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Open Thread Weekend

19 Comments

I won’t be able to blog for the next few days. I’m taking a little mini-vacation this weekend. So, in the meantime, please feel free to comment on anything you’d like. The place is yours; make yourself at home!

19 thoughts on “Open Thread Weekend”

  1. Is there any place to drop off plastic for recycling in Peoria? I have searched all over (Northpoint, Midland Davis, Behr, etc). They take cardboard, newspaper, glass, tin, and aluminum, but none of those take plastic. Any suggestions?

    Thanks!

  2. We have all of our recycling picked up every other week at the house…it costs but it’s very convenient.

  4. CB: Call Waste Management, 694-6246. It’s $3.25 a month or so, with pick up twice a month on the same day as garbage pick up but by a different truck. They take most everything, including #1 and #2 plastic. They provide one or two bins for you to put things in and you don’t have to separate it. It’s convenient and compared to taking things to a drop off point just as economical.

  5. Behind Kroger’s market on Sterling and Forest Hills there are recycling bins for plastic, bottles, cans, etc. Very convenient and marked, easy to get into and out of. I use them all the time.

  6. Thanks justanobserver! I’ll have to check it out. The small monthly fee is easier than driving.

  7. Peoria is one of the few cities in central Illinois that actually charges its customers to recycle.

  9. Looking at all the glass on the new Civic Center addition I would imagine the next request from the auhtority will be for more money from the city to pay their utility bills.

  10. Permit me to change the topic to the newest 150 controversy being the bell schedule.

    The PJS is reporting that $450,000 can be saved in gasoline by reducing routes. Gasoline??? I could see how they could cut some equipment costs by needing fewer buses since a bus could be used twice on certain concentrated routes instead of needing two – but they imply the savings is “gasoline”. OTOH many of the buses are diesel so why not say “fuel” vs. “gasoline”? Is that just sloppy reporting by the PJS or has King Hinton once again said “tell the public anything – they are too stupid to understand anyway!” As for personnel I don’t see a saving there even if they could cut a few staff that savings would be offset with more hours for the remaining staff. Oh, what’s wrong with me?…the savings is in “gasoline” so when the price goes up and a $450,000 savings is not realized he can blame someone else! Clever idea, King Hinton!

    The other thing I wonder is it said this group of teachers etc had been meeting for 5 months on this topic – to which I ask “what was the cost of stipends for that? and where did that cost get buried?” If the routing scenarios were laid out using the district’s sophisticated transportation computer programs to optimize the routes why did it take 5 months to decide? It’s more like picking A, B or C. Did it really take 5 months for a group of humans to choose a set of routes that the computer knocked out in mere minutes? Then besides that it was reported that the team members were against a change but were told to buy in to it or else – clearly an intimidation tactic King Hinton loves to use.

    In the end I have to wonder if Hinton will use this unpopular idea as a trading item with the public. He gives in and kills the bell schedule change to appease parents and then slips through yet another contract year with his beloved ex-employer – the Edison group! Never, never under estimate a wily fox like Hinton. ^oo^~

  11. You have several good points. The extra-duty stipends for teachers used to be $24.00 per hour. Assuming that didn’t increase with the last contract, the expense of committee meetings over a 5-month period could be significant, depending on the number of classroom teachers participating and frequency of meetings.

    Jellick’s articles were very unclear as to how the $450K savings on gasoline is to be realized by changing start times. It seems the same number of children have to be transported to school, so if one bus will now be able to make 2 or three runs instead of 1, how does that save on gas?

    If, after 5 months, the committee was told to sign off on the changes or else, what was the point of having the committee and incurring the expense? This is very confusing.

    As to the transportation software, since Hinton abolished the computer services department and got rid of the staff, is there anyone in place who has the knowledge and skills to program and run the software?

  12. Forgot to mention the Computer Services Department Director and staff were released to make room for the Skyward program, purchased by Cahill, and which still is not fully implemented. Guess after 2 years there are a still a lot of problems with the program that make it almost unusable in the schools.

  13. How about ditching the school buses altogether? Why do we as a community support two entire bus systems? Yes two. Dist 150 and Citylink. Don’t think it is doable? It certainly is. I had to take the city bus for 8 years of my schooling. It worked just fine. Cheaper too.

  14. Mahkno: There is another possibility here – the district could lease bus service instead of owning it. But, because of the way school transportation is funded, the district really incurs very little expense by owning and operating their own busses.

  16. PrairieCelt,

    What you said is SO correct. The way the state of Illinois calculates the reimbursement to school districts for transportation is essentially on a cost plus basis. In fact if a district loses money in their Transportation Fund a diligent auditor had better be investigating a potential fraud. Now the Peoria taxpayers are being led to believe they can save $450,000 in “gasoline”, but on a cost plus basis it is practically a wash!

    Normally any person who is hired as a superintendent knows that, but remember Hinton did not have his certification when the BOE chose him. Then the BOE brought in two – yup, TWO persons with their certification to carry Hinton through the time until he could be spoon fed his certification at Macomb. As I recall that cost to taxpayers was a special $7,000 per a FOIA plus Hinton collected expense reimbursements besides! As you know those two EXTRA superintendents are still there and their salaries alone are over $220,000. Golly that number is almost what King Hinton’salary is, and close to that of his court jester Cahill!

    It is all SO VERY depressive, isn’t it? ^oo^~

  17. Okay, so let’s see if we all have this correct?

    A 30 member committee meets for 5 months and the survey method used – “members were directed to survey staff, parents and students.” — 30 members where to survey all D150 parents? Sounds ineffective and exclusive to me.

    A committee member states “she sincerely feels that the district tried to hear from as many people as possible.” Show us how that was achieved hg?

    $450,000 estimated savings via the crystal ball hocus pocus method.

    Please remember —- closing White and Blaine was to have estimated savings only to find out that the PBC retains the bonds and the properties cannot be sold. Except now, the attorneys are collecting more fees to draft up documents to pay off the taxes early to sell White. And the ‘need’ of the Blaine students to have the building fitted with a/c became a ‘want’ for the administrators who now occupy Blaine and the money was found. Strange?

    And just look at the BOE agenda …. every jot and tittle is explained for donations …. even down to a donation of 1 lb of coffee and 50 cups with donations taking up two pages of four pages of the BOE Agenda and Action Item 2. Payment of Bills – Cahill takes one line? Would you like to see where your tax dollars are being spent?

    What is wrong with this picture?

    Still deciding if we are caught in a King Kong movie or are zombies in The Night of the Living Dead?

    Nothing has changed, the taxpayers, parents and most every stakeholder is cut out of the process.

    All this talk about the D150 goals and ‘cultures’ just indicates to this microbiologist that the culture has definitely become overgrown with toxic mold. Time to get a new petri-dish and start over with the April 17th election.

  18. Karrie, you hit the nail right on the head. Your observation about the toxicity of the District 150 culture is very perceptive. Part of the reason for this toxicity is because of all the inbreeding – the hiring and promoting from within. They will not accept the fact that adding some administrators from other districts brings new perspectives and fresh approaches.

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