The Public Building Commission is worried. They still have $30 million more in bonding capacity, and they might not get to spend it if District 150 doesn’t get its act together soon.
You may recall that the Public Building Commission (PBC) was established in 1955, but school districts used it so much in the 1980s that there was significant voter backlash, which led to the state legislature making school districts ineligible to get funding through the PBC after 1993. Well, District 150 didn’t let that stop them. In 2006, thanks to then Senator Shadid and Representative Schock, District 150 got access to the PBC once again, but only until July 1, 2011. According to a Journal Star article from earlier in the year, “any project needing funding must be significantly completed by July 2011.” And that means there’s not much time left.
Spending PBC money is a win-win for District 150 and the PBC, but not for voters and taxpayers. If municipal organizations stop borrowing from the PBC, it will cease to exist, so the PBC has to keep marketing itself to other governmental bodies. Executive secretary for the PBC James Thornton has been doing just that. For months now, he’s been trying to cajole District 150 to find a way to max out the PBC’s bonding capacity. Of course, the benefit to District 150 is they get to raise taxes for capital projects without having to get voter approval.
District 150 has a new Harrison School and a new Glen Oak School under construction, and they have done remodeling and enlargement at Richwoods, Northmoor, Lindbergh, and Kellar. After all that, they thought they had used up all their PBC bonding capacity, but surprise! Due to recent annexation, the total Equalized Assessed Value of property in Peoria went up. Since the PBC’s bonding authority is set as a percentage of EAV, its bonding capacity also increased. So now the PBC and District 150 are just looking for a project — any project — that will allow them to spend this extra money.
To hear some board members talk about it, they view it as some sort of moral imperative that they use every last dollar of bonding capacity (also known as debt) — that they take full advantage of this “opportunity” to access the PBC before the five-year window closes. Thus, they are doing back bends to try and please the PBC. That’s one of the biggest reasons why they closed Woodruff High School.
That’s no way to make educational decisions. And it’s not in the best interests of taxpayers, either.
middleagedwoman, who are you to criticize the woman who was interviewed for going on the air and expressing her disappointment over the school situation in Peoria? How is that any different that what you do on a regular basis on the blogs? Is free speech a right that is only yours? If you think that you are wrong.
Teach3–
I didn’t think MAWB was being overly critical, just making the same observation that the rest of us were. I also wondered why they focused on this one family when there have been countless others lately that have made the choice to jump the District 150 ship. The media has had ample opportunity to interview many of us who are very vocal and, yet, they choose not to and then this interview. Makes you go, “Hmmmmmmm.”
Many of us on these blogs have made our disappointment and frustration known publicly through BOE meetings and the district watch group. We write letters to the PJS and send many emails to board members.
Teach3, I wasn’t criticizing the woman. I am wondering why WMBD felt the need to put that entire segment on the news. I know people move out of Peoria because of the schools. I am simply wondering why it is newsworthy. Where have the journalists been on this topic for the last twenty years? Plus, if my home were for sale, the whole idea is to sell it. So, I guess in that aspect you can consider it criticizing. If she doesn’t sell the house, where will she send her children to school? She said she couldn’t afford private high school. If I had a $150,000 (I’m guessing here) investment I wouldn’t tell prospective buyers I am moving because the schools are terrible. Let’s face it, she got on television and told everyone in Peoria. I’d let them do their own homework, look up the report cards online, visit the schools and let them decide for themselves.
I don’t know the entire situation. I have doubts that she called the news station and said, “Hey, my house is for sale and I want to complain about the schools.” I think she could have been hoodwinked into making it a story.
If I had a home for sale in the Uplands I’d be telling everyone how great the neighborhood is, what a wonderful neighborhood association they have, how it is conveniently located in the city, how you can’t build a house like these any longer and the price is a steal for the workmanship involved. There is public transportation available, you have easy access to Bradley University and everything they offer. I’d be telling people how many professionals live in the neighborhood and many college professors. I’d be touting the convenience to one of Peoria’s greatest parks and how nice it is to have sidewalks. The entire idea when you put your house on the market, is to sell it. I just don’t think telling the city on television that you are moving because the schools are in trouble is to the seller’s advantage.
You also have to realize I am giving a Realtor’s point of view, since I worked for Re/Max for years. I would point out the positive. I think she was taken advantage of, but I could be wrong.
MAWB said “I’d let them do their own homework, look up the report cards online, visit the schools and let them decide for themselves.”
