Tag Archives: Peoria Public Schools

Peoria Mayor, Peoria Public Schools

Mayoral appointment of school board members has big hurdle

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Never waste a good scandal. On the heels of today’s District 150 embarrassment — Mary Davis’s indictment — the Journal Star is reporting that Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis is thinking about exploring how he could have more influence over the district by appointing school board members:

He says he’s looking at larger cities such as Chicago, New York and Boston for inspiration to initiate change here that would intertwine his job as mayor with the decision-making of the school district. […] “It’s an interesting concept that I believe is worthy for some consideration,” Ardis continued. “From what I’ve read, the mayors who have been in the position to do that have seen success. It’s something I’m interested in. And I think the community is interested in learning more about it, too.”

Whether or not you think this is a good idea, it may be a moot point. Despite the relatively simple process the paper describes for changing the way school board members are chosen — “To enact such a change would require a public referendum or legislation approved by the General Assembly” — in reality it will be much more difficult.

The reason is because school board elections in Peoria are not governed by state law, but rather by a 1987 Class Action Voting Rights lawsuit settlement. That settlement did away with at-large elections of school board members, replacing it with a three-ward system and giving specific instructions on how board members would be chosen from each of those wards.

The Final Consent Decree clearly states in paragraph 4, “The Election Commission of the City of Peoria and the Peoria County Clerk are authorized and ordered to comply with the terms of this Consent Decree and to conduct elections in accordance with the terms of this Consent Decree.” It further states in paragraph 6, “This Court retains jurisdiction of this case for purposes of supervising the implementation of this Consent Decree.”

In other words, if you want to change how school board members are chosen, you’re going to have to get the new system approved by the court, and that could mean getting surviving litigants — including the school district itself — to agree to the changes. You can bet that mayoral appointment of school board members would be hotly contested.

Surely Mayor Ardis knows this challenge is out there. This same Voting Rights lawsuit settlement changed the City Council’s makeup as well. It established both the number of at-large councilmen (five instead of three) and the bullet voting system for at-large elections. At least one group has met in recent years to explore doing away with the bullet voting system in the City, but so far there has been no public action toward that goal.

Peoria Public Schools

District 150 continues to improvise plans for Lincoln, Central

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From the Journal Star:

Questions about eliminating four classrooms from an estimated $14 million to $17 million addition at Lincoln Middle School have led District 150 officials to step back and ask whether they should take up the project at all.

The plan was to build an addition onto Lincoln Middle School in order to transform it into a “birth through eighth” school, absorbing the students from the shuttered Kingman and Irving primary schools. Now the District 150 board wants to change or possibly eliminate that addition and use the funds to make more improvements to Peoria High School, which will be absorbing most of the students from Woodruff High School, which closes this Spring. There’s just one problem:

About $30 million in bonds have been sold, contracts signed and property deeded from District 150 to the Public Building Commission two months ago for about $24 million worth of work at Lincoln and Peoria High School. Both projects are expected to get under way this year.

So, this discussion is being held at the 11th hour — after the PBC approved the original plan, sold the bonds, and acquired the land. In other words, it may be too late to do anything about it.

This is what happens when you don’t have a clear plan and you’re working under a deadline to spend millions of dollars. The District 150 Board and former Superintendent Hinton had a five-year window of opportunity to use Public Building Commission money, and during that time they had trouble deciding on a plan. They vacillated on closing a high school for most of that time, finally voting to close it because the PBC supposedly required it in order to get the remaining $30 million available. That caused them to scramble to cobble together a plan to use that $30 million at the last minute. Now they’re having second thoughts about that plan.

Millions in taxpayer money about to be spent, primary school children wondering where they’re going to go to school next year, and the District is still trying to improvise a plan.

Peoria Public Schools

D150 discontinuing live broadcast of board meetings

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Via the Journal Star:

Beginning next month, the school district is no longer televising its board meetings live on public television. Instead, the sometimes three-hour engagement will be taped and played a week later…. [Board president Debbie] Wolfmeyer said the district would eliminate about $4,200 in annual hourly wages for the technology staff members needed during the meetings as well as $8,000 for a new video board and some $10,000 for two new video cameras, which she said would be needed to continue live broadcasts.

What’s more, only the business portion of the meeting will be shown. Public comments would not be part of the recorded broadcast, Wolfmeyer said Monday.

