that of teachers.

32. When teachers are not respected by Administration nor the BOE, and grades are allowed to be changed something is wrong. How do you expect parents and children to respect teachers after that? When newly hired principals lose their job because of cliques inside the district, how do you expect parents and children to have respect for those people?

    When you have board members who will not speak to their constituents and yet communication is considered a “value” in the district, something is wrong. When you have knee jerk decisions being made (this schools will be closed, no it will stay open, this school will closed, that school with close, no it will be changed instead) and 45 teachers are losing their jobs but no Admin is going and consultants keep being hired, something is wrong.

    When you have lawsuits against the district by principals and teachers (some you haven’t even heard about yet) alike, something is wrong.

    Yes, we have poverty, but this idea of low expectations has got to stop. Parents need to become more involved and understand the need for a better education for their children. The entire community needs to reach out and save this next generation of children. I believe it will only happen if we reach out to the parents also. My parents were poor, but there was hope for a better future with an education. Somewhere along the line even parents have lost hope. Why is that? How do we change that?

33. Right on, MAWB. It’s the politics of low expectations. A new age way of thinking that hurts the ones we most want to help.

34. Thank you Diane, and it is also my opinion, they are hurting themselves more than anything or anyone else. Why do they no longer believe in hope? Hope for their future, hope for their children’s futures! We can build the best schools possible, but until we figure out what it is that has made these people not trust the educational system that is provided they still will not come.

    Are there any communities throughout the world that have succeeded in turning this around? Please point us in the right direction. Anyone?

35. You successful, self-rightious, educated white people need to get a clue! Every poor [city] kid knows exactly what to do to make it in the real world…

    1. Sell drugs

    2. Play pro-sports

    3. Do both

36. Maybe…..hopefully……our new museum will turn things around?

37. “If you are poor and you want out, an education is the way out, and it’s free. ”

    Free? hardly. Ask anyone who isn’t white, protestant and middle class, there are PLENTY of sacrifices and surrenderings needed to “succeed” in the system. One has to become or at the very least appear to be like those white, protestant middle class kids.
    Besides that, we spend billions on your free education. (But ICC just got a new vending contract with 7Up and they got new vending machines.)

    School, public school, is about getting a job in an economy that is skewed so far away from free markets that there is nothing but job preparation being done in schools. If someone doesn’t value that get ahead economic value they find little or no value in school… and vice-versa, the schools find little value in them.

    Sorry you don’t like to hear that, white folk, but get used to disappointment. This may be your father’s world, but it isn’t a white father’s world.

    Of course it is not about just about race. It is about class. Unfortunately non-whites start at a different class than whites, all other things being equal.

    “Why do they no longer believe in hope?” Because they see the real world.

38. Read this: http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/22/bia.education.success/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

    Come on District 150 admin and board, get with it.

39. Sorry to say, these are the kinds of wonderful stories that can’t be duplicated. They can’t be packaged and sold to school districts. These are the kinds of programs that schools like 150 do sometimes buy (or buy into) and then they don’t work. The reason is simple–you can’t package the passion–and it’s the passion that makes it work. This principal has a passion–the plan works because of who he is. I would like to hear from his teachers–to hear how or if his passion rubbed off on them. I admit I’ve become a bit of a cynic–I’ve heard so many of these stories–about successes that last for a while (or successes that are hypes of for PR purposes), but do not have staying power. This kind of discipline can only work in a school that is highly desirable to parents and students. Also, this kind of discipline is only possible if a student can be removed if he/she doesn’t conform. I assume this is some kind of charter school where those two conditions prevail. That said, 150 could do much more to improve discipline and to raise academic and behavioral standards with a few changes in policies–and the desire to make the policies stick.

40. Sharon: I think that is my point, Dist. 150 could change the culture with expectations and discipline along with building relationships with students and the community. However, it takes a good leader. Unfortunately, Hinton has been a huge disappointment. His culture is “if you’re my friend or relative then you’re in” and he also leads by fear and intimidation. You will never get buy in from people under Hinton.

41. I do agree about the leadership–District 150 needs a leader focused on solving the real problems in the district.

42. And what are the “real” problems that can be solved, Sharon?

43. Kcdad: Literacy is probably the most important. I would say discipline is a close second–probably many of the discipline problems are created by students who are frustrated because they can’t do the work they are asked to do. I am not at all convinced that motivation is the primary factor that keeps children from reading at grade level. I don’t have the answers, but I don’t think this country, not just 150, is paying enough attention to the problem.