Isn’t it likely that a buyer would have their own Realtor (it doesn’t cost them anything)? As such, wouldn’t their Realtor likely do all of the “homework” for the buyer? Well, maybe not the second part 🙂
Yes, hopefully the buyer would have their own Realtor to help guide them… but legally, if the Realtor does the homework, then the Realtor is responsible. You can give them all the information, but you cannot give them your personal opinion about the neighborhood. If a Realtor says, oh this area has a really low crime rate, who are they going to come back on? That’s what lawsuits are made of! If someone wants to know the crime statistics… call the police department. If someone wants to know if there are sex offenders in the neighborhood, give them the website. Buyers need to be responsible for their own investment. It is probably going to be the largest chunk of change one ever invests. A smart Realtor will have a sheet made up with websites and phone numbers available. But, let’s face it, there are good and bad everywhere. Some just want to sell a home and collect their commission. They may be of the school of thought that if the buyer doesn’t ask, then there is no need to tell. Buyers need to educate themselves too. This woman’s Realtor may have a list of schools already in the home, I would think it would include all private schools available also.
I don’t have a problem with parents pointing out the problems in 150–the BOE doesn’t listen to teachers, but I think they’d be more prone to listening to parents who are still in 150. At some point the voices have to be strong enough to get the district’s undivided attention. That said, I really do know that many wonderful things happen in 150 and that those pluses need to be applauded. I believe that I have often applauded what happens at Whittier. What I don’t like is that 150 frequently resorts to too much PR–too much window-dressing to take away attention from the real problems. No, what I hate most is when they lie about conditions in 150 that need their attention. Most of what I heard from the Manual principal at last week’s BOE meeting was fabrication, at worst, or wishful thinking, at best. At the last BOE meeting Martha said she didn’t want to hear any more negative things about “our” children. Why shouldn’t the BOE hear it? They should be actively seeking the truth–not ridiculing those who stand before them, telling them the truth.
Let me add, that my own son went to Central and loved it. He’s 33 and alot has changed. He was involved very involved in sports. If I told a buyer that Central was great, my son did well, your’s will too… then who are they going to come back on if their child hates the school? The Realtor! So, to me, it’s smart to give them report cards etc. up front. But, ultimately the buyer is responsible for their own investment.
Sharon, you are absolutely right. If you cannot go to the board with problems, then who? And yes, there are many positive things going on in Dist 150. As with anything, the word does not get out. Whose fault is that? I do not have kids in the schools any longer, but if anyone here does, please share what is going on. The schools are full of talented children and talented educators. I’d be more than happy to see an entire blog on what is happening in our schools with these kids. Maybe Stacey can start one!
I will tell you what Dist 150 did do, by firing John Gross @ Richwoods Ptacek and crew managed to increase the controversial aroma that rises from our ever shrinking district. Come on, a coach with a 35 year track record in the class room and on the court without incident? Two State titles in 7 years with the district??? Fired two weeks prior to the season?? Last years record setting state title run was one of the “good stories ” out of the district but our “leaders” managed to squash it. The assumed liability due to the Metamora incident does not legally hold water, so why the firing???????
Gross was charged with battery. How is this “without incident?”
http://www.galesburg.com/sports/x1528806739/Richwoods-girls-coach-charged-with-battery
I know nothing of the Metamora incident.
MAWB,
Gross was charged, but, if I heard right, the charges were going to be dropped in he apologized to Armstrong. Gross apologized, but Armstrong didn’t like the way he apologized, so he moved forward with the pressing of charges. My guess is that it be officially dropped.
The Metamora incident had to do with a very young teacher being accused and found guilty for inappropriate sexual conduct with a member of the girl’s soccer team. He had been in trouble before and the school gave him the benefit of the doubt. That incident has absolutely nothing do with Gross.
I misunderstood, I thought there had been an incident with Gross at Metamora… duh!
Sharon – parents, teachers, and principals all have stood before the board to speak. Board members have stated that they actively go out to listen and engage teachers in their buildings, yet you say they don’t listen. Which is it? Should all those who speak to the board be considered fabricators – so long as they don’t agree with YOUR opinion? Other than blogging and complaining incessantly, what are you doing,…… really? Spinning your wheels, grinding an ax……? Seems like teachers are not at all part of the responsibility that needs to be upheald, all fault lies with administrators and the board in your viewpoint. That pretty much sum it up?
