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Peoria Public Schools

Big changes being considered at District 150

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Here’s a summary of the changes that were proposed at the District 150 Board of Education meeting Monday night, from the Journal Star:

  • Closing Columbia Middle School and splitting the students among Calvin Coolidge and Sterling middle schools; or reassigning all of Columbia’s students to Sterling.
  • Closing Garfield Primary School and sending about 50 of the nearly 300 students to Harrison Community Learning Center and the remaining 250 to Trewyn, which would change from a middle school to grades K-8.
  • Change part of Whittier’s boundaries back, alleviating some population there, increasing Harrison’s enrollment by 94 students, including those from Garfield.
  • Closing the Greeley and Peoria Alternative High School buildings and moving the programs to the former Woodruff High School, which also would serve as a career and technical education center. Relocate students from the Knoxville Center for Success to Woodruff and use the Knoxville site as a suspension respite program for high school students.
  • Severing ties with Edison but maintaining the program’s longer school day and additional professional development.
  • Eliminating Apex Learning, an online curriculum, in favor of expanding Compass Learning, which was just adopted at several schools last year.
  • Incorporate a 90-minute literacy block at primary schools using guided reading materials. Also include a daily schedule of a 30- to 45-minute intervention/enrichment period.
  • Increase graduation requirements from 18 credits to 22 for Richwoods and Peoria High School; and 28 at Manual, which has a block schedule.
  • Eliminate high school study hall in lieu of a “study skills” class that focuses on study and organizational skills and prepares students for life beyond school.
  • Alter how class ranking is weighted.

WEEK-TV has some additional information:

  • Those from Peoria and Greeley Alternative would head to a new proposed program in the former Woodruff High School building. It would be called the ‘Woodruff Career and Technical Center.’
  • District officials proposed restructuring Trewyn Middle School to accommodate it for grads K-8 and making it an International Baccalaureate school. That would result in the ‘release’ of the entire Trewyn Staff.
  • They suggested establishing a ‘Parent University’ to offer community resources to district families.

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  • Under the proposed changes, those schools would offer advanced Physical Education classes for credit, and revamp the traditional study hall. It would be called a ‘study skills’ class, and students would receive credit for that as well.
  • Officials recommended establishing bilinigual classes at Manual High School.

WEEK also states that the changes would “result in layoffs of at least 15 faculty members” and “save the district more than $1.4 million annually.” We all have two weeks to take it all in before the school board votes on the changes at their March 28 meeting.