When you look at our overall budget, and look at what we spend money for, I would like to think that we spend money for effective programs and effective opportunities that increase the academic performance, the social awareness, and the emotional stability of our students.
—Superintendent Ken Hinton, commenting at the May 7 school board meeting on why the district should break the bank to keep the Edison Schools contract. I wonder how paying $877,500 for houses the district can’t use, then razing them, increases academic performance, social awareness, or emotional stability of District 150 students.
Depends on who you are planning to sell those properties too….
One might look at it as tax payer subsidized demolition for some developers new project.
Then there is also the potential for land swapping.
I can’t believe he’s getting an extension for all of this. I wish I could get a job at the school district.
I watched the meeting on TV for a few minutes last night. These people are so out of touch with reality when they speak about education.
Makes me sick to pay taxes to these idiots who run 150.
Let’s go back to Beth Akeson’s quote from Winston Churchill —-
{My favorite quote is from Winston Churchill who said, “We shape our cities and then they shape us.†Enough said.}
And so the shape of Peoria is……?
CJ, to me the most telling comment was from Hinton when he said that we should just wait – that his plan/design for his birth through gr. 6 or 8 schools is so good that it will be replicated across this nation. That man believes he is the most brilliant person around and the saviour of the district. The BOE behaves as though they are entitled to sovereign rule.
We should all be scared – very scared.
Maybe he is.
Emtronics – give it a break! ^oo^~
Emtronics, to be fair, I hadn’t done any research to determine if Hinton’s birth through gr. 6 or 8 school plan was new and revolutionary or if it had already been done elsewhere.
A quick Google search led me to the following configurations of the birth through gr. 8 schools:
North Kenwood School (Univ. of Chicago lab school); PreK through 8th
Clayton Schools Family Center, Clayton Mo; Birth through 12th grade (public schools)
All Saints Academy, Corning, NY – Preschool through 8th (private school)
St. Mary Our Mother School, Horseheads, NY, PreK through 6th (private school)
Chemung Valley Montessori School, Big Flats, NY, PreK through 8th (private school)
These are just a few examples – there are more. This concept has definitely been done before.
When I went to District 150, my school was a K thru 8. They all were. We had no middle schools or junior high schools. In those days, K or 5 yrs old was considered the earliest a child should start school. Of course that has changed.
Lighten up kat, anyone who reads these blogs knows how much you hate Hinton. I haven’t heard his new plan, have you?
I would like to think that we spend money for effective programs …. too — nevertheless the reality of the situation tells taxpayers otherwise.
P.T. Barnum supposedly said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
or
President Abraham Lincoln
The full quote is: “It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time;you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Anyone know who said, “You can fool too many of the people too much of the time”?
Emtronics – Hinton discussed his design when he present the GOP/GOS proposed site – birth through gr. 8 community-based schools, etc. But you made an interesting observation – he has already appointed a Director of New Construction and speaks at each BOE meeting about his plan/design/concept. Why hasn’t he given a detailed presentation about his concept to the public? We certainly have the right to know what his dream is.
I would like to see Hinton’s birth through grade school plan implemented in selected schools. Addressing low achievement is a daunting task because student performance is affected by many factors. I disagree with Martha Ross’ recent comment that illiteracy is the root cause of poor student performance. I believe that parenting and social environment are the “No. 1 enemy†and that much of the damage is done before children ever enter District No. 150. My beginning from birth, this necessarily involves the family and all parties can learn and grow together towards a positive end.
I also take issue with Ross’ dismay about the number of students expelled by the District. She complains about how awful it is, but what is her solution? A greater tragedy than all those expelled, is that other productive students have had to have their education and safety compromised due to these students’ inappropriate conduct. If any educational system is to be successful and improve, some level of reverence must be demonstrated by all parties. Students need to understand that being in school, is a privilege and an opportunity to make something out of themselves, not an inalienable right.
I think Hinton should be given some space to operate. The ill-fated purchase of the Prospect properties should show up as a bad mark on a lot more leaders’ report cards than just his.
Yo, Emtronics…
“hate Hinton”? Yes, I guess I do hate any phony SOB like him. All he has mastered in life is being a double talker and keeping his “other side” away from the public’s eye.
Hinton is SUCH a phony and you as a taxpayer apparently don’t realize now but you will later on. Live on in your ignorant bliss!
^oo^~
BMW: there is no doubt that many children today are being raised in environments that are less than ideal and that these children suffer deep emotional wounds. But we can’t treat these children as disposable because of wounds inflicted upon them by adults.
