If this isn’t an example of bureaucratic inefficiency, I don’t know what is:
Over two years in both special education and Title I, District 150 is set to receive some $8.5 million, more than most of the area school districts’ funds combined.
District officials are still studying what it will be used for, but Mary O’Brian, the district’s special education director, said they are looking to upgrade a number of areas – not surprising given nearly one in four students at District 150 has been identified as having some special education need.
The district is looking at “assistive technologies,” which could range from special keyboards or listening devices for students with disabilities to software and training to run the new equipment. In fact, the district has hired an outside consulting firm to help direct the best use of the money. [emphasis added] There’s also talk about being able to use some of the money to pay for teacher’s aides.
So, we pay Mary O’Brian $93,840 a year as special education director, and she doesn’t know how best to spend the money earmarked for special education? They have to hire an outside consultant (at additional expense) to tell them how to spend the money? Are they just out there looking for ways to waste money? I suppose the next thing they’ll do is hire a consultant to help them choose the consultant that will tell them how to spend their money.
Hopeless.
CJ – D150 has a high number of special ed kids. There are many within the district who feel that it is D150’s ineffectiveness that actually creates the special needs situation. Love the adjective “hopeless”. How fitting.
Ridiculous! I don’t know how District 150 (whichever “they” made the decision to hire a consulting firm) can keep making such embarrassing decisions.
Maybe District 150 is creating these special ed kids… maybe if they went to another school system they would (or could) be normal. I always felt a little less intelligent, a little less human (and ready to kill someone) after coming out of R.L. LOCKERBY’s 8th grade Orthography class.
Maybe its the flouride in the drinking water, video games or Ipods, or the high level of melanin in the student population…
Maybe it is just poor prenatal (or postnatal) care among Peoria’s parents.
Maybe… just maybe… its the administration… I don’t know what makes me think that.
Davis has got to go… I hope Barnwell can figure something out over at Lindbergh… I see they got rid of Davis / Lindbergh’s school secretary…
CJ-
Thanks for expanding on my comments from yesterday. It is unbelievable that the administration continues to get away with throwing money away.
kcdad-
Barnwell won’t be at Lindbergh long enough to figure much out. He will be replaced soon (probably by a Davis-like person).
What secretary are you referring to?
Who will the consultant be? Somebody’s friend?
If you look back at my comments you will see that I gave you a heads up about this woman over a year ago. She has no clue what she is doing.. finally someone caught on and is relieving her of her duties, but we still get to pay her. She keeps her job, is buddy-buddy with Hinton and Brodrick, came from ISU and doesn’t have a clue. When she was hired on, she didn’t even know the laws, they had to be explained to her… now this.
She must have gone into Hinton’s office, slammed her hand down on the desk, pulled her hair and cried to get some help.
Dr. Mary O’Brian hasn’t known what she is doing from the time she came in January of 07. She obviously still does not. I know SPED directors with huge budgets here in Illinois that don’t need a consultant to tell them how to spend money.
Maybe if she’d stop walking around pulling at her, yelling and crying she could focus on learning about what she is suppose to be doing to meet the standards in special education. She needs to go and should have been gone before now.
They have Thom Simpson as a consultant, he was a director for Special Ed for 150.. why can’t he help to this…. Mr. Consultant! Mr. Director!! What is his *** doing?
The secretary that was there when McArdle started… I heard she “left the district”
“she could focus on learning about what she is suppose to be doing”
She should have known that before she was given her 100,000 a year job…
There was no secretary when McArdle started. She had to hire one in August before school started. That secretary left in December. The secretary who came in January is wonderful.
To the best of my knowledge Thom Simpson is part time. It is my opinion that his expertise is not fully appreciated.
Then why are we paying him?
I have never seen a community, and I am including the city, county and the district in this, that has to hire so many outside consultants in my life. Every single time something comes up we have to go elsewhere to get advice. And expensive advice at that. Then 90% of the time we don’t follow it. Is there no one here in Peoria educated well enough to help us help ourselves? Why must we always be advised to be like some other community? Can’t we think for ourselves and make our own print/pattern in our own community. As a whole we have spent millions and millions of dollars getting others to tell us what to do and how to do it and where are we? No where. We are getting worse and worse and there seems to be no salvation no matter who we hire or what we pay them. Its time to stand up and think for ourselves and do something for ourselves. We are not stupid but we are making ourselves that way by allowing outsiders to lead us by the pocketbook down the wrong hallway.
SD — The problem would appear that we are thinking for ourselves a little too much. You said it yourself: we “go elsewhere to get advice,” “90% of the time we don’t follow it,” and the result is “we are getting worse and worse.” Maybe we should try following the advice we’ve been paying for so dearly.
kcdad: you got that right. She should have already know what she was doing. But she did not and still does not. Mary O’Brian needs to go right along with Hinton. On top of not knowing what she is doing she has zero people skills.
Ditto, but we are still left with a largely unqualified board and property tax payers up in arms. “Where us everyone going”?
Indeed. More reasons, perhaps, after you read Terry Bibo’s factual column today.
