Peoria Public Schools

“How can we stop this stupid idea?”

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Peoria Public Schools logoThat was just one of the questions parents had for District 150 administrators last night at Kellar Primary School. The idea they want to stop is a proposal to reduce the school day by 45 minutes at 12 primary schools starting next year in order to save between $600,000 and $750,000 per year. Presentations were made by Kellar principal Ken Turner, D150 Strategic Planner Thom Simpson, and Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Sanfilip. Then questions were taken from the audience, estimated to be about 60 parents.

The questions were almost all critical of the plan. One person asked if this decision was budget-driven or academically-driven. (Dr. Simpson said it was both.) Several people asked about how much flexibility schools would have to set their own schedule and decide which special teachers to have. One complained that the school district was shifting the burden (and expense) of additional education time to parents to provide outside tutoring for whatever is cut from the school day. Another asked why we can’t save some money on the administration side.

Here’s the Journal Star’s report on the evening. And here’s HOI News’ report.

Not mentioned in these reports is the one question that kept coming up over and over again: What about Edison schools? Under the proposal, no changes would be made to the two Edison primary schools, Northmoor and Franklin, which already have a longer school day than other district schools. Many parents expressed concern about the disparity, asking why twelve schools have to bear $600,000 in educational cuts while we send $1 million to for-profit Edison schools, which only benefit a small percentage of District 150 students.

Good question.

By the way, the answer to the headline question is to contact your school board members:

David Gorenz
President (Dist. 3)
(309) 688-2824
david.gorenz@psd150.org

Martha M. Ross
Vice-President (Dist. 1)
(309) 674-2574
martha.ross@psd150.org

Linda Butler
(Dist. 2)
(309) 688-7912
linda.butler@psd150.org

Rachael A. Parker
(Dist. 2)
(309) 688-5990
rachael.parker@psd150.org

Mary Spangler
(Dist. 3)
(309) 691-1752
mary.spangler@psd150.org

Jim Stowell
(Dist. 3)
(309) 692-4128
jim.stowell@psd150.org

Debbie Wolfmeyer
(Dist. 3)
(309) 681-9567
debbie.wolfmeyer@psd150.org

To e-mail all board members at once, click here.

Peoria Public Schools

D150 spin control: “Longer Shorter days are better!”

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Hinton also recommended the new “birth through eighth-grade” school [replacing Glen Oak School in the East Bluff] be a choice school, meaning students may come from anywhere in the district, as well as incorporating year-round schooling, a specialized autistic program, a longer school day and parental contracts, requiring more involvement from parents.

— Journal Star, 1/8/2008

In the fall, [a restructured] Manual [High School] will reopen, officials say, as a much different place. Ninth-graders will be isolated among the rest of the student population in what is being called the ninth-grade academy; a seventh-and eighth-grade academy, made of about 80 students each, will be added; the school day and calendar will be longer; parents will be required to devote time at the school; and the school itself will undergo a facelift as well as compartmentalization to accommodate the different learning academies.

— Journal Star, 4/22/2008

So, let me see if I have this straight. Manual was not doing well academically, so they’re restructuring — that is, making changes that will help improve the educational experience there, which will manifest itself (hopefully) in higher test scores. One of those changes is a longer school day.

Furthermore, Superintendent Ken Hinton recommended just three months ago a longer school day for the new school that will be built in the East Bluff, replacing Glen Oak Primary School. I presume he recommended this because he thinks it has pedagogical benefits. Isn’t that also why Edison schools have a longer school day than other District 150 schools?

So, now I’m trying to figure out this quote from today’s paper:

Despite less time at school, many principals say the proposed schedule change [i.e., shortening the school day] improves classroom instruction by eliminating interrupted teaching, allows for more classroom flexibility and gives teachers common planning time in the morning before students arrive.

How about that! Longer school days improve classroom instruction, but surprisingly so do shorter days. Evidently, the only length of time that’s bad is the current length of the school day, which is six and a half hours. Somehow, this precise length of the school day is detrimental to academic success. Make it longer or shorter — it makes no difference which way you go — and things magically improve! I hope they publish this new finding, because it will be helpful to other school districts around the country. Beware the six-and-a-half hour school day! Keep scores high; avoid six-point-five!