This hardly needs any comment. The video board and cameras are capital expenditures, and small ones at that compared to the district’s budget. Furthermore, if they need new cameras, it makes no difference whether they’re broadcasting live or tape-delayed; that expense will need to be made anyway. The only operating cost appears to be the $4,200 annually for technology staff members (and wouldn’t they still need them, too, if they’re continuing to tape the meetings?). In other words, this move has little to do with cost savings. It’s simply a further manifestation of the district’s desire to minimize, if not eliminate, public input and public access to the school board meetings.

What cost savings come from editing out the public comment period? What cost savings come from broadcasting a tape of the meeting a week later instead of the next day — i.e., as soon after the meeting as possible? Why is this tiny expense being eliminated while the school continues to ignore significant opportunities for savings, such as eliminating the $800,000 paid to for-profit Edison Schools?

On WCBU news (89.9 FM) this morning, interim superintendent Norm Durflinger was saying that District 150 will defend itself against any suggestions that the City take over the school district at next week’s education symposium with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Mayor Jim Ardis, et. al. I wonder what his defense will be. More transparency? Nope. More accountability to the voters? Hardly. Successful policies leading to higher student achievement? Don’t make me laugh. The way the school board acts, I sometimes wonder if they’re not trying to get taken over by the City or State.

It never ceases to amaze me how the District can do something that ever so slightly gives hope that they’re turning a corner and rebuilding trust with the public (e.g., investigating allegations against the technology department), then turn around and do something to completely destroy any and all trust they’ve built up. It’s no surprise that this plan was outlined by Ms. Wolfmeyer, who doesn’t believe it’s her job to meet with her constituents.

Peoria Public Schools

District 150 employees exonerated

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Several accusations were made against District 150’s director of technology and library media services Mary Ward and many other employees in her department. Interim superintendent Norm Durflinger took them seriously and conducted an investigation. Today, he announced the results of that investigation:

Interim Superintendent Norm Durflinger said 35 people in all were interviewed about 14 separate accusations ranging from employees giving away district-owned computer equipment or selling it on the Internet to viewing pornography or smoking marijuana while at work.

“We investigated all the accusations and could find no basis for any of them,” Durflinger said Tuesday, noting attorneys trained in such questioning performed the internal inquiry, which acted on claims that were made by people in the community as well as employees….

“There is a view by some in the community there is no credibility when it comes so some people in Peoria School District 150,” he said. “In this case, we had to prove whether there was any truth to the accusations or not. . . . There was not.”

So all the employees have been exonerated. Durflinger is personally apologizing to each person who was suspected of wrongdoing. I don’t blame Durflinger for feeling bad about the situation, but I still think he did the right thing. He’s exactly right — District 150 has a serious credibility problem. Exculpating these employees I believe gives Peorians more confidence in the District and will help quell unfounded rumors (although it certainly won’t eliminate them).

Even though the employees were absolved of any guilt, the district is going to enact some new internal controls, including tracking equipment worth less than $500. That’s a positive outcome as well.

Peoria Public Schools

Paying a cover charge to see public servants in action

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This sounds like an interesting event:

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and education reformer Paul Vallas will anchor discussions on education in Peoria next month.

The forum, pulled together by Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, is meant to generate discussion on strategies for helping struggling schools and sharing experiences on what’s worked and what hasn’t.

Unfortunately, the organizers of the event, the Institute of Principled Leadership at Bradley University, have decided not to hold this at Bradley or City Hall or District 150 headquarters or some donated venue and open it free to the public, but instead hold it at the Civic Center and charge $50 to $175 to attend. Yep, if you want to hear the mayor talk with the Secretary of Education about your own school district, it will cost you.

I suppose part of the reason is so that taxpayers won’t have to foot the bill for flying in the speakers and putting them up for the night, and possibly for Vallas’ consulting fee if he’s not donating his time again. That’s fine, but it’s hard to imagine that those costs alone warrant ticket prices at the level of a Broadway show. For $175, I want to see Duncan and Vallas do an ice-dancing routine to Bolero. In costume.

The sad thing is that the Peorians most affected by District 150 are the ones who can least afford a $50-175 ticket, so they’re the ones who will be left out of this event. That’s unfortunate. I suppose it’s good for the Civic Center, though. At least the event isn’t being held in East Peoria.

