The Peoria School District 150 Board of Education decided last month to discontinue live broadcasts of the school board meetings on public access cable television starting in May. Instead, they are going to show the meeting a week delayed, and they’re going to excise the public comment portion of the meeting — that is, they are going to censor part of the official meeting because they don’t want the public to see it.
However, since the school board meetings are open meetings, recordings can be made by any member of the public. Former Journal Star employee Elaine Hopkins made an audio recording of the public comments and posted it on her blog, Peoria Story. Kudos to her for keeping the public informed while the school board tries to keep the public in the dark. There are still a few kinks to work out; for instance, she’s uploaded the file in WAV format, which is uncompressed and makes for a hefty download. Once she learns to compress it into a reasonably-sized mp3 file, we’ll really be in business.
It’s funny. These comments used to be available only to those who watched the meeting live on Comcast Cable in Peoria. Now they’re available on demand to anyone in the world who wants to hear them. The school board’s attempt to suppress the broadcast of these comments has resulted in even wider distribution! I love irony.
Thanks, CJ. I think I may be able to change it to an MP3 file. I didn’t know that made a difference.
It was all done by trial and error, as there were no instructions for this with the recorder, and the instructions on the blog help site were incomprehensible.
Meanwhile if anyone out there can arrange to have it telecast or webcast live, please do it!
One word: Flip.
I think all interested parties should take turns doing the “leg work” on recording and uploading the videos. This would be too much responsibility for Elaine to do alone. I am happy to take my turn at the wheel. Elaine I will e-mail you and anyone else willing to help her out should e-mail her too.
Diane, I’m surprised you have time. What about the museum?
Elaine, thanks for being the first to step forward and Diane for volunteering. I would volunteer, but chances are that I would mess up and press the wrong buttons. Mazr, Diane is a multi-tasker–she’s a mom!
Mazr – I wish they would get on with that already. ;P
San Diego public school district requires speakers at board meetings to fill out cards in advance. They also have a web feed of the meetings on the district website. Don’t know if it’s live, edited, or anything else, but my guess is this will be coming soon to D150. I applaud all efforts to hold D150 accountable to transparency and integrity (even though some suggest my closet needs cleaning).
If the real goal by the board was to save money, then why don’t they at least post the meeting on their web site? They have the web site someone in IT could just upload the meeting the next day, so no overtime, and the information would be public.
That’s a good idea, “some guy.” Why don’t they do that?
But I suspect that the real goal is to stop public criticism of the board. Their solution is like every other decision this board has made — wrong headed. In fact they should welcome public criticism as part of the checks and balances system of government. And not all of the public comments contain criticism. At last night’s meeting the public speakers praised Hershell Hannah and told amusing stories about their interactions with him. It was his last board meeting.
So, the board still listens to public comments, right? They just don’t broadcast Kookla,Fran,& Ollie. Good. Thanks, Elaine, for giving those who absorb every pearl of wisdom from Sierra et al a chance to listen to it again and again. Waterboard me instead.
I rather be waterboarded then listen to Jim S. with his excuses and ignorant attacks on others. Just Sayin !
Elaine, you may benefit from using Audacity, a free-ware audio editing program. You can download it and get more info here (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/). It converts wav files to MP3 without much fuss at all.
Also, setting up a podcast is really easy to do once you’ve got the file converted to MP3. I’d be happy to help if you have any questions. All you need is a wordpress based blog.
“just saying” Excellent! Like I wanted to hear taco bell rambling. Water board me too.
Emtronics, however, you may want to hear speakers such as the secretaries who “broke the news” about the salary increases to the board on April 26. 🙂
Critical Thinking is the truest form of intelligence. It is the evaluation of everything that surrounds us that keeps us from being lambs to the slaughter, that assures our growth, and therefore ensures our survival. It is so ironic and therefore funny(in every meaning of the word) that so many want to put evaluative thinking at the top of the list in teaching and learning and intelligence until you question THEIR authority, then YOU are left looking like nothing more than a problem rocking the boat!~ The cameras were the eyes of a community questioning, trying to evaluate what is going on with THEIR school district, trying to survive and grow. The ability to question this district in an evaluative manner may be the only thing that can save it. I am so proud of everyone who is looking at alternative ways to give the community another way to SEE what is really taking place so we can challenge decisions being made and use true intelligence to move us all forward.
