300 thoughts on “PBC to D150: Get your act together and spend this money!”

1. Merle: I retired at the end of the 2004-2005 school year and discipline was not good. (It didn’t just go to pot when I retired or when Kherat arrived. 🙂 ) My main complaint with Kherat is that she is trying to make everyone believe that it’s better now–it is not. Of course, you had a right to visit. (I am not at all doubting you–just bewildered or critical about the following. Why would Spangler say that Manual was Jim’s jurisdiction? I guess I’m not even sure, but I don’t think Jim serves the Manual area as a board member. Why would Spangler refer you to Runkle? I never heard the term “lead teacher” at Manual. I am really puzzled as to why Marcey would have the authority to speak “for” Manual by answering your e-mails and, especially, telling you that you were in the building illegally. Did you go to the office for permission to visit classes–I would assume so? I won’t try to defend the teacher–except on one point. In the good old days, when students made a habit of leaving books in lockers or coming without supplies, that infraction could be brought to the attention of deans. In later years, the deans would deride teachers who reported these behaviors–much worse behavior goes unpunished, also. Students who have no intention of doing any work do not bring books to class–then they have a good excuse for not working because they know teachers are not allowed to give passes to lockers (a policy with which I do agree). Those same students are usually the discipline problems.
   Since you are looking into arrest records, etc., do you know if there is a way to find out how many students from each high school are on court probation–with the terms of their probation being attendance at school. I have begun to believe–that since the court system sends these kids to school (where they often cause trouble), maybe the city or the district should provide an alternative site for those on probation–just one step away from prison. In 150 high schools they are a multitude of steps (like eternity) to the dean away from legal punishment.

2. Merle . . . I was teaching at Manual in ’04/’05. Taught there for thirteen years. Your review of what was going on sounds accurate to me. It’s long been the same old story at Manual — ignore the real problems and pretend everything is ok.

   For YEARS we teachers held things at Manual together while pleading with board members, administrators, the community via the press, etc., to send us administrators who would help us get the school not only under control . . . but also get it on the right track. Yet for years, we had not only to battle the issues students would bring in from the streets, but also battle against the administrative incompetency — against administrators who ruled with a lethal combination of ignorance and arrogance.

   I sent an SOS to Royster when she was at the helm. It was ignored. When Sharon and I sent our concerns to the BOE and the PJStar, Royster responded by ordering Manual’s principal to call a faculty meeting and refute what we’d said. After Royster left, I sat in Hinton’s office telling him what the problems were . . . Sat in Dr. Fischer’s office telling her about the problems and offering solutions. We were met with a building administration bent on refraining from holding students appropriately accountable . . . an administration bent on mismicromanaging teachers while — at the same time — blaming them for the very problems their mismanagement caused.

   We pleaded for change . . . for restructuring. And then it came . . . in the form of empty rhetoric, poor planning, and the worst mismanagement to date. I pleaded with the board to restructure the restructuring process . . . because I could see where it was going. Parents pleaded. But . . . as always . . . Father Hinton knew best . . . and KahBoom . . . The staff that had been holding Manual together was blamed for the school’s ills and then promptly sent to other schools throughout the district while first-year teachers were brought in to fill the slots. As the parent of one of Manual’s pre-restructuring valedictorians puts it — the school now is worse than it has ever been.

   Morale was at an all time low when I left Manual and I thank God (and I mean that quite literally) that I wasn’t rehired. You have highly qualified, highly educated, highly experienced former Manual teachers smiling from ear to ear at other schools throughout the district — once willing to live and die with Manual — now feeling blessed to have been spared the misery our unfortunate colleagues are left to face. (And I write things like this on the blog for their sake . . . to hopefully bring realization to their plight and relief to their situation.)