Peoria Public Schools

Peoria High parents and boosters express concerns

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From my inbox:

District 150 Administration and School Board

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We are writing as concerned parents and supporters of Peoria High School students. We have been attending school functions and meetings hoping to hear about the upcoming changes for PHS and have been incredibly disappointed with the district’s total lack of communication with parents from Woodruff and PHS.  We are registered voters and taxpayers in Peoria and cannot sit by and watch this situation unfold and say or do nothing. We have complete faith in the PHS staff; it is the Administrators from District 150 and the School Board that we find suspect and lacking. We are the parents that make up the boosters, we are the parents that are involved in our children’s lives, we are the parents that teach their children by the example that you cannot sit by and wait for someone else to bring attention to this matter, we are the parents that are demanding your full attention to this matter. We parents have heard the rumors that “PHS is being set up to fail” and, after the lack of input and communication with parents and staff, this may be correct. You, as an administration and school board, are not paying attention to the largest movement of students in district history and as a result it could become a huge failure, since we need to examine the problems with students and their depressions in order to give them help, and there are professional treatment centers for depressed teenagers which can really help a lot with this.

The most critical issue is construction plans that keep changing yet never made sense at the onset. The classrooms and security issues no one will argue with but lack of restroom facilities is a definite health and safety concern, yet it is not included in phase 1 of construction nor is replacing outdated and inefficient windows. We don’t understand how the restrooms and windows are going to be done in phase 2 when kids are in school. This should be done now -not postponed. Why would you wait to replace bathrooms and windows when students are present? There are no extra rooms to move into – so again let’s not think about the kids – just what’s more convenient for an administrator. Interior construction needs to be done over the summer and it can all be done if you place the demands upon the contractors and schedule accordingly. How is it that Richwoods gets new bathrooms and PHS has bathrooms older than Richwoods? Sounds like a double standard to us.

These maintenance issues should have been handled years ago. We challenge you to tour the PHS facilities and see what you have created. You have failed to properly maintain PHS and it shows. The building is not the issue; it is a superbly constructed building in incredible shape with many built-in safety advantages.  The issue is that you have unfairly allowed basic maintenance to go unheeded. We have been there for years and have witnessed the District’s repeated failures to provide even basic upkeep and maintenance let alone improvements.

The District has been lacking in maintaining PHS and has failed to provide even basic safety equipment to the point that the Boosters have had to purchase safety communication equipment. Relying on the Boosters and Alumni is taking advantage, as the District has an Operations and Maintenance budget for these purposes, as well as Health, Life, Safety funds, etc.  This is offensive to the PHS parents, the community, and most importantly, the students. This school is not only surviving but also getting better in spite of the District and School Board’s attempts to undermine. Mr. Stowell you can call us “a pig with lipstick” but we, as parents, know the real story.  

  1. Peoria High was the only District 150 High School to raise their Average ACT Score (2008-2009).
  2. By the end of the 2009-2010 school year PHS will reduce the number of suspensions for accumulation of demerits by 10%. At the end of the first semester the data indicated PHS was on track to decrease the number of suspension for accumulation of demerits by over 30%.
  3. By the end of the 2009-2010 school year PHS will increase the daily attendance rate to 90%. At the end of the first semester the data stated the daily attendance rate was at 93%. The PHS staff and administration believe this is in large part to the newly assigned Home School Facilitator.
  4. By the Spring 2010 Post Assessment (for NWEA) 20% of all PHS students will increase their math score.
    Spring NWEA post tests are scheduled for the weeks of April 19-30th.
  5. By the Spring 2010 Post Assessment (for NWEA) 20% of all PHS students will increase their reading score.
    Spring NWEA post tests are scheduled for the weeks of April 19-30th

The issue of lack of funding for athletic facilities is one more area of concern. You are creating the largest high school in the District yet you have no plans on correcting deficiencies in athletic facilities. Where are girls supposed to play softball? Where do boys and girls play tennis? This is unacceptable and has title IX lawsuit written all over it. If you don’t believe us look at Canton. Why have these facilities at this one high school not been maintained by the District, when the other high schools have all received monies for athletic facilities?  We demand you meet with your school staff, teachers and parents and get some real input from people who know what needs to be done and stop listening to administrators and consultants.  We are offended that PHS is being depicted as a “pre-Great Depression building, so therefore, in poor shape.  Many of our finest homes and buildings were built before the Depression.  It is your duty and responsibility to see that all District #150 buildings are properly maintained and this it is done equitably.  It is time you do your job and stop shifting blame.

Sincerely,
PHS Parents and Boosters

Peoria Public Schools

Should principals be empowered leaders or branch managers?

