Tag Archives: District 150

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

District 150 looking to cell towers for supplemental income

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cell_tower_ibs91District 150 has found a new way to get revenue: allow private companies to erect cell phone towers on school property.

In November 2008, the City Council approved a request for U.S. Cellular to erect a cell phone tower at Loucks Edison School (now Thomas Jefferson), 2503 N. University St. Sources tell me the the school district will receive $2000 per month from this lease arrangement, and that more cell towers are planned on other properties, including Whittier School. Putting cell towers on school and church property is common — but controversial — all over the country.

The controversy is over safety. The Federal Communications Commission has several documents regarding cell tower (or “cell site”) radiation levels, and they’ve basically determined that they are very safe. “Measurements made near typical cellular and PCS installations, especially those with tower-mounted antennas, have shown that ground-level power densities are well below limits recommended by RF/microwave safety standards,” says OET [Office of Engineering and Technology] Bulletin 56 (p. 21). Well enough below limits that such cell sites “are considered ‘categorically excluded’ from the requirement for routine environmental processing for RF exposure” by the FCC, according to “A Local Government Official’s Guide to Transmitting Antenna RF Emission Safety.”

Not everyone is convinced. People Against Cell Towers at Schools (PACTS) is an organization started by citizens in Tampa, Florida, that believes cell phone towers should not be placed on or near school playgrounds. They cite a litany of research, including a 2004 article from the American Academy of Pediatrics which stated children are more susceptible to extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields and recommended “additional research and the development of precautionary policies in the face of scientific uncertainty.” In fact, most of the research cited takes a similar approach. For example, the American Cancer Society is quoted as saying, “we do not have full information on health effects… in particular, not enough time has elapsed to permit epidemiological studies.” In other words, exposure to ELF magnetic fields may or may not be dangerous, and until we know for sure, we should limit exposure to children. Furthermore, in response to appeals to the FCC’s report of cell site safety, they say “government agencies have a bad track record in protecting us against long term threats. Think about some of the major oversights in health threats such as tobacco, lead paint, DDT, PCBs and asbestos.”

So far in Peoria, there appears to be little or no concern. The cell tower at the University St. school building had no public opposition. However, that might be because the request went through after the school was closed and before Thomas Jefferson school was relocated there due to the fire at their Florence Avenue facility. The forthcoming request for a cell tower at Whittier will likely be the bellwether of public reaction to the idea.

One other concern that is expressed about cell towers is that they are not exactly aesthetically pleasing. Some communities try to hide them by making them look like trees — seriously. When I was in California last year, I saw a number of cell towers disguised as palm trees. Pictures on Google show towers camouflaged as pine trees, too. Clever, eh?

Peoria Public Schools

D150 reports 123 administrators and four consultants

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As District 150 continues to struggle with their structural deficit, calls for cuts at the administration building have started coming up again. I thought it might help the discussion to have some hard numbers with which to work. So I requested some information on administrators and consultants from District 150 and would like to share the results with you and ask for your feedback.

Consultants

According to information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the district employs just four consultants:

 

Consultant Per Diem Rate
Dr. Cindy Fischer $350.00
Dr. Judy Helm $500.00
Mary Ann Randle $315.83
Dr. Thom Simpson $476.44

 

As of February 23, 2009, District 150 had compensated Dr. Fischer $7,525 for 21.5 days and reimbursed her $3,161.92 in expenses. These expenses were not specified in the report. Total paid for September through November 2008 was $10,686.92.

Dr. Judy Helm, who has her own business called Best Practices, Inc., has been compensated $21,750 for 43.5 days between July 2008 and January 2009, and has been reimbursed $167.91 for expenses. Total compensation since July 2008 is $21,917.91.

Mary Ann Randle’s salary is paid for by two grants: “PAS” and “Prevention Initiative.” No further information was given regarding either grant. Since July 2008, she has been paid $17,054.95 for 54 days and has been reimbursed $1,743 in expenses. Total compensation since July 2008 is $18,797.95.

Dr. Thom Simpson, whose job is listed on the district’s website as “Strategic Planning,” has his compensation split up into a base per diem rate of $455.90 and a 4.5% ($20.54/day) contribution to his Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (non-certified state pension program). Since July 2008, he has been compensated $63,128.30 for 132.5 days, plus $2,000 for a “mentor stipend.”

That’s it for consultants. If they were to all be eliminated, it would come to $116,531.08 in cost between July 2008 and the present, which covers about 7 months. To extrapolate this out to an annual figure, it comes out to roughly $200,000.

Administration

The list of administration staff includes 123 employees at a total payroll of $9,312,462.41. This includes 35 principals, 13 assistant principals, and 7 deans.

