Tag Archives: City of Peoria

City of Peoria

New snow plan reduces routes to pre-2007 levels

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Flashback: December 1, 2006. A major snowstorm hit Peoria and crippled the city for days.

carburiedinsnowpeoria
Picture courtesy of weatherphotography.net.

The next month, the city was “investigating ways to improve their current snow-removing plan.” They decided to collaborate with Caterpillar and a Commercial Snow Removal Naperville service to make their improvement efforts a Six Sigma project. The results of that project were contained in a report published in June 2007. There were many suggestions for improvement, but one of the big ones was this (emphasis added):

The team understands that more snow routes should be added due to city growth of over 26 center lane miles within the past few years. The City Street Department will be looking at this over Spring/Summer 2007 and will institute better action plans with these routes and possibly develop routes within routes to even out the growth of those zones. The city currently has 25 snow routes and more routes will be added at a later date…. The community has grown over 26 center lane miles in the past seven years and will be growing another ten center lane miles later this year due to new neighborhoods being developed. No consideration has been given for equipment or manpower needed to clear the streets.

So, in 2007 we had 25 snow routes, and this was clearly seen as inadequate given the physical size of Peoria. Fast-forward to July 2008: the Public Works Department is proposing a new snow plan that incorporates many of the suggestions from the Six Sigma report, including this: “Due to growth, the number of snow routes needs to be increased to add one additional route.” That was approved in August, so we now have 26 snow routes.

And that brings us to next Tuesday’s City Council meeting, where the Public Works Department will be proposing yet another new snow plan. On the precipice of the winter season, we are presented with this (emphasis added):

The changes in the Plan for 2009-2010 include a change in the number of Snow Routes that will be covered based on proposed adjustments in staffing levels for 2010. In 2008-09 we included 26 Snow Routes and 5 Hill Routes. For 2009-10 the Plan includes 23 Snow Routes and 4 Hill Routes. The three Snow Routes eliminated were each split into the three adjacent routes. While this will increase our response time, we do not think the public will see much change in our response, during most events. We also still hope to complete our response to most events within about 18 hours after the end of the snow event.

Keep in mind, Peoria hasn’t gotten any smaller or removed any streets between August 2008 and October 2009. Yet we’re supposed to believe that they can go from 26 snow routes to 23 — 23!! — and we’re not going to “see much change” in response time? Imagine if this had been presented right after the snow storm in 2006. “In response to the city being shut down for over a week due to snow, we’re proposing that we remove two snow routes.” I don’t think that would have flown, do you?

But even aside from the really large snow events which are admittedly infrequent, the Six Sigma report made it clear that more snow routes were needed to provide adequate service levels — even for routine snow events — because of the growth of the city. Now either the Six Sigma report woefully overestimated our snow route needs by three routes, or Public Works is giving us a snow job now.

We all know the truth: the city council is cutting staffing, so there aren’t enough drivers anymore to sustain 26 routes. Thus, Public Works is putting unconvincing optimism into its report on how it will meet the council’s high demands for snow removal with fewer routes than we had in 2007. Fortunately, though, we’ll have a new Marriott hotel, and museum, and new landscaping on the Jefferson Street side of the Civic Center (to the tune of $600,000+), so who needs adequate snow removal, right?

The next question is, which routes will be cut? Where will the decreases in service levels hit the hardest?

  • They’re eliminating route #4 and incorporating it into adjacent routes 3 and 5. That means the near north side will see a decrease in service.
  • They’re eliminating route #10 and incorporating it into routes 9 and 11. That means pretty much the whole East Bluff will see a decrease in service, as well as the west side of Knoxville between Nebraska and War Memorial.
  • They’re eliminating route #18 and incorporating it into routes 17, 19, and 20. Route 17 is picking up the majority of route 18. That will affect most neighborhoods north of Glen Avenue, south of Pioneer Parkway, and east of University.

All the other routes will stay the same. I can’t wait to hear the justification for making most of the cuts in high-density neighborhoods while maintaining service levels to low-density areas in the far-flung north and west regions of the city.

Pray for a mild winter.

