Important news story covered in hyperbole

Its the END of week six of the 2011 - 2012 school year and finally the "local" newspaper is taking a look at the fact that students and teachers in District 150 STILL DON'T HAVE TEXT BOOKS. It's unfortunate that the "news report" makes light of something as important as students not having text books. The "news report" is filled with hyperbole, so I have attempted to glean some facts: 

• It's Week 6, and some students still don't have all of their textbooks.
• In some cases, the books haven't even arrived yet from publishers. When will they get here?
• The books are actually here - at the district warehouse.
• When will the textbooks get to students? 
• "Hopefully, they'll be on the way soon," says district spokesman Chris Coplan.
• Administrators keep filling out requests for books.
• As of this week, students - in history and other disciplines at Peoria High - still don't have books.
• It's the same thing with other kids and courses at other district schools: no books. 
• What's the hold-up? There aren't enough books because there are too many books.
• "We just ordered so many textbooks this summer," says spokesman Coplan.
• The district underwent a wave of curriculum changes after the last academic year.
• The district ordered a half-million dollars worth of new textbooks, a much higher sum than usual.
• Many of those books still haven't arrived.
• In many cases, the books came in plenty of time.
• They're neatly stacked at the district warehouse on Lake Street.
• There are just two employees at the warehouse.
• There are strict rules regarding intaking requests and unpacking supplies and tracking orders and marking books and distributing texts.
• Teachers are trying to make do with alternative teaching methods.
• In some cases, teachers are running off copies of book pages for students.
• In printing off copies, the district is wasting time and money in replacing books that are already here
• "We're working daily to get them out," Coplan says
• The process isn't working right.
• Those still-on-order books someday might get here from publishers.
• When that happens, fear more delays.
• Taxpayers pick up the tab for these materials.
• It's a waste to see these books languish without delivery.
• It's a waste to see students languish without books.

U.S. Department of Education Investigating Record Number of Civil Rights Complaints

Department of Education is seeking to improve the quality of education for minority and poor public school students by aggressively launching civil rights investigations aimed at preventing district administrators from providing more services and resources to predominantly white schools.

Faced with public schools more segregated today than in the 1970s, the department is using the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to improve the quality of education for students from minority and low-income backgrounds. The department has outpaced the Bush administration in initiating civil rights probes.

Last year, Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced on the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday—the day that Alabama state troopers brutalized civil rights activists marching on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma—that the department’s OCR would significantly increase enforcement actions. Duncan acknowledged that over the last 10 years, the office had not aggressively pursued Title 6 investigations to improve the quality of education for minority and poor students.

The OCR received about 7,000 complaints last year, a record for the department. School districts are being investigated for a range of possible violations, including failure to provide minority students with access to college- and career-track courses, not assigning highly qualified teachers to schools with predominantly minority students and disproportionately placing such students in special education courses and suspending minority students.

The OCR has also investigated schools for failing to protect female students of color from sexual violence and not offering access to higher-level math and science courses.

They are also addressing the practice of assigning the least qualified teachers to poor and predominantly minority schools. By forcing school districts to end this practice, she hopes to narrow the achievement gap between whites and students of color, preparing more minority students for academically challenging courses.

The Education Department and education advocates are examining the higher percentage of minority students assigned to special education classes in many districts.

“Special education is another reflection of huge disparities,” says Daniel J. Losen, senior education law and policy associate at The Civil Rights Project at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Losen says school administrators often use subjective criteria to place students in special education programs, resulting in a disproportionate number of minority students being removed from the general classroom setting.

The department is currently evaluating why white and Asian students are overrepresented in gifted and talented programs, while blacks and Latinos are overrepresented in special education classes.

Based on an NAACP complaint, the OCR is investigating the Wake County (N.C.) Public School System for planning to assign students to schools based on their neighborhoods of residence. Critics contend that the plan would kill diversity in the school system and concentrate poor students, effectively resegregating the district.

“There’s a national trend of students of color being suspended from school for minor actions,” Browne Dianis says. “When we think about discipline, it was originally intended to cover violent acts.” Data show that African-American students without disabilities are more than three times as likely to be expelled as their white peers.

Too often, Browne Dianis says, schools remove minority children from class for minor infractions such as tardiness or talking back to teachers. She adds that in today’s schools, where standardized test scores are emphasized, a child can easily fall behind academically, and the likelihood of dropping out increases. “Once you drop out, the more likely you are to end up in the criminal justice system,” she says. Source

The impact of grants on some District schools and classrooms

A look at how grants provided by Peoria Public School Foundation (PPSF) are spent, will give you an idea of some of the different programs that are going on in District 150 schools (this year).