   Ironically, my daughter . . . who lives one mile from Manual . . . where we have lived for many years . . . attends Richwoods . . . where she has three former Manual teachers as instructors. See, the new Manual principal shipped the highly qualified Manual teachers off . . . where they are now (in many cases) teaching the “haves” The “have nots,” on the other hand . . . the poverty-stricken students whose only hope for a better life is an education . . . will have new inexperienced teachers for what may end up being their entire four years of high school. I have no problem with first year teachers . . . but when you staff a building with many, many first year teachers and then offer them no support with discipline, etc. . . . Well, we’re seeing the fruits of that decision.

   In my fifteen years in District 150, I’ve NEVER seen a teacher put his or her keys on the desk and say, “I’m done” and walk out. From what I understand, four teachers have walked out of Manual. Had enough and outright quit. That’s unheard of. Even when I was at Manual and we had so many fights during a given day that there were barely enough people to break them up . . . people didn’t quit. What the heck is going on down there??? Not being a right fit and applying somewhere else after the school one year is one thing . . . but to up and quit. WOW.

   It’s time for the truth to be told about Manual . . . and Trewyn . . . and about what goes on at the administration building on Wisconsin avenue . . .

3. A new charter school – Peoria City Academy?

   http://emergepeoria.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-charter-school-peoria-city-academy.html

4. I should add . . . when I attended Manual, it was a top-notch school. We drew students from Spalding and Bergan. After I left for college in 1990, the enablers took over . . . By the time I returned to Manual in 1994 to teach, the school was nothing like it was when I was a student there. It was a disaster that I thought couldn’t possibly get any worse . . . I’ve since learned to refrain from thinking things at the school can’t get worse.

5. We shouldn’t have to have a charter school. Each school in District 150 should be as well disciplined and as academically conducive as the “best” school in the district. Sure, we can have a charter school and allow the administration at that school cherry pick students who will exceed on the state tests . . . but the root problem will still exist.

6. I did get my idea from Emerge–I hesitated to give her credit because I didn’t want to misrepresent her idea (thought maybe I had). Eventually, I believe we will find enough people in this city with the right ideas and focus–and maybe we can turn this place around. I’m certainly not ready to give up hope yet. I would love to see Manual turned around by the time Jeff’s six-year-old is in high school. I can attest to Jeff’s comments about Manual when he was there and the difference that occurred in just the four years that it took him to go to college and return to Manual as a teacher. I remember 1993-1994 as a wake up call for me. In fact, Jeff had asked to come to Manual as my student teacher that year. I was having so many discipline problems (really quite a first for me) that I didn’t want to risk having a student teacher, so Jeff student taught at Peoria High. I just saw in today’s paper that Don Markley died–his wife was on the school board. His children were at Manual–top-notch students just like Jeff. The list of Manual grads with impressive post-high school accomplishments would indeed be long. I want to contratulate one of them now–Jon Austin, the newly-appointed director of Springdale Cemetary. I hope congratulations are in order because Jon certainly has said “yes” to a job that everyone in the city will be watching carefullly. Manual was indeed, at one time, a very, very underestimated high school–I would love to see it return to the days when it once again would be underestimated.

7. Elaine, Sharon, and Jeff; your points are phenomenal! I have gone back and read everything that has been posted here and I have one huge request! Mr. Stowell, please get the closure of WHS reversed and let’s go back to the drawing board! It is not going to work! I too have a friend that is employed at Manual and my child has a friend that attends Manual! It is failing miserably! Please get the decision to close Woodruff reversed. There are too many problems that admin has given to that neighborhood already with the closing of Kingman!

8. Clarification – my agreement with Emerge was not about a charter school but a special school for students that are on probation–see emerge’s blog for her idea. I assume everyone knows I am against charter schools per se.

9. Jeff I soooo agree! Please forward your posts here to Mr. Durflinger! Doubt with only 120 days of service to give that he is going to touch any of this, but it is sure worth a try.

10. dib: This isn’t the beginning of Jeff’s revelations. He hasn’t done much since he arrived at PHS, where he is happy. However, while at Manual he sent a steady flow of e-mails to central administrators and BOE members detailing the problems that were going without administrative action. Now he has a position with the union as an Academic Advisor. People criticize the union for being interested in just salary issues and other issues that benefit teachers. Jeff will be much more interested in the problems that keep schools from being safe, learning environments for students.