I’m assuming the logic curriculum got cut from District 150 a long time ago.

Peoria Public Schools

Meeting tonight on District 150 changes

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From Peoria.com:

You may or may not be aware that the members of the District 150 School Board are preparing to vote on proposed changes that may substantially impact your child’s elementary school education.

Part one of the proposal calls for SHORTENED SCHOOL HOURS. If passed, school hours will be reduced by 45 minutes each day. The proposed new start time for Primary schools (at least for Kellar) will be 9:15 a.m.

Secondly, specialized instruction in gym, science, music and computers is on the chopping block. Primary schools will only be allowed the equivalent of two full time special teacher positions. The home room teachers must then assume responsibility for these subjects, regardless of their training or background.

Our initial reaction, as parents, is one of concern that our children’s education may be compromised as a result of these changes. We feel that there are alternative cost cutting measures that can and should be taken first that would not put the burden of the deficit squarely on the backs of our young children. As parents, we have the right to expect adequate education and exposure to the arts and sciences in our public schools.

The School Board argues that these proposed changes, in addition to saving the district money, will actually enhance the educational experience. They feel that less time will be spent transitioning children between classes, and that classroom time will be more devoted to learning.

You be the judge! We have arranged an informational meeting to take place at Kellar this Thursday evening, May 1st at 5:15 p.m. District Administrators have confirmed that they will be present to answer your questions and address your concerns.

Time is of the essence. This proposal is being fast-tracked and may very well be voted on at the next School Board meeting on May 5th.

It is our responsibility to watchdog the School Board and Administration to make sure that the Districts limited resources are being allocated in a way that is most beneficial to our children. We cannot entrust this responsibility to teachers or school staff, as their very employment is dependant upon the actions of the aforementioned entities.

We hope to see a very large and concerned presence of District 150 parents on Thursday. We then hope to have a very large group of informed parents at the School Board meeting on May 5th.

The Journal Star has a front-page story on this today as well.

City of Peoria

Peoria Cares [Updated]

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Dialing 494-CARE

“Hello, Mayor and City Council office.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought I was calling the Peoria Cares number.”

“He’s off today, so it rolls over to us.”

“Okay, well, I was wondering if there was a problem with the City’s website today; I can’t get it to load.”

“I can give you our I.S. department’s phone number. It’s 494-8100.”

“Thanks.”

Dialing 494-8100.

[something unintelligible]

“Hi is this the City of Peoria I.S. Department?”

“Yes it is.”

“Hi, I was referred to you by the Peoria Cares number. I was wondering if there was a problem with the City’s website; it doesn’t seem to be loading for me this morning.”

“Who is this?”

“C. J. Summers.”

“Are you with a company?”

“No, I’m just a citizen who wants to get some information from the City’s website and it won’t come up.”

“Hold on a second.”

[phone ringing 4 times]

“Your call is being answered by Audix. John [mumble-mumble] is not available….”

[Me hanging up phone, mumbling to myself] “Who cares?”

UPDATE: Mike King from the city called me after I posted this (and he left a comment, too) and helped me figure out what was wrong. Apparently it’s a problem with my ISP. Many thanks to Mike for his quick response! I also concur with other commentators that when Sean is manning the phone, you get great service at the Peoria Cares number. (Although, I’ll also point out that I didn’t get bad service from Sean’s fill-in, but rather from the person who answered the I.S. department’s line. Mike explained that they don’t usually get calls from citizens.)

Healthcare, OSF St. Francis

OSF sues Dr. Banno and Peoria Day Surgery for racketeering

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On Wednesday, April 23, OSF Healthcare System filed suit in U. S. District Court (read the complaint here) against Dr. Joseph Banno and Peoria Day Surgery Center: three counts of racketeering and one count of consumer fraud and deceptive business practices.

There’s already bad blood between these two groups. In September 2006, Peoria Day Surgery Center filed an antitrust lawsuit against OSF Healthcare, doing business as OSF St. Francis Medical Center. The charge was that OSF was participating in anti-competitive business practices and trying to force Peoria Day Surgery out of business. That case is still pending, currently scheduled to go to trial in December of this year.

