Parents and teachers gathered at Godfather’s Pizza again Sunday night to further discuss ways to keep Central and Woodruff high schools from being closed. General Parker, candidate for Mayor of Peoria, assured those in attendance that he will “stand behind [them] all the way”:
Parker distributed copies of a summary report from the House Appropriations Committee on the proposed stimulus package known officially as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009. The summary stated that a large amount of funding will be going toward education:
Education for the 21st Century: To enable more children to learn in 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries to help our kids compete with any worker in the world, this package provides:
- $41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion).
- $79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $15 billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education.
Parker emphasized that last bullet point, implying the closing of a high school would qualify as a “[cutback] to key services.” Thus, he encouraged everyone to write their senators and congressmen asking them to pass the stimulus bill, and then ask their school board representatives to pursue some of that stimulus money to help them through these tough economic times instead of closing schools.
Parker also criticized city employees — especially [acknowledged that many city employees, including] our “most highly paid city workers,” such as police officers and firefighters — who don’t live in Peoria. By living outside the city, the school district loses revenue that would come from their property tax dollars, he said. [Parker states in the comments section of this post that another quote from last night better summarizes his feelings about this: “We need to make District 150 the best school district in the area to make the firefighters and police want to move back into the district.”]
Others who spoke at the meeting questioned whether the school district’s plan to redraw attendance area boundary lines is legal. In the state’s school code, there is a section (105 ILCS 5/10?21.3) also known as the Armstrong Act. It says the school board has the duty:
To establish one or more attendance units within the district. As soon as practicable, and from time to time thereafter, the board shall change or revise existing units or create new units in a manner which will take into consideration the prevention of segregation [emphasis added] and the elimination of separation of children in public schools because of color, race or nationality. All records pertaining to the creation, alteration or revision of attendance units shall be open to the public.
The argument is that Peoria’s schools would become more segregated if Hines and Von Steuben students are sent to Richwoods, as is currently proposed, and that is illegal under the school code. A legal opinion on the matter is being sought.
Several people opposed to the school closings are also getting together to go over (1) Treasurer Guy Cahill’s deficit projections to verify their accuracy, and (2) the district’s budget to see what other cuts could be made instead of closing a high school.
I am getting a sense that a big part of the current shortfall was a 25% decline is state funding to the school district. Yeah I understand there are inefficiencies in the current administration but a 25% shortfall is nothing to sneeze at. Would seem folks are barking up the wrong tree.
Why are there not more protests to the state legislature to restore funding?
Here’s an idea. Have a civic lesson day. Take all the working busses and have a massive field trip to Springfield. Take 1000s District 150 students down to the statehouse and hold a district protest demanding restoration of state support.
This is sort of like having Blagojevich speaking out against D150. It carries little to no weight and no one really cares.
Does General Parker favor having the City of Peoria take over District 150 oversight?
Re: segregation “…that is illegal under the school code. A legal opinion on the matter is being sought. ” I presume this is about color, race or nationality…
Ask a lawyer this question: How can a school be considered segregated when there is no definition for the criteria being used to count categories?
There is no definition of African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Anglo, Black, Mixed, Asian, Honky, Colored, Latino, Oriental, or anything else… According to US Federal statutes.. a person is whatever race they claim they are. According to science, there is no biological determinant for race. IT IS A SOCIAL CONSTRUCT.
So… if the problem is that there are too many children with light skin or dark skin, we just start counting the texture of their hair, and if that doesn’t work, we look at the shape of their eyelids, and if that doesn’t work, we can just measure the length of their noses!!!!!
Now you are making me mad.
Segregation is only relevant if we are talking about socio-economic status THAT’S WEALTH to you RUSH LIMBAUGH listeners… not color, race or nationality (nationality???? W.T.F.? How many non-US citizens attend District 150 schools?).
I have the feeling that most of you are going to dismiss General Parker without really listening to him. I don’t live in Peoria, so I won’t be voting for mayor. I didn’t know about General until the Dr. Royster era–and I have to admit that I didn’t agree with what I heard because I was on the other side and all discussions were very emotional. I didn’t get to know General until after that era ended. Whether or not you vote for General, I would ask that you try to listen to what General has to say. He knows more about school law, etc., and Peoria than most of you will give him credit for (yes, I hate ending a sentence with a preposition–for those two English teachers that I now know will be reading the blog). Peoriafan says that what General has to say carries no weight and no one cares. That’s a rather broad statement–and may not be as true as he/she would like it to be.
