One of my readers has informed me that a phone survey is being conducted, and the questions are most intriguing. Here’s part of the e-mail describing the questions he was asked:
Some paraphrased questions I recall-
Do you approve or disapprove of the following people
Ken Hinton
Jim Ardis
Paul VallasDo you approve or disapprove of a take over of the district by the city
Do you approve or disapprove of a take over of the district by the state
Do you approve or disapprove of raising taxes to support a charter school coming into the district
Biggest issue for the district- crime, scores, money
A question on the teachers union- they are doing the best they can, they are in it just for them
Do you approve of the direction the city is heading
Do you approve of the direction the district is heading
What is your opinion of Dunlap 323
I would love to see the results of this survey. But even more than that, I would love to know who is conducting it. Anyone want to ‘fess up?
Even if you don’t know who’s conducting it, what do you think of the questions? How would you answer them?
UPDATE: I’ve gotten confirmation from District 150 and the City of Peoria that they are not conducting this survey. The Heartland Partnership has indicated that they’re aware of the survey, but they can’t get me any more details until Monday. I’ll pass along any new information I receive.
So many loaded questions. Interesting.
Honestly, my first reaction is that it’s a city of Peoria survey…D150 wouldn’t care about city image (Ardis), wouldn’t mention Vallas, wouldn’t care how Hinton is perceived as he’s leaving, and would know that the schools can’t be taken over by the city. Clearly D150 isn’t concerned about their image right now or they’d be acting differently, as we’ve discussed previously. So…my thought is that the city is looking to figure out how to spin/address issues with D150…
There are ways that the school district can be taken over by the city. It has happened all over the country.
Has the city of Peoria proven it has what it takes to run a school district? I had never given this much thought until I read all the articles about the disagreements between Mayor Dailey and Paul Vallas in Chicago. Dailey had planned to fire Vallas if Vallas hadn’t left on his own–so evidently the city of Chicago has authority over the schools. How would Peoria go about taking over the Peoria schools?
Sharon – maybe the polsters should call you 😉
Diane: I have caller ID. Also, if the city would take over 150 that would present an interesting problem since kids in West Peoria go to 150 schools. I could the city of Peoria have power over the city of West Peoria?
“Do you approve or disapprove of the following people” Of the people???? What kind of sophomoric question is that?
“Do you approve or disapprove of a take over of the district by the city
Do you approve or disapprove of a take over of the district by the state
Do you approve or disapprove of raising taxes to support a charter school coming into the district”
Dichotomies… the refuge (refuse?) of small minds
“Biggest issue for the district- crime, scores, money” How about lack of Justice? How about uneven opportunities to hoard wealth? How about a entitled class that thinks the rest of us owe them a living…. I am talking about bankers and investors.
“A question on the teachers union- they are doing the best they can, they are in it just for them
Do you approve of the direction the city is heading
Do you approve of the direction the district is heading”
Should we presume that we all talking about perceiving they are moving in the SAME direction, and that the unions SHOULD be in it for anyone other than themselves? Who are the administrators and state officials in it for?
I could go on and on… this is not a poll, it is a Frank Luntz talking point and opinion CREATOR.
kcdad: All or nothing thinking?
Exactly. No middle ground, no uncomfortable ambiguities… everyone is either left or right, liberal or conservative.
kind of like some people’s views on bankers, investors, public school teachers, politicians, etc., huh?
kcdad and jon: How about this opportunity for dialogue?
http://www.arbinger.com/en/communitycall.html
What interest rate do you carry on your house, car, credit cards, or savings accounts when the FED RATE loaning to banks is .25% ??? A business of usury absolutely condemned by EVERY major religion in HISTORY.
In what other line of business do you pay someone for their advice and expertise (other than illegal bookies) where they take your money whether they are right or wrong? (or yeah, government)
In what other profession does the “professional” blame the parents for their inability to do what they are trained and hired to do?
etc., huh?
You wanna play semantics, Jon?
Karrie: I’ll wait and read the book first. But I am always open to dialogue. I am looking forward to Sunday night at Godfathers.