11. Durflinger will be hearing from us at board meetings — loudly and clearly. Hopefully, he will make one major decision right away . . . STOP EVERYTHING . . . sort out the damage that has been done and that is about to be done . . . and start making necessary changes once the district is financially stable . . . once schools are safe . . . etc . . .

12. Sharon: I look forward to seeing Jeff “blossom” in that position. Although, I don’t really know him personally, I have had the honor of listening to he and his wife over the past year. I know that his heart is with our children and their best interest.

13. Bravo Jeff! I will be right there cheering you on! However, the million $$$$$$$ question is; will those 4 certain board members vote to uphold the Ken Hinton legacy???????????? Or do you think that maybe the “pilot light” has come on in the past 2 weeks??

14. Jeff for superintendent!
    Jeff, do you have the credentials? If not, get them ASAP.

    Incidentally, all of Peoria’s high schools have many distinguished grads, who form the larger community of support for those schools. Ending that community is folly!

    I wonder if anyone has ever studied the results of high school closings on the communities and cities where they existed? East St. Louis? Detroit? Flint, Mich.? Newark?

15. If you want to discuss failing schools, I think another place to take a glance at is Glen Oak. There’s some truly crazy stuff happening down there to the teachers and the students are out of control.

16. Elaine, I spoke with a friend of mine who is a principal in Chicago in a mostly Spanish speaking suburb, and she told me they are closing schools in Chicago also. I have not looked into all the options for Peoria schools. I would hope that someone with more expertise has already done that, after all, isn’t that why we have administration and the board? But, of course, we haven’t really seen any plans.

    Obviously, changes are going to have to be made. We all know that. And discipline is out of control from what we are hearing. Schools aren’t the only answer. We need to find a way to involve an entire community (it takes a village) if we are going to turn things around. Has any community ever done so? I’d love to hear about it. What community has fought poverty and gangs and succeeded in turning things around? Is there one? Where are they? What was their secret?

17. Decatur closed a school.

18. MAWB,
    This is long. Sorry!

    According a great deal of research for the last 10-12 years focusing on the issues you mention (I have read many of them and have some of the online links, I can email them to you as my links never work on this blog!) there are many communities that have made significant gains in discipline, attendance and student performance, with a student demographic similar to that in D150. My specific focus is at the high school level. The idea that “bigger is always better because you can offer more classes, etc.” has been shown to be much less beneficial for high school students in district’s like 150.

    Also, here were several articles in last year’s NewsWeek magazine about this issue. One was about a high school in New York City and another was about a high school in, I believe, San Mateo CA. I may still have the link to those. I have the printouts somewhere.

    The majority of those successes centered around SMALLER high school sizes, where students do not “fall through the cracks” and students are with the same teachers and peers for their entire 4 years. Many also used academy-like setups. Even in districts where they do not have the luxury of having available buildings (which the district has so they would not have to build!), the large school campuses have been divided into smaller schools/academies within the larger building.

    Bill and Melinda Gates have donated millions of dollars/grants to the Small School concept. There is a lot of information out there. There are some communities that have taken this approach even when they are not dealing with high percentages of poverty-level students/families. One example: there is a central “hub” in the mornings and then students are moved to their school/academy for the rest of the day.

    Also, one element of the Chicago plan (Renaissance 2010, I think is the name) is to move toward the smaller school/academy/charter approach. Yes, they have closed schools in the past few years, though, as part of the plan. Many of the problems the Chicago high schools are experiencing are a result of closing schools and changing boundaries without taking into account neighborhood/gang issues or school rivalries that are generations old. (Recently, there were many stories nationally about that in light of the recent beating death of a Chicago high school student.)

