Back in April when the District 150 Board of Education decided to discontinue live broadcasts of the board meetings, they presented it as a cost-saving measure. I had this to say:
In other words, this move has little to do with cost savings. It’s simply a further manifestation of the district’s desire to minimize, if not eliminate, public input and public access to the school board meetings.
Last night, board members admitted that was indeed the case. From Peoria Story:
Board members acknowledged that the reason they stopped the broadcasts was not, as was initially reported, to save money, but because they objected to negative comments from the public during the public comment portion of the meeting. “It (the money) was never my reason,” Jim Stowell said. “Nor mine,” board president Debbie Wolfmeyer said.
And the Journal Star adds these quotes:
“. . . The board has tried, but I think the board has the responsibility to try to shape the message they want to convey to the public. . . . I’ve heard the same four people at 70 percent of those meetings. . . . and I doubt that very few of them, if any, have any children in the district.” . . .
“I was in favor of taking the broadcast off until we could do something about how to answer people or how to tell our own story – we don’t answer people or questions or rebut anything, so all the public really hear is what other people are saying,” board member Martha Ross said, wanting to revisit the idea because community members have asked her to do so. “It’s their only connection to what’s going on at the school district.”
I would submit that these board members don’t quite understand the concept of petitioning the government for redress of grievances. They think they should get to take our money and feed us back a message they “shape” and “want to convey to the public.” All dissenting opinions should be censored or effectively hidden from the public.
I might do that someday. Right now I am resending for the 4th or 5th time a FOIA for which I have never received all the information I requested. I originally requested the grades received for the 407 classes that were taken in Summer School 2009. I received all the grades. Then I asked for the attendance to go with the grades. I erred the first time (I think) because I asked for the absences for the students who took the 407 classes. The times tardy were not included (which I thought they would be because 3 times tardy equals an absence). The attendance with the times tardy was quite different than what I received the first time. Some may have accepted the first report as fact.
I think my request was straightforward enough–send all attendance records. Since they sent 407 grades, shouldn’t I expect the same number of attendance records?
However, I received attendance records for only 271 students–Stacey Shangraw told me verbally that 136 probably had perfect attendance. I stated that I would resend to get–in writing–the ID’s (fictitious) of students who had perfect attendance. So I wrote–“Please send me the ID numbers of the students who had perfect attendance.” The response was “No students had perfect attendance.” Then I asked for their attendance records (yet again). I have yet (after about 5 tries) received all 407 records.
The last two times they have “forgotten” to include the attendance records for the second class that was taken by several students. However, they did send me a list of 36 students who had perfect attendance (however some of them took 2 classes so I don’t think I should assume the attendance was the same for both classes). I truly do not understand why this information has been so difficult to acquire. It makes a skeptical person even more skeptical. 🙂
Of course, Dr. Lathan has stated at the last two board meetings that (1) too much of their time is required to respond to FOIAS (so could we meet her half way) (2) that FOIAs in July cost the district $3,000.
Correcting my misleading sentence: “I have yet (after about 5 tries) received all 407 records.” Should read that I have never received all 407 records.
C.J., I hope that something good (now or in the future) will come as a result of all the time you spend reporting and commenting on so many important issues. The result will not come from those elected but from those doing the electing–and that is who we are–the voters.
Sharon,
What do you do with all of this FOIA information?
Dr. Lathan might turn out to be what District 150 has really needed but her hiring practices appear to be just as bad as previous administrations. I can personally tell you that she doesn’t run an equal opportunity hiring process.
Say What: I agree, it seems that a lot of jobs are being filled in D150 without the jobs ever being posted. Perfect example, the current principal at Lindbergh was “placed” there last January because the previous principal liked to look at porn at school and was fired. Now, how does this guy get a year’s contract when he NEVER even applied for or was interviewed for the job? I understand he applied in the past but was not hired.
What do I do with the FOIA’d information. Most of it I use for my speeches at board meetings and to pass out to board members–and gladly anyone who would ask for it. I’ve done information about the cost of summer school. Last board meeting I passed out three spread sheets based on the following data from the 2010 Manual grads: grade point, ACT scores, all grades, all absences (in all the full day excused or unexcused; all the hours missed and the reasons for being out of class) and all tardies. I also did a study of where the Northmoor and Franklin Edison students go to middle school since with the closure of Loucks, there is only one Edison middle school. One of my main purposes is to find out if board policies are being followed. Also, I did a study of how many students from all high schools failed English classes. I did a study of class sizes at all four high schools.
Sharon +1: One of the few good moves this district has made is the placement of the current Lindbergh principal. The one move they should make is the firing of Ms. Dimke or should I say, “Ms. Be Happy You Have a Job”. Especially from her mistakes with the secretary’s pay and the rude manner which she has treated displaced workers. The district could easily replace her with Teri Dunn who is more than competent to fill that position. I forgot that makes sense and that means there would be an administrator in place that treats people with respect. This would send a positive message to the public. We can’t have that.