44. OK… literacy. I’ll buy that. Teachers apparently don’t know to teach it. Why not? What are we doing to train teachers NOT to be able to teach literacy? Why are we spending so much time, money and effort on job training, science education or whatever else instead?
    Couldn’t we spend ALL of our efforts putting into practice a literacy based curriculum? Does anything else really matter if our population is illiterate? If our population thinks radio and TV personalities have all the answer? If they think that just because they see it, hear it, or read it it (I just wrote “it it”) must be true?

    And to be sure, literacy is not simply being able to decipher or decode written symbols.

    I also agree discipline problems are a symptom of systemic problems within the schools and society, NOT the problem itself.

45. Kcdad: Quite honestly I do believe that there is a possibility some children do have disabilities that keep them from learning how to read–and to comprehend what they read (at the rate or the level expected of them at each grade). I guess that is fairly obvious since we acknowledge the need for special education. I don’t believe the average teacher with students from 25 to 30 has the training and/or the time to give the individual attention to students who do have developmental problems. I believe we know that if a child has problems early on, those problems are compounded each year as material becomes more difficult. As a high school teacher, I believe I had a sense of which kids had difficulty learning compared to those who just weren’t motivated or were turned off by school, etc. We have a perfect example at Manual. Many of these kids are reading way below grade level. The problem undoubtedly didn’t start at 9th grade. I am not willing to blame teachers at the earlier grades. First of all, the district has a history of not wanting to admit how severe the problem is. For many years, as a teacher I was not allowed to know the reading levels of my own students–I was shooting in the dark, so to speak. Everything in 150 is a cover-up–make it look good. Therefore, these kids (by order of administrators) are passed on without mastering basic reading schools. In my early years of teaching, the non-readers were the minority; by the time my career ended the non-readers were the majority. The district didn’t even acknowledge it had a problem–teachers knew it but no one would listen–until NCLB made it all too obvious.

46. Sharon refers to students being “passed on without mastering basic reading skills”.

    Does anyone know what percentage of 150 students are held back each year?

47. I think you would be hard pressed to find any past about third grade.

48. “I guess that is fairly obvious since we acknowledge the need for special education. I don’t believe the average teacher with students from 25 to 30 has the training and/or the time to give the individual attention to students who do have developmental problems.”

    Woodruff averaged 12 students per classroom. Isn’t that special education?

    “I am not willing to blame teachers at the earlier grades”

    of course not… you certainly don’t want to blame teachers for children not learning…

    So… let’s just blame the students and their parents. After all, they don’t have jobs at stake.

    The CYA mentality of public education is disgusting.

    I came up with a real solution to the economic, political and social crises we face in this country. The slogan is No Profit for Service. What do you think? Anyone who wants to serve humanity… for the greater good… teaching, counseling, medicine, civil employment, politics, etc… minimum wage leveled for academic achievement… HS= $15/hr college= 22.50/hr graduate degree= 30 /hr PLUS they get free parking, and cuts in line at all public events or businesses (like restaurants).

    If you don’t like it tough, go get a real job.

49. That’s the way Kcdad be the national advocate for $15.00/ hr minimum wages.

    Please expand on how that will affect our economy. example : price of a Big Mac if minimum wage is 15.00/ hour

    Your college wage rate is already exceeded in certain job classifications I.E. Nursing

    I would love to be paid $30.00/ hour in my situation.

50. Kcdad: At no time in anything I said did I blame parents or students for the literacy problem. I truly do not know whom to blame–actually, I do not want to blame anyone. Also, the class size of 12–I believe that is a misleading figure–but teachers have explained that over and over, so clearly no one wants to believe them. However, we don’t have to worry about that since 150 is increasing class size next year. The literacy problem is a national crisis. If regular classroom teachers in District 150 are expected to teach reading, then they should be given the appropriate materials and should not be expected to teach material written at high school level to students who read well below the 7th grade level. Kcdad, are you qualified to teach reading to adults–much different than teaching a child who is “reading” ready, so to speak? I was not. My teaching field was English literature, grammar, etc. Now that–for the first time–I spend some of my time teaching language skills to a couple of preschool kids, I realize that it is easy when “nature takes its course” because these kids are developmentally ready. Not all children are–but I don’t believe it is their fault or even the fault of their parents, many of whom do not know how to get their children ready for school during those all important early years of their lives. Actually, many of the parents are the teenagers sitting in 150 classes, where they have their own learning problems.

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