    That is one reason I have remained opposed to closing a high school campus. Most of the smaller schools research places optimum high school size at the 700-800 level. Some advocate an ideal school size of 600! Adding 600+students to Peoria High will make it the largest high school in the district with around 1500 students. (Many others have posted on the financial issues/budget deficit so I will not get into that here. Check into admin/student ratios for D150 vs state average and comparable district averages, for a start.)

    All of the small school information, including the NewsWeek stories, was available before any vote was taken to close a high school. I find it interesting that the Johns Hopkins model promotes smaller schools, smaller class sizes and close relationships between teachers and students. Why is that educational model, at additional cost to the district, available for Manual students and in effect, by closing a campus, denied to the rest of D150 high school students?

19. Elaine, Jeff has two master’s degrees–one in Bradley’s Liberal Arts Program and the other is a master in English from Bradley–he chose to be prepared to teach his students instead of taking courses to be an administrator. Too bad–because he would be a good one; therefore, he probably would not have made it as an administrator for very long.
    MAWB–With regard to your “I would hope that someone with more expertise has”already done that”: Who in District 150 would fit that description? Hinton wanted to close Woodruff so that he could spend some or all that $30 million on another school for his legacy–his concept of birth to “eternity” schools. Nobody has ever shown a plan to prove how much money will really be saved–the Woodruff students still will need teachers–and they all can’t be stuffed into existing classes in District 150. They will need teachers and extra rooms–I’m not sure how many (if any) rooms at each school are unused. I guess Jeannie is figuring that out.

20. I’m no expert on any of this, and I think that district 150 is a giant swamp of waste and inefficiency, but beside that werent the current facilities constructed when there was a growing need for school buildings in 150 and dont we now have a declining need for school buildings in 150? Hasnt the enrollment in 150 dropped so with that the need for the number of schools to be open should drop also? I mean I would think that as the number of enrolled stundents goes down the number of facilities needed to house them all would go down also?

    Has anyone entertained the idea of using the military acadamy schools that are being tested in Chicago. Newsweek ran an article on them and that they appear to be working fairly well. I mean at this point anything is better then what we have now.

    You can blame administrators, teachers whatever but the real issue is poverty, crime and the home situations of many in 150. Its a demographic issue.

21. I am trying to digest some of the comments. Over the years I have come to label bosses into three categories: servant leader, benevolent despot, and domineering dictator. If an employee were drowning, the servant leader would jump into the water, swim to the person, pull them to safety, and begin CPR, if necessary. The benevolent despot would throw out a flotation device and maybee call 911. The domineering dictator would yell at the employee that it was their own fault that they were drowing and go to sign them up for more swimming lessons. Or another example might be that you are at an emergency room in crisis. The attending calls for his/her boss to help with the situation. The servant leader puts on gloves and lends an extra set of hands and expertise. The benevolent despot would come into the room and give direction on how to handle the issue. The domineering dictator would tell you about an excellent seminar to attend and run to his/her office to get you an outstanding article from a medical journal about how to handle the issue. Whenever I have worked for a servant leader, my colleagues and I would always reciprocate and watch the leader’s back. It would be nice to hear some stories about servant leaders in District 150. Please tell me that some exist!!

22. Buck Smith at Roosevelt Jr. High when I was there in 1962-1969–he was a servant leader. He always had our backs and we his and he cared about students, etc. I remember that a couple of new teachers didn’t have all their credentials turned in in time to get their first paycheck–Buck loaned them the money. Every day he told teachers and students that Roosevelt was the best school in the Midwest–sometimes in the country, etc. When those on Wisconsin Avenue would give him orders he didn’t like, he would say, “Come on down and get my keys.” Too many of today’s leaders, for the most part, are the domineering dictators.

23. Elaine–just for the record (before Jeff corrects me), his masters was from the Liberal Studies (not Arts) program at Bradley.