The Peoria Public Schools Foundation raises private dollars and secures grants to support educational initiatives. The Foundation works closely with the school district to help fulfill its mission but is a separate entity with its own governing Board of Directors.

Sterling: Digging Deeper — An opportunity for the 6th grade class to lead in the development of a community garden. The 6th graders will plan, design, and spearhead this effort to create a garden that will bring learners of all ages and grade levels together to achieve a common goal. The 6th graders will take the initiative as project managers by developing a timeline and task list that assigns all students, their families, staff, and community partners to join in the planting, maintenance, harvest, and sustaining of the garden. The long-term vision for Digging Deeper moves in to Phase II Kitchen (nutritional aspects of produce) during the 2012-13 school year and Phase III Organizational Development (entrepreneurial and philanthropic activities during 2013-2014.

Mark Bills: Re-align then Focus — This project provides two-fold opportunities to students regarding academic and behavioral success. The computers would be incorporated in the schools Re-align room to assist the transition from behavior re-alignment to an academic focus. Students who are referred to the re-align room have the opportunity to work through their challenges that have interfered with their learning or the learning of others in their classroom. This is for a computer in the re-align room where they will work on academic programs Compass Learning, EdMark, and Mind Reading (an interactive, self-directed emotion discovery program). GotFit Exercise Ball, Isokinetics exercise ball base and Mind Reading are the other purchases of this grant.

Calvin Coolidge: Stem Based Curriculum — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education encourages students to use their imagination to solve diverse problems in innovative ways. The proposed projects will present students with abstract problems with few guidelines or constraints. As the students move toward finding a solution, they must use the knowledge they have to define the problem further. Students will learn many solutions may exist to any given problem, but one may be better than the rest.

Roosevelt: Tales of the Heart Health Education — Students will examine emotions through a traditional favorite, Judy Blume’s Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, as well through Sharon Creech’s Love that Dog, Grade Nichols’ poem ‘They Were My People’ and the traditional ‘Monday’s Child is Fair of Face.’ They will use Harriett the Spy as the read aloud for this unit because, just as Harriett writes everything down in her journal, students keep a journal of what they learn throughout the year. Nonfiction text about body systems is supplemented with nonfiction biographies of doctors. Students summarize fiction and nonfiction tests, write information/explanatory pieces, and engage in collaborative discussions – all skills that will be used throughout the fourth grade year. Finally, this unit ends with a student project, class discussion and paragraph to the essential question: How do stories reveal what we have in common?

Richwoods: Researching in the 21st Century — The purchase of Grolier Online, the most comprehensive source of nonfiction online content will allow students access to information that will allow them to complete their assignments with current research.

Knoxville Center: Ongoing Individualized (and Group) Intensive Therapy — This grant would allow students the opportunities to interact with Licensed Professional Counselors on a weekly basis in individual and group settings. Individuals will have sessions with counselors, participate in activities that will foster critical thinking, cultural awareness of self, receive job readiness soft-skills and set goals, receive mentoring and counseling/group services.

Thomas Jefferson: Making Connections — Five Elmo’s and five LCD projectors to share between grade K-6. These items would help teacher’s project materials and website for the entire class or allow for use in small group work.

Hines: Technology for Communication — Purchasing 10 i-Pads for students with severe communication deficits and learning disabilities. Experts say iPads lessen the symptoms of autistic children, helping them deal with life’s sensory overload. This will increase their participation in daily classroom and school activities. The goal for the school is to have an iPad lab for classroom use as well one I-pad assigned to each student with special needs. They are asking their PTO for the applications/software if the funding request is made.

Woodruff: Technology Application in Alternative Education – Two smart boards, two projectors, three Elmo’s. Currently the school has two mobile smart boards planned to serve 17 classrooms. This grant is for two additional mobile smart boards for those 17 classrooms. Smart boards provide instructional opportunities that are essential in engaging students who have not been successful in educational settings.

Lindbergh: Compass Learning Computerized Reading and Math Interventions — The Compass Learning Odyssey suite of learning solutions includes lessons and activities that are based on current and confirmed research about the way today’s students think and learn. Odyssey curricula for middle school students facilitate response to intervention, differentiated and personalized instruction, and formative assessment that helps drive data based decision making. With data compiled from NWEA test scores, students will be given individualized instruction and interventions will be put in place to improve test scores and increase student’s achievement.

Trewyn: Accelerated Math – Funding for Accelerated Math Program at Trewyn. Licenses and Training, Access to 400 students, 1 scanner and scan tron cards).Source

Apparently the Homies are not fit to be District 150 bus drivers

On any given day, drive through town and you will see hundreds of people wandering the streets, out of work. Many of these people are graduates of District 150 schools. None of these people are fit to drive a school bus for District 150. Apparently the bus driver pool here in P-Town is so low, the District has to bus bus drivers into our City.