City of Peoria, Peoria County

Sigma Nu suit against Van Auken, Rand and Ruckriegel dismissed

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On October 1, Associate Judge Katherine Gorman dismissed without prejudice the trespassing lawsuit brought against Second District Council Member Barbara Van Auken, District 4 County Board Representative Andrew Rand, and City Historic Preservation Commissioner Sid Ruckriegel by the Sigma Nu Fraternity and Caleb Matheny.

While the ruling allows 28 days for the complaint to be refiled, attorneys representing Sigma Nu and Matheny stated Monday that they will not pursue the matter further.

“We have consulted with our clients and they have elected to not amend the complaint within the 28 day period,” Attorney Jeffrey R. Hall stated. “Since the lawsuit was filed, they met with Bradley University officials and have become satisfied with the results of that meeting. While they filed a lawsuit to speak out against the unexplained behavior and trespass of private property on the part of Ms. Van Auken, Mr. Rand, and Mr. Ruckreigel, they feel satisfied with the dialogue that resulted with University and City officials.”

When asked for her reaction to the ruling, Van Auken said, “I think the actions here speak for themselves.” Rand and Ruckriegel could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit stemmed from an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of September 20, 2008. Van Auken was attending a dinner party when she received a call from a constituent complaining about noise coming from the Sigma Nu Fraternity, 1300 W. Fredonia Ave. At about 12:30 a.m., Van Auken, Rand, and Ruckriegel walked over to the fraternity and confronted the students. Alleging that Van Auken was drunk and trespassing, fraternity members called the Peoria Police on her. Van Auken was not ticketed, but then-president of Sigma Nu, Caleb Matheny, was given a citation for violating the city’s noise ordinance. The citation was later dismissed.

In March 2009, a little more than five months after the incident, Sigma Nu and Matheny filed suit for trespassing, and alleged that Van Auken abused her power as a council member. The suit was filed during the heart of Van Auken’s reelection campaign to the City Council. Despite the negative publicity, including the release of an embarrassing video clip of the incident, Van Auken easily won reelection. Lawyers for Sigma Nu said at the time that the lawsuit was not political, and the delay in filing was due to the city being uncooperative in providing information requested through the Freedom of Information Act.

Circuit Judge Stephen Kouri recused himself from the case; no reason was given. The case was then assigned to Associate Judge Katherine Gorman. Gorman disclosed at a September 21 hearing that she had a connection to Rand. Court documents did not specify what that connection was, but Hall stated that, “based on what she [Gorman] related in court on the record, that her husband has served on a committee of some sort with Mr. Rand in the past.” Gorman’s husband is Dr. Jim Hubler, an emergency medicine physician at OSF St. Francis Medical Center. Rand is the Executive Director of Advanced Medical Transport, the city’s ambulance provider. The hearing was continued until October 1 to allow time for the plaintiffs to confer with their clients on the matter. It appears that the connection was a non-issue, as no objection was filed.

Hall believes the outcome was a positive one for his clients: “Even though the lawsuit was dismissed, we feel the process has benefited the Gentlemen of Sigma Nu, Caleb Matheny, and all Bradley students because they finally were allowed to have a voice. And, we can confidently say that Ms. Van Auken, Mr. Rand, & Mr. Ruckriegel will not set foot on Sigma Nu’s property without first obtaining permission from this point on.”

City of Peoria, East Bluff

Is East Bluff NHS controversy all smoke but no fire?

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Rev. Tom Stone would like one thing to be clear: the East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Service is not a governmental body.

I got a chance to talk with East Bluff NHS President Stone on Friday and ask him about some of the criticisms that were leveled at the organization during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. He’s heard them all. He believes they boil down to a fundamental misunderstanding: The East Bluff NHS is a private, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization — not a governmental body. Thus, it doesn’t have to abide by the Open Meetings Act, but is free to act like any other private, non-profit organization.

Looking back at my notes of the public hearing Tuesday night, that did seem to be a recurring theme. “There’s no accountability; EBNHS keeps its meetings closed,” one speaker said. “There needs to be notification of the meetings, and neighbors should be allowed to attend the meetings,” said another. That would be true if this were a governmental body, like the City Council or a city commission. But private organizations such as Catholic Charities or Children’s Home of Illinois are not required to have open meetings or invite the public to attend their executive board meetings. The East Bluff NHS is just that sort of organization.