Yes, don’t forget Godfather’s at 6 p.m. Kcdad, it isn’t going to be any fun when I find out you’re a real person. Just kidding! We will be glad to have you. Hedy is in charge of this meeting–go easy on her.
I apologize, kcdad. While I try to point out what I believe to be your hypocrisy, I know it will likely have no effect on you. To some degree, I have also been selfishly prodding you as of late to watch your response for my own humor. I do not see any merit in further dialogue with you in this manner.
So are we still in the dark as to who is conducting this poll? Has anyone on this blog been contacted? I went back to Kcdad’s original question: All or nothing thinking? That is why I hate responding to any political questionnaires, etc.–they always want “yes” or “no” answers. I always have a “yes” or “no” BUT or THAT DEPENDS response.
Apology accepted, but unnecessary, Jon. Just respond to my questions…
I have no prejudices or discriminatory behavior towards people… only professions. I love people! I just hate what their occupations force them to do.
I might be changing the subject a bit, but could someone tell me, are all 4 high schools on the failing list? I did not think RHS was I could be wrong. One more thing, how does the highschools determine who can or can not have a boundary waiver? Thanks.
Relle—
You are right that RHS is NOT on the failing list, but it scores have dropped dramatically over the last 2-3 years. Some might blame it on students being allowed to transfer from MHS to RHS due to NCLB, although some may blame it on just students today.
As of 2 years ago, boundary waivers were not being signed. When they were available, each HS principal had to agree to it and then administration had the final say so (I know how this works as we were the recipient of said waiver). Like I said earlier, to my knowledge, principals are NOT signing waivers now because they were told to stop the mass exodus from MHS. We are in the MHS attendance and live 1 block from the PHS boundary. When my oldest was a freshman at MHS most of his friends were attending PHS. We became very aware that, although each school offered the same classes (in name) the classes were taught VERY differently at each school. My son found he could get an easy A at the MHS class and not be challenged, but, yet, get a B at the PHS class and feel as if he really learned something. That is one reason why sought a boundary waiver, but it isn’t the reason it was granted. We found that admin didn’t want to hear that each school was teaching the same class with different expectations. As we requested syllabis for a specific class at each school, we noticed that there were subtle differences–one school went further into the book (more coverage), etc. What didn’t show on a syllabus (that is mandated by the district) was the expectation of the student by the teacher.
With NCLB, MHS was the first D150 school on the failing list and, therefore, D150 was required to grant waivers if the parent requested the move on that basis. Within one year, it was claimed, RHS was at capacity and would not be accepting anymore transfers, unless it could be proven that they had moved within the required boundaries. To my knowledge, some families were checked on for addresses, while others were not. That was rumored to do with sports, although I have no direct knowledge of that. It is also rumored that many parents in the RHS area told admin (on Wisconsin) that if the addition of “thugs” from MHS was not halted they would move out of the district, or send their students to private school. I think this scared admin because it MIGHT cause scores to fall and RHS was supposed to be the be all and end all of the district.
I do know that the principal now does not fall for the adage that RHS is better than all the rest, it just has areas that it is stronger in. (If I have mis-stated him I”m sure he will tell me, as he blogs on here 🙂 ) He is a fair man, who believes that every student deserves the opportunity to succeed, but also has to believe in themselves and make the necessary adjustments in order to succeed. I always tell my own kids that success doesn’t come to you from someone else, it come to you from you. They need to take the lessons that others offer and learn from them.
I’ve rambled long enough. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
Jon–
Please don’t stop posting. We are learning from each other. Ive said it before, and believe it deserves to be said again, KCDAD only wants us look at things from another POV. He challenges us and that is, often, scary. Personally, I am initially offended when he challenges my thoughts, opinions, and such, but later realize that he has caused me to ask myself questions about my own beliefs.
If you stop responding to his posts, then we all lose. This forum allows us to bounce ideas off of each other and, possibly, come up with solutions that would have not been thought of before. In fact, the biggest losers would be the students of D150.