My 2 cents–
MAWB — I live in the Uplands and (mostly) love it. We raised 5 sons here; last one is in college at BU. They all graduated from PHS, the last one last year. You cannot beat the location, the neighbors or the gorgeous houses! Thanks for the kudos on “doing my homework”. It’s not that hard, all the info is out there. I want D150 to succeed and get on a right track, especially at the HS level which is the last chance before students hit the “real world.”
Sharon and Jeff — hang in there and keep posting.
logic 101 — are you a sock puppet for a BoE member? You post like one. There is not one positive item in your post either, so…. pot, meet kettle.
Got meetings tonight and tomorrow so won’t post for a while. Not leaving; just busy working and volunteering (which I guess it what makes you credible to some.)
Three teachers have told me in the last two weeks (all in separate situations) that parents have a lot more clout with the District than teachers in terms of getting concerns addressed. By the way, our family had an exceptionally positive experience at Charter Oak under the leadership of Dr. Thom Simpson and later John Wetterauer. I would urge the board to take a close look at the academic achievement of the Charter Oak students under John Wetterauer’s leadership. This is an effective school with an effective leader. I believe they are now a Title I school.
logic 101: you sound mysteriously like Jim Stowell…….
TR64
I highly doubt Charter Oak is now a Title 1 school! Last time I drove through there I never noticed signs of poverty!
The charges against Gross made by Armstrong were a joke. Many eye witnesses came forward to to refute Armstrong’s allegations. Charges were dropped, but the newspaper article about it referred to an incident between Gross and his wife from the 1990’s. Then the Metamora incident blew up and a few days later Gross was fired. This firing was an act of sheer cowardice by an overzealous HR department full of newbies. The principal takes credit for the firing and I suppose he will be honored for “cleaning up” Richwoods by a gullible BOE.
logic 101 does sound exactly like Jim Stowell on one of his bad days (whining again about why he doesn’t get credit for going to Trewyn to talk to teachers). 🙂 I wonder what resulted from those conversations–because I’m hearing that nothing is improving at that school. I don’t see the “logic” in logic 101’s comments. The board has no choice but to listen to us at board meetings (well, maybe not). However, listening does not mean much. I haven’t seen much proof that board members believe much of what they hear. Practically, all the speakers speak with one voice–very little disagreement among us. To my knowledge the only speakers (2) that spoke in favor of closing a high school were from the Chamber of Commerce (and what do they know about anything in District 150?) I would like logic 101 to tell me of one time when board members actually heeded any of the advice from the podium or followed up on any of the “leads” that we have given them. I know that Jim did not believe any of my numerous reports about discipline problems at Manual until he heard the story about the industrial arts teacher who walked out–and he heard that story, I believe, from someone at a garage sale–some friend of his father’s (see I wasn’t listening either when he told me that part of the story). I could have told him the story (I had already heard it), but I honestly don’t believe Jim would have believed me. Sorry, logic 101, we will keep spinning our wheels and grinding our ax. I assume “spinning our wheels” means we aren’t going anywhere–let’s see would that be a description of District 150. Right now I am anxiously awaiting the news from tonight’s meeting–to find out how the BOE members want to spend $30 million.
Sharon & 150teach – Do you really think Stowell is the only one looking for a little ownership out of the teachers that you refuse to offer? Turn on Ch 22 and listen to the charter discussion, cuz here it comes!!
Darn, I wish I had gone to that meeting–it sounds wild. Shau made the “administrative” proposal for how to use the $30 million–$24 million to Lincoln, which could then be home to the displaced Kingman and Tyng students (two schools that were closed without a plan). I guess there was much wrangling and discussion. I believe Stowell was unhappy with all of it. I think Martha stated that the PBC had never said that a high school had to be closed. I believe Gorenz had some disagreement with Stowell (Jim can speak for himself). I believe that Petelle was unhappy–and I believe she is an honest, forthright person who will speak her mind at Monday’s board meeting. At the end of the meeting, the consensus (not a vote, of course) for a vote on Monday night was for $18 million to go to adding 94,000 sq. feet on to Lincoln and for $6.5 million to go to air condition Peoria High. WHAT? Martha mentioned that they had promised that Manual would be the first to be air conditioned (I don’t remember hearing that promise). What about Richwoods? Why Peoria High?
As a taxpayer, I object to yet MORE bonds being added to my debt load without me having any say in the matter. This is not free money, folks! Peoria taxpayers are now on the hook for more multiple millions of dollars for poorly-thought-out and non-researched “proposals.”
