Still trying to understand it all...

Pam Adams wrote on February 14th, that it was illegal for District 150 to sell property to a charter school.

District 150 is selling the buildings to the county, which will then sell them to the charter school because school laws prevent the district from selling the buildings directly to the charter school.

pjstar February 14, 2012 

• On Feb 14 the District 150 School Board voted to sell the property to Peoria County. 
• On Feb 16 State Representative Jehan Gordon introduced legislation to make it legal for a public school to sell property directly to a charter school. 

HB5659 Introduced 2/16/2012, by Rep. Jehan A. Gordon SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: 105 ILCS 5/5-22 from Ch. 122, par. 5-22; and 105 ILCS 5/5-24 from Ch. 122, par. 5-24 Amends the Trustees of Schools Article of the School Code. In provisions allowing a school board to sell property to another school district in the manner provided in the Local Government Property Transfer Act, specifies that another school district includes a charter school. In provisions concerning a petition requesting the sale of school grounds and buildings to another school district, specifies that another school district includes a charter school, and makes conforming changes. Effective immediately. 

Read the entire bill here, the changes to the bill are underlined.

Over 200 people in attendance at tonight's BOE meeting...

in protest of the latest reassignment of principals. Update to come.

Should schools offer incentives for good behavior/parent participation?

Did you know that some schools in District 150 are now giving school "bucks" to students who exhibit good behavior? With these bucks, you can go to the school store and purchase everything from Doritos to pencils to entry to the school's basketball game.

What's considered good behavior? Oh, stuff like... turning in your homework = 5 bucks; incomplete but turn in homework = 2 bucks; respectful in class = 6 bucks; helping teacher = 10 bucks; being quiet in class = 1 buck each. Depending on exactly what the school store is stocked with, these bucks can be a teacher's best friend. Get some good junk food like hot Cheetos or pickles, you could possibly get some bad kids to let you have the floor in your classroom. How about that?

One District 150 School is holding their parent teacher conferences today from 8:30 to noon, with a second scheduled time on Wednesday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. In my opinion, these are very convenient times - every parent should be able to make it, right? But wait, the school is offering an incentive... a free lunch at McDonald's to the first three classes that have 100% parent participation. This just might be the carrot the kids need to hound parents to get their behinds up to the school - the hopes of getting a junk food meal from McDonald's.

Sometimes these little food and gift incentives work to get students and their parents to do what they should already be doing, but they are a bandaid and soon lose their luster. I mean come on, kids go to McDonald's all the time. Time to offer something like Red Lobster. 

All sarcasm aside, I just think it's unfortunate that schools are now bribing people with junk food, in the hopes that they will be a responsible student, parent, and/or citizen and just wish we could come up with something else.

What do you think, should schools offer students and parents incentives? If they do, what kind of incentives should they be?

Teachers are praying that the Board of Education will show some sign of life

Lately life has kept me from blogging as regularly as I used to. However, I have not negelected to read your thoughts each day. As I look through comments, the resounding noise I continue to hear is based around this years Lemon Dance. Although, I'm not so sure it's a lemon dance, as comments seem to indicate that it's more a vindictive Superintendent...

Anonymous said... I can't believe no one has mentioned yet what the bully is doing now, firing the principals at Glen Oak and Irving. Their crime - applying for jobs in another district... I'm all for holding people accountable, which seemed difficult for former sups' when their friends/relatives were in positions, but let's be fair in the delivery. 

That doesn't even begin to address her actual delivery style - bully is right on. I don't remember there ever being a class in college called "Leadership from the Top Down" or "Because I Said So," but apparantly Dr. L found a class like that and then minored in "If I yell at you and demoralize you, you'll listen." Oh and supposedly she's been telling people she's not going to allow public comment Monday night, possibly due to the backlash of her wanting to fire these 2 administrators (again, not the one's that deserve it) and their assistant principals...  

Dr. L has proven in just 2 short years how vindictive she can be. I'll fight and take the risk if my students are being impacted, but so far they are sheltered from all of this mess. The new curriculum objectives are good, everything else about her sucks! Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Comment after comment seemed to back up the sentiments of the Anonymous above; the sheer astonishment that main street media had not picked up on the current upheaval within District 150 based around the rumor that the Superintendent will be sending Glen Oak  principal, Annette Coleman and Irving Principal, Kevin Curtin back to the classroom. It is has been difficult to read the sheer pleas from Anonymous teachers, begging any Board member who may be reading the blog to stop the Superintendent from her latest cuts...