Heartland aware but no comment. My take: those involved, and my guess is heartland, chamber, many of the same folks as the Amazeum, don’t want the story buried in weekend news. They want a monday splash for all week news coverage.
Expect the ‘next big thing’ to be a push for this charter school by those that brought us the amazeum, plus/minus a few. Politicians will be working behind the scenes on needed funding, law changes. Bradley may come on board. Hell, I half expect this school to be tied to the museum in some zany way.
In the shell game of politics and money, we are in a time of the great shuffle. Time to pray at the altar of the church of what’s happening now.
Dr. Thompson: Agreed! I believe the poll is somehow connected to the Chamber and the Charter school–the two are already tied together. I still want to know who wrote the charter school proposal–who is to blame for producing a document that is so poorly written. I believe I have found 50 errors on the first 10 or 11 pages of the 40-some page document.
Bamcdaniel, thank you so much for your reply! One more question, how can they say NCLB is still effect when you can not get a waiver to go from a failing school to one that is not failing? If the NCLB is still in effect how can the schools get around that by not giving out waivers and it still be legal?
RELLE: That is a very good question. I heard recently (have no idea if it’s true) that waivers should be granted even if the receiving school has to add space. That sounds quite absurd, but NCLB is absurd.
Relle–
They can get by by saying that there is no room in the school for students that do not live in the attendance area. It is a loophole in the system and D150 loves loopholes! That is why MD is still drawing a paycheck and McArdle is not. I suppose you can also get a waiver if you know the right people or you are the right family. It’s amazing what one’s connections can get.
Yes, and it will be even more obvious when District 150 redraws boundaries and puts students from Von Steuben and others into the Richwoods district. The space will magically become available.
Richwoods Principal, Mr. Ptacek, are you allowing any students to recieve boundary waivers?
also, if not, why are you not accepting boundary waivers??
I guess it has been my opinion that these decisions are not necessarily made by principals. I would think that boundary waivers would be handled by the district
-Sharon Crews
I understand what you are saying, that they are more than likely handled by the district, but he is the one that is behind the desk disapproving the waivers.
In my experience the waivers begin at the school. Both principals have to approve them before they go to Wisconsin Ave. Actually, they go to both principals and then are forwarded to Wisconsin. If one principal has not approved it, it is rejected. The asst. super has the power to reject any other waivers, regardless of approval/disapproval from principals. I believe there is an unwritten guideline that at least one principal should reject the waiver.
I don’t think the principals have much of a say in this. Correct me if I am wrong, Mr. Ptacek. They also don’t have a lot of control over how and what curriculum, discipline, rules are set in their schools. They have some leeway, but, ultimately, Wisconsin wants to set the rules, procedures, curriculum for the entire district and not allow wach principal to make some variations that will benefit there schools. These are the people that are in the school on a daily basis and knows the students. They know what will work and what won’t. Just because King Ken says that his research says that this is the newest trend, it doesn’t mean that it will work in every school. I firmly believe that principals should be allowed pricipal their own schools with minimum input from Wisconsin Ave.
In fact, I can prove that King Ken only uses research that benefits his “hidden” agenda and disregards any other research presented to him. I found 4 studies that concluded that high schools with more than 900-1000 students were detrimental to the learning of inner city students, such as ours. The Gates FOundation believes in this so much that they award monies to school that adhere to this guideline. The success rate at those schools is beyond belief. That is only one example. I sent all 4 studies to all the school board members and King Ken and only received one reply and that was from Jim Stowell and he gave a smart ass remark about “Go Rams!” He doesn’t have a hidden agenda! It is out there for everyone to see. From what I have heard, he was rejected from the PHS basketball team, even though his brother was on it, and he has had it in for PHS since then. I’m sure, if I am wrong, he will tell me all about. He does post on here, so we shall see.