Apparently past officers thought that, since the organization gets grant money from the City through a special service district, that made the EBNHS a quasi-governmental organization, and so they conducted the meetings that way. That’s why residents, some past officers, and other interested parties think it’s supposed to be subject to the Open Meetings Act (OMA), according to Stone. Legal counsel has since affirmed that it is not quasi-governmental, and new officers are no longer abiding by the OMA. Naturally, some people are feeling left out now.

Stone sees freedom from the OMA as a positive thing for the neighborhood. He explained that the belief by previous officers that they were subject to the OMA caused the organization to be slow to respond when needs arose. For instance, when a tree limb fell on a structure owned by the EBNHS, Stone said, the officers believed they couldn’t do anything about it without first having a regularly-scheduled, properly-noticed public meeting. Meanwhile, the limb and structure were a danger to residents in the neighborhood. By not being “hamstrung” by the OMA, Stone continued, the EBNHS can be more responsive and take quicker action on matters.

Another criticism from the council meeting was that one property the EBNHS has rehabilitated is being rented instead of sold as an owner-occupied property. Stone said that they did try to sell that property initially and couldn’t find a buyer, but they were continuing to pay all the utilities on the property as it sat vacant. They felt it would be better for the neighborhood to rent it to a good tenant than to have the property remain vacant. Besides, he explained, 50% of the residents in the East Bluff are renters, and there is a legitimate need for decent, well-maintained rental property as part of the housing mix.

After the Council meeting, concerns were expressed to me over the fact that the EBNHS was changing its bylaws. Stone confirmed that they are doing that, but the reason is because past changes to certain parts of the bylaws had put those provisions in conflict with other portions of the bylaws. So, the changes are designed to make the bylaws consistent. While he didn’t mention it, I imagine (this is pure speculation on my part!) that parts of the bylaws that required compliance with the OMA were probably removed, and this was upsetting to those who thought the EBNHS should be subject to the OMA, as discussed earlier.

One last criticism I didn’t talk to Stone about was the claim that there isn’t enough accountability. This criticism also shows up in Third District Councilman Tim Riggenbach’s comments to the Journal Star:

Riggenbach said the council likely will ask for the group to submit minutes from its meetings or provide the city with its quarterly financial data. “We are expending taxpayers’ dollars on this, so we need to hold them accountable,” Riggenbach said. “Ultimately, the council is responsible for it.”

While it’s not quarterly, most non-profit agencies have to complete IRS form 990, which is open for public inspection through services such as GuideStar. Form 990 lists the officers, financial information, and the mission statement of the organization. I wondered if the East Bluff NHS had been completing and submitting these forms, which would indicate whether it’s being as accountable as other non-profit ventures. They have. The most recent form posted is for the 2007 tax year, which was filed in November 2008.

Whether there needs to be more accountability is debatable, but it does appear that they’re doing everything they’re legally required to do at this time. The City can attach whatever legal strings they want to the grant; in fact, they could make it so unpalatable that the EBNHS decides not to take it and pursue private funding instead, such as through NeighborWorks.

But all this controversy is a mystery to Rev. Stone. He points out that the EBNHS has done next to nothing the last couple of years and hardly any residents have attended the heretofore open meetings. Yet he didn’t hear any complaints about the lack of progress. Why all the criticism now that they are moving forward to improve the neighborhood? Why would the residents want to stop the City from reinvesting in the East Bluff? And why haven’t any of the critics contacted him to discuss their concerns?

It sounds to me like George Jacob has the right solution:

At-large City Councilman George Jacob said all parties involved in the issue need to come together and talk.

“I think it would be an idea for the groups to get together and air out their concerns and see if there is a constructive way we can resolve people’s concerns,” he said.

City Council, City of Peoria

Take me to your leader

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As I mentioned in my correction to the last post, one of the cuts approved by the City Council on Tuesday is this:

Eliminate Economic Development Director
The current compensation for this position in $125,329. $25,000 is retained for restructuring the department. Without a full-time director, there will be a serious reduction in efforts, especially in marketing the City to regional and national developers and companies.

The Economic Development Director position is currently held by Craig Hullinger, who recently announced he will be retiring on November 6.