PDF Link Read the whole report (PDF file)

I found it interesting that school principals and assistant principals are some of the highest-paid administrators in District 150. Of the 23 employees making over $100,000 per year, 16 are principals or assistant principals. Other administrators making six figures are:

  • Superintendent Ken Hinton ($202,389.98)
  • Assistant Superintendent Cheryl Sanfilip ($135,927)
  • Controller/Treasurer Guy Cahill ($130,889.98) — has since left D150, of course; this information was current as of February 23
  • Associate Superintendent Herschel Hannah ($117,183)
  • Human Resources director Tom Broderick ($110,472.24)
  • Academic Officer Mary Davis ($110,000.08)
  • Research/Testing/Assessment director Bryan Chumbley ($100,092)
  • “Teaching and Learning” director Susan Grzanich ($100,000)

As I’ve pointed out before, District 150 used to have just one superintendent, and that was when enrollment was larger. It’s hard for me to understand why we need to pay three superintendents a combined total of $455,499.98 — nearly half a million dollars! — to do the same job now that enrollment is so low we’re closing schools right and left. In fairness, this amount has gone down since Dr. Fischer left (and was subsequently rehired as a consultant); we used to have four superintendents. Still, I don’t see the need to wait for all these positions to be eliminated through attrition.

Also, in looking up Susan Grzanich’s responsibilities (I was curious what the “Teaching and Learning” program was all about), I found my way to this web page, which shows that this program has a staff of eight people, only three of whom show up on the list of administrators I received (Grzanich of course, plus Kathy Burke [$88,755.83] and Trish Guinee [$93,557.07]). The other five people are all listed as having offices in the administration building, but are apparently not considered “administration,” despite titles such as “benchmark specialist” and “instructional restructuring advisor.” It makes you wonder just how many non-administrators are employed at District 150.

I would be interested in my readers’ thoughts on this information. My overall thought is this: there is some fat that can be trimmed from the administration side of the district’s operations. I don’t mean that to sound harsh; I honestly don’t want to see anyone lose their job, especially given the current economic downturn. But the sad fact is that jobs are going to be lost. The district is already talking about closing a high school, some elementary schools, and laying off no small number of teachers.

Given that fact, it’s hard to understand why we would nevertheless need to maintain the same number of highly-paid administrators to oversee that shrinking student and teacher base. I’m sure all these jobs have value, but cost-cutting/layoffs should start in the places that have the least student impact. I would suggest that assistant/associate superintendents arguably have the absolute least student impact.

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Glen Oak School Neighborhood Impact Zone adopted

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For those who think the City isn’t doing enough to support District 150 schools, take a look at the Neighborhood Impact Zone that was adopted as part of the Comprehensive Plan Tuesday night. This was a collaborative effort of the City, School District, neighbors surrounding Glen Oak School, and Tri-County Regional Planning, led by Third District Councilman Bob Manning and At-Large Councilman George Jacob. You can download a PDF of the zone/plan from the city’s website.

Here’s what I found most impressive: it includes measurement and follow-up. They’ve set incremental four-year goals for homeownership, crime reduction, neighborhood satisfaction, business retention, infrastructure improvement, community involvement, and education. They measured all these before the plan was adopted so they had a baseline from which to evaluate changes from year to year.

I hope that this type of planning effort is next applied to the area surrounding the new Harrison school, as it could certainly benefit from a focused effort to improve all the items on the measurement list.

Kudos to the City, which has really gone the extra mile to improve this area. Although I’m still disappointed that the school district felt it necessary to purchase (for $3.2 million) and tear down three blocks of housing stock, an historic school building, and local business structures in order to build a suburban-style mega-campus, I applaud the fact that at least they stayed centrally-located in the neighborhood and are willing to open up the campus and building as a community center.

Peoria Public Schools

More debt for District 150

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I heard about this late last night:

The School Board on Tuesday approved seeking $14 million in tax-anticipation warrants, amounting essentially to a short-term loan, and spending tax money – now some $30 million – usually reserved for next year’s operations.

“We don’t have cash on hand to pay bills in a timely fashion,” said Brock Butts, a former longtime Tremont school superintendent recently hired as District 150’s interim controller, citing “concerns” of meeting payroll next week….

“In the future, we are going to have to do one of three things,” [Interim Treasurer Norm] Durflinger said. “One, significantly cut expenditures; two, significantly increase revenues; and the most likely is the third, which is both.

Hello, higher taxes.