Interesting concept, will these bus drivers live in Peoria for the term of their contract (90 days)? Who will pay for their room and board? I suppose if First Student is getting $280 per day, per bus driver, they can afford to pay the drivers a decent enough salary to leave their homes (and family) and come to Peoria. Something about this is just not right...

District starts contracted bus drivers a week early

Immediate busing needs have prompted Peoria District 150 to enter into an agreement with a private contractor one week before originally announced.

First Student — based in Naperville with a facility on Airport Road — began providing drivers for District 150 buses on Sept. 20, about a week ahead of Monday’s originally agreed-upon start. According to Bob Rutkowski, area general manager for First Student, 12 drivers have come to Peoria from out of the area with more on the way.

“We are currently running 12 routes for District 150,” Rutkowski said Monday. “And they have asked us to take an additional five (routes) starting next week.”

Although no signed contract is currently in place, District 150 comptroller Dave Kinney said the District is asking First Student for a contract of 90 calendar days (58 school days). The school district has agreed to pay $280 per day per driver.

At the start of this school year, District 150 reduced its bus routes in a plan that estimated savings at more than $600,000. Source

High school reform and vocational education, the Woodruff model

The school reform movement is well under way in Peoria. First it was the Manual Academy model and on Monday, September 27, 2010, immediately before the regular meeting of the Board of Education, the Superintendent and staff of the new Woodruff, will introduce the public to the new Woodruff Career and Technical Center.

Enrollment in the Woodruff Career and Technical Center is limited to Peoria High School students for the first year of the Center, but it will open district wide next year. Additionally, 50% of the space in the building will be used for the alternative program; safe schools component; and an expanded career and technical curriculum.

As changes take place, if we don’t see information regarding the change going before the BOE or the greater public, we can’t help but wonder, who is coming up with all of these grand ideas and what are the rules. Federal rules and regulations surrounding turnaround/school reform is the driving force behind these models. Both the Manual Academy model and the Woodruff Career and Technical Center model have framework that is established by the Department of Education.

The Center for Law in Education's Vocational Opportunity for Community and Educational Development (VOCED) Project has worked to ensure that federal vocational policy - including the 1990 Perkins Act and the 1994 School-to-Work Opportunities Act - embraces these principles and promotes serious, school wide academic reform. An overview:

High School Reform, Including School-to-Career Programs

For too many students, our high schools are not working. Many drop out. Others stick out it out for the diploma, but feel that they are just marking time. Too many emerge without the high-level academic skills we say all should have and without adequate preparation for further education and successful careers. This is the unfortunate but natural product of a century old high school system based on the premise that only some students can learn to high standards.

Vocational education in particular has long been criticized for channeling some students - - particularly low-income and minority students -- away from academic achievement in return for a promise of specific technical skills that too often are rendered obsolete by rapid changes in labor markets, job requirements, and youths' career goals.

Moreover, in low-income communities, the problem is not just inadequate skills but insufficient jobs that use those skills. On the other hand, if infused with high academic content, vocational education and school-to-career programs have a great deal to offer schools.

Teaching methods traditionally used in vocational education -- active learning, students' demonstration of skills through a project, and coaching relationships, for example – are at the heart of what we now know, from educational research, is good academic instruction for students.

We have worked since the early 1980s to improve/promote the following principles:

Quality. Programs should develop the use of high-level academic and problem-solving skills in authentic settings for all students, including the same academic skills expected for all students and the prerequisites to ensure they are not cut off from the option to go to four-year colleges.

Instead of just training students with the skills needed to carry out one narrowly defined job, vocational programs should provide students with strong understanding of and experience in all aspects of an industry. This includes planning, management, finance, labor, principles of technology, technical and production skills, community issues, and health, safety, and environment as it affects that industry.

Programs should enable students to contribute to the development of their communities by exploring community resources and needs and getting involved in projects and enterprises which help make significant contributions to meeting those needs.

Equity. Every student should be provided with equal access to all components of high quality programs, with a full range of supplementary services and modifications he or she needs to succeed in the most integrated setting possible.

Participatory Governance. Students, parents, teachers, and community members should participate fully in all significant aspects of planning, implementing, and program assessment.

The VOCED Project also assists those in the field -- including advocates, schools and education agencies, and parents – in reforming programs and implementing these principles.

Related article: A Key Element of the Perkins Act and the School-to-Work Opportunities Act

Title 1 helps give every parent a voice in their child's education

I have been watching closely as President Obama reviews NCLB and makes revisions. The part I am particularly concerned about is Title 1 as it relates to parental involvement. So far, he has left it alone and I am hopeful that he will continue to be hands off, because it has several components that could actually give schools some help in making a difference in increasing parental involvement.

ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS (for NCLB accountability purposes, charter schools are treated like all other public schools, as they are public schools) are required to have Title I services that include meaningful parental involvement policies (agreed upon by a parental advisory group) and school practices that lead to increased student achievement. I personally believe that development of parental advisory groups are important in urban (inner city) schools, because middle class parents are usually in governance roles (e.g. PTO), even though the larger population is low-income parents, who for what ever reason, are more than likely not inclined to be members of a school's PTO.

State: Channing violates federal parental involvement law

ELGIN — Channing Memorial Elementary School in Elgin is in violation of the parent involvement requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

ISBE’s findings were presented to the Elgin School District U46 Board of Education by Channing parent Krista Badani at Monday night’s regular board meeting.

Badani, of Elgin, is one of 59 parents who filed a complaint with ISBE in February that the school was not involving parents, a requirement to receive federal Title I funds. That was after “parents did everything within our means to bring attention to the problems and get the district to comply with these federal guidelines,” she said.

They joined the U46 Citizens Advisory Council’s Committee for Family and Community Engagement; spoke to the district’s director of communication, chief of family and community engagement and school board; and sent emails and copies of Title I requirements for parent involvement to Gonzalez and U46 Superintendent Jose Torres. They also met with officials from the Kane County Regional Office of Education and sought guidance from ISBE, according to Badani.

“What astounds us most is that even when parents follow protocol and the chain of command, remain polite, and bring forth data and evidence of wrongdoing, this administration and the school board continue to fail by their inaction. … Somehow along the way, the administration has forgotten that this is about what is best for the children and families at Channing, the lowest-performing school in the district,” she said.

Knew about concerns - Torres admitted Monday, “We had heard concerns about Title I parent involvement. We believed they had been addressed.”

No Child Left Behind makes Title I funding available to provide supplemental instructional services for specific students — or entire schools — who have been identified as failing, or most at risk of failing, to met state standards, according to the ISBE website.

And it agreed with parents Channing is in violation of No Child Left Behind by not having a parent involvement policy, a parent-school compact developed with parents or Title I meetings.

30-day deadline - Those findings give the school and district 30 days to ensure parents are part of the school support team, develop a written parental involvement policy with parents and revise its parent-school compact to include input from parents. The document also gives U46 three months to prove a Title I meeting was held at the school and that parents were involved.

Gonzalez took a leave of absence from the school in February, and U46 announced he would not return as principal in mid-March. The district has declined to comment on the reason for his leave and said he has asked to be reassigned to a classroom for next school year. Badani said parents have not gotten a response from the district about Title I funds, but it has met with Stewart.

“She, in turn, has shown us that she is indeed excited to work with families to achieve great things at our school,” she said. “We are confident that together, with her leadership and actions, we will get there.” Source

Parents have their finger on the trigger

New legislation, called the parent trigger, which is being proposed in more than 20 states, including New York, is about to make your role as an engaged parent a lot more complicated.

What is the parent trigger? California was the first to adopt it. There, it works like this: parents whose children attend a failing school can band together. If 51 percent of them sign a petition, they can demand, and the district must provide, a new set of administrators to run the school. In Texas, parents can pull the trigger after two or more years of an “unacceptable” performance rating. In Connecticut, a slightly different iteration of the parent trigger recently became law — this one calls for powerful parent councils to help run the school.

The trigger creates an opportunity for parents to be heard. Parents at schools that “pull the trigger” will be deciding among school operators. Some will offer bilingual education, others will offer inclusion classes, an international baccalaureate program, Advanced Placement courses or vocational training. Thirty years ago, “parental engagement” meant signing a report card once a quarter, attending the yearly parent-teacher conference and making a batch of brownies for a bake sale.

It turned out, though, that the good old days weren’t so good for low-income students. So over the last 15 years, parents were first invited — and now, in many places, are required — to participate in choosing what school their children will attend. It’s a great idea, but on the ground, it’s messy, frustrating, imperfect and staggeringly time-consuming. Public-school parents must attend chaotic school fairs and crowded open houses, navigate confusing guides and rules about choosing schools.

Some wealthy parents, even those who favor public education for their children, opt out and enroll their children in private and parochial schools, where the admission process is often much easier. Savvy middle-class parents (especially ones with lots of free time, who speak English and have college educations) come up with a credible short list of schools they like, but in the end, their children may not be allowed to attend, because of space.

And sometimes the parents don’t even know that the “choice” they are making is a bad one. When researchers from the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington studied the school choice process in Hartford, they found that schools with the highest levels of parental satisfaction were often ones with the lowest levels of academic achievement. “You see this all over the country,” said Sarah Yatsko, a research analyst at the center.

