Just a few brief comments on things from when I was gone:
- It looks like somebody got a new theme for his blog while I was gone over the weekend. Unlike just about every other theme change Billy has gone through, I actually like the look and feel of this one … which means it will inevitably change sometime in the next week and a half.
- The day I left, there was a shooting at Northern Illinois University. Maybe you heard about it. The shooter, Steven Kazmierczak, did not fit the profile of the type of person who would go on a rampage, except for one thing: he did go off his SSRI medication (Prozac, in this case) just a few weeks before the incident. While I see a trend, others don’t, but maybe this year’s coming lawsuits will shed more light on the issue.
- District 150 is looking into charter schools as if they’ve never heard of the concept before. But the fact is that the very first charter school in Illinois opened in August 1996 in Peoria. It was called Peoria Alternative Charter School and was located at 919 NE Jefferson St., in the old Greeley School building. It was a school which expelled and other troubled students could attend. According to a June 3, 1999, Journal Star article, “The charter school was managed by Youth Farm, which had Fred McAfree serve as the manager/principal.” It dissolved in 1999 after its three-year charter was allowed to lapse and it became a “Regional Safe School.” The type of charter school being considered now is different — instead of being a school for troubled students, Superintendent Ken Hinton has indicated that “a proposed math, science and technology academy could be a potential charter school candidate.”
- The Kellar Branch is still in the news — the new Peoria-Peoria Heights committee is looking at hiring a consulting firm to determine the feasibility of a side-by-side rail-trail solution. The results need to be back by April 1. I’m not going to prejudge the outcome; ever the optimist, I still hope a win-win option will emerge.
- The Journal Star ran an article on anonymous commenting on blogs and newspaper sites, along with a companion article that reassures us that venomous anonymous bloggers are only acting human. The answer is simple — it’s up to the owner of the site, whether that’s a blog owner or a newspaper, to monitor the comments and maintain a minimum level of civil discourse. That’s in fact what reputable blogs and newspapers already do. Problem solved.
- Joan Krupa is running as a Republican for the 92nd Legislative District seat being vacated by Rep. Aaron Schock. I wish her luck. I sure hope she’s been convicted of shoplifting at some point in her life — it appears that increases your chances of winning these days. Speaking of which, here are two more potential Democratic candidates for the state legislature.
- District 150 decided Monday night to let teachers and principals, not board members, decide grading appeals. Good. Although it doesn’t change the outcome of the situation that sparked this controversy, at least it will keep it from happening again. It also vindicates the teachers and administrators.
Anyone who doesn’t see a trend with Prozac and similar drugs just isn’t looking very hard.
My theme is your lead story?
As it should be.
😉
The comment[s] directed at our democratic hopeful for the 92nd is cold and uncalled for. It is funny, but cold and uncalled for. Krupa??? Republican??? Well isn’t that just a kicker. Who would have guessed. Is Peoria just incapable of producing a viable political candidate for ANY office?
Does anyone have any idea who might run against Shock on the dem ticket?
That’s great info about the former charter school in Peoria! I will file that away for our next story on this topic.
I think the topic is interesting because they have schools of choice in Champaign. (I worked there when it was implemented and there were many issues.) I am curious to see how things would work here.
I talked to Ken Hinton about the possibility of schools of choice and/or charter schools a few weeks ago and he says there is a lot of planning to do, but he thinks schools of choice and charter schools have been around long enough to know the problems and hopefully how to fix them.
Billy — Yes, and I see I didn’t even have to wait until the end of the day for you to modify your theme for the worse. Good timing! 🙂
This area could use a charter school. I’d love an IMSA in central Illinois.
My only beef with an IMSA, Peoria Gifted and other ‘specialized’ schools, is why do only a select few get the quality education that really should be available to ALL students. It just seems that when a district makes a school like that it is because they don’t want or cannot afford to offer that quality level of education to all the students.
If by “worse,” you mean “massive jump in ad revenue,” then I would have to agree.
I agree with Mahkno on this. Peoria Gifted has pulled all the best performing students out of all the middle schools. I have always wondered how that affects test score averages in the rest of the middle schools?
Then lets take all the creative kids and put them in one school. Every 150 middle school should be as good a Washington Gifted and all the schools should have decent opportunities for the creative kids.
New Voice: very observant; there are two young republicans in town who could take Johann esily, but they have jobs and family which they take as their first responsibility in life. Most people know who they are. Best of luck Johann.
Peoriafan,
No.. Peoria gifted has not pulled all of the best performing. Arguably those at PG may not even represent the best there is. So what of all those who are denied the opportunities that PG offers? What of the kids who really might do better if the environment was on par with PG? Magnet schools are not the answer.