Peoria Public Schools, Public Building Commission

District 150 finances in question

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Several days ago, I mentioned that audit reports the last several years for District 150 have been warning about inadequate internal controls. Things are no different this year, the Journal Star reports.

The internal financial review controls at District 150 are at the very least inadequate, resulting in errors, unsubstantiated account balances and generally leaves the district without an accurate day-to-day report of its cash flow, according to a letter from the district’s auditors.

I had also wondered how Cahill could keep his job with such terrible audit reports year after year. Apparently Cahill wondered that himself, according to an e-mail he wrote that the Journal Star acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request:

Cahill said he believed the [audit] letter, received from District 150 this week through a Freedom of Information Act request, would be used in calling for his termination, according to an e-mail from his District 150 account to a Chicago attorney, received through a separate FOIA request.

“The attached will be used by several board members who, I suspect, will call for my firing,” the Feb. 5 e-mail states. “What the management letter does not disclose is that most if not all the items reported have been the norm in the district for more than 14 years, according to auditors (Ron Hilton, Dennis Baily, and Helen Barrick), and cover the terms of at least three controller-treasurers.”

Interesting defense. He’s basically saying that internal controls have always been inadequate, so he shouldn’t be held responsible for their continuing to be inadequate. Not very convincing.

But here’s what really slays me. The headline for this story is “District 150’s books a mess.” But another report filed just hours before this one has the headline: “District 150: Finances in order.” This latter story is about District 150’s meeting with the Public Building Commission to assure them that the district’s finances are not a problem.

Nine District 150 representatives filled a small meeting room before the Public Building Commission of Peoria on Thursday, reassuring its members that the school district is on the right financial path.

“I want to reassure this particular body that the Board of Education immediately began taking action in January to adjust expenditures to meet those predicted revenue shortfalls,” Superintendent Ken Hinton told PBC members. “This board, this administration is completely dedicated in seeing that our school district is solvent.”

Not that this was at all necessary. PBC members appear unconcerned with District 150’s budget woes.

When asked whether the PBC has any concerns about the district’s financial solvency and the district’s ability to repay the bonds, Goldstein and Thornton said “no.” Both men also noted the commission had no concerns about Cahill’s departure.

Really? No concerns at all? The district “has projected it will have a $4.3 million deficit and possible $9 million-plus revenue shortfall next year,” and they fired their controller/treasurer, and their audit reports have been deplorable, but the PBC has no concerns? I guess if you’re an unelected body, unaccountable to the voters, you can afford to take such a cavalier attitude with property tax money.

Peoria Public Schools

Cahill not converted to digital

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In addition to saying goodbye to analog television on February 17, Peoria Public Schools Board of Education said goodbye to Controller/Treasurer Guy Cahill. Cahill won’t be making the transition to digital at the school district. 1470 WMBD radio reports:

The District 150 school board Monday, without comment, voted unanimously to give the Comptroller/Treasurer his 60 days notice. Cahill, who was making a base salary of $125,000 a year, has been placed on administrative leave the next 60 days – then his contract will be terminated. Cahill’s contract allows the district to terminate Cahill’s employment with 60 days notice and payment of six months salary. Cahill had been with District 150 since 2005. The board has selected Business Manager Carla Eman as temporary Comptroller while interviews for an interim Comptroller are conducted.

I had been hearing rumors that Cahill quit instead of being fired, but I don’t believe he would get the 60 days notice or paid administrative leave if he had quit. All appearances are that he was shown the door. And since there was no comment from the school board when taking that action, it doesn’t look like we’re going to know why… unless Cahill wants to tell us.

Regular commenter “Without Malice” wins the prize for correctly predicting Carla Eman would be the temporary Treasurer while the search is on for an interim replacement. Congratulations!

Peoria Public Schools

New D150 budget committee members revealed

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From a District 150 press release:

Planning and Budget Committee Members

As announced at the February 2 meeting, the Board of Education is establishing a special committee to assist with the school district’s budgeting issues. Below is a list of the appointed members to the Planning and Budget Committee.

Mr. Pat Roesler
Chief Financial Officer, G & D. Integrated

Mrs. Lois Boaz
Retired Caterpillar Executive with experience in accounting, business analysis and Six Sigma

Mr. Erik Bush
Chief Financial Officer, Peoria County

Mr. David Underwood
Vice President of Finance & Chief Financial Officer Proctor Hospital

Mr. Charles Randle
President, Illinois Business Financial Services

Dr. Bernie Goitein
Professor of Business Management & Administration at Bradley University

Mr. Ken Casper
Retired Banker

Mr. Larry Williams
Retired Superintendent and Business Manager of Illinois Valley Community School District

The main functions of the committee include:

  • develop financial templates for presenting and outlining the district budget; allowing easy assessment and financial impact of proposals, suggestions and changes

  • establish a “district finances” section on the district website

  • create one-page documents explaining school district financial terms and how these issues impact Peoria Public Schools. Examples include: Title I, Special Education Funding, Corporate and Property Taxes, Public Building Commission Funding and TIF Districts.