The Armstrong Act of 1975 has been discussed at recent meetings at Godfather’s–for those of you with more expertise and interest in legalese, please Google the act to see if this act shines any light on the legality of the present proposed District 150 boundary changes. This is just an excerpt and Peoria is mentioned:
According to the complaint, the local school boards were required to prevent the segregation of school facilities under 1975 Ill.Rev.Stats. ch. 122, § 10-22.5.3 Further, pursuant to the Armstrong Act, they were affirmatively required to change attendance units with a view to the prevention of future and elimination of preexisting segregation. 1975 Ill.Rev.Stats. ch. 122, § 10-21.3.4 In 1971, under rules which had been adopted by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction,5 he found that the named defendant school districts “were in violation of the laws of the State of Illinois because of segregation and discrimination within said school districts” (Complaint P 22). The complaint asserts that plaintiffs have been denied equal educational opportunities because of defendants’ failure and refusal to correct the segregation and discrimination in the schools in the named Rockford, Peoria and Joliet school districts.
Sharon, I agree with you. General Parker is very knowledgeable when it comes to school law and he is absolutely correct when it comes to receiving this money from the state. The problem is that most people will not go out of their way to do what Gen. Parker asks and the fact is the board and admin should be doing it without us making calls, because frankly, that is their job.
The sad thing is, I believe people hate to see Dist 150 receive more money that they are going to waste away on God knows what scheme, next. As Gen Parker said, it changes from week to week.
The fact remains, Sharon and Gen Parker are both correct, so please contact your board member, or Aaron Schock and even the Mayor’s office so that Peoria can receive money from the state.
‘Parker also criticized city employees — especially our “most highly paid city workers,” such as police officers and firefighters — who don’t live in Peoria. By living outside the city, the school district loses revenue that would come from their property tax dollars, he said.”
That’s political suicide – you don’t want City of Peoria firefighters on your case.
Peoriafan: I always have mixed emotions when there are discussions about public officials who live outside of the area that pays their salaries, etc. Not that many years ago, Harry Whitaker, then 150 superintendent, tried to force all 150 teachers to live in the city. Today many 150 teachers and its superintendent do not live in Peoria. However, when you say that General is committing political suicide by alienating Peoria firefighters. Those firefighters that live outside of the city won’t be voting for Peoria’s mayor, and there is a possibility that the “Peoria” firefighters might agree with General.
Peoriafan, you make a good point. It took those people years to get those rules changed so that they can live wherever they like in the area. If the superintendent of schools doesn’t have to live in Peoria, why does everyone else? The idea should be to improve the school system so that people want to move in to Peoria, not force them to stay where they do not want to be.
To ImaSwede and Peoriafan,
I did not criticize city employees. What I did say was “We need to make District 150 the best school district in the area to make the firefighters and police want to move back into the district”. What I said was taken out of context. Just so you know exactly what I said I felt the need to respond.
Not just police and firefighters but all parents, need to have and deserve to have a school district where their children are not only safe but also achieve. We as taxpayers deserve that kind of district because its our taxdollars that are being spent.
I also told the firefighters union the same thing, that I was going to change Dist. 150 into the best ditrict around to make them want to move back and send their children there.
If I criticized anyone at all, it may have been 150 and some of their decisions.
“I did not criticize city employees. What I did say was “We need to make District 150 the best school district in the area to make the firefighters and police want to move back into the district”. What I said was taken out of context. ”
Ok, in a funny sort of way that does sound a little like Blagojevich does it not?
Anyway I will accept that you were misquoted.
“The argument is that Peoria’s schools would become more segregated if Hines and Von Steuben students are sent to Richwoods, as is currently proposed, and that is illegal under the school code.”
Almost half (47.4%) the kids at Von Steuben are black. 32.3 are Hispanic and 32.3 are white.
So I don’t get why they are worried about becoming more segregated?