This new case alleges that Dr. Banno and Peoria Day Surgery Center (PDSC) have been perpetrating a fraudulent billing scheme since as early as 1997. Basically, the suit says that Banno and PDSC were not charging their patients the proper co-insurance amounts, instead passing those costs on to their patients’ employers through deceptive billing practices.

Besides the deceptive billing practices, this arrangement also caused a lot of people to choose PDSC for their surgical needs who would have otherwise gone to OSF. In other words, there was no co-pay at OSF, but there was supposed to be a 30% (later 50%) co-pay at PDSC. If PDSC had been charging patients the proper co-pay amounts, most patients arguably would have gone with the cheaper option — OSF. Thus, OSF lost considerable revenue because of PDSC’s practices, the suit alleges.

OSF is suing for unspecified damages and demanding a jury trial.

Not sure why this major development has not been reported in the mainstream media yet.

City of Peoria

Another proud Peorian

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Kirk Wessler gave his list of things he likes about Peoria in his article Sunday. He credits my “Be Positive About Peoria Day” post as his inspiration. I’m glad to see that catching on.

For all the irritating things about Peoria, there’s also a lot to like. Nowhere is that truer than sports in Peoria. For a city our size, we’ve got a ton of sporting events and nice facilities in which to watch them.

It’s good to remind ourselves of the good things once in a while… but not so much that we get complacent. There’s still a lot of room for improvement.

Kellar Branch

Bibo gets the facts wrong on Kellar

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Terry Bibo writes an opinion column for the Journal Star, so I don’t begrudge her expressing her advocacy for converting the Kellar Branch rail line into a dedicated trail, even though I obviously disagree with her. But it does bother me when she says things like this, as if it were a fact:

Even though the Peoria Park District has money banked to make it happen, the trail has languished for years. That’s because Pioneer Rail Corp. rarely uses the railroad line but says it will one of these days. The city of Peoria hasn’t forced the issue.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong.

First, she makes it sound as if the Park District has money in hand, sitting in a bank somewhere for this project. What they actually have are grants for which they applied prematurely (before they had STB approval to convert the line) that are sitting in limbo, and have been for over a decade.

Secondly, the trail has not languished because of Pioneer. The trail has languished for one main reason: the Park District insists that the only option is to replace the rail line with a trail. If they would have pursued alternatives, they could have had the thing built by now. But they’re not willing to compromise with side-by-side, on-street, adjacent-to-street, or other alternatives. They’ve decided to lay siege to the rail line, willing to wait it out for as many decades as it takes to get their way — at taxpayer expense, of course.

Thirdly, Pioneer isn’t even the superficial reason the trail has been held up. You may recall that the City got Pioneer kicked off the line and replaced with Central Illinois Railroad (CIRY). CIRY was supposed to provide service to Carver Lumber via the Kellar Branch until the western connection was built, then provide comparable service via the western connection. Furthermore, they were supposed to petition the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for discontinuance of the middle portion of the Kellar Branch so it could be converted to a trail, which they did initially. But CIRY never provided service over the Kellar Branch (breach of contract), and their service via the western connection was so poor that Carver Lumber complained to the STB for relief. The STB granted that relief by reinstating Pioneer on the line. CIRY also withdrew their petition for discontinuance (also breach of contract). So if Ms. Bibo and the Journal Star are looking for a scapegoat in the rail carrier arena, they should be complaining about CIRY, not Pioneer. But you’ll never hear the truth from the Journal Star on this issue. They’ve got their boilerplate (“Pioneer is to blame for everything regarding the trail because we don’t like them”), and they’re not going to deviate from it.

Fourthly, “the City of Peoria hasn’t forced the issue”? Seriously? Are you kidding me? The City has been carrying the Park District’s and Peoria Heights’ water on this issue for 17 years. The City has spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees to force the issue. They’ve built a $2 million connecting track to try to force the issue. After a decade and a half of fighting this, they’ve finally seen the handwriting on the wall and are trying to come up with another alternative — hence, the rail/trail committee that’s looking at shared use of the corridor.

Peoria Heights, in contrast, is now trying to pick up where the City left off fighting the STB, only this time spending their own taxpayers’ money for a change. They’re going to keep tilting at windmills, and they’re going to keep wasting more time and money while not ever getting a trail built. But they’ll be praised for trying anyway, at least by Mayor Maloof and the Journal Star.