Anyway, this was more info than you asked for. Hopefully, the first part of this post answered your questions.
bamcdaniel,
I’m sure in the future I will have more questions. Thank you so much! 🙂
Frankly, I think that in earlier years–pre-NCLB–principals did have more say about what happens in their buildings. Now NCLB controls everything. We all simply have to find a way to deal with NCLB–by that I mean ignore NCLB as much as is humanly possible. In fact, I firmly believe that if we had totally ignored NCLB, the overall scores would not have been much different–maybe even higher. Administrators have allowed NCLB to control their thinking–and, therefore, to put most of the blame on teachers. Teachers have become paranoid; students are, in essence, daily told they are worthless because or if they and/or their schools can’t meet AYP. About Jim–I didn’t know him until he was a senior in high school, but by that time both he and his brother Jon were at Manual. I don’t know if they ever went to PHS. At some point after he graduated, his brother Jerry came to teach at Manual and to coach basketball, so–as an adult–Jim’s loyalty was naturally with Manual. Of course, Hinton and Hannah were also Manual grads. I don’t know if that loyalty is keeping them all from putting Manual on the table to be considered for closing–but, if so, they need to get over it (I have and I believe I loved it more than all of them put together) 🙂 and make the best decision for the district–and actually for Manual. I think Manual should become the alternative/vocational school–and it will draw more students than the current Manual ever will.
You are more right than you know. No time to post more now, will later. You can call me for more info.
Sharon Crews,
Your intelligents reflects all the many years of service. I have and always will admire you as a teacher, and as a friend.
Thank you
fair-laidly1–Whoever you are, I’m sure the feeling is mutual.
beth – I didn’t give you a smartass answer. I gave you an accurate answer that you didn’t like. You are quick to criticize and fault, but when it comes to a decision, you supported someone wanting to represent our educational system who lied about their own background. Nice judgement. Sharon – I thought I wasn’t the the only one sleeping in your class :). You at least got paid, although the hall passes I procurred from you did have currency. Lesson learned! I had your class junior year. Do you think I was challenged? Experiences such as that is why I support a weighted grading system. While some of what you ladies discuss has some validity, your rampant speculation, conjecture, inuendos, and out-right inaccuracies ought to give pause to all who heed your “analysis”. I sincerely thank you for your caring about the District. Hope you each volunteer in an early childhood classroom sharing the joy of learning with our youngest! As for the HS closing, I want ALL of our HS campuses to flourish. Getting there will be how many of us differ.
Why get a waiver? Just use the library clerks address over at Lindbergh. That’s what everyone else does. Wonder who else’s addresses are used for the “cherry=picking” process?
[Comment deleted by blog owner]
This is the email I sent to the entire board. Following is the response from Jim. Yes, he did respond with the cursory, “Thanks.” And that response is attached, as well. We all have learned over the years that school board members don’t listen at the forums. They hold them to appease the public, but not for much else. I will continue to speak, if for no other reason than someone will actually take note at the research that I and others are doing to benefit OUR schools and children.
Jim, I have not attacked your choice of friends or who you choose to stand by and would ask that you not question mine. You may not like her, but she has given me valuable information in regards to state laws and such regarding school boards. They are directly from the State Board of Education and the National School Board Association. That information is not biased, it is what you are governed by. I, also, believe that I stated that what I heard was just that, what I heard. I never said it was completely true, just that I had heard that was what was guiding your drive to close PHS and leave MHS untouched.
Dear Board Members,
Good morning! I have been extremely concerned about your proposal to close Woodruff High School and merge it with Peoria High School. With that in mind, I have done some research. My research includes viewing articles by educators and educational institutions, talking with the local police department, students, parents and my observations as a parent and substitute teacher.
With these in mind, I would like for you to consider these concerns.
1. When students at MHS were allowed to transfer out of MHS as it was going through re-structuring, they were only given 2 choices, PHS and WHS. They were told that RHS was not an option because it was at capacity. When students moved from one school to another, the amount of police calls at PHS and WHS increased and the remained the same at MHS. There is an extreme possibility that another increase would happen. This is not good for our public relations.