We need to supply public-school parents with substantive training programs to help them figure out, for instance, what a good reading program looks like, what should be expected from a parent-teacher conference and how to ensure that elementary, middle and high school curriculums are preparing students for college. At the very least, parents need unbiased, accessible information about what solid research tells us works best in schools — even if they don’t have a computer at home or if English isn’t their first language. Source

Related article: Illinois Should Weigh Use of Parent Trigger

One place you will NEVER see me...

Bass Pro Shops. I refuse to give in to the hype, I’ve been getting my worms, rods and reels from Pressley’s ever since I was a little girl going fishin' with my Daddy. Besides, I’m too cool and too citified to be excited about a Bass Pro Shops.

Frankly, when I see the news reports of all the stuff and the décor, I’m a little embarassed that the coming of this monstrosity is such a big deal for the area in which I live.

I’m not mad at the folks who feel the need to go to the great outdoors amusement pro shop. Hey, do me a favor and come back here and let me know how many non-white folks you see working there.

Bass Pro Sued By Feds For Discriminating Against Non-White Job Seekers

Bass Pro Shops, one of the leading retailers of outdoor gear, is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allegedly discriminating against African American and Hispanic applicants in several of its stores, according to a suit filed Tuesday in Texas federal court..

Describing the lawsuit as both "major" and "nationwide," the EEOC alleges that the retailer discriminated against minority applicants, retaliated against employees who spoke out about what they considered unfair hiring practices, and destroyed internal records related to hiring. Certain non-white applicants, the agency claims, were not given jobs because they did not fit the Bass Pro brand.

"Bass Pro has been discriminating in its hiring since at least November 2005," the EEOC said in a release.

Minority job seekers, the agency said, were "routinely denied" positions as cashiers, sales associates, team leaders, supervisors and managers at Bass Pro stores. Managers at Bass Pro stores also made "overtly racially derogatory remarks" affirming the practices and noted that African American candidates "did not fit the corporate profile," the EEOC asserts. The alleged discrimination occurred at Bass Pro stores in Texas, Louisiana and Indiana.

Read the entire article here.

District 150's excuse for not having text books in the fifth week of the 2011-2012 school year

Even the best school in the District - Washington Gifted - continues to suffer from a shortage of text books. Finally in the fifth week of the school year, somebody in the local main stream media has decided to ask the Superintendent of schools about the textbook problem. From 1470WMBD:

Textbook delay in District 150

Peoria School District 150 Superintendent Grenita Lathan admits the district has been going through a case of what she calls "the T and T's"...transportation and textbooks. Lathan says there has been a delay in some books and materials getting handed out.

Comptroller David Kinney says District 150 bought nearly four times the amount of new material during the off-season than in the last two years combined. Kinney says that's a bunch, "We also bought a bunch during a summer that had nine weeks." "(With) the last school year starting a couple of weeks late and then four snow days, it was a very short summer," says Kinney.

Lathan says there are other reasons for the delay. "We saw an increase in the number of kindergartners so, in reference to science materials we ordered, we did not have enough kindergarten materials so we sent those out," Lathan told the District 150 school board Monday.

"Also, we are implementing Scientific Resource Associates and you do not send those materials until the students are assessed and you know where they're starting," says Lathan. Lathan says 15 screeners have completed that work and now the proper materials can get to the students.Source

WHAT!!! Still no books!!

This is the start of the fifth week of the 2011-2012 school year and from what I am hearing, today is another day filled with copying chapters from the few text books the schools do have on hand, because the District still has not delivered text books to all the classrooms. Although my reports are from south of Forrest Hill, I wouldn't be surprised to find that they are also still without text books north of Forrest Hill. 

When I asked what are they being told and/or what is the estimated time of arrival; I was informed that Administration is no longer responding to such questions. WHAT!!

Come on main stream media, do your job, investigate, find out what is the hold up with the textbooks. I am sending this post to several members of the media, hopefully they will pick up the charge and investigate.

With a lot of help from Warriors, Lions slaughter Rams

This past Friday night, the Lion slaughtered the Ram. The Manual Rams lost to the combined Woodruff Warriors/Central Lions team 33 – 8.

Since the game, I have heard some Manual fans refer to the game as a disgrace, but they weren’t talking about the score, they were talking about efforts made to keep Manual students and fans separate from other students and fans.

I'm told that there were 15 barricades put up to keep the two schools separate.  Because Peoria High (Central) was the host school, it's fans were on the side opposite the main bleachers and had to use port-a-potties and a makeshift concession side, they weren't allowed on the other side to use the concession stands or restrooms.  No one could stand at the fence, where some of the most avid fans have stood for years - at every game.

