Never waste a good scandal. On the heels of today’s District 150 embarrassment — Mary Davis’s indictment — the Journal Star is reporting that Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis is thinking about exploring how he could have more influence over the district by appointing school board members:
He says he’s looking at larger cities such as Chicago, New York and Boston for inspiration to initiate change here that would intertwine his job as mayor with the decision-making of the school district. […] “It’s an interesting concept that I believe is worthy for some consideration,” Ardis continued. “From what I’ve read, the mayors who have been in the position to do that have seen success. It’s something I’m interested in. And I think the community is interested in learning more about it, too.”
Whether or not you think this is a good idea, it may be a moot point. Despite the relatively simple process the paper describes for changing the way school board members are chosen — “To enact such a change would require a public referendum or legislation approved by the General Assembly” — in reality it will be much more difficult.
The reason is because school board elections in Peoria are not governed by state law, but rather by a 1987 Class Action Voting Rights lawsuit settlement. That settlement did away with at-large elections of school board members, replacing it with a three-ward system and giving specific instructions on how board members would be chosen from each of those wards.
The Final Consent Decree clearly states in paragraph 4, “The Election Commission of the City of Peoria and the Peoria County Clerk are authorized and ordered to comply with the terms of this Consent Decree and to conduct elections in accordance with the terms of this Consent Decree.” It further states in paragraph 6, “This Court retains jurisdiction of this case for purposes of supervising the implementation of this Consent Decree.”
In other words, if you want to change how school board members are chosen, you’re going to have to get the new system approved by the court, and that could mean getting surviving litigants — including the school district itself — to agree to the changes. You can bet that mayoral appointment of school board members would be hotly contested.
Surely Mayor Ardis knows this challenge is out there. This same Voting Rights lawsuit settlement changed the City Council’s makeup as well. It established both the number of at-large councilmen (five instead of three) and the bullet voting system for at-large elections. At least one group has met in recent years to explore doing away with the bullet voting system in the City, but so far there has been no public action toward that goal.
I saw this in the PJS and wondered how long it would take for you to jump on it. Talk about “too little, too late.” The District has been on a downhill slide for decades — nice the City is finally taking notice and offering to assist. Seems to me there would be many ways the City could collaborate with the District to improve things without the Mayor being in charge. In the past, I have felt some of the candidates running for the Board lacked the qualfications and skills needed for the decision-making before it, but . . . I don’t think I would rest easier if Ardis nominated individuals to the Board.
The solution is simple. The state can dissolve the entity known as District 150 and create a new city-wide school district.
A figurehead mayor appointing a impotent school board. Can’t wait for that. I presume we will have hotel workers and strippers represented on the board, real estate developers and police. Who else?
Now if Ardis wants to find someone forward and progressive thinking, someone outside the the box… and let them appoint the board…
Jim, call me. Let’s talk.
I wonder how the citizens of West Peoria would feel about the Mayor of Peoria basically controlling their property tax dollars. Does Mayor Dillon get to choose board members, too?
of ones self, that’s charlie……..must have a closet-Aaron complex. Billy, if its that simple in your mind, why not lead the charge? Isn’t Lathan some change in leadership??……
CJ and others, are you aware of the latest #150 scandal???? The rumor is admin secretaries received a pay raise way back in Nov. and were supposedly told to keep it hush hush, since the Dist. didnt have any $. But someone recently let the cat out of the bag.
Look into it, as it seems as if this might have some legs…..
The Professor – the raise was to the tune of $9.00 PER HOUR – practically an entire additional salary! What we’ve been saying all along – the district has no money when it comes to teachers and students but Administration and vendor contracts are a whole different story. Sickening.
Sud O Nym–I brought that very question up when I went out to dinner with some West Peorians a week ago (before Ardis made his statement). I wondered how West Peorians would feel about Peoria’s mayor running the schools. Yes, the new story about the secretaries receiving an unauthorized raise is making the rounds. Is it rumor or a “where there’s smoke there’s fire” situation?
I’m also pretty sure some of Peoria Heights is in D150. Same problem. That would be taxation without representation.
Representation… in Peoria?
Jim Ardis is an honorable man and I trust that he has the best interests of the city and School District at heart. To garner public support for his interest in appointed school board members he would need to articulate a vision and detailed road map for the future of the district and he would need to convince District stake-holders that he wouldn’t be a puppet for the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce.