True Sharon and maybe we should all pack the Board Room every meeting to the point of standing room only that so many people are there, it taxes the A/C unit. Board members don’t like to sweat nor do they like huge crowds. That way, when someone wants to speak, those that want to stay can, those that don’t can leave. Maybe then the Board will realize that people did enjoy the live broadcast of the meetings.
Emtronics, I agree. I do not understand why no one shows for meetings–the board does need to know they do have an audience that’s paying attention to what they do. However, many people who couldn’t get to meetings did watch. Parents do need to stay home to take care of their children, and teachers need to be home to prepare for school and to take care of their families.
I talked to Stacey Shangraw after Pam Adams called me about whether PCCEO’s CAA Media Services Department could step in and help continue the live broadcasts. The main cost savings is the 1 technical person that gets overtime pay to help crew the meetings. They use another person, whose works hours are adjusted on the Board Meeting days. The other cost savings IS by not replacing aging video equipment this year.
I did offer to discuss helping them out, but because of Dist. 150 policy, only employees can be present to operate the equipment for the tapings.
Like others, though, I do disagree with not recording comments from the public, no matter if they are short & to the point, or long & winded without making a point. Hopefully someone might take their home camcorder to the meetings, and upload them to YouTube the same night. But with a YouTube 10 min. time limit, it would take hours to do that.
I do disagree with those that this new policy leaves everyone ‘in the dark’ about what’s going on. There will always be standard media/press there to report on actions; there will always be citizens attending who can spread the news by word of mouth or blog; and the minutes of the meetings, as far as I know, are published on the D150 website. Failing all that, there is still the Freedom of Information Act to request documents.
Erin et al — why is an mp3 audio file better than a wav file? I can convert the wav file to an mp3 file, an extra step in the process, but why do it?
Also I have no intention of staying for the entire (boring) meeting, just the public comments which the board will not (and did not) videotape. While it’s true that some comments have no value, others are very valuable and should be preserved as part of the historical record. They don’t go on and on, as there is a 5-minute limit on each person.
(One value of the videotape is that you can fast forward through the boring parts of the meeting.)
A live broadcast is better. I personally know people who have gone to a public meeting after hearing it on the radio or seeing it on TV, and whose contributions made a real difference in what occurred.
As for paying overtime, etc. — it should be paid if necessary. We can do a fundraiser to raise the money. It’s not the money, anyway. That’s a dumb excuse. The point is they don’t want it.
Dennis, Don’t drink the Kool-aid of “they can’t afford it”. They know that we know and we know that they know that we know that is bogus. Let’s just cut through the shit. They don’t want their dirty laundry aired weekly for all to see. Everyone knows it, including them. Public comments will be video-taped and available for downloading by the next board meeting.
This is the FOIAd e-mail message that Wolfmeyer sent to board members:
“Several Board members have approached me about Mr. Stowell’s suggestion to tape delay our Board meetings… Two members have shared their reluctance to do this, but the rest seem to be in favor of the idea. So, unless a majority of board members disagree, I plan to announce at the 4/12 meeting that beginning in May our meetings will no longer be shown live. They will be shown on Monday night following the Board meeting, and we will be showing the business meeting. This is not a policy and therefore does not require a vote. There is no provision in the law for televising meetings. Please let me know if you have specific thoughts on these issues.”
I asked for all communications to and from board members to each other–this is all I received.
I love it that Wolfmeyer was careful to give Jim the credit for the idea.
Elaine: An mp3 file can be played on more devices, like an iPod and other hand-held devices. It’s considered more user-friendly.