Only 1/3 of the kids at Von Steuben are white.
see for yourself:
http://iirc.niu.edu/School.aspx?schoolID=480721500251003
The student population demographics in the current Lincoln Middle School attendance are indicate that there are significantly more minority students than nonminority students (and certainly more than in the Von Steuben attendance area). This will cause the student population at the North Street Campus to significantly increase its percentage of minority students.
Next point – for demographic reporting purposes, the Federal Government does have a system to classify racial groups (I’m working from memory here but think this is correct).
1 – Caucasian
2 – African American
3 – Hispanic surname
4 – Asian, Pacific Islander
5 – Native American, Aleutian, Eskimo
General: Thank you for clarifying what you meant. It came across to me as a criticism — for example, when you said, “They’re getting our city money, but they’re moving outside of our district. That’s not helping District 150 at all.” However, your comment clarifies that you didn’t mean for it to come across as a criticism, and I respect that. Lord knows I’ve said an awful lot of things that I meant one way and were interpreted another way. I’ve edited the post to reflect your comments.
I am not up on the current demographics of these areas. But is it possible that the Von Steuben and Hines areas could be considered more middle class–not as many students at poverty levels? I believe that demographic, as I have stated before, has more to do with predicting academic success than does race. I guess I’m asking, won’t the new North Street Campus be losing more middle class students? What Richwoods gains or doesn’t gain isn’t, I believe, nearly as important as what the north street campus loses. District 150 is touting this has a means of increasing the black population at Woodruff–they haven’t stated or acknowledged the negative impact at the “new” school.
I think the reason behind sending Von Steuben to Richwoods is because of location. The boundaries are the closest to Richwoods. Did you know there are kids that live across from Notre Dame off Sheridan that are bused all the way to Von Steuben when Lindbergh is a half a mile away? Makes no sense.
Yes, and C.J., this blog is great proof that what we (I) put in writing (or verbalize)comes across to others much differently. That’s also another great advantage of this blog–I think we all need to filter our opinions through the eyes and ears of others–sometimes I just don’t say what I mean and bloggers are quick to point that out–and that’s good.
Von Steuben has 76% low income rate, better than a lot of inner city schools but nothing to brag about.
Von Steuben is no better income wise than Woodruff and Central
Woodruff – 77% low income
Central – 74% low income
Richwoods – 30% low income
Von Steuben pulls from a couple of more middle class neighborhoods (Knollcrest and Bourndale) but for the most part as the numbers imply it is far from a middle class popluation.
But you know what? It is a great school with good teachers and great kids that like to learn and behave.
Peoriafan: That’s what matters–like to learn and behave–which proves that the income and race factor might not be good indicators of either.
exactly
peoriafan… fan of what? The Rivermen?
All you have to do is change the self designation of children in the schools to all white or all black or all whatever and there will be no discrimination or segregation. The fact that District 150 or The State School System still recognizes racial identity based on physical appearance says an awful lot about the morons running our education.
And Sharon… how can you miss the 30% low income stat for Richwoods? It is obvious why students there do better… the system is directed toward upper income kids achieving and lower income kids failing. End of story.
What does “well behaved” mean in the context of schools? It means acting like the “better” social classes.
We need to stop trying to fix the broken system and get rid of it and start over. The system is not broken, it is dysfunctional. When Peoria was more affluent the system “worked” (that is, didn’t look so pathetic) … and now that Peoria is less affluent, it isn’t working (that is, its true colors are showing)… gosh… what’s the connection?
Peoriafan – are you aware that the district had to redraw its boundaries to include Hines in the Woodruff attendance for a specific reason? The question you should be asking is, does this decision to redraw boundaries to include the Hines and Von Steuben attendance areas in Richwoods attendance area violate any court orders or legal settlements?
It seems to me that there are (or were a couple of years ago) very old laws on the books in this country that defined an African American as someone who has 1/16 or more African ancestry. That doesn’t mean these old laws are enforced as many other of the old laws aren’t. Congress might want to clean that up one of these days.
Kcdad: So are you saying there is no standard of good behavior that children should be taught regardless of race or income? I think I attribute the bad behavior of many of the children to the fact that the parents–usually mothers–were teen-agers when they were born and that these teen-agers didn’t know how to be parents.