Watcher – does that apparent sneak raise endanger anyone in admin’s job now? Nice to know that at the same the district told the teachers they have no $, they go behind EVERYONE’S back and give secretaries raises.
I think Ardis has the best interests of the stduents at heart. But … some of Ardis’ appointments (and the Gang of 11’s rubber stamp of the same) baffles me.
$9 an hour increase? That doesn’t sound right. The 4 Cafeteria mangers haven’t had a raise in 3 or almost 4 years now and they usually got a raise when the secretaries got one. I believe that maybe a sneaky raise was done but not 9 bucks.
Apparently the raises were given in an effort to promote “gender equity” in the system. But if that was the end-game, the positions should have been re-classified and posted so that all qualified personell could have applied. For the record this is all here-say, but hey, it’s a blog.
“I’ve said it before, we’ve jut got to do something different. Things are not getting any better.” Mayor Ardis from pjstar.com.
If the mayor belives this statement then why does he stubbornly stand by a taxpayer subsidized Marriot that will probably only survive if others go out of business?
Sometimes before someone can expect change from others they must change.
It is true about the shhhh raises. Told to keep their mouths shut, but that only worked for MOST of the school year….. Grievance has been filed by the clerical union representative.
“Cassius is an honorable man…”
Emtronics it was $9.00 raise. That is why they were told to keep it quiet. They are up to $26/hr supposedly now.
Emtronics also it wasnt every secretary in the district that got that raise, only HR and Payroll secretaries….
How do I apply for that?
So this was done under newcomers Schau and Demke?
I still don’t understand how these two were the only ones saved from the restructuring.
It was a 60% pay increase for 10 clerical workers. That totals about $16,000 each MORE a year. Wow, didn’t know the district had $160,000 extra to pass out (under the table). This is newsworthy, why isn’t it on the news. The BoE knew nothing about this? Dimke claims Hinton ok’d it? 10 clerks kept this a secret since last November because they were told to keep their mouths shut…..come on people, wake up, this can’t be the only situation that smells to high heaven!
That would have paid the salary of 3 teachers – you know the ones that actually teach kids…
What is amazing is that one of the clerks who received the raise actually must have spoken up. This probably won’t be a secret much longer. Once again, blogs change everything–I am amazed that the district’s administration hasn’t caught on to the fact that secrets can’t be kept as long as they once were.
Hinton had to authorize the raises for the clerical.
Maybe Hinton had to–but was he supposed to do so. Secretaries have a union and salaries are set just as they are for teachers. Just as teachers from two buildings can’t be given “extra” pay, so secretaries from two departments can’t be paid a higher salary than others in the same category. I think such a big raise would require a higher classification which would require board and union approval as part of the contract.
Pam Schau is FB friends with Laura Petelle. Just sayin.
I’m FB friends with Pam Schau too. I think she is an honest decent person and doing a great job for the district.
Diane, just saying Laura is a Board member (you’re not), Pam is in admin. No law broken, just saying. I am sure both ladies are nice, decent and honest.
I can’t imagine that any laws, legal or ethics-wise would prevent Petelle and Schau from being FB friends.
They are both on my friends list as well as Diane. They don’t discuss anything but life. In case you didn’t know, they are real people with real lives that consist of more than D150.
I supposed it didn’t matter to Jim Stowell that the mikes were on and working well tonight. The board room was too full for fire code regulations, so those not involved with the young authors’ presentation were asked to step outside until that event was over. When most left, I decided to stay in–I jokingly said that they might lock the doors and not let me back in. Well, apparently Jim thought the same thing because he said (and the mike picked it up for TV but not those in the room), “Can we lock the doors?” and Wolfmeyer thought in was funny. There’s professionalism at its best. In fact, one person who obeyed the orders to leave tried to turn a card to speak in when she came back into the room–Wolfmeyer told her she was too late. After all the bombshells dropped at tonight’s meeting by speakers, I understand why the board no longer wants the public to tell the public what’s really going on in District 150.
http://www.pjstar.com/news/x457996479/District-150-clerical-raises-rescinded
Emtronics, no matter how absurd it sounds, there’s always a possibility that the rumors about District 150 are, in fact, truth.