This sounds like a real positive step for District 150. My hat’s off to these community members who have stepped up to lend their expertise to Peoria’s public schools. And I commend the board for putting this group together and setting goals for greater transparency in the district’s financial dealings. If these goal are attained, I think it will go a long way toward reestablishing some trust in District 150.

Peoria Public Schools

Stowell responds to Peoria Story

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I linked previously to some pretty serious issues raised by Elaine Hopkins at her blog, Peoria Story. District 150 Board of Education member Jim Stowell has responded to that report and asked me to post it on my blog as well. If you haven’t read the original article, you might want to first before you read his response:

Elaine – Thank you again for sharing the full report from the anonymous “experts”. It is entirely incorrect to state that the “district spent $10.5 million more than it budgeted as allege.” The “on-behalf” payments are an intra-state transfer from the state treasury direct to TRS. Those funds were never received by the district nor spent by the district. In 2006 and 2007 a statutory amount was reflected, but in 2008 the state engaged in an actuarial computation which was necessary given the large and growing under funded pension system. I was told that past comptrollers always omitted the amount as it is not part of our working capital or restricted funds. The state, I am told, uses this figure in overall education funding to enhance their effort in showing how they “support” public education. These are not education dollars, but rather pension dollars for future retiree benefits. Page 62 of the audit reflects an amount of “revenue” of $10,410,849 while page 66 shows a like amount as an expenditure. By stating the larger gross figure than what we actually receive (and throughout the state), it inflates how much the state really spends on education. With respect to the deficit fund balances, the Medicaid operations fund and Mid-Central Assoc. fund are merely cash flow issues. We provide services (an expense) but are often not reimbursed in a timely manner, thereby resulting in a deficit fund balance. I am also told that the Municipal retirement/social security fund balance deficit has existed for some time and the district is “whittling away” at it so it doesn’t have to levy for it, which, while within their rights, causes taxes to rise. The Self insured workman’s comp reflects the extremely large number of comp claims filed and is why the Board voted to establish a Tort levy. I voted against the levy because the amount carried as a liability is an estimate provided by our third party administrator (TPA). I felt we should better manage and be more proactive in mitigating workman’s comp claims and only levy once the outcome of all these pending claims are known. These anonymous supposed “experts” also make ridiculous assumptions that “if an expense was incurred the previous year, it is probable that it will occur again the next year”. With all the work being done to balance a budget and the dynamics of various program changes, that is an ill-founded assumption, at best. The group does raise legitimate questions on certain line items that warrant clarification and I will be following up to address those. For example, our Board has been frugal in spending, yet page 69 shows budgeted salaries for “Board of Ed Services” of $71,085 and an actual amount spent of $395,008. I am told that salaries for “Board initiatives” are booked here. I am asking for clarification and a breakdown. I will follow-up with more when I receive answers. I encourage you to affirm or deny the source of this “report” being our auditors, as some are suggesting. Whoever the source, they are wrong to suggest that we “spent $10.5 million more than” we budgeted, as you state in your opening sentence. Thank you for your concern on behalf of our students and our community. For more legal advice see: http://goodwinbarrett.co.uk/how-to-claim/. Jim

I appreciate Jim responding publicly, and he offers some very helpful insight. However, someone who wishes to remain anonymous takes issue with Jim’s comments:

The disclosure of the TRS revenue and offsetting expense by the state of Illinois on behalf of the school district is a required disclosure in the audit. Laymen may not understand that since it washes out or in Stowell’s case even like it, but by generally accepted accounting standards it must be reported that way as it has been for years! Stowell’s statement that it wasn’t budgeted before is grossly in error and personally shows how shallow his understanding. Consequently there should have been a budget though this year Cahill forgot it apparently and CG was required to highlight it!

I don’t know generally accepted accounting practices, so I’m not going to weigh in on this. All I can tell you is that the audits of the past few years haven’t looked too good, and I’m glad to see at least one board member taking these issues seriously and asking questions. Thank you, Mr. Stowell.