Sorry, proof read, Merle, the JS headline said “where is……..? Not us or “we’uns”.
Common sense trumped by nonsensical bureaucracy . . . over . . . and . . . over . . . and . . . over . . . again.
Ask anyone who attened the Co-Teaching training last week about Dr. O’Brian. She is a joke!
If District 150 didn’t have so many administrators, they wouldn’t have time to have all these workshops for professional development, etc. And that would be a bad thing???? In fact, if their own administrators don’t conduct the workshops (and they often don’t), they spend their time and taxpayer money searching out “professional” professional development “experts” to conduct workshops (that cost taxpayers even more money)–a whole new career that has taken hold in this country. I wish that all of you who think “professional development” sounds like a grand idea could sit through some of these sessions that are so labeled. If teachers are not being properly “developed” in college, then colleges should be encouraged to offer better “training.” At the last board meeting, the subject of “exit” interviews came up. I wish the BOE members had the courage to sit down with all the Manual teachers who have been pinkslipped this year–ask them about the two weeks (for extra pay at taxpayers’ expense) of “professional development” they were forced to sit through before school started last year. Ask the teachers about all the “professional development” they received during the six Wacky Wednesdays this year–time that would have been better spent teaching.
Mary O’Brian is a joke. If the parents of children of special needs only knew what was really happening in the SPED dept. Please know, MOB is manipulative and can pull the wool over some people. I just hope she goes when Hinton goes.
Training: tell us more about O’Brian in the training, this I got to hear.
The training was originally set up to run from 8:30 – 3:30 for three consecutive days. Once teachers arrived the first day they were told 8:30 – 9:00 AM would be for breakfast and that the training would end each day at 3:00 PM not 3:30. Basically O’Brian shaved off an hour each day for 125 teachers to save money. That isn’t really the issue, the issue is that she could have been upfront with everyone from the beginning about the time and wasn’t.
Then she told the teachers that they wouldn’t be getting paid until August because payroll would have to be turned in too late, even tough there was an email that stated any training/professional development taking place in June will be paid by June 30.
Basically she got called out on this by several teachers and was outed in front of the entire group. She gave excuses, but guess what????? Teachers all got paid when they should have on their latest check. O’Brian lied to everyone and it took some emails and phone calls to her “superiors”…I use that word lightly….to get the job done. Kudos to those who called her out and got everyone paid on time.
Now I’m curious–what kind of training was offered at these sessions?
Training: thanks, just curious. She has messed so many things up I can not tell you. Half the time she does not know what she is doing. I advise all to watch their backs if you challenge her, question her or have a different opinion of her. She is always looking for someone else to blame, and she is good at twisting and turning things around.
Dutro is right on the money. Look what has happened in the past
year Frank williams, Aaron Williams, John Seargant, Ivan Watson,
just to name a few have been arrested in drug rings.
Where is the discipline and direction at Manual High?
No wonder why Dutro wanted to get the hell out of there.
$TAX
Frankie, Aaron, and Ivan were actually at Manual at the tailend of the good days at Manual. The three of them did not misbehave in the classroom–actually, they were all quite respectful of me, etc. I am very saddened by the direction their lives have now taken and hope that they can turn their lives around. Sometimes I think that young men get disillusioned when the dreams of a “Michael Jordan” basketball career don’t pan out. I think that–like me–Jeff would never have left to get away from the kids; our disillusionment was with Manual’s leadership that stopped asking the best of kids and began to accept bad behavior as the inevitable. The current leadership at Manual preferred to get rid of most of the old faculty and start fresh with mostly first-year teachers or teachers new to the district–I believe the leadership thought they could mold them into “team” players. I think that the new teachers are quite capable, but they could have been helped by the presence of some experienced Manual teachersl. Now, of course, most of this new group of teachers have been pink-slipped. Some of them had already decided to get jobs elsewhere.
Serenety, are you sure your not talking about Mary Davis? That would fit her to a T. Maybe those are pre-requisites to getting hired by District 150
A friend called to tell me that she had received an “automated” phone call from District 150 this week inviting her children to attend Manual Jr. Academy. My friend’s children are very happy students at Lindbergh so WHY would they be asked to go to Manual? Is this what this district has been reduced to doing? Calling people and begging them out of their HOME schools to attend a school where no less than 30 teachers are NOT returning? Kirk Wessler of the Journal Star was right on target when he stated that the school to CLOSE is Manual. Again, this district is drowning in red ink but has the funds to do telephone soliciting…….TOTALLY unwarranted!
The training was for Co-Teaching, where a Special Ed teacher brings their students into the regular ed classroom and they both teach to the entire group. It actually is a great concept and a few schools have participated in this idea, this past school year. The problem is Dr. O’Brian simply lied to all teachers from the start and got called out on it. It couldnt have been better!
Oh yeah as someone stated earlier about her blaming others, when it was pointed out that the CPDU sheet (teachers get an hour of credit for every hour they attend a workshop – not an hour of university credit, but …well that is another long story…anyway the sheet stated the second day attendance time of 10:00 – 3:00, not 9:00 – 3:00. She got called out again on this and on the last day, Dr. O’Brian basically threw a workshop presenter under the bus and blamed her for it. The best part about it was the person she threw under the bus had to be taken to the hospital the day before!!! Nice and yes that does sum her up.
