Note to District 150 parents: The next time you feel compelled to express your concerns to District 150 board members, just go find a brick wall somewhere and talk to it. There are a number of benefits: you can hit it and not get arrested, you can do it any time instead of just 6:30 every other Monday, and the most important thing of all — you’ll get the exact same results.
The school board voted 5-1 (Linda Butler was absent) to shorten the school day by 45 minutes next year. Jim Stowell was the lone dissenting vote. Kudos to him.
Feel free to use that brick wall to beat your head against after yet another poor, ill-advised decision from our illustrious school board.
ImaSwede: Submit a FOIA to D150 for the documents (payments made or contract with the Youth Farm) to determine the cost per student. You can view the documents and decide which documents you would like to purchase or you can purchase all the documents you request.
http://www.psd150.org/BOE/FOIA.pdf
ImaSwede you could file a FOIA request for the Youth Farm tuition information. I don’t think that is data that they can withhold from the public.
I believe the Manual reorg is mandated by the No Child Left Behind legislation.
Someone wanting school board election turnout numbers. Here they are:The turnout city-wide for school board elections for the last twelve years is
1997 – 41.02
1998 – 21.33
1999 – 24.93
2000 – 23.52
2001 – 32.15
2002 – 29.54
2003 – 25.55
2004 – 24.46
2005 – 32.63
2006 – 18.49
2007 – 22.64
2008 – 41.16
These turnout numbers are city-wide and not for the districts that were holding elections.
I think one of the problems with the school board elections for D150 is that there is an election every year. No other school district in Illinois has elections during even year elections. This past spring one board member was elected to a five year position which is a long time to remember and insulates the school board. Most school boards turn over half there membership every other year and allows a slate of new candidates. An example is Illini Bluffs that had some issues and had a slate of board candidates run as write-ins with one even winning.
Why doesn’t the Journal Star post the budget in their newspaper since it is public information? They post what everyone pays for their home.
kcdad, I never said I taught anywhere. Although I hold a doctorate I am not a teacher.
Diane, my comment was directed at the notion that this decision “inflicted” some terrible wound on our kids. My point was, there are good alternatives. I’m not saying close the schools and everybody home school, but let’s not overblow this decision. Yes, unfortunately, some parents don’t care, and teachers will tell you that adversely affects school performance too, but I don’t buy for a minute the “can’t afford it” argument. Sure, having money helps, but as I pointed out, the library is free. Lots of things are free or nearly free for those of limited means. “Can’t afford” is a very poor excuse.
I hear that Hinton’s son has the best office of all in “Blaine Sumner School”
ImaSwede:
http://www.psd150.org/BOE/approvedfiscal2008budget.pdf
Try page 7 — Special Education — I am not expert — perhaps Prairie Celt or one feral kat will be able to help …..
Questions abound — Balanced budget, no defecit reduction plan is required. So, on paper the budget is always balanced to turn into the state each July. The year progresses and the D150 actual budget runs million plus dollar deficits on an annual basis? Is there something wrong with this picture?
Who Cares…his office is in the speech-pathology office at Blaine, which to my recollection he shares with the department’s secretary, the supervisor of speech-language services and approximately four other speech-language pathologists that work in more than one school building and don’t have a place to call home.
Seriously…what’s your beef with Landrian Hinton? He’s very good at his job and is well respected by speech-language pathologists in the area. He’s a nice guy who’s totally qualified for the job that he does…I’d say if you have issues with his dad and how he operates, fine. But to just attack his son for the sake of being anti-Hinton seems a bit much.
JC read what I wrote… “I hate to see Landrian get hurt by any of this for I understand he is very nice.” I was questioning if he also was affected regarding the displacement of people at MHS during the reorg. Stop jumping to conclusions and making crap up.
ImaSwede, I wasn’t actully responding to you but to the person identifying themselves as “WHO CARES” who was insinuating that Landrian Hinton has the “best office at Blaine.” I neither jumped to conclusions nor made crap up. In all actuality, I was happy to see you defend Landrian earlier. I was in no way calling YOU out. My comments were directed to someone else entirely and I am a bit surprised to be jumped on in that manner.
PrairieCelt, earlier you was speaking of double-dipping. In your opinion would you think it right or wrong for the Chief of security at District 150 to leave his job at the district and take the school district’s car and go to his second job as an officer in Chillicothe?
He has been seen in route before quitting time to head to his second job.
Someone mentioned earlier, why are the district cars allowed to be taken home or driven to work to their second job? This is common knowledge,why is it allowed to continue?
des: Based upon the information you provided, if the Chief of Campus Police was leaving his job before the end of his work day to go to a second job, that definitely would be an infraction. If he leaves at or after quitting time, it is a little different circumstance. As to whether he should be taking his district vehicle to a second job, my question is does he use the district vehicle to discharge the duties of his Chillicothe officer’s position? He may well have received permission to use the district vehicle to drive to Chillicothe. But if he is using the district vehicle on the job in Chillicothe, that would be a problem.
It is difficult to compare the Chief to maintenance & transportation supervisors with respect to district vehicles. It is not uncommon for the Chief to answer district police calls before and after his normal work day. But is it really necessary for a maintenance or custodial or transportation supervisor to have a district vehicle to use after their shift? It is conceivable that a building problem could come up late at night, but not as likely as a police call. I have witnessed Buildings & Grounds supervisory staff (with their spouse in the passenger seat) driving a district vehicle to the grocery store and shopping center on the weekends. That is pretty blatant.
JC, My apologies…. geesh, I take things so personal! 🙂 I agree with everything you said about Landrian, I have ONLY heard good things about him.
I think they done pissed Barbie off…
http://askewednews.blogpeoria.com/2008/05/07/a-letter-to-the-administration-of-district-150/#comments
Did anyone hear the latest? On WMBD this morning, there was discussion over what to do with the old (closed) school buildings. I missed some of the details, but I did hear Pat Landes was in discussion with the BOE and administration. They seek (gasp) PUBLIC OPINION — especially in the neighborhoods around the buildings that have been closed — to determine what the best use would be.
Now, I’m no expert, but does anyone but me see just how absurd this is?
Yeah, and I hear Ken Hinton’s response to that idea was, “we’ve never done it that way before.” Seriously.
I was hoping Aggie’s would buy Loucks, expand, add Italian ice cream to the menue and a HUGE BEER Garden!
Seconded!
What kind of training is it that District 150 is going to ask the public to pay for soon? Does anyone have a clue? It may have been mentioned in the blogs already and I missed it. I understand it is going to cost over $1 mil and they are going to ask taxpayers to help pay…..
It probably is the Pacific Institute Training. Members of the Dist. #150 Foundation are trying to raise $600-$800K to train all district staff.
Recently I read something about some creative individuals who purchased an old school building in Portland, Oregon and turned it into a small hotel/inn. They left a lot of the original school ambience in tact and have enjoyed great success with the business venture. Just another thought . . .
PrairieCelt, yes, Pacific Institute Training is what I heard bantered around. I thought the Dist. 150 Foundation was for scholarships to send children to college, I must be wrong. It must offer more thn one type of training, do you know what #150 is interesting in, in particular?
Many local artists are in the Murray Building at present, some even living there, and I would love to see something like that at Loucks. With two gyms in that building it might make a good recreation center for kids too.