I do need to add, that in my conversation with Stacey Shangraw, she indicated that their Tech people were looking into getting the video of the BOE meetings up on the Dist. 150 website no later than Wednesday, 2 days after it is held. But I think it will still not have public comments.
As far as their reasoning for going to tape delay, that is what was told to me. But it is true, they are not required by law to have their meetings
videotaped, let alone broadcast live. The same is true with City Council meetings. It is a benefit to the citizens they serve.
mp3 audio files are much smaller than wav files, so they can be loaded faster as well.
D150 makes the news (PJStar) again. When I heard this on the blog, it sounded too outrageous to be true.
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1773731336/District-150-questions-how-children-walked-away-from-Glen-Oak
Why would they turn it over to the district’s police? They were found on a public highway!!
Why did it take two weeks for the news to come out in the PJStar?
Numerous sources have reported that the kids were allegedly given “marching orders” from an annoyed principal.
To Huh? – Haney was tipped off. Interesting that Haney would not report who told the kids to walk home. No worries though, after District 150’s extensive “internal” investigation it will be determined that there was no wrong-doing on the part of the District and everyone will be apologized to.
“No worries though, after District 150’s extensive “internal” investigation it will be determined that there was no wrong-doing on the part of the District and everyone will be apologized to”.
And if a staff person came forward to report it they will be terminated / disciplined.
According to the PJSTar, these kids were discovered a mile from school, along the interstate, at 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. School doesn’t let out until 3:30 p.m. (according to the school’s website). If these children attended school on this day, why were they allowed to leave early? You can bet there will be a lot of finger pointing. I wonder what was captured on the school’s surveillance cameras.
“the children claimed they were told to walk to their grandmother’s house after school”
No mention of who told them… don’t ya think if it had been a teacher or principal the kids would have said so? Maybe the PJStar is just trying to cover up the story.
Besides, when I was 8 or 9, I wouldn’t have walked to Pekin no matter who told me to. If that part of the story is true, we really do have a problem with the education our students are getting. Only one of two people could’ve gotten me to hit the road for Pekin…
@ Elaine: Dennis already said it, but the size of a MP3 file is much, much smaller so it loads faster. Plus it saves bandwidth because of the smaller file size. If you are paying for your own hosting, then it’s definitely recommended, especially if it gets a lot of downloads. The MP3 is just a compressed version of the WAV and most people can’t notice the difference in audio quality unless you have amazingly superior speakers.
This Just In reported the “rumor” May 4th. Conduct interviews and view the tapes. Seems we get to the truth quickly when there is a video (hopefully with audio).
When I played the wav file in ITunes, it sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks. After I converted it to mp3, I could listen to it in Windows Media.
TR64–I must have missed something. What “rumor”? Video of what?
A) On this blog, at 8:24 p.m. on May 4th, This Just In told about two children from Glen Oak School walking along side the highway. B) The video from the surveillance cameras covering the entrance/exit of the school.
I think the article said after 3:00 pm… it didn’t state exactly what time. Hopefully, there will be a follow-up in the paper.
You are correct. I overlooked the “after”. Once again, I have learned that one word can make a difference:) Anyway, our schools have checks and balances (parents must sign out their children in the office).
If the parents were to blame for the children found walking on the highway then why did they pull their children from the school the NEXT day? Something isn’t passing the smell test. Remember, the teachers are afraid to talk……..look what happened to the Lindbergh principal who tried to tell the administration what was going on with mary davis. I wonder if Lathan has any clue what kind of employees she has over there on wisconsin ave.?
Somehow the fact that those kids were pulled from the school was missing from the article…
wow–you just had to bring up the elephant in the room. The “conveniently missing financial records”, accusations, fear, and retaliation (not to mention the departure of several administrators).
Someone at Glen Oak is being disciplined: PJS PEORIA — “Peoria School District 150 officials say an employee at Glen Oak Primary School has been disciplined after a 9-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister ended up walking a mile from school and onto Interstate 74. Officials would not say what employee was disciplined, nor what form of discipline was taken Thursday. The incident took place more than two weeks ago.”