I do find it ironic that Dimke has told teachers to be happy they have a job (when they have complained that procedure wasn’t followed–and I don’t believe it has been). Ironic because I think she is lucky to have a job after the she gave a few secretaries an unauthorized pay raise.
teachers “whoa is me” rings hollow until they step up and eliminate tenure. The lack of structure and accountability in evaluating performance for teachers (admin too) needs to be addressed. Anyone hearing NPR on how teachers make a significant impact on students, particularly in the formative years, knows society cannot afford to protect bad teachers. Few as they may be, they use tenure as a shield, and shame on those that protect teachers they know should be displaced.
third rail…tenure could just be adjusted, so good teachers are protected, but bad ones are first remediated and then if it does not work, replaced.
Tenure is useless. EXCEPT in a system where the administration is set against the teachers. Except in a system where the administration sees teachers as threats to their jobs. Except in a system where administration sees their job as bossing teachers around rather than supporting teachers.
See, if the administration saw their job as helping to educate children, instead protecting their own big fat salaries and benefits, they would want good teachers and want to get rid of bad ones… it’s just the oppposite now. They want to keep the bad ones because they can control them. The good ones are just trouble.
that just explains why you are kept, from your own reasoning, not mine.
Amen Charlie…
Charlie, you are right. However, I’m not sure that we can ever hope for a system where the administrators aren’t pitted against the teachers, etc. On second thought, when I first started teaching I believed in a bit of the Utopia you describe. I still don’t know if I was fooling myself just because I had a really good principal for those first years of my career.
charlie, not all admins are like that. Some are there for the children. Tenure would be pointless if all admins were benevelolent and did not play favorites, etc.
Dimke should definitely be replaced. She is not good at her job and was never qualified in that area. Anybody else that makes the same mistakes she does would have been let go. The first sign that something might be amiss was when Dimke and Shau wanted their contracts extended many months before their first year contract was up. Never heard of that before. They just wanted to cover themselves if it ever came out about the raises. But no, the board jumped on it instead of waiting to see how things were going. I agree Terri Dunn would be the better candidate plus the salary Terri receives is more of a Director of HR’s salary.
third rail and average teacher:
You are there because you don’t threaten the administration. PERIOD. They can control you. You are their “biatches”.
…and oh Yeah… of course they are there for the children… that is why they AREN’T in the classrooms with them everyday…
Come on, be honest with yourself… if you are a teacher YOU WOULDN’T dream of going into administration and leaving the classroom.
And Sharon… it isn’t a UTOPIA… it does exist in many alternative and free schools.
The trick of course is put the administrators in the classrooms … the teachers are the administrators.
I betcha if you ask him privately, even someone like Steve Ptasek (sorry, Steve) will tell you that he would rather be in the classroom.
Re: Deborah Dimke Human Resources manager – Many people are becoming increasingly more distrustful of Dimke and her integrity/motives, especially the way she threw Durflinger under the bus. At this time District 150 needs people of impeccable character and unquestionable ethics. Time for her to fly.
In all my years in D150, I have never before had anyone say, “maybe you just need to go somewhere else if you aren’t happy here.” Maybe she should look into why teachers are unhappy with their placements instead of passing out veiled threats.
Does anyone know why at least 3 HR clerical quit all within a few weeks. Heard some didn’t even give notice. They just didn’t come back the next day. Was it because of Dimke?
I can tell you for sure, 100% Deb Dimke said “we are not hiring from the outside”. Hmmmmm, yet 7 people come from NC. I am increasingly skepitcal of Dimke. She is an outsider who had an in with Hinton. She ensured she had a contract before many long time employees were cut or pink-slipped or returned to the classroom.
I heard that Schau chose (whatever that means–recommended, maybe) the new transportation director who is from Arizona (I heard). Maybe the new and the newer administration is bringing in as many people as possible to increase property taxes (hopefully, they will all live in Peoria or West Peoria). 🙂 I hope the new transportation director has driven all over the District 150 area to acquaint himself with the bus routes. This year with all the extra bussing I would think a Peoria person might have been a good choice. I hope we aren’t going to have the “Gang of 11”–isn’t that the current number of new (including Dimke and Schau) administrators who are not from Peoria (and many of whom probably already know each other well). I hope they will all soon branch out to form good working relationships with teachers and “local” administrators. I think that’s certainly possible, but it makes me a bit nervous. I see the advantage of administrators having no “loyalties” to the current more “inbred” system. However, I, also, see the disadvantages of having no loyalties to Peoria and/or people already within the system. It’s a tightrope walk.
Sharon,
Actually whether the new transportation director came from Arizona or Hong Kong wouldn’t make it more difficult being unfamiliar with Peoria. A very sophisticated computer program maps out the optimum bus routes based on the addresses for students to be picked up.
Who would have ever thought that there aren’t any qualified Peoria area people for all of those jobs?? Interesting how one board member wanted to make all employees live inside Peoria as they currently seemed to be hiring anyone who DOESN’T live inside Peoria.
