Last night, the Peoria chapter of the ACLU of Illinois held its
51st Annual Meeting at the Ivy Club.
During the business portion of the meeting, they
presented this year's 2012 Sam Belfer Community Service Award to two Peoria education activists, "Terry Knapp and Sharon Crews, Peoria activists who speak out at Peoria District 150 School Board meetings, to hold the district accountable and compel transparency in the public interest. They recently spent $300 to obtain documents on class sizes using the Freedom of Information Act to determine whether students are receiving equitable educations. Information they obtained on student discipline led to discussion by board members." Source
Belfer Award Comments
by Elaine Hopkins
At every meeting of the Peoria District 150 School Board, two Peoria activists, Sharon Crews and Terry Knapp, speak out to encourage the district to be accountable to the public, the taxpayers, and the parents and children the district serves. They recognize the vital role of the public schools in fostering democracy. This year they are receiving the Peoria ACLU’s 2012 Belfer Award, for their activism in using free speech in the public interest.
Both are retired teachers in the district who remain committed to serving the public. They talk with people who know what is taking place in District 150, and file Freedom of Information requests to obtain documents to find more information that otherwise never reaches the public. They then share the information with the board and the public and speak about it.
They recently spent $300 of their own money to get documents on class sizes. A request for documents on student discipline spurred the district to begin issuing discipline information to the board, apparently for the first time. A board member then commented on the discipline information.
When Knapp and Crews speak, their comments are always well researched, and usually go beyond opinion to be based on facts. They also stand up for the rights of students and teachers, including the due process rights of those who have been fired or disciplined.
Knapp, formerly a science teacher, was the first member of the public to condemn at a board meeting the censorship of an editorial and cartoon in the student newspaper at Richwoods High School .
Crews, a former English teacher, read the district’s recent Remarkable Times newsletter and noted more than 60 grammatical errors there, which sets a very bad example for students in the district. Pretty remarkable!
The district has tried to silence them, by taking the meetings off live cable TV and refusing to webcast the meetings, though that could be done inexpensively by students who would benefit from the training.
The district arbitrarily shifts the times and places of the meetings between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and requires anyone wishing to speak to sign up before the meeting begins, to thwart latecomers.
The district arbitrarily cuts back the public comment time limit from 5 minutes to 2 minutes then 3 minutes at some meetings. At one meeting in a school gym, there was no sound system so the large audience could not hear what was taking place. None of these tactics have discouraged Knapp and Crews.
They are there at the sometimes long, boring and highly scripted meetings, watching, listening, and commenting on what is taking place, to encourage transparency in the public interest.
Hat tip to Diane Vespa for photo and comments.
by Elaine Hopkins
At every meeting of the Peoria District 150 School Board, two Peoria activists, Sharon Crews and Terry Knapp, speak out to encourage the district to be accountable to the public, the taxpayers, and the parents and children the district serves. They recognize the vital role of the public schools in fostering democracy. This year they are receiving the Peoria ACLU’s 2012 Belfer Award, for their activism in using free speech in the public interest.
Both are retired teachers in the district who remain committed to serving the public. They talk with people who know what is taking place in District 150, and file Freedom of Information requests to obtain documents to find more information that otherwise never reaches the public. They then share the information with the board and the public and speak about it.
They recently spent $300 of their own money to get documents on class sizes. A request for documents on student discipline spurred the district to begin issuing discipline information to the board, apparently for the first time. A board member then commented on the discipline information.
When Knapp and Crews speak, their comments are always well researched, and usually go beyond opinion to be based on facts. They also stand up for the rights of students and teachers, including the due process rights of those who have been fired or disciplined.
Knapp, formerly a science teacher, was the first member of the public to condemn at a board meeting the censorship of an editorial and cartoon in the student newspaper at Richwoods High School .
Crews, a former English teacher, read the district’s recent Remarkable Times newsletter and noted more than 60 grammatical errors there, which sets a very bad example for students in the district. Pretty remarkable!
The district has tried to silence them, by taking the meetings off live cable TV and refusing to webcast the meetings, though that could be done inexpensively by students who would benefit from the training.
The district arbitrarily shifts the times and places of the meetings between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and requires anyone wishing to speak to sign up before the meeting begins, to thwart latecomers.
The district arbitrarily cuts back the public comment time limit from 5 minutes to 2 minutes then 3 minutes at some meetings. At one meeting in a school gym, there was no sound system so the large audience could not hear what was taking place. None of these tactics have discouraged Knapp and Crews.
They are there at the sometimes long, boring and highly scripted meetings, watching, listening, and commenting on what is taking place, to encourage transparency in the public interest.
Hat tip to Diane Vespa for photo and comments.
17 comments:
Thank you, ACLU, for recognizing these two advocates for children's education. As retirees, they are our "voice." They make sense.
It is funny that they make speakers sign up before the meeting to speak. Why is it funny? How many times did we see Wolfmeyer (then president of her secretary's union) race over from her home so she could speak because something made her mad? She forgets that now, I guess, if she endorses signing up for speakers or you are out of luck. Guess she forgets the days of being in a union. Guess she forgot the days of televised meetings, so she could jump up off her couch and show up at the BOE meetings.
Congratulations to Sharon & Terry! Keep your voices out there!
Congratulations.
Congratulations to both of you! Thank you for keeping us informed!
Congratulations to both of you! Thank you for keeping us informed!
Congrats to Sharon and Terry. A well-deserved honor!
As I said last night, I had almost gotten used to Elaine Hopkins calling me Activist Sharon Crews on her blog and was almost ready to be comfortable with this award until I read the list of people who have received the award before me. I guess I have to hope that my 43 years of teaching in addition to these few years of whatever it is I do at board meetings, etc., may have taken me a little step closer to being an equal to those on the list.
For those of you who haven't seen the list and see fit to congratulate me, thanks! Terry, however, as union president and teacher did much to help teachers and students. Some have no idea how much he has done for young people.
Congratulations and thanks to Mr. Knapp and Mrs. Crews for all your hard work.
Thank you also to the anonymous that in another part of Emerge Peoria blog shared the link to the procedure to recall a board member (Check out the procedures in recalling a board member: http://www.ehow.com/how_6799992_remove-school-board-members.html ).
All of us in this blog must start seriously weighting this possibility of getting rid of those inefficient BOE members that have been sponsoring Granita’s arbitrariness. If we succeed at it, then we can postulate and elect members truly interested in bettering the education in Peoria. Please, let’s focus on this
Good luck in your recall efforts. If you're successful, it could be the first step towards reminding the board members exactly WHO they pledged to represent... and hint - it aint' the Chamber of Commerce.
Taxpayers get organized and focused.
I am very proud to call Terry and Sharon my friends!
HMMMMM I wonder why Jon hasn't offered his congratulations yet.
HMM - or anyone besides the 8 people who were there......
Predictions seem to be right, there is a bumper cro of sour grapes this year.
To the Anonymous that is two posts up (can't you people come up with something more original than "anonymous?). Not sure what you mean when you say 8 people were there. Are you talking about when Sharon and Terry received the award? Cause if that's what you're talking about that would be incorrect.
Hey look - Charlie Sheen!
So, did the Rev show up and hug Sharon and Terry liked she hugged GL? Is it true that the Rev's daughter calls GL "Aunt Grenita?"
Many people do not like Terry or Sharon's style of doing things, but I think that they prove that teachers in Peoria are truly the finest in the state because even after retiring they STILL are looking out for the best interest of students.
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