24. j-darcy: I can not name names, but I assure you before Hinton brought in domineering dictators there were servant leaders. Some of those are gone now. I just hope with changes coming to 150 the domineering dictators will ALL be gone and we can get back to leaders who consider themselves part of the team and know good ideas can come from anyone and anywhere. Unfortunately, the consultants Hinton had in place are still there ready to brownnose the new leader. The special ed director who is a tyrant is still there. I fear she will also brownnose the leadership. She is in charge of special ed discipline and people can see the shape that is in.

    Question, is it possible they are dragging out the Mary Davis case so she can retire with full benefits?

25. Serenity, it is more likely that the davis case is dragging out because she knows where all the bodies are buried. Same with the district lawyers. Why do you think they never put legal services out to bid at contract renewal time?

26. whatever

    I too believe what you surmised, but I take it several steps further. MD knew some things, but Cahill knew more things but Hinton knew more yet as he (Hinton) has at least 2 underlings – one in accounting and one in Title 1 who are so fiercely loyal to him it’s almost weird. I believe the investigation has turned into a 3 ring circus that Kevin L continues to find more rich dirt being turned over than a gardener with a huge compost pile! My advice to Kevin is “stir baby stir – where there is still stink then there is still more unprocessed “waste!”

27. I truly believe that this district is in need of divine intervention.

28. where is the teachers union pres, his wife, and all the rest who had issues with McArdle and support for Davis? What about the PTO @ LMS? What is their position?

29. I really believe we will be getting some answers very soon about the MD case. The for sale sign at her house could well be a “sign” that something is happening.
    Some of the “dictator” principals were assigned by Royster, also.

30. W/out Malice – I specifically asked Stacy Shangraw if Ken Hinton was also being investigated. Stacy said very unequivacably (sp?) – “No”. Have to say, I believe her. She is a person of integrity and would not knowingly give out false info.

31. Jon–haven’t heard from you lately–when you “return” I have some class count information that might interest you.

32. LOL Diane!!! Do you REALLY believe a professional and YET underlinging like Stacy is going to A) know the truth and B) make as much as the twits she has been told to protect who would look like deer caught in the head lights if they got on camera – TRUST ME on that analogy!

33. I’m afraid I have to agree about Stacey. I, also, think she is a credible person and a professional. However, her job title states, “Public Relations.” I don’t blame her, at all, for not giving out information about the involvement of others in the MD case, even if she does know it. If she “doctored” FOIAd information or withheld it, then I would have a problem with her integrity–but I believe she handles the FOIA information in a professional, honest manner.

34. WM- Hence my use of the word “knowingly” 😉

35. hot in the city, WOW!! You’ve done your homework!! I appreciate all the information. I will hunt down these articles!

    fyi e-mail mawblogging@gmail.com

36. Class count in District 150: For quite some time, Jon and I have been discussing class count. The Illinois Report Card, I believe, states that the average class size for District 150 is 12. I FOIAd the class count for all high school English classes. The following shows the count for all 135 basic and enriched English classes at all four high schools. This count shows that 62 of the classes conform to the contractual 25 or above. Of the 135 classes, 113 of the classes have an enrollment of 21 and above. Only 22 of the 135 have enrollment lower than 21. Seven with the lowest enrollment are enriched or AP classes.
    25 – 48 = 62
    22 – 24 = 38
    19 – 21 = 13
    15 – 18 = 12
    13 – 14 = 4
    9 – 12 = 6
    7 of the 17 and under are enriched classes.
    I have the enrollment figures for special ed classes (whose low enrollment definitely accounts for the low 12 average on the Illinois Report Card) and for all the social studies classes—I haven’t compiled those figures yet.

37. Wow. Received another e-mail re: Manual High School. You know, I’m a volunteer firefighter as well as a teacher. As a firefighter, I’ve been in situations in which my life has undoubtedly been on the line. That said, the stress of fighting fires (or knowing that at any time I might have to GO fight a fire) is ZERO when compared to the stress I felt just driving to Manual each day (when I taught there).