This raises a whole host of questions. Why would they keep an Economic Development Specialist position, but eliminate the Director position? How will decisions be made in the department without a Director? Majority vote? Or will one person act as the de facto leader without the title or the pay? (I don’t see how that could be avoided, frankly.) If the department doesn’t need a Director in order to function efficiently and effectively, then why have we had one all these years? And are there any other departments where the Director is unnecessary and could be cut to save money?

City Council, City of Peoria

Police at bottom of council’s priority list

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Tuesday night, we got some insight into the Peoria City Council’s priority list. We know that the Fire Department is at the top of the list. All the proposed cuts to the Fire Department were restored. And we know that the Police Department is near the bottom of the list. The council chose to cut 17 additional staff positions there without any discussion whatsoever.

The reason? Well, because the firefighters agreed to give up their wages, but the police officers didn’t. Hence, the firefighters are being rewarded for being team players, but the police officers are being punished by taking the brunt of the budget cuts.

There’s only one problem with this plan: The joke’s on us. It’s the citizens who lose because police protection is reduced. To add insult to injury, the council reaffirmed their commitment to keep the Economic Development department fully staffed. [Upon further review, it appears Craig Hullinger’s position will not be filled upon his retirement; hence, although the council saved an Economic Development Specialist position, the department will not be “fully staffed” next year; at least, at this point — perhaps the director position will also be reinstated at the next council meeting.] And, to my knowledge, they’re continuing to pursue a downtown hotel deal that will cost around $4 million in debt service annually. That could pay for a lot of officers and other basic services.

City of Peoria

Moore: “critical loss of services,” “crippling effect” in store for Peoria

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The new City Manager Scott Moore will have to forego the traditional “honeymoon” period new managers usually enjoy. He gets the unenviable job of reporting this distressing news to the council at his very first meeting:

The Finance Department is now projecting the FY2010 budget deficit to be $14.5 million. This re-forecasting is the result of continued poor performance in City revenues, especially sales tax receipts.

The Finance Department had previously predicted a deficit of $10.5 million, which was already unbearable. The new deficit projection is 38% higher. Ouch.

As an aside, I thought it was interesting that he says, “especially sales tax receipts.” I wonder what effect these “especially” lower sales tax receipts are having (or will have) on a couple of new sales taxes — the Hospitality Improvement Zone (HIZ) tax and the upcoming public facilities (museum) tax. And, conversely, what effect the addition of these new taxes will have on future sales tax receipts. Sales taxes are largely voluntary. If consumers don’t want to pay them, they simply make their purchases in one of the surrounding communities, like East Peoria. As taxes go up, I wonder how much more business Peoria will lose.

But I digress. What does this mean for city services? Read on:

A total of 46 positions have been identified for complete elimination and 14 have been identified for seasonal lay-off…. The Police Department will be faced with reducing its fore by 17 officers. The Fire Department is faced with eliminating 15 positions, including shutting down one fire company. If the Firefighters Local 50 had not conceded their 2010 wage increases, the closing of a second fire company would be facing the department. Other front-line departments like Public Works and Emergency Communications could also expect critical losses in service delivery internally and externally. Information Systems and Legal will lead to serious interruptions and delays that will impact front-line departments and citizens alike.

The report goes on to say, however, “The critical loss of services and the crippling effect of many of these changes is likely unacceptable,” and asks for more direction from the council. I’m not sure what else the council could do to reduce expenses; I think there’s going to have to be some talk about raising taxes — specifically property taxes — to mitigate some of these cuts. Property taxes are not volatile like sales taxes.

With sales taxes, the city sets the rate and then gets revenue based on public purchasing. When people don’t go shopping as much or shop somewhere else, revenue goes down. With property taxes, however, the city starts by determining the amount of money it needs to receive (called a “levy”) and then the necessary tax rate to raise that amount is figured based on the equalized assessed value (EAV) of property within the city. Thus the city is more or less guaranteed to receive the money it requests in this way.

The question is, what will public reaction be? Will they rather see draconian cuts to police and fire, or fewer cuts coupled with an increase in their tax rates to maintain an adequate level of service?