Despite District #150’s practice of suspending and expelling students, the problem isn’t getting better it is getting worse. The practice simply isn’t working.
On her blog, Jellick quotes Ross: “She said the district has to find a way to help kids before they’re expelled. Expulsion increases the likelihood that kids will end up on the streets and mixed up in the wrong activities. She believes the key to changing a child’s behavior is targeting the root cause behind that behavior. She believes the root cause is often illiteracy or not understanding what’s being taught in class.”
Ross at no time stated that disruptive children should be returned to the classroom(s) they disrupted. She is advocating preemptive intervention – educational, social and emotional.
Martha’s statement, “the No. 1 enemy of the state in my opinion is illiteracy . . .,” is supported by the reasoning behind the No Child Left Behind Act. The NCLB was enacted because American children were lagging behind and our government wanted to raise the level of expectation and achievement of our children.
Illiteracy and underachievement are huge problems for our country. Today, even many entry level jobs require a level of technological proficiency. As we go forward, the required skills and training will only increase.
If we don’t close the achievement gap in our schools (in District #150 it is around 25%), we are creating significant problems – socially and economically – for future generations, because the “gap” children will not be able to successfully compete in the job market. If these kids cannot obtain sustainable employment, what choices do they have – welfare or crime? This is not acceptable.
Mrs. Ross was correct when she said, “We’re losing this battle. We’re losing this whole war in my opinion.â€
Will we rise to her challenge and help make a difference?
Just a quick follow up – Laura Bush was just interviewed by Fox News about a keynote address she is presenting to the National Summit on America’s Silent Epidemic on May 9th. The purpose of this summit is to gather students, policymakers, parents and community leaders to share ideas and ways to end the high school dropout epidemic plaguing America.
If you have time, visit their website – http://www.silentepidemic.org – it is very interesting and timely.
As a followup to our Sustainable Community conference last week Counseling & Family Services is looking into a program that is statewide in Georgia. Every high school there has a “graduation coach” who works with at-risk students to keep them in school and on track for graduation. It’s the first year, but 32,000 students have created individual graduation plans. The State Chamber of Commerce is getting involved with Community Coaches to assist the Graduation Coaches. Expect to hear more about this program for the Tri-County area in the near future.
Greg,
we cannot just try to focus on fixing the children, we must address the complete breakdown of the entire system. This solution is much broader than the school district or the city council. It must involve these entities and the park board, social service agencies, faith based initiatives, volunteer organizations, business investment, and citizen involvement. We keep trying to fix pieces of the puzzle and continue to fail.
I agree that a significant focus needs to be on the children, as we are unlikely to change the adult behavior with conventional means.
I was at an East Bluff United N.A. meeting where a school board member was present. We did talk about the birth-8 school concept. Residents had concerns about the cost and the responsibilities laden upon it. My take is that it is cheaper to shell out and invest the money on the front end with day care, extended hours education, etc. than to fund prison and public aid for the remainder of these children’s lives on the back end.
School staff are often the only positive adults more and more children have contact. Job programs, adult education are important, but are only going to address those looking for a way out of their circumstances. A growing number of our population believes that their lifestyle of not working, hanging out, kicking it with their friends, substance abuse, crime IS THE NORM, not the exception. Arrests are an inconvience, disrupting a few hours of life, but not outside of the regular experiences of their buddies. Not having a drivers license is a non issue, they drive anyway. Children are out late playing in the yard unsupervised because there is no value in education: Their basic needs for survival are met through taxes–no incentive to change.
I invite you to bring your ideas and programs to the table, at somepoint community leaders and organizations need to meet and develop a comprehensive plan of attack, each working within their own speciality area, but instead of functioning in a vacuum, combining toward a common, organized goal.
Paul Wilkinson,
Neighborhood Alliance
Well said, Paul. Could we add a couple of groups to the list: law enforcement, city officials, media, and students? In his presentation to the BOE Monday evening, PHS student Spanky Edwards said that no one is asking the kids what is wrong and how to fix it. He’s correct. There are a lot of good kids in our schools; let’s start by listening to them and finding out what’s really going on.
Paul, Celt: We agree totally, but we want and need to get started with action. We already have counselors in 150 schools working on significant problems with students. The Graduation Coach idea is an expansion of that and something that could be implemented quickly.
The whole point of our conference was to get out of the vacuum or silos mentality and work together comprehensively on many different fronts. Where there are opportunities to take action now we need to do that. We will be working with others to move forward to sustain the interest and energy that came out of the conference. We have a list of 75 people from the conference who want to be informed and potentially involved.