Peoria Public Schools

Martha Ross’s suggestions for District 150

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Peoria Public Schools Board of Education member Martha Ross sent the following memo to Superintendent Ken Hinton and the other members of the board. I’m reprinting it here (with permission) for your information and comment:

Over the years I’ve served on the District 150 Board, when considering a vote, I have tried to make informed and sound decisions on all issues relating to the education and welfare of our children. What’s always foremost in my mind is that we hold the key to the future in how we treat, prepare and educate our students. I am of the belief that we pay now and use whatever resources we have to educate our students right or we pay later when we turn them out into the world unprepared to become productive citizens. I do realize that we cannot save all that come through our doors, but I feel that we are too quick to label, discard, discount, and or not give serious thought to what’s in their best interest.

My opinions are not intended to imply that any of you do not care and or are not interested in the children’s education, it is merely to voice my concerns, share my observations and offer my suggestions. That said, it is my opinion that some of the suggestions for “cutting” the budget bear a lot more thought to be able to avoid damaging the education and safety of our students.

The way I see it is that the following facts are apparent:

  1. We have far fewer students than we had 10 years ago
  2. We have far more staff than we had 10 years ago
  3. We need to balance our budget using sound strategies that can be duplicated
  4. We need to decrease this year’s proposed budget according to the financial information we have received
  5. We need to make those decreases without risking the quality of education and or the safety of the students
  6. We should value our staff, students, parents and community stakeholders

That said, I would like to offer some suggestions that have come from taking the time to think about this situation as well as listening to my community:

  1. Immediately affect a complete moratorium on all hiring, and freeze wages. It will soon be time for the March mid-year increases and this would protect the district from that additional outlay for salaries.

  2. Immediate and complete moratorium on all travel – except that paid for 100% by grants.

  3. Really close Blaine, place the property on the market and move those staff members back to the DLC. That makes more sense from a long-term cost savings standpoint.

  4. Keep all four high school sites but change the configuration to schools-within-schools

  5. Proposed vocational program could be located within Woodruff as a school-within-a-school.

  6. Current Fine Arts program could remain at Peoria High as a school-within-a-school.

  7. Since it’s been implied that Peoria High can accommodate a lot more students, leave the current 9th grade academy as a school-within-a-school.

  8. Create a 9th grade academy at Woodruff and Richwoods as a school-within-a-school with the separations needed to promote this concept.

  9. Create the “small” high school concept for the 10 through 12 in all four schools.

  10. Seek to qualify PHS and Woodruff as Title I schools to position them to receive more funded monies noted in President Obama’s economic stimulus proposal.

  11. Decrease transportation expenses by developing a plan to establish k-8 neighborhood schools so that most children can walk.

  12. List for sale or auction, real estate currently held by the district in inventory, including but not limited to the following parcels:
    • Riverfront (if any is left)
    • Prospect Road Property
    • Blaine Sumner Campus
    • Harrison – old campus and building site parcels
    • Irving campus (Future)
    • Kingman campus (Future)
    • Washington Gifted campus (to be explained later)

    This would also result in a cost savings in insurance premium expense and any custodial/maintenance and utilities expenses – if any – incurred by these sites. Additionally, the sale of these parcels would return them to the tax rolls and create a revenue-enhancing opportunity to the district for an increase in EAV.

  13. Look at savings related to the loss of the Medicaid Contract

  14. Close Washington Gifted, returning the kids (and their test scores) to their home schools. Offer a gifted component at each neighborhood school as Mr. Hinton mentioned will be included in the new Harrison model. Cost to run Washington Gifted is $1.325M. District no longer receives separate funds to operate the program — all costs now accrue to Ed Fund.

  15. The anticipated cost savings of a Peoria High/Woodruff merger are primarily derived from having larger classes (and hence fewer teachers). These savings can be achieved right now, in the current high schools without the disruption of these two schools which are located in the heart of the neighborhoods. Moreover, I am not suggesting that we do this in absence of a plan that includes working closely with the union groups, decreasing staff through attrition whenever possible and offering incentives.

  16. Right sizing is going to require time and planning so that we do it right the first time.

  17. The citizens of the Woodruff community and other supporters have expressed their willingness to pitch in to help us.

    Finally, perhaps we should take advantage of the benefit of the HB0217 that is an act that amends the property tax code to allow a certain area to be named a special service area.

  18. 35 ILCS 200/27-60 provides that the corporate authorities for a municipality that establishes a special services area may petition the circuit court to make the Woodruff community a special service area. This could bring in the immediate revenue needed to provide the time needed to address the right sizing of the District as well as time to develop a sustainable plan for District 150’s future health.

This plan makes a lot of sense. Of the plans I’ve heard so far to fix District 150’s budget woes, I like this one the best. It’s worth some serious consideration. I especially like items 1, 2, 3, 11, and 12 because they deal directly with many of the issues on which District 150 has received the most criticism.