    As a firefighter, I know that everyone on the scene is involved in trying to bring a chaotic situation under control. In contrast, when driving to a school like Manual, you know that the chaos you faced the day before is going to be the same chaos (but probably worse) you’re going to face today . . . and the next day . . . and the next day . . . and the next . . . And the “officers” in charge of the school aren’t going to help you break down obstacles . . . but are going to place obstacle after obstacle after obstacle IN YOUR WAY. Then, they’re going to blame you (the teacher) when the school “burns down.” The kids at Manual would behave if they were compelled to do so. As it is, the administrators have allowed the flames to get out of control.

    I’m a big dude . . . 6′ 240lbs. I felt in fear for my life more times at Manual than I EVER have as a firefighter.

    And guess what . . . when I was at Manual . . . it wasn’t 1/2 as horrendous as it is now.

    I feel for the Manual teachers . . . And the students . . . They need out help!

38. W. Patrick Dolan — Restructuring Our Schools —

    Several of us teachers are meeting with W. Patrick Dolan tomorrow night. His book — Restructuring Our Schools — is the first book I’ve read that not only highlights the problem districts (like ours) are facing . . . but also offers a solution that isn’t a bunch of cliched B.S.

    If you know me, you know that the last thing I’m in favor of is having consultants come into our district (in any way, shape, or form). Our district has been taken to the bank by far too many of them. This dude, however, seems to know what the heck he’s talking about.

    Further, I have a bit more trust for Dolan because he made his living in the “real world” . . . consulting for major companies . . . before turning his talents to education. I mention that because many consultants in the realm of education are nothing more than vultures who write bogus books and create bogus companies to snatch up Title I (and other) funds from districts. (Uhhhhh . . . Edison? Johns Hopkins? Ruby (unfortunate eyeglasses) Payne? Etc . . . Etc . . . Etc . . . )

    Oh . . . and I like the fact that Dolan is an intellectual . . . and his ideas . . . though well researched and complex . . . are presented in a clear, simple manner in his book.

    Essentially, Dolan is about restructuring via decentralizing power and giving all stakeholders a stake . . . The Union . . . The Administration . . . The Board . . . The Community . . . all come together to work towards common (measurable) goals. Everyone must give up a certain amount of power . . . but the overall power to compel the antiquated system to change . . . is increased. Roles necessarily change . . . And . . . a structure is agreed upon and put into place so that even when board members, administrators, teachers, etc., change . . . the structure remains consistent . . . so the district isn’t starting from scratch every two or three years . . . every time someone at the top has another “bright idea.”

    Anyway, I know some union people are excited by what this dude has to say . . . I’m hoping we can convince board members and administrators and community members to be excited about it as well.

    Below is a link to an article re: Dolan’s ideas at work in a school in Springfield, Illinois.

    http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/go7lk19.htm

39. WMBD TV had a story on the news last night regarding families moving out of Peoria in order to attend “better schools”

    http://centralillinoisproud.com/content/fulltext/?cid=83961

    Why didn’t D150 want to comment on camera? It was an opportunity for them to talk about what they are doing well. Instead they only made comments (off camera) about some of the schools students can attend, including Edison.

    Any thoughts?

40. The woman interviewed said she was moving so her son wouldn’t have to go to a P150 high school – Central in their case. District150’s response was to point out the options available to families – Washington, Edison and Rossevelt – none of them are high schools. They didn’t mention what a swell program manual had to offer.

41. They didn’t mention the Preparatory School for the Arts (Central), or IB (RHS), either. Either they are proud of what we do have to offer our high school students or they aren’t…by this “interview” the clearly aren’t. They wonder why families and teachers hope have gone by the wayside when it is apparent that they have no hope for our district either.