While we don’t want to rush into anything,neither do we want to get bogged down in having perfect programs before they are implemented or fixing everything simultaneously.
One of the main sentiments expressed at the conference was that we spend all of our time talking and little time taking action. Because our programs and services already span many of the problems that need addressing, we want to be a catalyst for bringing all the stakeholders together for discussion, and ACTION.
Could it all be ‘broken’ at the state level? I mean everything from “where the hell is all the lottery money,” to what criteria does the state board of ed have in place for the hiring of teachers, election of board members, etc? Excuse my ignorance, but does Hinton have any sort of teaching experience?
Greg, would you be able to publish the meeting times and dates of your groups? Are your meetings open to anyone who might with to attend or is this primarily a Counseling and Family Services function? Sorry, but I wasn’t aware of the Sustainable Community conference and am interested in more information. Thanks.
Could the school system be ‘broken’ at the state level? I mean everything from “where the hell is all the lottery money,” to what criteria does state board of ed have in place for the hiring of teachers, election of board members, etc? Excuse my ignorance, but what kind of actual teaching experience does Hinton really have?
Yes, our meetings will be open to anyone who wants to attend and we will get the word out as widely as possible. We’re still developing things, but I think our first meeting will be on the Graduation Coaches concept, and then we will see what kind of interest there is in putting together other groups. We won’t be able to coordinate, etc. alone, so hopefully there will be others who will join in and help. I think there will be a DVD of the sustainable development conference available soon. One of the most dramatic points an opening film that interviewed children from Glen Oak School. They all expressed their dreams for the future, and everyone in attendance was struck by the need to help them realize those dreams. As soon as we have more information on next steps, I’ll let CJ know. We also are going to put up our own blog on Sustainable Development issues, and we’ll let you know when that happens as well.
Thank you Greg, I will look for updates on your group.
Paul said
I disagree. I think being a surrogate parent is more than the District or the community can handle. The parents need to be parents and take responsibility for their own children. If the state takes more and more responsibility for raising children, it just fosters greater dependency on the city/state.
The interventions you’re suggesting are things that privately-funded social service agencies and faith-based ministries should be providing, not the school district.
I’m not trying to advocate a silo mentality, but merely recognizing that there are limits to what the educational system can accomplish. Schools cannot replace parents.
CJ, I understand your point. But what do you do with the kids who are so far behind when they enter school that they can’t keep up? The school has to develop some sort of intervention to deal with those situations, whether it is an after-school tutoring program or whatever. That is the district’s responsibility. Let us not forget that the district qualifies for, and receives federal monies, for just this type of intervention/program. There are also grants, and other funds available for this type of thing.
The schools should not have to be surrogate parents and the parents should take the responsibility for their own kids. But, unfortunately, too many don’t. What do we do with their children, do we allow them to disappear into the “achievement gap” only to end up supporting them with welfare, or worse by paying for the expenses of their incarceration? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather my tax dollars be used to prevent the problem than to support the welfare and prison systems.
Greg:
Take a look at Leo High School in Chicago (on 79th between Peoria and Sangamon), I have heard great success stories. I have heard that many of the high school entrants cannot pass or do poorly on the entrance exam and after four years of high expectations, sound academics, structure and self-discipline, since 1991, 93% are college bound including scholarships and the students are urban minority students. http://www.leohighschool.org/aboutus.htm
Additionally the school is strongly supported by its Leo Alumni Association — it a real success story! 🙂 Pat Hickey is a contact at Leo High School and even wrote a book — I believe it is entitled — “Those Leo Men”.
I realize that this is a religous school, nevertheless, public schools, if there is a firm accountability and responsibilty program relative to one’s actions and consequences from those choices and actions, it would work in a public school setting. Self-discipline — and the amount of it is a definite factor in determinig success or failure.
Furthermore, realizing that as a community we have to start at some level and engage rather than discuss only as is Peoria’s tradition, when possible, the coaching if started earlier may provide additional benefits in a multitude of areas.
Cj,
I agree totally,
parents need to be parents. Guess what, they aren’t going to. As long as we continue to fund them not to be it will continue. A judge in Woodford county tried to order birth control on a mother with numerous abuse/neglect cases. The ACLU rose up and smote the system. Outcrying her “rights” to have children. She didn’t raise them, the taxpayers did and still are. In fact I believe she had the birth control removed and managed then to get pregnant while incarcerated to just to “show them”. I came home after the council meeting and listened to the children playing down the street at 10:30pm. These children won’t be going to school, there is no work ethic or educational ethic in that household. We are paying through the nose as well for that overcrowded house full of people drinking, fighting, selling weed and such. There are at least three generations in that house. the men are in and out of prison. They have taught the 6-7 year old boy to make the drug runs for them. So another generation lost. I still say it is cheaper to get them young, work to instill some values in them while the district has them and start breaking this cycle. If you have any ideas on how to make this family parent as well as others, I’m listening.