General, thanks for the clarification. I still think we are on the same page, however. Let’s improve the schools so people will want to move in to Peoria! This I totally support!
PrairieCelt: Yes, you are right about this 1/16 designation. Children (like Obama and the little kids in my life) who are just as much white as they are black really are not allowed to have a “true” racial identity. I believe it’s time to change these labels. Of course, it would be great if the racial identity weren’t significant enough to notice.
“peoriafan… fan of what? The Rivermen?”
No, fan of Peoria. I want to see the community I live in succeed and prosper.
Since I teach at VS I can say that our staff goes above and beyond most to help achieve better results. We can argue all day whether or not they are truly “learning” but the point is we do have a high percentage of low income students. Our principal told us it was about 77%. About ten years ago we were at around 30% low income. Our tests scores have stayed about the same though.
Scott – I believe you!
I sent this little study of my own to the board a few weeks ago (the formatting will be way off)–but my conclusion below the statistics definitely agree with what Scott Donahue has been writing about Von Steuben.
Comparison of Rolling Acres Edison with Von Steuben and Calvin Coolidge
White Black Low Reading AYP Math AYP
Income
Rolling Acres
2005 40.1 53.2 41.0 66.5 79.9
2006 35.8 57.1 55.2 71.8 81.8
2007 35.9 56.7 51.0 72.7 82.7
2008 36.6 56.5 48.6
Von Steuben
2005 54.8 41.9 60.4 62.6 67.3
2006 46.6 48.9 70.4 77.4 84.9
2007 37.8 47.5 72.9 77.7 80.6
2008 32.3 47.4 75.7
Calvin Coolidge
2005 43.9 53.8 66.8 60.9 64.7
2006 40.9 56.9 75.1 73.0 76.0
2007 37.2 58.9 75.5 65.4 73.6
2008 31.6 64.9 78.1
My Conclusions: Despite much higher low income percentages, Von Steuben’s Reading AYP percentages are competitive and two are higher than those at Rolling Acres. Likewise, Von Steuben’s Math AYP are very competitive with those of Rolling Acres. Considering its much higher low income percentages, Calvin Coolidge is not than far behind Rolling Acres, especially in reading.
“Peoriafan – are you aware that the district had to redraw its boundaries to include Hines in the Woodruff attendance for a specific reason? The question you should be asking is, does this decision to redraw boundaries to include the Hines and Von Steuben attendance areas in Richwoods attendance area violate any court orders or legal settlements?”
What are we talking about here? Is this true?
Sharon:
Do unto others…. as you would have them do unto you.
Do no harm. Do good when you are able.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here…
That should pretty much cover it.
“No, fan of Peoria. I want to see the community I live in succeed and prosper.”
OK. I’ll buy that.
What do you mean by succeed and prosper? Economic growth?
Who gets to succeed and prosper? Everyone?
PeoriaFan – lawsuits are public record. Do your research, I did.
I just heard on the news that Dist. 150 is considering making cuts. They mentioned bus monitors. Help! The behavior on the buses is sometimes down right dangerous. They should use the “grant money” to pay the monitors and cut the “consultants”. Its the kids that are important here, the cuts should not be employees that deal directly with students.
I hope the board members request to see ALL the bus write ups from this school year. They need to know what is happening on the buses.
For the life of me, I do not understand why parents and other concerned members of this community are not calling for Ken Hinton’s resignation, along with Cahill’s and whoever else is responsible for this fiasco. Through this entire article regarding cutting employees that work directly with children, cuts to consultants or any upper admin. is still not mentioned:
http://www.pjstar.com/news_county/x1722732493/District-150-may-lay-off-employees
Why would the Chamber support cutting people who need jobs and work directly with children as opposed to people who are already collecting good retirement funds (consultants)? It truly makes me wonder what the members of the Chamber of Commerce are thinking….
Worried about bus monitors? Here is a radical idea. Do away with the bus system entirely. We have TWO bus systems in Peoria; Citilink and Dist 150. We don’t need two. More kids need to be walking, riding bikes, and taking the city bus.
This idea isn’t new to Dist 150s administration, it has been discussed.
“Among those who could lose their jobs include many low-wage earners — bus monitors and towel matrons as well as clerical, cafeteria, teacher’s aides and other para-professionals. ******But also on the list will be some in central administration.******”
By the way, the Murray Baker is up for sale, too.