2. Whether you want to admit it or not, there are gangs at each high school, even RHS. There are various confrontations within each schools among rival gangs. What you need to remember is that the gangs within each school don’t like each other but they don’t like the gangs at other schools even more. By merging 2 high schools you will be compounding an already volatile situation.
3. I have spoken to a majority of students in the music postion of the PSA. Most of them have stated that IF the PSA is moved they will not follow it. Moving it to MHS leaves man parents and students feeling unsafe. Moving it to RHS leaves many students feeling like they don’t belong because they aren’t at RHS because they live there, attend the IB program, or have parents who work there. Also, by moving the PSA out of PHS, the school district will be asked to repay the PHS Alumni Association the money they put into the program in order for it to be housed at PHS. If we are already in debt, we have no busy increasing our debtload.
4. As parents, my husband and I have had to have discussions about the educational welfare of our children if the two high schools are merged. Part of that discussion has included calling private schools. When we contacted PND we were told that as many as 10-15 PHS parents A DAY are calling to find out about enrolling their students next fall. I don’t think you intended to lose a large amount of students. My guess is you were hoping is would be better received and, in reality, it is having the opposite affect. With the economy the way it is, if a parent is offered the opportunity to move to another location in order to keep their jobs or to accept a better paying opportunity, they may give it more serious consideration if they think the educational outlook in Peoria is dismal.
5. When other school districts have faced this problem the superintendent not only forgo his/her raise they forgo their salary for 1-1 1/2 years. Many of them didn’t have 3-4 superintendents along with numerous consultants. They fixed their budget woes from the top down NOT bottom up. Our students should be first in our minds and yet when we talk about closing/merging schools without seriously looking at the top of the organization then our priorities are definitely skewed.
6. I found this article by Brown University and think it brings many concerns to light. Please take the time to read through it and digest what it has to say. The link is: http://www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/data_use/datuse_urbhs.pdf
I know that you have gotten a lot of emails and you should have expected the community outcry. That being said, I do hope you take the time to read, ponder over and pray about the things I have written.
To teach is to touch the future!
Beth A. McDaniel
Jim,: Thanks for the input.
Beth: Board Members,
Here are a few more things to consider.
1. You should let the community know that you plan on sending the students currently attending WHS to PHS BUT you aren’t closing it. You are closing 3 primary schools and sending those students to the new K-8 school at the Lincoln-Woodruff site and leaving 3 buildings to sit empty. If you have made sure that this little piece of information has been overlooked in your media blitz.
2. By closing WHS and PHS you inherit many uniforms, flags, and costumes that will be useless at the new school. You will create a need to buy NEW everything (sports uniforms, band uniforms, cheerleaders outfits, new mascot costume, new flags) and that will be no inexpensive endeavor. The community has not been told this either.
3. By closing Tyng Primary you have stated that even successful schools deserve to be closed. On that note, PHS PSAE scores increased from 2006-07 school year to 2007-08, WHS remained stagnant. Once again, you show that success (however small, unless it is at a specific school) is not valued.
4. Your proposed forum format leaves a lot to be desired. The way it is set-up now does not leave any room for public input except through whatever is said in a 5-10 minute small group setting. That does not allow enough time for people to voice their concerns, fears and suggestions. There will be far more people attend these than you expect. This format gives the appearance that you really don’t care what the community thinks, you are going to do whatever you want to anyway. Many parents see this as a bully tactic and are frustrated that it isn’t tolerated in the schools, but it can be exercised when used by adults in a position of power.
5. As a taxpayer, I am extremely concerned that, given our financial situation, we continue a contract with Edison for the tidy sum of $887,000 per year for five years. That is only one of the contracts that are debatable in their importance. We are also paying a construction firm (George Rump) close to $900,000 per year, for the construction of what? Is it for the updates at existing schools or for the new schools that we had to get financing for? We are paying attorneys $2.3 million per year. Martha has asked for a line-by-line item budget for this expenditure repeatedly. It is time for this to be made public. Why are we paying them this amount? Why are we paying Redbrand Credit Union $1.7 million and CEFCU $2.4 million?