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The extent to which mechanistic thinking is corrupting our culture might be illustrated in relation to any number of fields of activity. For instance, our educational system suffers disastrously from the dominion of the administrative mind, which is, by the very nature of modern administration, generally mechanistic in its thinking (and therefore unfitted to overlook strictly human affairs). It is a well-worn, but none the less just, joke among teachers that education is now a minor by-product of local authority administration. Classroom work is overlooked by superfluous local organizers. A county’s schools will be run from the authority’s central office rather as a ring of chain-stores is run from headquarters. As the grip of the administrator tightens, the authority and influence of the teacher and headmaster are correspondingly reduced. The headmaster is increasingly prevented from regarding himself as the leader of a vital community of persons. The telephone stands on his desk to remind him that, like the manager of a branch-store, he is in charge of one among a network of mechanisms operated from headquarters. The headmaster, who ought to be the link between school and parents, is now the link between the school and the local authority’s offices. The wheel has come full circle. Men of personal conviction, with vision and purpose, are often considered too “dangerous” to be appointed to headships. Some appointing authorities seek “safe”, mediocre men who will sit meekly at the far end of the telephone wire and do what they are told.

So wrote Harry Blamires (a student of C. S. Lewis) in his 1963 book, “The Christian Mind.” He was talking about the schools in England at the time, but his words could just as easily be applied to the schools in Peoria in 2010. It wasn’t that long ago that the District 150 Board of Education changed a student’s grade over the objections of the teacher and principal due to political pressure brought by the student’s parents. And the top-heavy nature of administration at District 150 has been demonstrated numerous times.

The usual solution proposed is to cut a number of administrators so that it’s more proportionate to the number of teachers and students, but otherwise to keep the basic organization the same. The question is, is that the best solution? Or might a better solution be something more radical — like decentralizing District 150 completely?

Imagine if each principal were made responsible for his or her own school. The money would follow the students, and the principal would be in charge of decision making and resource allocation. The principal would also be held accountable for meeting or exceeding state/federal academic performance standards.

To a great extent, this is how charter schools are organized. But what if, instead of turning a school over to a private organization, the school district simply empowered its own principals, and gave them the same freedom and responsibility it has given the charter school? To be sure, some principals — the mediocre ones Blamires described as nothing more than branch managers who do what they’re told — would have to be replaced. But once competent leaders were appointed to each school, couldn’t the results be at least as good as what is hoped for from the charter school experiment?

School autonomy is not untried. School districts in large cities such as Houston, Seattle, and Cincinnati have tried it, and England has moved toward decentralization since the 1990s. They call it “Local Management of Schools.”

With the arrival of a new superintendent, perhaps the time is right for a new paradigm in District 150.

For further reading: “Schools take a lesson from big business” (USA Today, 3/9/2006); “Decentralized Decisionmaking for Schools” (RAND Corporation white paper)

Open Meetings Act, Peoria Public Schools

Attorney General investigating D150 for possible Open Meetings Act violation

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This came in the mail to me today from the Attorney General’s office:

February 26, 2010

RE: Open Meetings Act Request for Review — No. 5949

Dear Mr. Summers:

Thank you for submitting your Request for Review to the Public Access Counselor at the Office of the Illinois Attorney General pursuant to the Open Meetings Act (OMA), 5 ILCS 120 et. seq. Your Request related to an event held by the Peoria School District 150 Board of Education on February 16, 2010.

We have determined that further inquiry into the matter is warranted and have asked the Board to provide additional information to aid in our review. We will be reviewing relevant materials to determine whether the Board is in compliance with the requirements of the Act. Multiple requests for review have been filed with the PAC on this particular matter.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 217-785-7438.

Sincerely,

Cara Smith
Public Access Counselor

Related post: District 150 and the Open Meetings Act.

Peoria Public Schools

On tonight’s School Board agenda: New Superintendent

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The Board of Education for Peoria Public Schools District 150 will meet tonight at district headquarters on Wisconsin Avenue, 6:00 p.m. The most important item on tonight’s agenda:

“12. APPROVAL OF CONTRACT FOR DR. GRENITA LATHAN
Proposed Action: That the employment contract for Dr. Grenita F. Lathan be approved and executed by the parties.”

WCBU-FM (89.9) is reporting that the board is expected to unanimously approve the contract, and that Lathan will not be in attendance at the meeting. If the contract is approved, Lathan is expected to begin July 1.

The board members I’ve talked to have all been impressed by Lathan, and feel she will make a positive difference at District 150. I sincerely wish her the best of luck here in Peoria.