“The board on Monday did approve eliminating armored car services”…
Armored car? uh… ARMORED CAR???? Is that for the district to transport all its valuables? Or to protect Hinton from the public?
“Added President David Gorenz, “Realistically, if we don’t act soon, we won’t achieve any savings … we still have a big (financial) gap here … my concern is no decision is a decision.”
But others on the board, including Rachael Parker and Martha Ross, pressed against rushing into a decision. ”
Haven’t we been rushing into decisions for the past several years??? Haven’t they known the problems for years? We need for the Wisconsin Ave administration to commit suicide and they are not going to do it. It is up to us to be merciful and put that sick old to sleep. (Or just shoot the rabid cur)
These people are clowns… juggling and dancing for our amusement. Time to shut down the show.
******But also on the list will be some in central administration.******
Some what? “towel matrons”?
Imaswede, please be patient. 😉
Imaswede, I don’t know who you are, however, please know that in spirit I am shaking your hand and patting you on the back…………..thank you! = )
Imaswede: Terry Knapp has been calling for Cahill’s resignation almost since the day he was hired–and always gives a string of concrete reasons for his point of view. The insurance fiasco that cost the district, I believe, one million dollars is high on the list. Don’t ask me for details–there are those on the blog that are capable of doing that.
I could not believe that they would not include the 5 plus 5 vote/negotiations in on those who could lose their jobs include many low-wage earners — bus monitors and towel matrons as well as clerical, cafeteria, teacher’s aides and other para-professionals. Why wouldn’t you get rid of the cushion first???? Then see where you are at with that ‘savings’.
I say ‘savings’ because:
OMG! …Cahill is not even aware of how much cost savings there is!!!!
HOW can they make cuts when Cahill isn’t even doing the budget right?
“well we will just add that to the bottom”—-Cahill said this on the 2 % savings on the raise increase to Administration.
WOW! I am so glad the news focused on this issue last night. I about fell out of my chair when I heard this at the meeting.
Hey Grampa…..errrr, Mahkno, how about you walk orride youe bike like in the good ole days when you’re 12 today and risk getting beaten or raped behind a garage? Shut it….
For those of you who are dismissing the socio/economic factor as not being a contributor to one’s behavior…you are ignorant of the world we live in. It absolutely affects one’s perspective and ideals. And while you are blaming young mothers for poor parenting, maybe take a look at the previous generation and assess the parenting skills passed on from them to their children. You can’t use what you don’t have.
I agree that the whole thing should be scrapped and rebuilt. How can a tax based system work when so many areas of town have little or no tax base relative to more affluent areas?
Instead of complaining that the system will be worse off, maybe we should do something to help other than moving to bigger tax base areas to avoid the problem and do more than discuss it from the comfort and distance distance of your laptop and your SUV.
I just talked to an old friend who is a Principal in Chicago after leaving Dist 150 a couple of years ago. Things could be worse! Our Mayor could always put the guy in charge of our bus system in charge of our school system (like Dailey just did in Chicago today) The man does not have an education background and has never worked in a school a day in his life.
RobB: I think I recognized one of my opinions expressed on this blog–“while you are blaming young mothers for poor parenting.”
I was making a statement, but I did not mean to impute blame. Teen-age mothers, for the most part, are not ready to be parents. However, you are right that someone should have prepared them, etc. I am not even willing to make a blanket statement, blaming the previous generation either.
As far as schools go, I do blame District 150 (not this administration but previous ones) for taking away the courses (home ec, etc.,) that did fill some (certainly, not all) of the gaps. This generation, more than any other, need the cooking courses, the child care and parenting classes, etc., that were once offered.
I do acknowledge that today socio-economic factors do make a difference. I’m not sure that I am willing to say that about previous generations. In our country’s early history, I don’t think poverty created an environment where children did not have to behave or where they didn’t value an education. I don’t know what factors make the difference–but there is a difference. Because poverty hasn’t always been to blame for society’s ills, there are other factors at work–I guess that we have to identify them to solve the problems. I will put the influence of television at the top of my list–for so many reasons that I won’t start a list.
I do walk Rob … thanks for asking.