As my children marry, buy homes and have their own children, I shudder to think of the local burden we are placing on them on top of the ridiculous federal and state burdens. Eventually, the piper will have to be paid.
What a shame. What a crime.
But I would LOOOVVEE to have AC at Peoria High!
Sarcasm alert for those slow on the uptake.
Actually, it would be nice, but only if it was implemented at all D150 schools. I actually would like to propose that NO ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES be allowed to run air conditioning on any day during the time when D150 students are in school, ( not including fully air-conditioned, year-round schools such as Valeska Hinton.)
Make them all work in the same conditions that teachers and students have to work in! PLUS it would save $$$, right?!?
Maybe then they would provide sufficient (any) fans for the rooms.
BTW, teachers are providing/paying for hand sanitizer/lysol wipes, etc., for their rooms to combat H1N1. No help from D150 to fight this flu. But D150 sent a letter out last week from central admin talking about “cooperation” in fighting the flu. Ummm–cooperation???????
Myproposal — have one or more central admins/consultants donate one day’s pay and how many bottles of hand sanitizer could be supplied to teachers/students?
Logic 101: Maybe you aren’t Jim–unless Jim rushed home from the meeting to get on the blog. I am trying to make sense out of your, “Do you really think Stowell is the only one looking for a little ownership out of the teachers that you refuse to offer?” The English teacher in me is trying to diagram that sentence to see if I can make sense of it. Apparently, I am supposed to offer something–ownership out of the teachers? I guess you’re trying to say that the teachers should admit to being responsible for the problems and that somehow I am responsible if they don’t accept the ownership. My answer: teachers cannot be responsible for discipline problems because they are not given any authority for meting out consequences for bad behavior. Only administrators can assign consequences. The only recourse a teacher has is to send a student out of the classroom to the dean (or climate control coach at Manual). Sometimes they are not even allowed to do that. What happens in the dean’s office is out of the teacher’s control. When there are no consequences, bad behavior continues and escalates–and that’s the story of District 150. Please explain how the teachers can be blamed.
If Gross had known the “right” people, he could have been placed on indefinate administrative leave.
speaking of which, Diane, has anyone heard whether or not Mary Davis is STILL receiving her pay/benefits? It’s Autumn and almost all the money has DROPPED of D150’s money tree……..gone till Spring or until the teacher’s contract is negotiated, I guess.
I have forwarded the information to Mr. Durflinger and he has assured me he is looking into it.
Without Malice, Charter Oak is in fact a Title 1 school. For more details, go back to CJ’s post dated May 14, 2009 dealing with a PJStar article about the redistribution of Title 1 monies within D150. At that time, I said:
“A school is eligible for Title I, a federally funded program, if the school has more than 40% of its population defined as “low income”. So schools like Central, Woodruff, Coolidge, TJ and Von Steuben, for example, all have OVER 70% low income, which contributes to the total amount the district receives from Title I, but the administration chose not to give them 1 cent last year, and presumably for several years. It seems the administration chose a 75% low income as its cutoff, even though 40% is the federal cutoff. Its just now rectifying that inequity…”
What is the % of low income at Charter Oak? 46.1% in 2008 – making it eligible for Title 1.
As a whole, D150 has gone from 58.1% low income in 1999 to 70.3% in 2008.
Jon, what is your opinion about the class size information I posted for English classes in 150 high schools?
Jon –
Thanks for correcting me, but that REALLY makes me sick! King Hinton will need no casket when he is put on the ground -he will shink into the muck!
Sharon, to be honest, I’d need to see all of the raw data to analyze it and in particular, see if there is a problem with the way it is calculated. Yes, I understand that specialized education classes will bring the number down – but to 12? NO district in the state that I’ve found has such a low average and nearly every district has special ed. Take Rockford – albeit a larger district but similar demographics (71.5% low income) – and their calculated class size is 21. Or Springfield, which is very similar in size and demographics (though only 59.4% low income) and has an average class size of 21.2 in the high schools.
MAWB said:
The WMBD reporter on that story also lives in the Uplands.
I don’t think Ms. Price’s negative comments about D150 are going to make a bit of difference in her ability to sell her home. Nobody moves into District 150 for the schools.