Anonymous said... Lathan has her claws out and is directing them towards two principals who have dedicated many more years to the youth of Peoria than she ever will. Both apparently tired of her insanity and ego-tripping and dared to apply for a principalship outside of Peoria to get away from her bullying. Both are now being recommended by her to be returned to the classroom due to "poor leadership". It is funny that this poor leadership did not surface until they both decided to try to save their own mental health and get away from Psycholathan. 

If you know Annette Coleman or Kevin Curtin, you must know how outstanding both are in their schools as well as this community. To think that Lathan has made their lives so intolerable that both made a choice to leave 150 is nearly criminal. Something needs to happen in order to stop this woman from destroying the good people who are actually in the school buildings working with Peoria children.

All Lathan has done is tie the hands of principals so no punishment can be given then walk the halls, poke her head into some rooms, deem all teachers she sees as unsatisfactory due to student behavior, and close places like Garfield where absolutely wonderful things were happening. I'm pretty sure she didn't bother to walk those halls before she said, "Close it!" 

I pray the board can actually see that the crime of this recommendation has nothing to do with Coleman and Curtin's leadership and everything to do with hers! Sunday, February 19, 2012 

Anonymous said... That would make 4 excellent principals she has chased away. This must stop. The BOE has to take their heads out of the sand and save this district! Our children deserve better than this! With Lathan, it isn't about the students...it's about her way or the highway. Please, the good, intelligent people on the BOE...look into all of this! Sunday, February 19, 2012 

Anonymous said... Please be sure to include the loss of Paul Monrad, assistant principal at Glen Oak, in your count of lost talent in 150. His contract has not been renewed and he will be leaving the district at the end of this school year. Yet another unbelievable loss for our students. Sunday, February 19, 2012

Just trying to understand it all...

What I know: Quest Charter Academy is a public charter school that is within the boundaries of Peoria Public School District #150. Reminder: Quest is not a private school, it is a District 150 public school.

What makes Quest Charter Academy a different District #150 public school, is a charter/contract that allows a separate, non-elected board of citizens (Peoria Charter School Initiative), to utilize federal tax dollars that District #150 receives, to support their vision of a District #150 public school. However, in every other respect, Quest is a public school that sits within school taxing District #150.

Peoria Charter School Initiative is seeking to expand Quest Charter Academy (a District #150 school) and would like to purchase two school buildings from District #150 for $150,000 each.

click image to enlarge

Rationalizing: Taxing District #150 is selling the buildings to Peoria County, which will then sell them to charter school District #150 because school laws prevent the District from selling the buildings directly to the charter school District #150. Huh?

Why all the convolution?

The saga of Mary Davis continues...

and she ain't taken no prisoners. 

I remember back in the day when Mary Davis was sitting to the right hand of Ken Hinton. From my vantage point, they appeared to have a good working relationship and he handled her with respect. Even though she didn't name Hinton in the suit referenced below, reading about how she is now saying she was discriminated against while under his watch would be laughable, if it wasn't so sad.

click to enlarge

This suit has been brought with Davis knowing that Peoria being the special place that it is - she just might win this thing. After all, precedent has been set on claims of reverse discrimination against District 150.

It's true...

Bodyguard Houston is dead. I knew Whitney when she was the ONLY black model who was in Seventeen Magazine. Seeing her face in Seventeen, made all the difference for me as a little black girl, who didn't' see people who looked like me in magazines or on TV. For a long time I didn't respect her as a singer.

My daughter knew Houston through her movies and loved the movie "Bodyguard" with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. She called Whitney, "Bodyguard Houston" for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately Whitney didn't have a bodyguard tonight and now she is dead. Rest in peace Whitney, you have been tired for a long time. RIP.

As a person who has followed Houston's career since she was a fresh faced teenager in Seventeen Magazine, in my opinion, the beginning of her downward spiral was when she met Clive Davis; and as far as I know, Bobby Brown was nowhere around at that time.

How Will I Know

"How Will I Know" is a song recorded by American recording artist Whitney Houston for her debut album, entitled Whitney Houston, which was released in February 1985. It was released by Arista Records in November that year, as the album's third single. Composed by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, the song was originally intended for Janet Jackson, but she passed on it. Houston then recorded the song with altered lyrics and production from Narada Michael Walden. An up-tempo dance song, the lyrics speak about the protagonist trying to decide if a boy she likes will ever like her back. 