General News

Miscellaneous

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Just a few miscellaneous things of note:

  • The City’s Planning and Growth Department is considering combining the Planning Commission (PC) and Zoning Commission (ZC). The PC considered it at their September 16 meeting, and the ZC is going to discuss it at their October 1 meeting. The ZC agenda gives this explanation for the request:

    Request by Staff that the Zoning Commission discuss the merits of combining the Planning Commission and Zoning Commission and determine if there is potential to create more efficient service delivery. This request is being made due to the potential reduction of a part-time position in the Planning and Growth Management Department, which represents an estimated 20 hours per week of duties. Those responsibilities would be re-assigned to existing staff reducing staff support to both commissions.

    The ZC meets at 3:00 p.m. Thursday in City Council chambers.

  • Speaking of the Zoning Commission, they are also scheduled on Thursday to consider allowing cell phone towers to be erected at Expo Gardens, Columbia Middle School, and near Von Steuben Middle School. However, the Journal Star says this item “will be postponed as officials representing AT&T Mobility gather more information requested by the city’s Department of Planning & Growth Management. The commission will be asked to take up the matter during its Nov. 5 meeting.”
  • I’ve been seeing ads for OSF St. Francis Medical Center lately that say they OSF is “preferred 2 to 1” over all the other hospitals in the area. If you go to their website, they will even show you the survey results with colorful little graphs. It reminded me of Maggie Mahar’s film “Money-Driven Medicine,” which I saw on the PBS show “Bill Moyers Journal.” She talks about the differences between “consumer-driven” and “patient-centered” health care. One of the things she mentions is why competition among hospitals doesn’t improve health care:

    Typically, 4 or 5 hospitals within a 5 mile, 10 mile, 15 mile radius will all buy the same technology because they’re competing with each other…. One time Dr. Donald Berwick called a hospital in Texas and said, “We’ve heard you have a very good procedure for treating a particular disease. We’d like to learn more about your protocol so other hospitals can use it.” And the hospital said, “We can’t tell you that. It’s a competitive advantage in our market that we’re better at treating this disease and it is very lucrative. So this is proprietary information.”

    …A physician takes an oath to put his patient’s interests ahead of his own. A corporation is legally bound to put its shareholders’ interests first. And this is part of the inherent conflict between health care as a business, part of our economy, and health care as a public good and part of our society. Health care has become a growth industry. That means higher health care bills. That means more and more middle class people cannot afford health care in this country.

    It’s a thought-provoking film. It’s enough to make me look at those OSF ads in a different light. It makes me wonder why a fundamentally charitable institution like a hospital would want to compare itself to other hospitals. I mean, can you imagine St. Jude stating it was preferred 2 to 1 over the Salvation Army and Easter Seals? It’s a very strange marketing campaign.

City of Peoria

Hullinger to retire Nov. 6

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The City of Peoria’s Economic Development Director Craig Hullinger announced yesterday that he will be retiring, effective November 6. He explains his reasons for leaving on his department’s blog:

I believe that I have successfully met my goal of “Leaving my City a better place than I found it.” … The Mayor’s latest budget message of September 15, 2009 makes it clear that the City must make further substantial budget cuts. The City needs to cut expenses and senior staff. I will be 62 this year. I retired from the Marine Corps last year as a Colonel. It makes sense for both the City and me to retire. I will remain in Peoria (and Sarasota in the winter), and start a small part time economic development and planning consulting firm, continuing to help communities revitalize their older neighborhoods. And I will keep working to help improve the City and region.

His resume is posted online. I asked Craig about rumors that he would be rehired by the city as a consultant (a la District 150). He replied, “The City would be a great client. I plan to only work part time, targeting 1/2 time. I did propose to the City to continue to work for 25K a year to help close some developing development deals such as in Warehouse, Eagle View, and HIZ, but no response yet. The City is very busy with the budget crisis, and saving my salary and overhead will help. But I will help out with or without a consulting contract. I think most people want to see the Heart of Peoria successfully redevelop. And I live in the HOP [Heart of Peoria], and want it to succeed whether I am working for pay or not.”

He also has recommended having Chris Setti replace him as Economic Development Director. “Knows the City, worked in ED as our top ED Specialist, very capable guy.” Setti left the Economic Development department to become a Six Sigma blackbelt for the city. He’s now the assistant to the City Manager.