Well, CJ, that explains alot if the reporter and the woman are friends. I am hoping the interview is a BIG wakeup call for Dist. 150 admin and the board. I do not know if the woman in question is a member of the Dist. 150 watch group, but I am hoping not because then I believe it makes the group even more credible that others are speaking out. Interestingly enough, I have had clients that do move into Peoria because of the schools. Some people do not want to send their children to schools that are religiously affiliated and are pro public schools. Also, some are musically inclined and schools such as Metamora do not offer orchestra, only band. Metamora didn’t even offer French, last I checked. I do not know about the other surrounding school districts. Also, if a person has a disabled child, they want the services that the district offers. Others want their children to be in an environment where they experience other cultures and not everyone can afford Dunlap homes. I think it is always best to point out the positive when you are trying to sell your home, especially from a Realtor’s point of view, which is where I was coming from.
Jon, What “raw” data? The district provides only data that is already in written form for FOIAs–so they gave me the official list of all English teachers with the courses they teach and the number of students enrolled in each class. There are 135 English classes total (basic and enriched). I have the same information for the Social studies classes and all Special Ed English and social studies classes. I have only compiled the basic and enriched English classes. I arranged the 135 numbers of students in each class (from 9 to 48) and figured and grouped them (so as not to take up so much space on the blog). So there are 62 classes with from 25 to 48 students (one class of 40 and one of 48 are the extreme), etc. There wasn’t much compiling to do–just a list of 135 numbers. So what does demographics have to do with anything. The confusion is simple–special ed classes (and there are many in 150 with very small numbers) are counted in with the basic and enriched, so it is very easy to see why District 150’s average is 12. Those of us that have disagreed with you about class count understand how the average is figured–and, also, how the average is very misleading. The figures I gave prove that there aren’t very many basic and enriched classes with extremely low class enrollment.
I really don’t understand the point of your argument–are you quarreling with the way the figures are calculated for the state–I agree they are misleading. Are you concluding that other districts calculate the numbers differently than District 150 does? or do you believe that I was able to copy the numbers down and arrange them in numeric order (actually, I let the computer do that)?
Maybe those other districts mainstream their special ed students as Manual does, so its special ed students aren’t listed separately–they are included in the class counts of the basic classes. There are 172 special ed students at Manual, but they aren’t in contained classrooms. I will calculate the special ed classes as soon as I have time–some have class sizes as low as 2.
I agree with C.J.–giving honest information won’t increase the number of people leaving or staying in the district. It’s District 150 that believes the negatives were kept secret until people started speaking out. The District Watch group isn’t chasing anyone out of town–we are trying to get 150 to find real solutions to the problems about which those most affected are already aware–so that those who have already left might consider opting back in. Probably the most damage to the district was done by the publication of the NCLB scores. I have come to believe that many parents who live within 150’s boundaries are home schooling. The last two repairmen that have come to my house recently both mentioned that their kids are home schooled–one from Peoria and one from Limestone. Is there any way to learn how many students in the city are home schooled?
Jon–sorry to try one more time. My only reason for wanting to show class count without the special ed classes is for honesty at the bargaining table. 150 would like the public to think that all class sizes are small. That just isn’t the case. I could care less how the figures are calculated for the state. Parents with students in 150 deserve to know how many students are in 150 classrooms. I would think that overcrowded classes would be another reason to opt out of 150. I wish someone would FOIA the class sizes of some of the primary and middle schools.
Sharon, “I agree with C.J.–giving honest information won’t increase the number of people leaving or staying in the district.”
I’m not saying you should lie, I’m saying you should accentuate the positive. Lying is never good.
“The District Watch group isn’t chasing anyone out of town”
No, the watch group is not chasing anyone out of town. I think the watch group has done a great job. I believe her interview led even more credence to the watch group, that she is not in it and has experienced the same thing.
I think you are right about more kids being home-schooled. I know there are many in Morton, Washington, Metamora, and Henry as well. I don’t know what the law is regarding home schooling. Do they have to register with their local school districts?
MAWB–It’s late–I understood what you were saying about accentuating the positive. I don’t even object to 150 touting what is good. I just don’t like it when they ignore the negative and/or cover it up with PR that isn’t based in reality. I don’t like their sometimes attitude that the good makes up for the bad–the bad keeps the district from being great.
“My only reason for wanting to show class count without the special ed classes is for honesty at the bargaining table.” and “I could care less how the figures are calculated for the state.”
In other words, you want to leave out part of the information and compare it to nothing.