Your right, they pulled those that did best on those specific tests.
I think all the middle schools should be offered the same programs. It wouldn’t matter where you lived then.
This person didn’t make good on their transgressions until AFTER they announced for office. Who knows if she would have EVER come clean if she hadn’t decided to run? Is this the best the Demos can dredge up?
And what’s with that hairdo?
Peoriafan,
if you don’t pull out the brightest, I believe you would lose them. Looking at things now, classes are run on the lowest denominator. The bright kids don’t seem to challenge the struggling children, the struggling children pull down the rest of the class down because teachers are either dealing with behavioral issues which rob education time from everyone else, or have to “dumb down” the cirriculum to meet the needs of kids on the lower end. Look at what is being tested. Only a few topics matter for the testing and that is the sole focus of current academics in a regular classroom. We have lost so much in the arts, music, expressive language, history, as well as practical subjects like industrial arts, etc. things that make well rounded employees and citizens later on. I went to private schools K-8. I was way ahead of my public school counter parts when I got to high school. Some of that may be due to academic gifts, but I believe it was the quality of the education and that most of the kids in my classes were of the same academic level. I would not have gotten the same educational opportunities in a regular public school and would have been bored/uninterested in school. Education was a key to get above the poverty line in my household. That being said, I believe that changes in funding to help equalize schooling across the board. Schools on the south end should have the same resources available to them as Charter Oaks. Currently they do not. By the same token, positive parental or community involvement needs to return to the schools. Community providers can provide valuable one on one mentoring or tutoring. that can make a positive difference to a struggling student, regardless of educational setting.
pdw gets it!
My children recently attended Washington. They do offer a terrific curriculum and a fine group of teachers but so do other District 150 schools. The difference is that the students are all on the same page. They all learn quickly and there are few dicipline problems. I can’t imagine why people resent the District offering such an opportunity to students. My children attended a District 150 primary school (one of the higher performing ones) and they were not challenged. Not because, the staff was not capable or dedicated but because the learning population was so diverse. A quarter of the class of 25 was above average, a quarter was learning disabled or had severe behavior disorders and the other half was a mix of slow to average learners. In 4th grade, my child used to complete her math work sheet in a matter of minutes and then was assigned to tutor a child that had learning difficulties. Helping others is good but not as a full-time responsibility in lieu of being independently challenged in the classroom. My children are not “gifted” they are simply bright and hardworking. PDW is correct that the problem is the bar is set so low. Even the ISAT test is no measure. In primary grades in which the ISAT is administered the children are given a pre-ISAT test at the beginning of the year so the school can determine the areas that require work. Children that are bright can score well above average at the beginning of school year. Then they get to do exercises over and over again until the others achieve a passing score.
I think it is great that District 150 is considering an additional school that will offer special learning opportunites. We moved to Peoria because of Washington Gifted. No other reason. Hopefully an additional school will encourage other to choose Peoria as well.
I don’t resent Washington but I do resent 150 not offering similar challenges to students in the other middle schools. They only have so much room at Washington so if you don’t fall into that small group you are left without that opportunity. I agree that some of the brightest kids need extra challenges and that is where Washington comes in to play but there are hundreds of kids that excel but must go to the other schools because they didn’t fall into that 5% What gets me is those other middle schools lack some basics like the arts and music.
The whole teaching to the lowest common denominator is a central problem. You can’t do that. The school I went to in my youth didn’t do that. The classes were broken up into different skill levels. One teacher, different lessons, different paces of progress. Each classroom (subject) was like a one room school house. You wouldn’t hold up an 8th grader until the 1st grader caught up. Each skill group had their own lessons. Generally the advanced kids were quite capable to teaching themselves with teacher input here n there, and we did to great success.
The slow students and the advanced students worked side by side. They each worked on what they needed to work on. The advanced students got to advance and the slower one’s got the attention they needed. But more came from that. The slow kids got to see the progress the advanced kids made. They got to see good study skills role modeled. The real winner is that eventually the slow kids asked the advanced kids for help and got it. The advanced kids became mentors. At the end of the year are the students were farther along than they otherwise would have been. They were not all on the same page, but it was tangible progress.
The real coup and driver for the slower kids was when us advanced kids finished a full year (the whole book) curriculum in half a year. Then we got more interesting stuff to do (it also challenged the teacher). The slower kids saw that and wanted it too. They began to push themselves harder. Role modeling !!
To do that requires a different approach to curriculum, a different approach to teaching, and probably a different teacher. It should be available to all.
To set up a ‘magnet’ school is just an acknowledgment of defeat.
* At the end of the year ALL the students were farther along than they otherwise would have been.