The Journal Star reports that new City Manager Scott Moore “said the position will be analyzed in the coming months as city officials examine a potential restructuring at City Hall. ‘I don’t want to do anything prematurely,’ Moore said. ‘I want to get feedback from the departments, from (Hullinger), and input from the council, so that when I’m making that decision, I’m not making it in a vacuum.'” Setti is quoted as saying, “I’m a team player. I’m willing to do whatever the city leadership thinks is best for the city.”

City of Peoria, Peoria Disposal Company, Waste Management

Public Works to recommend PDC for waste hauling contract

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On July 28 the city agreed to send out requests for proposals (RFPs) for a new garbage hauling contract (the current one expires at the end of the year). Only two companies submitted bids: Waste Management (the current hauler) and Peoria Disposal Company (PDC). According to a report released today from the Public Works Department:

In reviewing the responses it is clear PDC provided the best pricing in almost all categories and further discussion in this report will be based on our recommendation to award all service contracts covered by this RFP to the Peoria Disposal Company (PDC). Staff will be recommending the Alternate Proposal from PDC for consideration by City Council at the October 13, 2009 City Council meeting.

PDC’s “alternate proposal” is to provide exactly the same service we have plus citywide recycling collection, all for a $5 million flat rate. Specifically, the proposal would include these services:

  • Residential Refuse Collection & Disposal (as currently provided)
  • Landscape Waste Collection & Disposal (as currently provided)
  • Neighborhood drop boxes, tire disposal and dead animal service (as currently provided)
  • Condominium and City Building refuse collection (as currently provided)
  • Collection of Recyclables from curbside on a monthly basis for customers wishing to participate. A 95-gallon cart for single stream recyclables collection will be provided for a refundable deposit of $50. There would be no monthly cost for the service.

The good news is that we wouldn’t be losing any services we currently have, and we would finally get recycling collection as part of our base contract. The bad news is that recycling would only be picked up once a month, curbside only, and only from a PDC-provided wheeled cart.

For families that really get into it, recycling can account for 75% or more of their refuse. That’s going to really pile up over a month’s time. Granted, it won’t stink like garbage, but it will take more than a 95 gallon toter to hold it all. This seems less than ideal, which is why I never fail to find some dumpsters for rent near me and dispose responsibly.

There’s no reason recycling pickup couldn’t be accommodated in the alleys, especially since that’s where all the garbage and lawn waste collection is done. By requiring recycling to be curbside only, many in older neighborhoods would be precluded from even participating. Since those participating will have to use PDC-supplied 95-gallon bins, and since many older homes don’t have direct outdoor access from their garages/back yards to the front of their homes, the only way these neighbors could participate is by wheeling their bin down the alley to the side street, down the side street to the intersection, then down their own street, finally placing it in front of their house. Or, alternatively, they could wheel the 95-gallon toter through their house and down their front steps to the street. Kind of ridiculous, wouldn’t you say? There’s a reason why older neighborhoods have alleys. The city should insist that garbage haulers use them.

The PDC-provided wheeled cart is only bad in that it’s exclusive. If someone already owns a dedicated toter for recycling, they will have to plunk down another $50 (refundable though it may be) for this PDC-branded toter. It’s nice to have the toters available for use if you need one, but why force others to take one they don’t need? Are they going to tell us that they have a special, proprietary design to their toters and trucks such that only PDC toters are compatible? If we’re trying to encourage recycling, why do we want to add this entry cost? We’re not requiring everyone to fork over $50 for a toter for regular garbage.

According to the report from Public Works, PDC also provided the cost of providing this same service except that they would pick up recycling and landscape waste on an every-other-week basis. The cost of that solution is $6,186,664.27 ($1,186,664.27 more than the plan outlined above). I don’t understand why this costs so much more. Maybe it will be explained at the council meeting. It seems to me the more expensive plan actually requires fewer collection trips. Think about it:

$5M Plan   $6.1M Plan
4 landscape waste collections per month   2 landscape waste collections per month
+ 1 recycling collection per month + 2 recycling collections per month
= 5 total collections = 4 total collections

“Ah,” you say, “but landscape waste is only collected from the third Monday in March through the third Friday in December, whereas recycling is collected year-round!” Okay, let’s look at the whole year:

$5M Plan   $6.1M Plan
40 landscape waste collections per year   20 landscape waste collections per year
+ 12 recycling collections per year + 24 recycling collections per year
= 52 total collections = 44 total collections

Where is the added cost? Of course, this is probably a futile exercise, because my guess is most of the council members will not go for lawn waste pickup every other week anyway (the lawn waste bags start getting soggy after a while). But it does raise a fair question about how they came up with the amounts quoted.