"How Will I Know" received mainly positive reviews. The song became Houston's second number one single on the United States Billboard Hot 100. It spent two weeks atop the chart and also became Houston's first chart topper on the Canadian RPM Singles Chart. In other regions, the song was successful, reaching the top ten in in Sweden, Norway, and United Kingdom and the top twenty in the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland. 

The song's music video features scenes of Houston dancing in a strikingly designed setting of video screens and colored partitions. The music video gave Houston exposure to the teens and MTV, a feat which the black artists had traditionally found tough to achieve. It also received nominations at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards in the categories of Best Female Video and Best New Artist in a Video, winning the former category. The song has been performed on many of her tours including Greatest Love Tour (1986) and her recent Nothing but Love World Tour (2009–10). "How Will I Know" is also featured as a remix on Houston's compilation album, Whitney: The Greatest Hits (2000), whereas the original version is featured on The Ultimate Collection (2007). Source

What happened to all of the shooting that was going on in Peoria?

Have you noticed that you no longer read about shootings in the local news paper or on the blogs?

If the PPD has done something as miraculous as stopped all the gun crime we had been experiencing, one would think they would have a press conference. Now that I think about it, the reports coming across the scanner seem to have thinned out ever since the Mayor's State of City Address, wherein he stated that the Feds were coming to town to help with the gun problems.

Smith & Wesson in Race for the Cure Pink

Don't get me wrong, it's a good thing if shots are no longer being fired in Peoria and gun crimes are down, but come on - do we really believe that with all of the shooting that had been going on around here that it has stopped - just like that?

At first I was thinking maybe the shootings were happening during the times that I was not listening to the scanner. However, today I am listening and this story below about a burglary that JUST occurred, is an indicator to me that the people at WEEK are making their reports based off the scanner and they don't show any reports about shots being fired here in Peoria recently. Therefore, I am lead to believe that reports of shots being fired must now be coming over a secured channel and that we are not getting the full crime story. Kudos though to WEEK, they have some reports that I have not seen any place else...

Updated Feb 7, 2012 at 1:20 PM CST

PEORIA, Ill. -- A woman was robbed at gunpoint today around 1 p.m. in the 600 block of W. Main. Street. According to the police dispatch, a male suspect pistol-whipped the victim and took a large amount of money. The suspect then fled the scene on foot.

When comments from SPAM make the blog...

When you have a blog, you find that sometimes interesting comments get caught up in the spam filter. While most of them are truly spam, from time to time, there are some that make you go hmmm.

I continue to get comments from a person who allegedly has info about the principal's meetings that Dr. Lathan conducts. Apparently there is a good deal of berating of principals going on and something about the use of a microphone. Another one of the more recent comments that caught my eye is that principals are being berated for to many students receiving an "F" grade. 

As I read through the comments on the original San Diego Unified piece, in which an administrator accused Dr. Lathan of a lack of focused leadership, I noticed this comment from the Editor of the piece:

"... the district had plenty of funding to provide training for both teachers and principals. Largely thanks to the influx of federal stimulus dollars, the district was in the rare position of having enough money to provide training to just about everybody who needed it.

For once, the problem wasn't funding, but a lack of focused leadership. The training was there, but many teachers and principals didn't take the district up on it, and weren't required to."

Although that article was about inclusion, it had some interesting parallels to what I was hearing about the roll out of District 150's new gifted program. However, it left me wondering about what is going on with inclusion in District 150? Are students needs being serviced? What about the low achievers, for whom summer school is no longer offered? Are the "F" grades a result of those students not being able to keep up the pace without extra help? 

I remember hearing at one time that Glen Oak and Harrison Community schools would be year round. A year round school would certainly give the slow learners the opportunity to catch up. What has happened to that plan? Didn't the District receive enough federal stimulus dollars to implement such a program? 

Word is also out that teachers are now responsible for writing their own special education IEP's and holding their own IEP conferences. My question is, do all teachers have training in the area of students with special needs and more importantly - do they have the time? Special needs could range from students with learning disabilities, to downs syndrome, to true mental retardation. I personally consider all of the above serious stuff. If I were a parent with a special needs student, I would want a professional trained in giving a diagnosis, not just some rank and file teacher. 