    Well, I still have hope for our district and students. I will promote what we are doing right every time someone even slightly mentions the negative stuff. I still WANT to teach in this district (although they won’t hire me because I have no real experience in discipline…student teaching at Pekin CHS, subbing for most of a year at MHS don’t count. I guess it’s because the admin at the schools honestly believe that students are perfect angels when the regular teacher is gone. Have I got news for them!!!!! I have learned more about discipline than an teacher hired right out of college just because the did their student teaching at MHS. Yeah, I’m a little bitter about it, but I still want to be there. I know with the right teachers and the right backing of the admin the district could flourish again. I didn’t say it would happen overnight, but it didn’t go down the crapper overnight so the fix won’t be that easy.

42. My concern with D150 is that they refuse to admit to any of their problems…isn’t that the first step in “fixing” them? If they would just admit behavior and student apathy are concerns, maybe there could be meaningful conversations among administrators, teachers, parents, and community members to solve them…you can’t fix anything you don’t admit to!

    When given a chance to share the reasons for parents to remain within the district, they don’t want to be on camera and send a comment about “special” programs the district offers…pretty sure Channel 31 could have come up with that themselves. Channel 31 was giving D150 the opportunity to share anything and everything positive on the air and they “declined”…that speaks volumes to me!

43. Ross Black, the man who spoke on camera and mentioned the Glen Oak impact zone and other areas, works for the City of Peoria (Assistant Planning Director) – not D150. D150 chose not to comment at all, it seems.

44. I saw the interview, also. Dist. 150 only mentioned grade schools and she was concerned for the high school her son would be attending. I felt it was not only sad for Dist. 150 and Peoria, but for the Uplands as well. Those homes are like no others in Peoria and I know several people who live there and love it. People move in and out of Peoria every day, so I wonder why WMBD felt the need to interview this woman. And if you are trying to sell your home, why would you get on television and tell the world you think the schools in your area are so horrible, you won’t send your child. What was the motive behind either stance?

45. Isn’t part of Stacey Shangraw’s job to help portray the image of the district in the best light possible? Why would she pass up on this opportunity?

46. Plus, I believe she stated her children went to a private grade school, and did not attend Dist. 150, and she could not afford the tuition for private high school. Tons of people send their children to private schools in Peoria, but they don’t get on the news and bash the public schools. She must be friends with someone at the news station, otherwise why else would they have put her on? News must have been slow yesterday. I am also disappointed someone from Dist. 150 didn’t comment. Even someone from the board could have done so, but perhaps they were not given the opportunity. I am sure Stacey Shangraw takes her directions from above, so if no one was in to direct her, then… And often times it is best to simply not comment, which is what could have been decided. Who knows? Either way, I think it was sad all the way around.

47. Funny they should mention Edison as a reason to stay in D150… Around 2000, when the D150 Board of Education shoved Edison down the throats of the Northmoor populace (going against the vote by parents and recommendation of their own Superintendent), we almost bolted the district. It worked out that we were able to switch our youngest to Lindbergh so we stayed. I wish now (hindsight being 20/20) that we had made the move back in 2000 to one of the surrounding communities and avoided all the drama of the last 9 years. Now we are just hoping to survive the next year and a half and be done with it. Not the way I had imagined my kids school years would turn out. I’d advise anyone with kids presently in a D150 grade school to plan on paying tuition to a private high school or move out. In 5 years, *none* of the D150 high schools will be a place you want to send your kids.

48. No Kool-Aid: Your post agrees with my contention that what District 150 does or does not do for the “least” of its schools will have an effect on the best schools. All must show improvement or all will fall together–there is no alternative. District 150 can no longer ignore the discipline problems in 150 that are keeping children from learning at all levels and are driving families out of the city and/or out of its schools.

49. As I have posted here before, 4 of my children have graduated from D150. I doubt the remaining 4 will. I hate to have to move my kids but its just getting out of control and no one seems to have any vision or plan. I see where the search is being extended, the consultants need more time ($$)

50. JIM, If district 150 is sooooooo……. budget broke why did they approve the E/Z for student housing for Bradley. Were else are the developers going to build a student complex? Out North? Yes, be cockey but do not complain when it was in the Districts hands to have a backbone and tell the developers either build this without an E/Z or not at all.

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