Thanks, Karrie, I will take a look. We want to move such a program into the middle schools and earlier as soon as possible, but Georgia seems to have had success with focusing on seniors in the first year of the program, although test scores, etc. are just now be completed. One reference to a high school I saw said that 30-40 students who were at risk of not graduating because they were deficient in credits, etc. will graduate this year. Some of them likely would have anyway, but surely some of them would not. This will be a resource issue in terms of how quickly we can fund positions. In Georgia, the state allocated $21 million for the program and 600 plus coaches. They are now allocating a similar amount for middle schools.
Hey kat, I never said I approved of Mr Hinton but I don’t want him shot either. And I as a taxpayer do reliaze what is going on at Dist 150. More than you know. Back off
Sorry there Randall.
Guess I forgot that you are such an “insider” at 150 and how much you appreciate King Hinton and his doling out the Century 21 grant dollars to “teach” disadvantaged students” how to build a kite, how go to a restaruant and ALL those OTHER wonderful classes that helped Hinton blow through MILLIONS of dollars. Do you think I’m picking on you, Randall? – NO, I’m not! It’s just a fact that I know King Hinton better than you think you do!
Dear PrairieCelt:
Regarding your comments on May 9th addressing my blog. I couldn’t agree more with your comments. In an ideal situation, those struggling students should not be turned out in the streets, but neither should those students making the effort to learn be derailed. I believe the District has a duty to expel those students from the classroom that cannot or will not conform. It would be great if there were more alternative classrooms that these troubled students could be directed into.
I have a friend that teaches in one of the District’s failing Middle Schools. She laments about the fact that only half of the children in her class conduct themselves properly and have a willing spirit to learn. She is frustrated because her teaching time is so diluted by the time she must spend on crowd control and discipline. Not to mention that many of the children that are willing participants face learning challenges which require extra attention and effort on the part of the teacher.
My desire is to see that the half of the class that has showed up ready and able to learn gets that chance. The children that are there to learn, have likely not had a life that is a bed of roses either, and yet somehow they are persevering. I believe because they have, their parents have a right to expect that students that are counterproductive to the learning process be removed from the classroom.
I recently heard that there was a quota regarding expulsion/suspending students. The details were vague. Quota was a certain number of students per class or per week for the school, PrairieCelt –any ideas?
Once again Mr. kat I will explain: I agree with you almost 100% on your views of Mr. Hinton although sometimes (and this is just my opinion) you come off as rather harsh to put it lightly in your opinions of Hinton. I am no more an “insider” at Dist 150 than anyone else, I do watch and sometimes go to their board meetings, and that is all. Yes the district is in the toilet and yes I did like the idea of a new school on the edge of the park, but I had no problem listening to and reading all the opposition to that school either. Yes, I too think we pay way too much money to Hinton where in the private sector, this guy would have been shown the door long ago for his performance or lack thereof. My only comment towards you was I thought you were a bit, no, you are way too quick to throw not just criticism at Hinton, and it’s almost threatening. That does disturb me a little. On that, we disagree. I would love to see Hinton gone but I get the feeling that you, kat, would love to see him blindfolded and shot at sunrise.
Karrie that is news to me. Will try to find something out for you. If that is true, someone should be fired and it should be reported all over the media. Isn’t it bad enough that for years the district has had the percentage of children evaluated as special education higher than either Chicago or Detroit, and used special ed as an intervention for children with behavioral issues? Or that the district’s retention rate is disproportionately high compared to other district’s of comparable size. What next?
“you, kat, would love to see him blindfolded and shot at sunrise.” hmmmm – Actually if you knew me you would know I am not a physical, nasty person. I will admit that in my posts I become adamant in speaking out against Hinton, but let me explain. I just find it frustrating that Hinton is getting by doing what he does and that the BOE and PJS spoon feed the public in to thinking Hinton sits at the right hand of of GOD or something, when I and apparently you too, know better.
No, Hinton doesn’t have to look over his shoulder worrying about me but I will continue to speak out when I feel the pot of complacency needs a good stirring. ^oo^~
I agree kat. Enough said. 🙂