Like parents would choose to send their kids to Manual instead of Lindbergh. What a joke. Here is an idea, send the “Fab Five” from Lindbergh to Manual. 🙂
Training–Re your “The training was for Co-Teaching, where a Special Ed teacher brings their students into the regular ed classroom and they both teach to the entire group. It actually is a great concept.” I know that Manual has put the special ed students into regular classrooms. I am very skeptical as to how that is fair to students who are reading, etc., at grade level. Please help me understand how this wholesale inclusion is good for them. I am not even sure that it is good for the special ed kids. I often had one, maybe two at the most, special ed student in my English class–especially, in the days when the other students were learning at grade level. The special ed student was carefully selected and monitored by the special ed teachers. That worked out quite well, but I am not convinced that the present practice is working as well.
Anonymous: I am sorry to have enjoyed your suggestion so much–but the Lindbergh Fab Five at Manual is a very appealing idea. Also, maybe Lindbergh could arrange an exchange program–one Lindbergh student at Manual and one Manual student using a Lindbergh staff person’s address to go to Lindbergh.
On second thought I would not wish the “Fab Five” on any school. My apologies to Manual.
“Like parents would choose to send their kids to Manual instead of Lindbergh.”
Cause it isn’t like about race or anything..
Anonymous: I agree, send the “Fab 5” down to Manual. Let them work their “magic” on the students and administration down there. See how far that gets them in their careers! Oh, I forgot, they like to destroy other people’s lives not enrich. Hmmm, I’m not sure that 150 is the place for the “Fab 5” The funny thing about the whole Lindbergh mess and the “fab 5” is that MD continues to lie and point fingers at the the recently fired principal……can you say n-a-r-c-i-s-s-i-s-m! Wake up 150, clean the skeletons out of the closet on Wisconsin Ave.
Broderick resigned today, they aren’t saying why. Hooray!!!!!! Can O’Brian be far behind?
O’Brian won’t be able to survive without him. She can’t hold a meeting without him. Can you imagine if Dr. Matheney (past director of SPED) had to have the HR director at every meeting. It’s down right laughable how incompetent she is.
Is Broderick going somewhere else?
Gosh, maybe he had to resign from HR to be eligible for the Superintendent’s position…. AAAAH!!
This year so far, administrators either fired or resigned
Assistant Hr Director
HR Director
Title One Director/Administrator
Controller/Treasurer
Principal Lindbergh
Anyone have any other firings or resignations to add to the list that I have missed?
Of course they also have an Academic Officer being investigated by the PPD.
Quite a year for the district!
Those that are deserting a sinking ship… what do you call them?
I tried to respond to today’s PJS letter to the edit by Rita Ali about Manual High School (in response to Wessler’s recommendation that Manual be the high school chosen for closure). So far the PJS won’t allow my comments. I guess they didn’t question Ali’s statement that Manual attendance rate is up to 91%. These are my comments:
I would love to believe Rita Ali’s reports of progress at Manual. The results of my recent FOIA request cause me to question where Rita got her figures. For now, I will just provide what I learned about the senior class. Of the 102 seniors who graduated from Manual this year for second semester (101 days) 23 missed from 21 to 42 days of school; 32 missed from 10 to 20 days—over half of these seniors missed more than 10 days out of 101 days. Teacher grades—which determine graduation rates—and suspension and expulsion rates are not a true judge of progress at Manual. As a retired Manual teacher, I know that graduation rates can be manipulated by “encouraging” teachers to give higher grades than students actually earn—especially to seniors. Certainly, expulsion and suspensions rates can be lowered by ignoring student behaviors. In 2008 this year’s seniors were juniors—only 15.3% of them met the NCLB AYP standards. These seniors did much, much better in their English classes this year. For senior English, 1st semester: As–21, Bs–43, Cs-36 Ds -4; F’s 0; 2nd semester: As–24; Bs – 38; Cs–31; Ds–8; Fs–1. NCLB AYP is based on reading ability, not on teacher grades. Does anyone believe that if these seniors were to retake the NCLB test that the AYP would increase as dramatically as the grades did? Only honesty about the problems that exist at Manual or any other 150 school (and Manual does not stand alone) will result in real solutions and real progress. I long for the day when 150 tackles the real problems because I want these students and Manual to have verifiable success.
I did too. Why won’t the journal star print our comments?
I think something is wrong with the site–probably not rejecting us after all. Yes, Jim, paronia set in for a moment–or two.
Sharon, you should make a guest post for CJ on your findings.
I’l second that Diane. Sharon-ask CJ to post your blog. Attendance, drop out rates, test scores—-all can be manipulated. District 150 needs to accept REALITY and quit trying to sugarcoat the truth. Only then, can this district begin to recover.
I will do that when I have all the figures completed. I just did the seniors quickly.
I hear Dr. Hannah is also leaving………..hey, kcdad, didn’t you ask what it is that jumps off a sinking ship?