Bottom line: The proposed contract is better than what we have now at a reasonable cost. The council should try to work out the flaws mentioned above while still keeping costs low.

Peoria Mayor, Peoria Public Schools

Ardis asks Sec. Duncan for help for D150

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Arne DuncanFrom the Journal Star:

Mayor Jim Ardis said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is pledging his department’s assistance to help Peoria turn around its schools…. Ardis, along with Lee Graves, CEO and president of ELM Group, and former state Sen. George Shadid made a whirlwind visit to Washington, D.C., this week, meeting with Duncan, a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools who once served under CEO Paul Vallas….

There’s no easy answer, Ardis admitted, noting that Duncan believed it will take a combination of Race to the Top, strong emphasis on charter schools and performance-based teaching as well as more municipal involvement to get poorly performing school districts headed in the right direction….

Ardis said he wanted to find out what’s available and what Duncan would recommend for improving school performance.

“We haven’t seen any movement by this board or past boards to go out on their own initiative to speak to with the secretary of education, or anyone else,” he said.

A couple things about this story:

First, kudos to Mayor Ardis for taking initiative and doing what he can to help District 150. It’s unfortunate that his past efforts (to bring in Paul Vallas for some consulting advice) have been rebuffed by District 150 administrators and board members. The district should be welcoming the mayor’s overtures.

Second, Secretary Duncan’s reported response is interesting: “…it will take a combination of Race to the Top [additional federal funds allocated to school districts through state governors], strong emphasis on charter schools and performance-based teaching [emphasis added] as well as more municipal involvement to get poorly performing school districts headed in the right direction….” Doesn’t this sound like the Secretary is implicitly suggesting union-busting? Performance-based teaching is a repudiation of the tenure system, and charter schools can hire teachers who are not union represented.

Well, as it turns out, teachers are catching the same vibe. In a speech to the National Education Association (NEA) in July, Education Week reported that Duncan said “[t]eachers’ unions must be willing to reconsider seniority provisions, rework tenure provisions, and work with districts to create fair ways of incorporating student-achievement growth in teacher evaluation and compensation.” As you might expect, this wasn’t well-received by teachers:

Delegates applauded Mr. Duncan’s calls for continued federal funding for education, better training for administrators, and for improved teacher-mentoring experiences. But in an indication of the challenges that the federal government will face as it pushes for reforms to compensation and evaluation, they booed and hissed through those parts of Mr. Duncan’s address.

Booed and hissed! And here I thought incivility was invented by Rep. Joe Wilson just a few weeks ago. Imagine teachers booing and hissing (the hissing is what really gets me) the Secretary of Education during a speech. One more quote from the Education Week article: “‘Quite frankly, merit pay is union-busting,’ said another delegate, to applause from her peers.”

So, my guess is that District 150 will have a similar reaction. They will likely embrace efforts to capture more federal dollars through the Race to the Top Fund, but efforts to implement performance-based teaching initiatives will be rebuffed in teacher contract negotiations. Realistically, that would mean Peoria would receive no benefit because the Race to the Top dollars are tied to just the kinds of reforms teachers unions find objectionable. As for charter schools, the only one proposed recently — the Math, Science, and Technology Academy — has yet to have its charter authorized by District 150.

However, teachers will be happy to hear that Duncan is no fan of No Child Left Behind. Here’s his assessment, according to a recent report from ABC News:

“It unfairly labeled many schools as failures even when they were making progress,” he said. “It places too much emphasis on raw test scores rather than student growth. And it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others.

“But the biggest problem with NCLB,” he added, “is that it doesn’t encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when they are not.”

That’s certainly been true in District 150, as recent changes to the district’s grading scale can attest.