Just yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, praised Superintendent Grenita Lathan for working with different sectors of the community.
At just about the same time that LaHood was co-signing Dr. Lathan's $10,000 bonus, other members of the community were saying and feeling just the opposite...
Groups Want to Connect With Dist. 150
Despite a busy first year on the job some members of the local community say they feel a disconnect with District 150 Superintendent Grenita Lathan. They say collaboration with the administration has taken a backseat.
Peoria Park District Board Vice President Robert Johnson says neighborhood children were denied access to basketball courts over the summer at Glen Oak and Harrison schools after the basketball rims were taken off the backboards He says young people pack the courts to play pick up games but now cannot do so. Johnson says after a conversation with Dr. Lathan he was told the maintenance workers were tied up at another school and that union issues had to be worked out before the rims could be replaced.
Superintendent Grenita Lathan was not available for an interview, but a district 150 spokesman says budgetary constraints, staffing and other educational issues have taken priority for the administration.
Combs says he understands that more pressing challenges may be the focus for the district. But says with similar goals in mind of strengthening families and communities partnerships with the administration are important.
"It's sort of a sadness, it's like a dissolution on our part. We thought something was going to happen that didn't," he said.
But combs says that won't stop his group from finding another location for their community center. He just hopes the school district will be a partner. Source
At just about the same time that LaHood was co-signing Dr. Lathan's $10,000 bonus, other members of the community were saying and feeling just the opposite...
Groups Want to Connect With Dist. 150
Despite a busy first year on the job some members of the local community say they feel a disconnect with District 150 Superintendent Grenita Lathan. They say collaboration with the administration has taken a backseat.
Peoria Park District Board Vice President Robert Johnson says neighborhood children were denied access to basketball courts over the summer at Glen Oak and Harrison schools after the basketball rims were taken off the backboards He says young people pack the courts to play pick up games but now cannot do so. Johnson says after a conversation with Dr. Lathan he was told the maintenance workers were tied up at another school and that union issues had to be worked out before the rims could be replaced.
"I don't understand the reasoning, we should be trying to engage our young people so that they can have active things to do and that's basically what it is and all of us would have a good quality of life in our city," Johnson said.East Bluff Serenity Neighborhood Association President Jim Combs says he was thrilled about Glen Oak Learning Center which was built on some property his family once owned. Combs says a year after the school's opening he's disappointed.
"That building and the grounds around that building were supposed to be shared by the community and I got the feeling and I think a lot of us do in leadership around here feel that that isn't the case," he said.Combs is talking about space that was supposed to be reserved inside the school for a community learning center for adults where computer or G-E-D classes could be held or other neighborhood programs, a vision he says was shared by former District 150 school superintendent Ken Hinton.
Superintendent Grenita Lathan was not available for an interview, but a district 150 spokesman says budgetary constraints, staffing and other educational issues have taken priority for the administration.
Combs says he understands that more pressing challenges may be the focus for the district. But says with similar goals in mind of strengthening families and communities partnerships with the administration are important.
"It's sort of a sadness, it's like a dissolution on our part. We thought something was going to happen that didn't," he said.
But combs says that won't stop his group from finding another location for their community center. He just hopes the school district will be a partner. Source
13 comments:
District Watch will be meeting as usual at Monical's on Lake and Knoxville at 6 p.m. on Sunday, August 22, 2011. All are welcome.
Didn't Johnson get the memo that all AA leadears are supposed to fall in line behind Lathan or is her arrogance starting to grate on people?
Several years ago, during one of the neighborhood focus group events held at a nearby church, we broke into small groups of six or so people to brainstorm ideas to engage and get buy-in from people in the impact zone. Ken Hinton was in my group.
He told me directly that the state of the art building design would allow community groups to easily enter and leave meeting spaces without accessing other areas. This would be a neighborhood center where your little chess club or community group or hobby group could meet at no cost.
Ken said that the building design would easily allow impact zone members would be able to sign up for free use of the weight and exercise rooms. He described a system wherein a citizen would show his driver's license to sign up and be given a key or a code or card that would only work the door that was needed so that paid security would not be needed after hours to protect the rest of the building. Ken told our little group that the exercise facility would be available after hours after the student population was finished using it.
I was envisioning my own little free riverplex. I have been too busy to walk over and inquire but it doesn't appear that any after hours events are being held. After work hours, those cars hightail it outta there. I don't blame them.
So there the 25-ksomething million dollar investment sits unused until 6:30 the next morning when the trash man picks up the dumpster and shakes it several times, clanging it louder than the Liberty Bell. I never have to worry about oversleeping. They can put a man on the moon but they can't design a dumspter that empties under 140 decibels.
This is not what Koehler and Hinton and Manning and George Jacob said their vision was.
I was sad to see the disorganization that resulted in removal of the basketball hoops. This is not my idea of how things should be in my hometown. I love hoops! So much for trying to foster future Shaun Livingstons, A. J. Guyton's, Howard Nathans, Frankie Williams, Sergio McClains...maybe they're waiting to rehang the b-ball hoops until more dirt or sandbags can be trucked in to increase the size of the surrounding bunkers, in light of all the recent gunplay in the zone, (which Andre Bohannon would say really isn't happening in Peoria.) Maybe the hope is that the kids should be playing laser tag in preparation for their urban warfare careers instead of throwing up a few 'bows and working on their Skip To My Lou? Can't we Peorians even run across the street to that awesome La Familia Mexican restaurant without having to take a bullet? Please?
