Obviously Shadid is going to try to override the Governor’s veto on SB2477, regardless of his reported indecisiveness in this story in today’s Journal Star. So it’s not worth commenting on that much. But what I found particularly troubling in the article was this statement from district treasurer Guy Cahill:
Cahill, after being told of Shadid’s comments on Friday, said the issue “comes down to whether or not” Peoria wants to replace 100-year-old school buildings and provide jobs for construction workers who are nearing the end of the extensive Interstate 74 renovation project.
“The timing for new school construction couldn’t be better, in our minds, to keep people at work,” Cahill said.
First of all, since when is it the school board’s job to “provide jobs for construction workers”? Is that an unwritten part of District 150’s mission and strategies?
Not long ago, when statements were made that the school board’s planned building did not jibe with the Heart of Peoria Plan, then school board member Garrie Allen stated in no uncertain terms that such “urban renewal” is not the school board’s job, but the city’s. Which do you think will help school children more: long-term strategies for neighborhood stabilization or short-term construction jobs?
Secondly, the first part of his statement is a bald-faced lie. If the issue came down to whether or not “Peoria wants to replace 100-year-old buildings,” the school board would get authorization to do so via referendum instead of state legislation designed to bypass Peoria voters! In reality, the issue comes down to whether voters should be allowed to decide how the school board spends our money, or whether the school board gets a blank check for $60 million in construction money on our tab.
Do they realize how many Walsh construction workers are from out of town and out of state? Walsh and some of the other contractors have rented all kinds of apartments over the last couple of years for their out of town workers…
CJ: Just more of the ‘fuzzy thining’ from D150 — From Clare Jellick’s Blog today – Mary Spangler’s response regarding community input.
http://www.pjstar.com/php/index.php?/education/comments/your_voice_their_choice/
“Wow! I don’t check on the blog for a few days and I now I see that someone is saying that I consider the community last on my list for input. I consider the community in my top four and the top four are what I listed. I am a teacher and a parent and this is my view. I stated that I was not speaking for any other Board Member but myself. When I ran for this position, I did so as a parent and as a teacher. That appeared to appeal to voters at the time. I make my decisions keeping all of the children of Peoria in mind. Again, I feel our customers are first, our students, second, their parents, third, the staff (adults that directly deal with our children) and fourth, the community. There are many more voices from business, government and partnering agencies that would also be on the list. ”
I was educated in the California Public School System — an ordinal number referred to an adjective which described the numerical position of an object.
So, what am I missing here? Fourth on a list of fourth is still last isn’t it?
Unless of course community members who are citizens and taxpayers (the bulk of the D150 taxing body) are actually behind business, government and partnering agencies? Would we be fifth, sixth, seventh or just at the end of the list period?
#150 need not worry about construction workers jobs after I74, Osf will start the “Milestone Project” and they can work there. I doubt Walsh or UCM will do the work there. #150 need to focus on EDUCATION. #150 is so out of focus I think they are blind. I know they cant hear, the taxpayers in all of this hub-bub have been ignored.
Who is running the show there? The Board? Hinton? Cahil?Daffy Duck?
It’s all about the developers.