But the computer program can’t account for specific Peoria roads condition in the winter like a person from this area can.
I wonder how many relocation packages the District is handing out to Administrators? How many houses are we buying? How much are we payin in moving expenses? Or are they are being crafty and builing those costs into increased annual salaries? I’m sure our vigilant board has a good handle on these things.
Did anyone ever find out if Schau was let go from her previous job like some were speculating previously? Wasn’t McKenzie hired by the board to be the internal auditor to make sure all things are being done correctly by the controller, but now he has been hired to be the Asst. Controller. Isn’t that a conflict of interest and is he still handling both jobs? Still wondering why Schau and Dimke were pushing to get their contracts renewed 4-5 months before their year was up. Are they hiding anything else?
I’ve unapproved a few comments due to violation of the Terms of Use.
Was Dimke released from Rockford?
Wondering–there is no reason to wonder about any of these things–write a FOIA. Without Malice–you’re undoubtedly right. On the other hand, (about everyone, not just transportation director) I am extremely concerned about having so many new people who know nothing about District 150 history–you know, the whole saying about if you don’t know the history, it’s bound to repeat itself. That and some history should repeat itself. I have discovered that to be true about how summer school is run. They even “lost” the financial history of how summer school was funded before Royster (I know that because I FOIA’d that info and they told me the records had been lost).
Sharon some person or persons seem to be providing Dr. Lathan information on who to hire and who not to hire. She couldn’t be rejecting all of these Peoria area people based on her own limited knowledge of this area. Somebody is giving her a thumbs up or thumbs down on the applicants.
Hope it isn’t the person who has 16 felony counts against her….Dimke was listening to her.
I believe that Tim Delinski is giving her a thumbs up or down on who to hire from here. He is the only local she placed in central office. Who else would she listen to? I have mixed feelings about Tim. I won’t go into detail.
Hey i know…..Many of us know his somewhat interesting past too. 😉 I’m not sure he is someone who should be evaluating others.
Agree with the two previous Delinski postings.
If it is this current administrations decision to not hire “back” any employees that have threatened to sue or have sued, then how come Delinski in now at central admin? One more question. Since he will be evaluating all middle and high school principals, isn’t the district setting him up for a Mary Davis-like situation inthat he will be in charge of evaluating “whoever” becomes the new principal at Sterling…..correct? Not that he is ANYTHING like Mary Davis…..
Maybe the new principal test can be how much alcohol can you drink and how many extra-marital affairs can you have. “Someone” should be a REAL GOOD evaluator of that. 😉
Sometimes after a night of reading the blogs, however, I am ashamed to be a teacher. Some of my cohorts can be so petty.
Average Teacher: What makes you think these are TEACHERS posting?
I just think it sounds like some of the worst banter in the teacher’s lounge. That is the reason why Student teachers are told to stay away from that place. Maybe it is just people who know Tim. I don’t know him, so I can not defend him. I guess it could be other admins.
I think complaining is standard operating procedure for teachers. I know teachers from a number of districts, and they all think their administration is poor and talk about it constantly. I am not sure why, maybe they don’t like administrators making more $$$ than they do. Most administrators have been teachers, but not the other way around. I don’t believe teachers appreciate the problems of administrators.
Let me add I am a big supporter of teachers rights and fair pay, but this “tendency” has always annoyed me.
I trust that I have not brought up or in anyway encouraged “gossip” about anyone’s personal life, etc. I try very hard to limit my discussions to policies, practices, etc., that make teaching more difficult for teachers and learning more difficult for students. Reading some of the gossip recently put on this post makes me realize why I use my own name–that does prevent me from making comments that could be considered slander, etc. (just in case conscience isn’t a good enough “filter”). Maybe I’m wrong, but I consider fair game comments such as the one about an administrator telling displaced teachers that they should be glad just to have a job–when they complain that procedure wasn’t followed, etc.
Teachers tend to complain when they are completely left out of the process and consistently treated unfairly. I have said before that most of my complaints were not personal–I was never a victim that I can remember. I didn’t complain about students either–just complained when policy was not followed in dealing with students.
Also, as someone suggested, not everyone who knows about District 150 issues first hand are teachers. There are other employees who, also, write on blogs.
Sharon, you are retired and have nothing to loose by using your real name.
I Know–True, I have nothing to lose by using my real name–except my reputation.
Sharon, ur great. Thanks for all the work you do.
I Know, Thanks! I wasn’t fishing for a compliment. I was just concerned that the blog took a turn for the worse for a while. C.J. truly runs a professional blog–he should not have to weed out inappropriate comments that go way beyond complaining.
Sharon in order for something to be slanderous it has to be untrue.
Then let’s just go with inappropriate. The slanderous part has to be proven in court.
I don’t think that it is inappropriate, should that person be judging others for administrative positions. His character, as would mine or anyone else, should be considered before one would rely on his, mine or your recommendations.