"I'm not finding too much info on Tuesday's school board election, just meaningless one sentence soundbites in local media, stuff like "I have a plan" and "I'm not a finger pointer. I'm just focused on solutions." and Gary Stella'a editorial endorsing Lickiss. Can you point me to any meaningful info or offer any input? Otherwise I'll probably just go for Lickiss and cross my fingers."
As a parent of a District 150 student, who lives in the inner city, I will be voting for the future of District 150. Even though I may not like everything about the particular candidate, I will vote for the one who shares my views on the issues most important to my family. Keeping in mind that if and when Rachel Parker wins a seat on the County Board, there will be another vacancy on the BOE. I will be cautious with this vote, because the potential for special interests groups to gain a foothold on the BOE is great. If you read this blog from time to time, you know where I stand on the issues facing the District.
Christopher CrawfordAge: 37
Profession: Attorney, Quinn, Johnston, Anderson & Pretorius
Education: He received his B.S. from Drake University in 1995 and J.D. from Drake University in 1998. His practice areas are civil law and workers’ compensation.
Charter school proponent
Rumored to be Chamber of Commerce pick
Ernestine Jackson
Age: 69
Profession: Equal Opportunity Associate, City of Bloomington
Education: I graduated Manual Training High School. I have taken courses at ICC and at Parkland in Champaign.
Employment Experience: Youth Supervisor III with the State Department of Corrections—3 years; Personnel Officer non-academic personnel University of Illinois–2.5 years; Director of Equal Opportunity, City of Peoria–8 years; Project Target–2 years; Assistant to the city manager for community relations–9 years; Director of Diversity, CILCO–3 years; Equal Opportunity Associate, City of Bloomington–8 years
Political experience: While I have never held an elective office, I have been active in the political arena all of my adult life. I have been active in city, state and national campaigns working in every area imaginable.
Against school closures
Against charter school
Wants to stop closure of Woodruff
No children currently in District 150 schools
NAACP/Donald Jackson’s pick
Jeff Lickiss
Age: 49
Profession: Registered Nurse, Medical Intensive Care Unit, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center Critical Care RN/Paramedic, Advanced Medical Transport
Education: Graduate; RN program, Illinois Central College, Graduate; EMS Services Program, Memorial Medical Center, Springfield, IL
Political experience: Peoria County Board, 1996–2004 served as Chairman of Health Services Committee 2002-2004; Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau 2004-2006
Against school closures
Against charter school
No children currently in District 150 schools
Rumored to be Teacher’s Union pick
Check the Peoria Times Observer for more comprehensive candidate profiles.
9 comments:
I am always so leary of what people say they are going to do or what they want to do if they are elected to any political office. I tend, also, to vote for the person whose stated views seem to mirror my own (hopefully, with regard to what is best for the district albeit through my own eyes). Words to please as many as possible are usually the order of the day for any campaign. That said (and since I don't get to vote for this position), if I were able to vote, I certainly wouldn't vote for anyone who is endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce. Its members' voices have been heard, a few times too many for me.
I agree with Sharon. The C of C needs to either divide itself into a Peoria Chamber and a Peoria Area Chamber or just butt out of Peoria City politics. I was infuriated to see all the Peoria Area C of C people stand up in support of the charter school, especially when they stated their addresses as Metamora, Dunlap, and Brimfield. Hello, why were they allowed to speak on charter schools? Their taxes don't funnel into D150. Chris Crawford will be nothing but a chamber pawn, who will do their bidding, not the tax payers, parents, students, or staff of the district. Jeff Lickiss has children that graduated from Peoria High and is no shrinking violet when it comes to controversy. He will fight, just as Gary Stella stated in his editorial. A vote for Jeff Lickiss is a vote to restoring sanity at the horse shoe.
It is a shame there are not any candidates running that have children in the District.
No one with any tangible business/budget experience. The board could really use someone with some tangible project management experience too. Not a very encouraging selection really.
I agree Mahkno. How very ufortunate considering the issues the District currently face.
Crawford has work comp. experience. The District could sure use some shoring up in that area.
Frustrated, why in the world would you pick work comp experience as the most important issue in 150? Do you have any idea what the Workmen's Comp cases are all about? I just heard about a student who called a teacher on the phone and said, "I'm going to Fing kill you." How would you like to work in that environment--when you have to be scared to death even when you are at home? I had very few bad things happen to me--but that was five years ago and things have escalated considerably since then. Of course, some of the things that happened to me were no big deal to me, but the public would be shocked at what most of us consider just part of a day's work. A couple of years before I retired a student started throwing things at me--no, I couldn't identify the person (high school kids can be clever and it all becomes a game). The student ended up throwing nails at me. Of course, other students knew, but I knew that they couldn't afford to risk telling on the person. Administrators and deans didn't really know what to do--and didn't much try. I was able to handle the situation because I wasn't all that easily rattled, but how do you think a young teacher should handle situations like that? Why would you think young people would choose a career with such challenges and no support (in fact, criticism from administrators). At PHS a student put hand sanitizer into a teacher's drink--that could have been a Workmen's Comp case. A teacher at MHS quit in December after some sort of physical attack by a student (and, I believe, did require medical attention--Workmen's Comp). Nobody wants to acknowledge that some (and it is just a few) of these kids are hardened street criminals--their names have appeared on the pages of the PJS--and I believe they are emboldened (instead of helped and stopped) by an extreme laxness in District 150's discipline policies. How much of all that do you actually hear--not much because nobody wants to admit what's going on and because teachers are told not to say anything negativem at least, at Manual that's the case. I don't want another David Gorenz on the board. I know David and had great expectations for him. He has said over and over (a couple of times in an e-mail to me) that these are societal problems. The implication, of course, is that it's useless for anyone to try to solve the problems--it's just the way things are. David is a good person, but I don't think he really understands the extent of the problems--and certainly hasn't proposed anything to help the situation.
I completely understand what Work Comp is. Sharon - my comment was not meant to minimize the real hazards that District teachers face. It was meant to be a smart remark that at least Mr. Crawford had relevant work experience to an issue facing the District. As you may recall, there are many long standing work comp claims pending. Work comp coverage is the law and a cost of doing business, however, my impression is that the District has not done a very good job of managing this area. Well-managed organizations pro-actively manage work comp cases and attempt to reconcile employee claims in a timely manner, ideally without the need for litigation.
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