If you have read any articles about school districts that are having financial struggles, you would realize that the first thing you would do is to look at the overhead BEFORE you look at taking away schools, and other educational sources from the students (remember, their parents and the community at large, are your clients).
6. Looking at the current budget, if Washington Gifted School were to close, would we be saving $700,000? How much would it help the school scores if those students were placed back in their home schools? Why are they NEVER on the chopping block (along with ALL of the schools north of War Memorial Drive)? To me (and to other community members) this reeks of elitism.
7. Looking at the section of the budget concerning salaries, I want to know WHY we are paying $5.9 million per year to Office of the Principal Services? How is that broken down? Where are the feees that we pay to retirees that we bring back on a consultant basis? Are these necessary expenditures? Every item on the budget needs to be explained as to its importance to the education of students.
I’m sure I will find more points to bring up, but this is enough for you to consider at this point. I am willing to sit down with you and have these points further explained.
Jim: I’d encourage you to bring these questions to the forum and present them. Thank you for your input. Go Rams!
This is the response from Gorenz:
There are short term and long term ramifications to merging two high schools. I agree there are significant problems in the short term when you do so. I do not think if I was a parent of a current student in one of the schools that I would be in favor of the proposal. That being said if we move forward with the merger we need to lessen as much as possible the negative aspects on the students. However there are long term negative ramifications to not decreasing our expenditures that are much more extensive than those created by merging two schools. In addition over the long term I would hope the programs offered in the merged school would be superior than to either of the individual schools.
Supt Hinton has not had a salary increase since he started as superintendent.
We have communicated that we are not proposing to close the Woodruff building but rather use it as a middle school.
No one has said that the name or mascot of the school would change.
There are many factors to assess of the success of a school. However since you mentioned the state test scores I would suggest you look at Tyng, WHS and PHS. By that standard (which is not the only standard to use) there is considerable room for improvement.
I believe we have offered a multitude of ways for the community to provide input (website, letters, hotline, Board meeting, and forums)
There are many programs we have that we have evaluated and choose to continue. The most recent is Edison. The Board felt the value outweighed the cost. I feel Washington is also a value but likewise I feel that we should continue football, basketball, band and orchestra. Every program has a cost benefit.
The attorneys recently agreed to a reduction in their fees. However the amount of their fees is driven more by the amount employee grievances, workman comp, and how long our union negotiations take.
Anyway, since he is calling into question the validity of his answers, I thought I would leave them for you to ponder.
Jim, what judgment! Now who’s paranoid? I didn’t realize that my post contained any judgments of you–the smiling face meant (or was meant to mean) that I was being factitious and/or stressing how much I loved Manual and its students—which actually included you and Hershel. Please be specific–to which of my ” rampant speculation, conjecture, inuendos, and out-right inaccuracies” are you referring? You were in my basic class, and I am sure you were not challenged. You came from Washington Gifted and belonged in Manual’s then very challenging enriched classes. Were you in all basic classes or did you take some enriched? I guess that was before weighted grades–they came in with Dr. Strand. I was never sure why you chose to take the less challenging route. As I recall, you were in my 6th hour class (hence the passes and money to clear off the snow from my car), so you needed to rest up for basketball. 🙂 Are you sure it was junior English–I ask because during my whole career, I only taught junior English once and it was an enriched junior class. I did teach juniors when we had mini-courses in the 1970s–maybe you were there in that era. Now I’m going to challenge you. I guess that you really believe that sitting on the board and slinging pancakes is comparable to teaching. Therefore, you need to get into a classroom to understand some of the challenges about which you claim to be so knowledgeable. I probably won’t be doing any volunteer teaching apart from what I do with the children in my life. And I won’t be feeling guilty about that. I spent 43 years with kids and loved every minute of it–I also worked head start for a couple of summers, so did some work with early childhood. Now I’m trying something different–and getting up late.
Jim, you promised to be nice. What happened?
Sharon I believe that he referring to my post. He would never consider saying anything bad about you, but me, I’m fresh bait.