“Parents with students in 150 deserve to know how many students are in 150 classrooms.” Yes, Sharon – it’s in the school report card and when you look at the number you compare it to the state average and other school districts. (and BOE members and PJStar editorials use it to justify closing a high school). It might well be that the special ed classes make the numbers misleading, but then special ed classes should have the same misleading effect on the state average and other districts, too.
“it is very easy to see why District 150’s average is 12.” What does that number 12 MEAN? Is it relatively low, relatively high? Do you know that D150 says the average class size in 8th grade is 18.6? You haven’t even calculated the whole data for yourself yet, but you’ve determined that 12 is correct. Well, if 12 is correct, then 18.6 must also be correct, and if you have to close a school, it ought to be a high school, no?
Oh wait, maybe we don’t need to CLOSE a high school (at least without a plan) – maybe we can get savings elsewhere. OK, how? Maybe we can trim some staff so as to get the average class size closer to the state average. Do we have a LOT of special ed classes? More than average? Maybe D150 classifies too many students as special ed?
Here’s some more data:
In third grade, 22.9% of the ISAT test takers had an IEP at D150. In East St Louis, there were only 11.0%. In Decatur, is was 13.9%. In Joliet it was 11.7%. In Rockford, it was 12.5%. (You see, 22.9% doesn’t mean anything until I compare it to other districts – lo and behold – D150 is nearly twice these districts in the number of students with IEP’s – maybe that is part of the problem) Is there something in the water (or lead paint) in Peoria that would cause us to have nearly TWICE the number of IEP students as these cities – students that presumably make up all of these small special ed classes requiring more special ed teachers? Or is there something in the way we run and staff our schools?
Jon–thanks for providing the facts to support my attempt at making a positive comment about a D150 school and its leadership.
Jon–I give up–all I’m saying is that the enrollment in the 150 high school English classes is exactly what I’ve said. Why would I care how many students are in classes in Rockford? It’s District 150 that is planning to add Woodruff students to the classes in the other three high schools. Therefore, 150 numbers are relevent–Rockford’s numbers are of no importance. OK, so you want to know if and why 150 has so many special ed students–that’s the first time you’ve asked that question, so now you are introducing a new argument.
Jon: There is not a specific threshold for determining Title I eligibility. The formula is determined by the overall district approved free/reduced lunch applications (the federal standard is used to calculate eligibility for each family). Once the overall district percentage of low income is determined, all schools averaging more than the district average are eligible. However, the district can decide to put Title I money in the school or not.
Now this is a big one, if they decide not to give Title I $ to an eligible building, they must give ACCEPTABE reasons for not doing so. Then, the district must complete a Comparability Study within each school year to show how local funds are meeting the needs of these schools not receiving Title I $. These are very tedious reports and must meet all requirements before approval is given and funds sent.
Sharon: As for high school class sizes, here is an easy way to “see” class sizes: ask for a Master Schedule from each high school; put those numbers you FOIAed onto the schedule and compare each high school. A Master Schedule should have every class listed. You can then look at average class size within a department, a grade level or special ed. verses non-special ed.
Jon and Sharon: Special ed. refferals are way above the state average due to the fact that they do not use Response to Intervention (mandated to be used by all K-8 schools by January 2009). This would limit the number of entitlements, but not limit the interventions given to students in need. D150 still uses the descrepancy model: difference between ability and performance as stated on standardized tests which is not an acceptable means of determining entitlement on its own anymore.
MAWB: Home schooled students do not have to register anywhere. The ROEs try to get handles on these, but parents do not have to register accroding to school code. There are more out there than we realize and it is growing.
Someone who knows: I have asked for the class schedules of all Manual classes because some of the information I received is confusing. From the information I was given I have been able to create class schedules for each high school English teacher–so essentially I’ve done what you suggested for English and Social Studies. However, I can’t afford the cost of getting all the information you have suggested–FOIAing can be very expensive.
Did I hear that it is possible to FOIA e-mails of district employees? The D150 school policy 6:235AP does state “Recognize that electronic mail (E-mail) is not private”. Has anyone out there FOIAd a D150 e-mail? And, if so, how specific do you have to be? (sorry if that’s a hanging chad, I’m not a teacher:). For instance, can the FOIA request say “all e-mails between ‘John Smith principal’ and ‘Mike Jones administrator’ from Dec. ’08 to Nov. ’09? Just wondering.
Yes, a member of the District Watch group FOIAd all of Hinton’s e-mails during the Wacky Wednesday discussions. You are assuming that administrators aren’t smart enough to delete e-mails–they are, at least, that smart.
