I’m writing this open thread in advance of the school board meeting and scheduling it to appear after the meeting is over. What are your thoughts about how the meeting went?
I’m writing this open thread in advance of the school board meeting and scheduling it to appear after the meeting is over. What are your thoughts about how the meeting went?
I didn’t get to see the whole thing, but after lovekids posted I paid more attention when Mary O’brian got up and asked fro funds. She had no idea what her numbers were so how was the board supposed to ik her expenditures? Then she put it on Cahill as if he was the one doing her homework…. if you are going to ask for money, shouldn’t you have your ducks in a row first?
Also, I was very disappointed the vote was not rescinded and the new proposal accepted. Hinton has no plan for those kids after school for any type of contact with anything regarding education. For all we know they will be playing basketball. What was the remark he made about longer breakfast periods?? So, the kids are going to sit in the cafeteria and get into trouble? It was obvious he has no plans whatsoever. This has not been thought out. I loved the guy that got up there and talked about the legality of what they are doing.
Where is the State of Illinois on this? Someone in authority must be paying attention.
ImaSwede: Were Hinton’s and Cahill’s contracts renewed? If yes, for how long? If yes, any salary increases?
The vote passed with 4 yes votes from Gorenz, Wolfmeyer, Ross and Spangler. The Nays were Parker, Stoll and Butler.
I was very proud of Rachael Parker, as she tried to proceed in an orderly fashion and first made a motion that they rescind the vote of May 5. Well Gorenz would have none of that. There is some question as to the legality of this proceeding given the fact that they did not allow it to be seconded.
The Yays, short of torture, were not going to change their mind – that was clear. There was extensive discussion, relentless questions, and finally, a mood in the room like this was serious business.
Butlers questions were masterful, and with many, I waited with baited breath to see what Hintons answer would be and as usual, he often dodged her questions. For ex., she asked him what his projections were as far as student improvement under the new plan. Answer: We will get the teachers used to having common planning time.
Stowell re-iterated the fact that there were too many unknowns and felt (correctly) that it was premature to proceed. He also pointed out that with there being no cost savings, what’s the point?
Mary Spangler accused us of lying on the petition that was signed by over 1300 of the 1310 people that were asked. God, we’re good.
So now the kids have early dismissal every Wednesday afternoon. Whoopee! Mr. Hinton says he is so excited about it he wants to expand it to the middle schools and high schools. WTF, lets just not have school at all!
Karrie, for some reason Cahill’s was taken off the agenda. Hinton’s was renewed unanimously among glowing praise from the board.
Karrie, I am not sure how long the contract lasts. They did comment that Hinton was being so gracious to not accept any salary increases with this new contract.
RE Diane Vespa
“So now the kids have early dismissal every Wednesday afternoon. Whoopee! Mr. Hinton says he is so excited about it he wants to expand it to the middle schools and high schools. WTF, lets just not have school at all!”
I like that idea, Diane. As a matter of fact, why don’t we close District 150… it’s not like they’re performing well achievement or financially. While we’re at it, let’s close the libraries, ICC, Bradley, Robert Morris, Midstate… close down everything educational! Who needs smart kids?!
(that was all in sarcasm)
The more I think about the vote last night the more confused I am. If they are not saving any money, what was the point of shortening Wednesdays? And I do not understand Spangler’s point of view. She, who put her kids in Edison schools because of the longer days, all of the sudden thinks shorter days are best. They have put the cart before the horse; it was obvious there is no plan. They were trying to save face. I hear daily that teachers are looking for jobs in other nearby districts but there aren’t enough jobs for all of them to leave District 150. I know of quite a few that have jobs in other districts and have not given their notice to District 150 yet.
They comment was made that good, new people will be leaving the district and I wondered why they aren’t interested in keeping the good, old people? Mary O’brian eliminated at least one principal job and the other admin has gone to Manual. I heard the person she put in place was in tears because she did not want that job. So, now we have people who were experts in the field and enjoyed their jobs, gone, and someone in place who doesn’t want to be there. What type of reorganization is this?
Contrary to what they claim, this is a district that is hurting children.
Did you catch the 2% raise for some personnel that was reported in the PJS this morning? If I understood the article correctly, the folks getting these raises(retroactive to July 2007) were “off schedule.” This would be administrators, right? To the best of my recollection, everyone else is on some sort of pay schedule as part of a negotiated collective bargaining agreement. Anyone know for sure?
MWAHAHAHA
JC: Any idea how much the pay raise will cost?
That list of personnel includes the district’s assitant and associate superintendents as well as the various directors, including research, human resources, curriculum and instruction, fine arts, buildings and grounds, transportation, security and various supervisors.
Didn’t the asst. and assoc. superintendents already receive a pay raise?
Karrie, I’m still not certain that the raise is for adminstration…no one I’ve talked to has that answer. If it turns out that it *is* an adminstration raise, it won’t be cheap! 2% of $100K salaries many times over…how much instructional time would THAT buy our kids back? 😉
Off schedule employees are the directors and other administrators (not principals). I would say it is the HR director (he has been whining about not getting a raise), SPED director (who whined because she thought she should have a raise after only being with the district 6 months), probably the assistant HR director (Hinton’s son-in-law), maybe some curriculum directors, building and grounds directors, etc.
Hinton’s contract is for two years. Nice of him to not take a raise especially since he was off work for so long and collected his paycheck anyway (without having enough sick days). Also, since he does not even live in Peoria and pay taxes for Peoria schools and his own salary.
I hope people saw the Board meeting when Dr. Mary O’Brian stood up and was questioned about the SPED grant. She did not even know what she was talking about!! It is a sad day when the District’s highest level administrators do not even know their own budget. I am sure she is one of the one’s who received a raise. I hope the Board members start to see through her and soon.
If any Board members are lurking, did you ever see the results of a survey regarding low morale in the SPED department? Just know a couple administrators refused to even fill it out because they were afraid it was not REALLY anonymous as O’Brian said it was. When a budget is well over $20 million dollars, someone had better start paying attention.
Check out this website.
http://www.greatschools.net/
might help improve our luck