I know this was probably done to be proactive about violence, but is not allowing schools to co-mingle during certain sporting events the answer? This type of set-up can't be fun for the students... lest we adults forget, sporting events are supposed to be fun.

Hey District #150 Got Books? UPDATED

Today marks the end of week four (4) of the new school year. For the last three (3) weeks, parents, teachers and administrators have been trying to let the community know that schools/students don't have books.

They are not just missing four (4) or five (5) books, all across the District, they are missing tens and hundreds of books. Copying chapters has become common practice and teachers are thankful that Administration has had more copy paper delivered to them (take it easy on those copy machines they need to last all year).

As we know, the main stream media won't cover the story and concerned citizens a/k/a/ inquiring minds want to know ... Got books?

UPDATE:  I am hearing from reliable sources that they are still waiting on textbooks.

District 150 students recent fight videos now playing on YouTube

I saw these student fight videos over on peoria.com. The fights appear to be on and near the grounds of Glen Oak School. This fight was more than likely brewing all day inside the school building and erupted once school was let out. I am reposting them here hoping that some teachers or adminstrators might be able to identify some of these knuckleheads and pull them in to help them resolve some of their issues.

The adults in the third video should be arrested for encouraging one child to "beat" anothers "a**" and you will notice that the adult female actually knocks one of the young girls to the ground, when she got advantage of the girl the adult was supporting. Again, these adults need to be arrested - this fight will continue in the neighborhood. Now parents will be looking to get at each other. The school can help in squashing this issue.

Videos removed. The videos can be found on Youtube (search on "legacychyck)

NAACP and League of Women Voters chides the District 150 Board of Education for lack of transparency in redistricting

At last night's meeting of the Board of Education,  Irene Pritzker, the President of the Greater Peoria League of Women Voters, spoke to the Board about the lack of transparency in redistricting the board voting boundaries. Donald Jackson, President of the Illinois NAACP, also chided the Board and Superientendent for not offering an opportunity for public input. Donald Jackson:

"I cannot believe that you would even consider a vote [on redistricting] without first presenting it to the community. You know that the NAACP is one of the authors of the consent decree back in 1987. We were one of the organizations that represented the plaintiff in that lawsuit and I do not believe in fact, I think the state law requires that you have public input on this before you change boundaries.

I know you are worried about the elections coming up in March, but if that was a concern, that should have been taken into consideration long ago. Please don’t tell me that well, the information is on the Internet, some of us don’t have the time to go and check everybody’s  Internet."

Thanks to Peoria Story for the recording of comments at the Board of Education meeting. Click on image to enlarge.

NAACP takes Dr. Grenita Lathan to task for her handling of African American employees

At last night's Board of Education meeting, the President of the Illinois NAACP, took Dr. Grenita Lathan to task for her handling of African American employees:

"... Long before most of you ever considered running for this board, the NAACP openly and loudly complained about the Districts performance when it came to African American employees in all classifications in the district from janitors to superintendents.

While we continue to be dissatisfied with performance based on a visual review of the districts staff, we are more concerned with what is happening to qualify long term staff that we have been successful in attracting to the District.

This administration has been in office for about a year and we have already lost two very strong very qualified African American females, with even more, as I am told, considering leaving the district and looking for positions outside the city of Peoria. I recognize that we have hired an African American Superintendent and I also recognize that she has recruited staff, African American, from other parts of the country. But history tells us that these are short term jobs. the very next better opportunity that presents itself to our Superintendent, it is very likely that she will leave the city of Peoria, she won’t be sticking her roots in the ground to stay here as long as we want our teachers and administrators to stay here and that is true generally of the people who are hired by top administrators, they too leave when the top administrator leaves as well, so again, we are talking about short term employees, not the kind of people that we are trying to attract to the city of Peoria, who will raise their families in this community and in fact, hopefully, install their families into our school district, because they believe it is a good school district. This trend must stop (clap clap)!

Soon you will receive a FOIA request from me asking to look at the numbers in terms of who you have hired and what the trends show. We are concerned about this problem and we wanted to pass that along in the hopes that you to, will be concerned about it."

Donald Jackson, President of the Illinois NAACP throws down the guantlet at last night's meeting of the Board of Education

At last night's BOE meeting, President of the Illinois NAACP, Donald Jackson, made it crystal clear that the NAACP was not pleased with Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Grenita Lathan. Here is what the NAACP thinks about the Lathan Administration's handling of Manual High School:

"We are not satisfied with what has been happening with Manual High School, Manual Academy. Given what I know, there is a perception in the community that Manual and the model is being systematically stripped of critical parts with the intent to destroy the model itself.