Justice moves slowly in 150–and we can only hope it was just.
Seems like the wheels of justice move faster after the PJStar reports.
Silly Sharon – you should know that if it happened in 150 it was not just. They fired a white part-time non-tenured teacher – the lowest hanging fruit. The woman who gave the child the incorrect information and then failed to address the error when it was brought to her attention, was NOT disciplined. She is great pals with the principal. Remember in D150 its not what you know but who you know, and of course being the right color helps too. Everyone is putting money on Pat Bennassi getting another participant in her class action lawsuit. More job security for District 150 crack lawyer David Walvoord, who was most likely behind this, yet one more idiotic “resolution”.
While I understand the temptation to make “color” the issue, the same story would have been the same (and often has been the same) if a white principal covered for a “pet” white employee over a white (not-so-popular-with the principal)white employee. And there is even a possibility of the same saga with all “black” participants. Of course, when employees of both races are involved, it often is deemed a racial issue–not at all sure that I want to see all these issues in black and white. I believe power is more of an issue than is race. The results would be the same–if the discipline were meted out fairly–because there is a fourth entity here that made the ulitimate decision–neither the principal or the two teachers decided who was to be disciplined or how to discipline the person (or group of people because the BOE members had to vote on this one, didn’t they?) Here is one of those cases where the union can’t help out because the disciplined teacher is non-tenured and part-time. I hope all can see why unions are needed to protect the innocent from being disciplined to protect the guilty. There are many unanswered questions about this case. Once 150 is forced to tell part of the story, they might as well tell the whole story (once everyone agrees on which story to tell)–because piece by piece it comes out on the blogs.
Sharon: person fired was a permanent subsitute because no one wanted the job that this person was willing to take on. Another shining example of WHY D150 cannot get qualified, certified people……..poor administrators at their schools.
I think I am getting the picture, but we still don’t know how a substitute caused two children to be on I74 before school was officially dismissed. A sub cannot release students. Am I missing something here? I thought that a parent had to come to the school to take a child out early and I don’t understand how a teacher could be involved in that process at all. I certainly know that even at the high school level, as a teacher I couldn’t give a student permission to leave the building. Then, of course, we have the story that the children thought they were told to go to the grandmother’s house–surely noone knowingly told them inadvertently to walk to Pekin. But that’s beside the point–they shouldn’t have been released at all without a parent. Or maybe I don’t know what job this sub had–was she something other than a teacher?
Yes, it happened after 3. WAY after 3. In fact, around 4. SCHOOL HAD BEEN DISMISSED for the day. The children did NOT leave school EARLY. The police officer simply stated it was after 3 in the afternoon on the 29th of April in his report. They were told to go to a family members home after school by Glen Oak office personnel. Unfortunately, the office person told them to go to Grandma’s, which was the WRONG family members house to go to. They asked for clarification by said office person and AGAIN this person told them to walk to Grandma’s. They knew she lived in Pekin and couldn’t believe their mom would call the school to have them walk to Pekin, but when you are 8 and 9 years old, you do what your mother (or what you are told your mother said)has told you to do.
so sad, That helps. At this point, I’m not sure what to think. District 150 is remiss by not demanding that this whole story be told. I can’t imagine an adult knowingly telling children to walk to Pekin. Also, the time is a very important factor, so the story should definitely have reported that school had been dismissed. The question now is: Who told the office personnel to tell the kids to walk to Grandma’s.
The children repeatedly told the office person that their Grandmother lived in Pekin and the office person did not take any steps to investigate the conflicting information – instead allowing the kids to leave as usual to figure things out for themselves. Sharon, at GlenOak, it is my understanding if you live within a certain radius of the school the children can walk home. The teacher that they FIRED was a specials teacher who originally heard the order for the child to walk to the Gramma’s, at which time he instructed the child to clear it up with his home-room teacher. The home room teacher then told the child to go to the front office, and he was blown off by the same person who gave the bad info. With no one else to turn to, he collected up his sister and followed orders to walk to Gramma’s.