One can't help but notice, that so much of what is said to be going on in 150 sounds EXACTLY like the complaints coming from San Diego. Major changes, no training and no mandates from the Board. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but the Superintendent does not operate in a vacuum,  the Board is just as responsible for focused leadership as the Superintendent.

This talk show host does not like certain black Republicans

... especially those who are sponsored by Operation Black Storm. I must admit, he is goin' hard on ole' girl and is quite disrespectful. Oh, yeah, heads up on the strong language and use of the "N" word. I took Thad's advice and looked up Operation Black Storm:

Patriot PAC has unveiled Operation Black Storm, a national coalition effort to unite the nation behind the 15 black conservative congressional candidates running in key districts around the country as Republican nominees.

Helping to lead the charge among the Tea Party and Patriot movement in America for substantive political reform, Operation Black Storm will fight to fundamentally reshape the makeup of the U.S. Congress.

Star Parker - CA-37, Ryan Frazier - CO-7, Allen West - FL-22, Isaac Hayes - IL-2, Marvin Scott - IN-7, Robert Broadus - MD-4, Charles Lollar - MD-5, Bill Marcy - MS-2, Michael Faulkner - NY-15, Bill Randall - NC-13, Tim Scott - SC-3, Charlotte Bergman - TN-9, Stephen Broden - TX-9, Chuck Smith - VA-3, and Vince Danet - US Virgin Islands are Operation Black Storm candidates, several of whom have received endorsements from conservative grassroots favorites Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Alan Keyes.

Did Gulley just say he WILL NOT be seeking to retain his seat on the City Council

Just fast forward to the 0:51 second mark...

... and who is this "we" he keeps referring to?

On the upcoming edition of CAPtions 1st District Councilman Clyde Gulley, Jr., tells host Andre Bohannon what is happening there, including the attempt to transfer funds from the Southtown TIF. Gulley also indicates what his future will be regarding the Council. CAPtions will air on Sunday, Feb. 5th at 5 pm, then again 10 days later on Wednesday, Feb. 15th at 7 pm and later at Midnight. It will be available on YouTube and FaceBook by Monday night. Hat tip Dennis in Peoria. 

Nancy Brinker reinstates funding to Planned Parenthood UPDATED

After making the decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood and making it clear that they would stand firm with the decision, today, the Komen Foundation has put on their big girl panties and not only apologized but they have decided that they will be restoring full funding to Planned Parenthood. The reputation of the organization has been irreparably harmed by these latest actions, but at least they have taken the opportunity to do the right thing. Susan G. Komen Founder and CEO Nancy Brinker, has said that she regrets that people felt that it was a political move.

click to enlarge

UPDATE: Nancy Brinker plays with words...

When the news broke that the Komen Foundation had issued an apology for its decision to stop funding cancer screen and prevention at Planned Parenthood. The apology was nothing more than an attempt to control the damage done to the Komen brand, but the traditional media nonetheless did the work for the foundation by reporting it as a reversal of the Komen Foundation's decision. But it's not.

A Komen board member confirmed that the announcement does not mean that Planned Parenthood is guaranteed future grants — a demand he said would be “unfair” to impose on Komen. So in other words, the foundation's announcement isn't reversing anything at all.

When pushed on whether this means the new announcement wasn’t really a reversal, [Komen board member John] Raffelli pushed back, arguing that Komen, in response to all the criticism, had removed politics from the grant-making process. “Is it really unclear that we’re changing the policy to address criticism?” he said.

Yes, it really is unclear. The Komen Foundation needs to state unequivocally that it will continue its long practice of working with Planned Parenthood; otherwise, this looks like nothing more than an attempt to try to change the narrative and the non-stop negative headlines about the foundation's politicizing of breast cancer prevention.Source

Santorum goin' to church in the hood

It’s campaign season, which is pretty much the only time we see politicians in the hood. Why do these guys come to our community? So they can get a great photo of them “keeping it real” with the Blacks. I’m almost positive if Santorum knew New York Times photographer Stephen Crowley would capture this incredible moment in a Florida church (click for larger image), he would have canceled his speech and avoided the awkward interaction with black kids who don’t give a damn who he is, and obviously have no interest in the sounds coming out of his mouth.Source