Manual has made great strides in education and we are not inclined to let you do that without a fight. I just want to put you on notice, that the community is aware of what is happening and we will not stand on the sidelines and watch you change the model and/or destroy Manual High School; the reputation of a good school.

I am just as proud of Manual as a graduate of Manual, as those people are of Central, Richwoods and Woodruff as well, so I am especially concerned about what appears to be a trend to attack the good will and reputation of the people who volunteer at Manual I know there has been some attempts to, how should I say, to pressure some of the advisory council to either give up the ship, to give up the fight but they don’t intend to so and we don’t intend to stand by while lawyers and other people attempt to attack their credibility. so you are on notice now that if this trend continues the fight is on with the NAACP."

Letter from the Manual Restructering Team to Dr. Lathan, dated last June, in support of Manual and Dr. Kherat. Click image to enlarge.

Coming soon to District 150 - copy paper shortage

For weeks now, I have been hearing from students, teachers and parents that there is a text book shortage in District 150. My thinking was that a few students in one or two classes didn't have a book. Au, contraire mon frere! Apparently LOTs of students don't have books.

Why is there such a shortage of text books at District 150? Do we have a lot of new students in the District? Does it have any thing to do with the shifting of 100s of students as a result of school closures? Is it because the District is getting new text books and they are not in yet? Is it because books sent back to the Ricketts Center at the end of last year have to requisitioned, and requsitions are backed up?

Folks have not been given an answer as to why the text books are not in the classrooms. The main stream news media in our town has not questioned why so many students don't have books (the book shortage must not be affecting students North of Forrest Hill). Regardless of what "reason" one may give, it seems to me that proper planning would have allowed text books to be in the classrooms by now.

The last couple of weeks, teachers have spent just trying to keep students engaged, because, of course, the books would be there any day (right?). Wrong. As of last week (the third week of school), some text book copying has started so that teachers can at least begin to teach the children (is that even legal).

Looks like the copy paper shortage will be coming sooner, rather than later this year. Who will pick up the slack when copy paper is needed? Teachers and parents, that's who.

Go to Church this Sunday with the Superintendent of Schools



Superintendent of Schools, Grenita Lathan spoke at the HOPE Christian Ministries Women's Day event, which was held at Grace Baptist Church, in late October 2010. The young lady doing the introduction of Grenita Lathan in the first video, is Sophia, the secretary to LaToy Kennedy. In the first video, Sophia's introduction ends at about the 6:32 mark.

The Superintendent gave a sermon on restoration, change and faith. She also passed out a CD that she produced that had "inspirational words", set to all of her favorite old time gospel music. To all of you 150 employees and followers who need just a few more words of inspiration from Dr. Lathan - enjoy.

Part 2

District 150 Releases Proposed Re-Districting Map for BOE Elections

Following the 2010 Census, Peoria Public Schools is planning to make some minor boundary changes to the three voting districts for the Board of Education. Below are the apportionment rules used to make the changes, the recommended map and the action item that will be presented and voted on during the September 12, 2011 Board of Education Meeting.

Apportionment Rules

• Contiguity
• Court Ordered Provisions: 1-3-3
• Voting-age Populations (Barnett Case)
• Equivalent Size (Baker vs. Carr)
• Balance dilution/packing of minority voters
• Compact (not-Gerrymandering)
• No splitting of precincts
• Recognizable boundary lines as much as possible

(click on images to enlarge)

Source

RUMOR - student stabbed at Roosevelt Magnet School

TRUTH - the student was not "stabbed", he/she was "cut" by another child with a box-cutter. The incident, from what I understand, did not result in a hospitalization, but it did result in an injury. Why didn't the public hear about this? Such an incident is not a matter of "privacy of the offender", as it pertains to child safety.

If you have a student that takes out a gun and begins to shoot another student, right away the shooter is identified and the name is released. Additionally, parents as well as students are informed by the alert system. In this instance, there was no alert given. Granted, a box cutter on campus, is no where near as dangerous as a gun on campus, but parents and the public still deserve some type of notification of the incident.

I am hearing from more than one parent, at different schools, that there is an attempt to keep problems of violence and discipline secret and within the schools (see school resource officers).Unfortunately, all schools don't have "school resource officers". The "secrecy" of this particular issue and the failure to notify the parents of a potential problem endangers life and safety of all students. I find this problematic, as it does not encourage public safety and poses a problem if this is District 150's formal policy going forward.

Safety cannot be a facade - I will say again, if parents know the school their child attends is not safe - it won't be safe, unless parents and students stand together to make it so. The schools will do what they can to appease parents, without addressing the root problems. Hopefully these Roosevelt Magnet School parents will get together and find some answers.

To keep our schools safe, parents will need to make sure their concerns are heard and addressed

I love this story about the family who stood up to bullies and helped make their child become a stronger person as a result.