Dr. Lathan response to complaints:
Dr. Lathan says the district is working to improve communication with parents and community groups and discussed some of the issues community members are bringing up.
In response the the adult learning center Dr. Lathan says those promises were made without the money to back it up.
Dr. Lathan says, "Prior to my coming on board when the District approached the community about building Harrison and Glen Oak I believe some promises were made in reference to the community learning concept. And that the schools would be available and open after school hours and on the weekends. At the time that wasn't budgeted into our current budget and so we had to make some tough decisions. In the past couple years we have been operating in the deficit and we're trying to address the deficit. We're not trying to shut out the community and we know we need to fulfill the obligations that we made, but we have to do it in a financially sound manner."
Regarding the basketball issue, Dr. Lathan says they followed the policy that has been followed in years past, "Across the District, prior to my arrival again, every summer basketball hoops were taken down. Not only on the south end of town, but the north end as well. But once again we've had our custodial and maintenance crew working, getting our schools ready to open on Monday morning. So, we'll be working down to the last minute. That has been the priority and focus this summer, not to keep the community out or to keep the students from having access to our basketball rims and hoops."
Our church put in some nice hoops that are getting great use in the Heart of Peoria. We are also continuing our tutoring this Thursday at 6:30. We used to tutor at Riverwest, but now we are tutoring in our church classrooms. Any children who want some free tutoring can come to Imago Dei Church located on the corner of Arcadia and Bigelow.
... by the way, does the Park District really have room to talk about providing activities for youngsters?
When Hinton made all those promises about the new Glen Oak and the new Harrison, didn't most of us believe that they were empty promises? I'm certainly not surprised to learn that none of the promises have become reality. And Dr. Lathan is right about the money--150 barely has enough money to pay for the basics of operating a school. Of course, there has been money for a record number of employees going on fairly extensive trips this summer--not to mention, several trips to North Carolina, which included a group of P.E. teachers who went to NC for training. Please, convince me that P.E. teachers needed to go to NC.
The problem with the hoops is not that the kids use them. The problem is that the adults like to use them also. There were a number of complaints at Charter Oak and Mark Bills from the people who lived there. There were groups of adults drinking and using there car lights to play at night. Also, these adults would leave the courts trashed. Just throwing that in.
Drinking? Trashed? Loud late nights with car headlights? Say it isn't so. But it is.....
At the end of last school year, there were huge groups of kids playing basketball at Glen Oak. On weekends, many older "kids" were out there at ALL hours. Some items left behind:used condoms, 40 oz. beer cans, beer bottles, McDonalds sack and garbage. Now, if these adorable youngsters WANT to use these facilities, then THEY should clean up their FILTH when they leave. When you abuse something, expect it to be taken away. The taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for people to clean up after litterbugs and troublemakers...period.
This happened some years ago at Thomas Jefferson school on west Florence. My mother still lives on Twelve Oaks right across the street from TJ. TJ had a bunch of basketball hoops on a rather large blacktop playground. Out of the blue, guys (I don't mean kids but adults) started showing up and playing basketball. No big deal at first but then it started to go late into the night, using car headlights to light the court. Then more and more people showed up, most not even playing but just watching. Then the garbage started piling up and blowing across the field. Broken glass and bottles and cans everywhere. Needless to say, the hoops were removed and are gone to this day. Kids that wanted to use the hoops in the summer no can't. The life and quality of the neighborhood suffered as people got tired of headlights shining in their windows till 11pm at night. Many visits by the police yet that didn't stem the tide of drinking. The litter was unbelievable. I can fully understand why Glen Oak removed their hoops. It's one thing to have something for the community. It's another for people to disrespect the property and rights of others in that community.
Emtronics' and Anonymous's accounts are heartbreaking.
Peoria had a great basketball tradition, but a number of bad drunken apples who crowd youths off the courts and a community that won't address or think their way around this problem may lessen our ability to foster our youngsters' hoops dreams?
Aren't there laws on the books for late nite disturbing of the peace? Is it just too many people and too much paperwork for what's left of the already overworked beat officers who still haven't settled down to write the reports from the last 'shots fired' call?
If on-site trash containers could be installed as the number of hoops fans grow, would they be used? Who pays for the install and upkeep of rims & Pride in Peoria trash cans?
I guess it's the outdoor tradition that I love and miss the most. I remember seeing the parking decks lined with people as too loud music played at Gus Macker top men's court on Jefferson. I remember seeing the kids eyes grow as big as saucers as our Peoria professional and college players returned to their roots and balled with truly great playground legends from Rockford, Beloit, and Decatur...seeing the power of seven foot tall players not on television, but in real life...seeing the amazing dribbling stunts and passing. It was great to get to see folks who played in the pre-flash mob era like Roger Phegley and Hiles Stout out doing their thing too.
Yes, but I've seen the other side of the "basketball" dream "coin." I have watched high school students sink all their dreams on a career in basketball--big time--pro ball only to find out that they didn't get an education and selling drugs was the final option.
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