Someone who knows:
Re: Spec Ed – since D150 referrals are way above the state average, that would require more spec ed teachers, correct? That also means more spec ed classes, which are smaller, which reduces the AVERAGE class size in the district. Since the mandate to use Response to Intervention will limit the number of entitlements, we should see fewer spec ed classes, meaning we need fewer spec ed teachers, which will, all other things being equal, increase the average class size as well as provide budget relief (if we’re twice the state average for spec ed today, and if we revert to the average, we should theoretically need only 1/2 the spec ed teachers we have today). Correct?
Stating this another way, for years this district has been spending much more than it takes in and a contributing factor is that we have chosen to classify far more students as spec ed, with all of those extra costs associated – only we won’t be able to do that anymore – whether a high school is closed (without a plan) or not – and we should see budgetary relief from this change alone.
Re Title 1: “Now this is a big one, if they decide not to give Title I $ to an eligible building, they must give ACCEPTABE reasons for not doing so.” What were some of the “acceptable” reasons for not giving any monies to schools like Central, Woodruff, Coolidge, TJ and Von Steuben, for example, all of which have OVER 70% low income? If those were the only schools in the district, the district would qualify for Title 1 funds and the monies would have to be distributed to some of of those schools. Yet for years, they (and the students who go there) got nothing, right?
Jon:–still trying to get through to you. Your responses to my previous post said, “how many students are in 150 classrooms.” Yes, Sharon – it’s in the school report card and when you look at the number you compare it to the state average and other school districts. (and BOE members and PJStar editorials use it to justify closing a high school)
Bingo, that’s my big worry. 150 closed Kingman and plans to close Irving–but they had no plan–maybe they thought all those classrooms had only 12 students. Now they know there wasn’t enough room for those kids, so the new plan (as of last night) is to add on to Lincoln for $18 million to house those kids.
My question: Are they making the same kind of wrong assumptions about the number of students in classes at Woodruff? So a year from now will they realize that the other three high schools don’t have enough rooms to house the displaced Woodruff students? Then what will they do–they’ve spent all the PBC money so there is no money to add on to the other high schools. Surely, Williamson will know soon whether or not there are enough rooms at each of the schools–if not, the plan is not a plan. Do you think Williamson will be using the number 12 as she makes her plans or will she go by the “real” numbers to which I have alluded?
Sharon–why can’t I get deleted e-mails under the FOIA? It’s still possible to retrieve deleted e-mails, according to my source whose specialty is computer technology. I just want to be clear. Was the Watch person’s FOIA request for e-mails fulfilled?
Williamson does not appear to be a moron – she will likely look at the class size data as a whole and examine it in several different ways – the total number of classrooms used today at Woodruff, for example. At the same time, there are efficiencies to be gained. If an AP English class has 10 students in it at Central, and another has 10 students in it at Woodruff, in a combined school, there would be 20 students in one class, eliminating the need for that extra teacher.
I’ll try one last time to get through to you. Why look at Rockford? or Springfield? or the state average? Comparing the district to others helps to determine whether or not the current path is realistic. When you go buy a car, a dealer shows you one with all the bells and whistles. But it’s a Lexus and it costs $60k. However, you can’t afford $60k, so you compare it to a Honda that costs $30k. It doesn’t have your ideal features like the Lexus, but it’s in your budget and it gets you what you need. If all you did was look at the Lexus, without comparing it to other cars like the Honda, you’d be “forced” to take the Lexus even though you can’t afford it.
When you look at the report card data and see the high school average class size is 12 whereas the state is nearly 20, most people go “Wow! I can’t afford the cost of the 12 class size. Of course we need to close a high school.” However, I think you should first look at the details of the class size – you make sure it’s correct in the first place, then you decide WHY it is so much lower and ask if there are any other options besides closing a school. Maybe closing a high school is ultimately the answer, but, we both agree, there needs to be a plan. In the interim, you arguably can’t wait to develop the full plan (with all the options), because you need to do something for budget relief. By studying the class size, you discovered that the problem lies not simply with spec ed, but that the district has about TWICE the state average of spec ed students. So, instead of closing a school without a plan, you stop classifying so many kids as spec ed and admittedly, you cut some of the spec ed teachers to get your financial relief. Why did I think the number of spec ed students in D150 was high? Because I COMPARED it to OTHER SCHOOLS and the state average.