City of Peoria, Comprehensive Plan

Comprehensive planning not easy, City discovers

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A recent “Issues Update” from the city outlined the difficulty city staff is having getting participation in the Comprehensive Planning process from certain segments of the community:

COMPREHENSIVE PLAN SURVEY – PRELIMINARY RESULTS. As part of the Comprehensive Plan re-write process, the City made an online survey available to the public in order to help gauge levels of interest and importance for various public services. A copy of the preliminary report was presented in Issues Update last week. The preliminary results were presented to the Planning Commission at their April 16, 2008 meeting. During the presentation, several of the commissioners had questions related to the percentage of response from several areas and groups. Specifically, the response rate from the African-American community was significantly below the relative percentage of Peoria’s population. The response rate from the 1st Council District was also below the proportional population amount. Several steps were taken by City staff to provide direct outreach before the launch of the survey, and in anticipation of difficulty reaching some population groups. Additional outreach efforts were made as the survey results were received.

Some of these outreach efforts included:

  • Partnership with the Peoria Public Library to make computers and assistance available to anyone wanting to take the online survey in a library.
  • The placement of two of the three “Help Plan Peoria” billboards in areas of the city that were anticipated to have low response rates.
  • Direct mailings to all faith based organizations in Peoria, requesting that an encouragement be placed in bulletins or newsletters requesting participation in the survey.
  • Direct mailings to all neighborhood associations, neighborhood watch, and business watch groups encouraging them to have their association members participate in the survey.
  • Direct outreach to the Black Chamber of Commerce and the African American Contractors Association requesting that they encourage their members to participate.
  • The provision of 250 paper surveys with self addressed stamped envelopes to residents of the Southside in response from a community leader in that area.
  • A recorded telephone message from the mayor targeted to areas of low response requesting participation in the survey.
  • The placement of “Help Plan Peoria” posters on several CityLink buses.
  • Placement of ads in the Traveler Newspaper.

Despite all those efforts, survey results show only 58 of the survey takers identified themselves as living in the first district, and only 29 described themselves as African Americans.

This is the second attempt at gaining input from citizens. The first one was through a series of public meetings that were so poorly attended that the City decided to cancel the second round of meetings and instead go with the online survey. The survey saw increased participation, but only from certain groups (including a lot of people who live outside the city). So, getting citizen input appears to have been a bit of a struggle.

The Issues Update went on to say:

Although the online survey has been closed at this point, there is still ample opportunity for participation in the Comprehensive Plan process. A series of Public Hearings will begin at the May Planning Commission meeting, and will continue on a monthly basis through September or October of 2008. At each of these meetings, City staff will present recommendations to the Commission, and the Commission will accept public comment and testimony on the recommendations. Further, any resident can call the Planning Department at 494-8600 with comments related to the Comprehensive Plan and the future of Peoria, or send a comment via email to planning@ci.peoria.il.us A detailed listing of future public meetings related to the Comprehensive Plan will be distributed in a future Issues Update.

What’s surprising to me about this whole process is that no consultant — no city planning expert — was called in to help. Not that I think we need a consultant to do every little thing. But this is no little thing.

Consider that we’ve hired a consultant to do a traffic study for the west bluff. We hired a consultant to develop the Heart of Peoria Plan and write the Land Development Code, both of which covered about 8,000 acres of the city. We hired a consultant to help us with the CSO project. We had Caterpillar come in to provide Six Sigma training. We’re likely going to hire a consultant to do an engineering study for the Kellar Branch rail/trail issue.

But for the City’s Comprehensive Plan — the guiding document that will define our public policy direction on everything from land use to transportation for the whole entire city for the next 20 years — we think we don’t need any outside help for that? We have all the expertise we need in house, even though we evidently don’t have it for any of the other, comparatively smaller things I just listed? If the City can’t figure out a way to engage all the stakeholders and get adequate representation from all parts of the city, how will they be able to put together a comprehensive plan that will address the needs of the whole community?

This plan is too important to be one of the few initiatives on which we try to save money by not hiring an expert to assist us. This isn’t the Developer’s Handbook, it’s the Comprehensive Plan! The future of our City will be guided by this document. It’s imperative that we get this one right.