Wrong, Beth–Jim recently sent me an e-mail in which he called me a bitter, cynical second-guesser. That’s OK–at least, he was very respectful when he was a student. I never did take much offense when students called me names–Jim just didn’t take the opportunity when he was younger. But I guess, Jim, you won’t be coming to any more of my birthday parties–gosh, much has changed since my 70th birthday two years ago, hasn’t it? I was hoping that when the stress of being a board member was over that we could go back to the relationship we had for so many years. The truth is that I really don’t take offense; I’m not sure why you take my opinions about 150 so personally. I know that we both want what’s best for 150–I’m sorry that I haven’t been able to support your views, especially regarding the changes at Manual.
beth – wrong e-mail, but even if not, why the characterization? Agenda? Sharon – I’m sure because of classmates and issues involving seniors. I’d welcome the invitation to your birthday again. My point wasn’t to be overly critical of either, but rather to shed light on your “perspective”.
Jim– I included both emails I sent to the board as a whole and your (and Dr. Gorenz’s) response to them. Go look again. the characterization comes from your language (body and verbal) at meetings and in your dealings with the public. Your responses are consistently, “Close PHS.” IF that is your plan, then how do you envision implementing it? Where will the students go? Are you planning on sending them to MHS? Do you really think that parents will want to send their students there, if they are still failing to bring up scores? I believe that you stated Monday that we should close PHS and renovate it for use later. It is common thought that if you close PHS you will NEVER renovate it or re-open it.
King Ken has a VERY strong desire to have WHS, but has no plan for once that is in place. Many of us feel like the board should hold off on closing a school (even naming one to close) until they have a solid plan in hand. I believe that Jon posted earlier about a challenge you could give Hinton. It is worth considering. We should not be closing schools without a SOLID game plan in place beforehand. The game plan should include the new boundaries for each closing, cost savings for closing a bldg., transportation cost savings, staff savings, etc. So far, what the public has seen has been seriously lacking.
When I was reading the above statement about “cherry picking students for RHS” I remembered Hannah’s grandson. When he left Columbia Middle School he was to attend PHS. Hannah pulled some strings while a principal at WHS and used his address for his grandson, so he could attend Richwoods. It is good for some but not all.
Jim, apology and/or explanation accepted–even though I can’t decode the “because of classmates and issues involving seniors.” I still have to say that your accusations of “rampant speculation, conjecture, inuendos, and out-right inaccuracies,” sounds fairly critical to me (at least, nothing of which I wish to be guilty)–but again I ask to which of my comments were you referring? I guess to all of them, right? Anyway, no light has been shed yet. As for the birthday, Jeff probably won’t have another party for me until I turn 80–in the nursing home. I think there is a good possibility that we agree more than either of us let on. I noticed at the committee of the whole meeting you did agree with me on two counts (at least, two of the points I made at the previous board meeting). I believe I heard you say that the vocational school should be housed at Manual. That doesn’t go as far as I suggested–but it has merit. Secondly, I thought I heard you say that 150 probably can’t afford early childhood–not that it’s a bad idea; just that 150 can’t afford a non-mandated and non-funded program.
At RHS we have been working to ensure that the district’s policies on attendance are applied equally. With 1400 students we can not ensure the complete accuracy of every student’s address, but we are placing the pursuit of accuracy as a top priority and we are placing consistency in our application as the number one priority.
Steve,
WHAT? Bottomline, are you honoring ANY boundary waivers?
Steve: At the high school level, it would be a full time job finding students using false addresses. There are students at all four schools, not just Richwoods, who have played games with residences so as to attend their school of choice. Since Richwoods is the only high school not on a warning/watch list, the situation would be beyond ridiculous if all the students eligible would ask for a waiver to Richwoods. Once again the waiver component of NCLB is just another of the absurdities of NCLB.
Ms. Crews,
I understand what you are saying, “ridiculous if all the students eligible would ask for a waiver to Richwoods,” but would you rather for a student to go to a failing school? What is one to do? So I guess students will be cheated out of recieving a good quality education!