It saddens me that the school would not act on behalf of the young lady while she was legally in their care. It’s difficult to watch the dad being deduced to going on the school bus and confronting the bullies. This story is a good example of how bullies impact entire families.

The whole riding the bus to and from school thing is something my family avoids; too much can happen on the school bus. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that if a child is a bully on the school bus, chances are they are also a bully in the school.

It’s imperative that parents talk to their children about what is going on in their schools and in their classrooms. If your child is telling you that a teacher is constantly reprimanding one or two children; if they are telling you another student called the teacher a name and the teacher did nothing; if they are telling you that nobody does what the teacher says; if they are telling you the teacher keeps giving out warnings and they are not learning anything, contact the school. In my opinion, such a classroom is not safe - this is the type of classroom that bullies can thrive in. More than likely the bully controlling that classroom is also an agitator/ instigator/bully in the cafeteria, on the playground and on the school bus.

Every time your child tells you that a classroom is out of control, call the school and/or send an e-mail. Stand firm and be persistent... and by the way, don't think you can do it without the situation becoming adversarial - you'll only be fooling yourself.

It's slow going, but schools are just now getting to the point where they take bullying seriously and are instituting anti-bullying policies. But they can’t stop there; schools must also enforce that policy and offer students the necessary interventions.

Come on parents; let the schools know that you hold them accountable for the safety of your student. Make it clear to them that we need for our schools to be safe and have a climate that is conducive to learning.

Related articles: Psychology Today, Encourage Your Child to Talk About Bullying; and Bullying law puts New Jersey schools on spot

A Remarkable season of discontent

I haven't posted on District 150 administration in a while, because I wanted to sit back and see how things were going. However, as I read comments on another blog, it's becoming clear that things are not going so well.

The reports of disorganization are not letting up. There are allegations of teachers not getting paid; errors in payroll; six and seven year olds lost on school buses; no textbooks; master schedules late coming into schools; teachers/principals terrified of the good Dr.; spies in schools; allegations of giving large contracts to friends and colleagues in North Carolina; rumors that black leaders are questioning decisions to hire and fire; key administration employees opting out AND NOW a petition to remove the BOE!

The petition doesn’t offer much information, but it is said to be sponsored by "Citizens Concerned about Peoria's Schools" and it is targeted to "Parents, taxpayers in Peoria, Illinois, District #150 School District" and it can be found here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/remove-district-150-school-board/

It will be interesting to see if this will gain momentum. Do you think the BOE will give a damn one way or the other?

Shhh... don't tell C.J. Summers about this...

He was just talking about how special it was that the Superintendent of schools out in Fresno was giving back some salary. The person in this post will be overseeing a new special district, but I bet we can still compare the Detroit/Fresno apples to the Peoria oranges.

New chancellor could make $1.5M overseeing district for Michigan's troubled schools

The first chancellor of the new statewide special district for Michigan's lowest-performing schools could receive more than $1.5 million in salary and bonuses over his four-year contract, if he meets all performance targets.

John Covington, the departing superintendent of the Kansas City, Mo., School District, will be paid a $175,000 signing bonus and a $225,000 salary his first year as leader of the new Education Achievement Authority.

His base salary grows to $325,000 in the second year. And if he meets yet-to-be-determined goals, he could make more than $425,000 in each of the last two years of the contract.

As a comparison, the top salary for superintendents of the nation's largest districts ranged up to $329,000 last year, according to a study by the Washington-based Council of the Great City Schools.

The contract raised the ire of activists and unions.

But Steve Wasko, a spokesman for Roy Roberts, the emergency manager for Detroit Public Schools and chairman of the EAA board, said the contract was necessary to attract "top talent to what may be the toughest job in the country."

Covington could not be reached for comment. For his first year, he will be paid $225,000 and collect a $175,000 signing bonus. The base salary increases to $325,000 the second year. For the last two years, he can make an incentive-compensation payment of $50,000 to $100,000 per year.

He's also eligible for a raise in years three and four.

The contract also includes a retirement plan with immediate vesting, a $15,000-per-year supplemental insurance allowance for life and disability coverage and an $800-per-month car allowance.

His first-year compensation and the EAA's initial planning year will be paid through a nonprofit, according to Sara Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder. It's unclear what portion during that first year could come from taxpayers. Ensuing years will be funded by per-pupil state aid.

Henry Duvall, the council's communications director, said about a dozen large urban districts are looking for superintendents. "If you want the top person in the job, you've got to give some kind of incentive," he said.

Keith Johnson, president of Detroit Federation of Teachers, said the level of pay disturbs him, considering DPS employees have been asked to take pay cuts and make a "shared sacrifice." Source