It appears the BOE is tracking curriculum changes

So, if you are not pleased with how it's going, be sure and let them know. The following is excerpted from an Jan/Feb 2012 article on the Illinois Association of School Boards website entitled "Reading: Pumping up the Basics"...

The reason why the BOE meeting schedule was changed (from the article)

In order to keep track of the curriculum changes that are being implemented, the District 150 board has modified its meeting schedule. While the board still meets twice a month, one meeting is devoted to business with a 10-minute slot allotted for teacher or student presentations. The other meeting allots from 30 minutes to two hours for individual program presentations and discussion topics. These in-depth explanations also give the community the transparency and information that they have been asking for.

The District’s literacy plan is COMPLETE (from the article)

With the beginning of the 2011-12 school years, District 150 embarked on an orchestrated quest to pump up its reading scores on the Illinois Standard Achievement Test (ISAT). The multi-pronged approach is supported by teachers and tutors in the classroom all the way up through the superintendent and the school board.

 “We really want the board to see how this is working; Becky (Lindholm) and Shameika (Sykes-Patterson) can go through programs with them and not be concerned about the amount of time allotted.” Board President Butler

The basics of the change involve a daily dedicated 90 minutes of reading instruction throughout the elementary grades and an additional 45 minutes of grouped reading work every day. While the 90-minute reading block was in place before, it has now become sacrosanct. No student can be pulled out of that 90-minute reading block — not for speech, not for band, not for anything.

Superintendent Lathan knows that in order to make a difference, the district — from the board down to the teachers — must follow the plan that has been created. “This has to be done with fidelity,” Lathan said. To achieve that fidelity in the classroom, the district is providing professional development for teachers and principals on the new balanced literacy program, doing walk-throughs in classrooms to observe progress and implementing coaching where help is needed.

The district’s ambitious three-year strategic plan shows much work remains to be completed by 2014. But the important strategy of creating a new literacy program is checked off as complete. Read complete article here…

State Representative Jehan Gordon - Racing to the Top

State Representative, Jehan Gordon sits on the Race to the Top committee and is working with the Illinois State Board of Education to ensure that Peoria schools are not overlooked. To follow is a short statement about her commitment to RT3.

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A strategic team has been put in place for RTTT. This money will flow through the Illinois State Board of Education and as a State Representative, I will be in constant contact with that agency and utilize every resource that I have in Springfield to best position our community for this phenomenal opportunity. This is a team effort and it will require hard work on behalf of many people to get this done. I am up for the challenge because the reward--our children receiving the kind of education that we all can be proud of--is the ultimate prize!

Read the entire statement here...

Hiring a New Superintendent - Some Appropriate Roles

I am trying to understand exactly what phase District #150 is in as far as hiring a Superintendent. The Search Committee has been in place for close to a year now (since last October); a school board member is currently fielding comments on her blog about whether the person should live in the District and/or whether the Search Committee has sent somebody forward who may have a "bias toward charter schools"; and the District has a how do you like em' survey where you can vote on which quality you want to see in a Superintendent.

I am hardly all knowledgeable about Peoria schools or the school District, nor do I strive to be. However, I remember reading an article on the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) website about appropriate roles and timing that school boards should adhere to as far as hiring a Superintendent.

The bottom line is the School Board is responsible for setting the criteria for and hiring of the Superintendent. Not the people who may have helped a school board member get elected; not the news media; and not a Search Committee. The article from the ISBA follows...

There are appropriate roles for citizens and news media in the hiring of a new school district superintendent. There also are some inappropriate roles that can make selection of a new superintendent a school board nightmare.

The problems arise when: interest groups publicly demand to interview candidates for the job and to express their opinions as to who should be hired, and/or the identities of candidates are leaked to the news media.

The first problem is sure to discourage serious candidates and likely to result in a mismatch between the superintendent and the school board. (If the board expects the new superintendent to be accountable to the board, then the board must do the hiring, not the teachers union, business community or local television station.)

The second problem creates embarrassment for candidates who had been getting along fine with their current employers and is likely to result in withdrawals, not to mention a reduced pool of candidates the next time that school board goes looking for a superintendent.

To prevent such situations from arising, a school board that is about to launch a superintendent search must clearly establish its role as the employer. School boards are elected to represent the public, and one of their most important jobs is to employ a superintendent. Interviewing finalists and selecting the one who best meets the school district's needs is the job of the school board.

Activities that are appropriate to an election have no place in the selection of an educational leader for the school district.

It is not appropriate, for example, for a school board to present candidates to the public and make a selection on the basis of a popularity poll. News media representatives who advocate public forums evaluating candidates confuse election campaigns with the employment process.

By the same token, news media representatives who treat candidates for the superintendency like public celebrities create a reputation for their school districts that discourages successful administrators from becoming candidates.

To accommodate those eager for involvement and preclude unreasonable demands, the school board should establish procedures for ascertaining the views of the community in establishing qualifications and standards for the superintendency. There are many ways to seek these views, including surveys, committees, public hearings, and just generally listening to what people say they would like in a new superintendent. Newspapers and broadcast media can play a key role by encouraging interested people to speak up and publicizing different points of view as to what the district needs.

However, public discussion of what the district needs in a superintendent must come long before the pool of applicants is narrowed down to a few finalists. Identifying desired qualifications and characteristics should be an initial step, for this information plays an important part of the board's advertising to solicit candidates.

During the final stages of the selection process, there probably are key persons in any community that a prospective superintendent might want or need to meet. Matching a superintendent with a community is usually a two-way sales situation, so the community must sell itself to the candidate as well as vice versa. A school board might arrange for two or three finalists to meet key school-community leaders.

A school board might also provide a public explanation of the consequences of inappropriate procedures. A mismatch between the job and the person ultimately hired results when candidates receive a distorted picture of who the employer is. And when news reporters use personal contacts to learn the identities of candidates for the superintendency and publicize their names and their current employers, candidates become leery of applying for the job--including perhaps the very one who would have been best for the district.

School boards, community leaders and news media should work together in their appropriate roles in seeking the very best educational leader for their schools.

Source

Related reading: Will the new Superintendent Support Charter Schools?, Superintendent Search Committee Appointed

Will the new Superintendent support charter schools?

A recent article about the June 2010 retirement of District 150's Superintendent (Ken Hinton), got me to thinking. With the face of this community and District changing so much, what kind of attributes should the new Superintendent have? Getting some type of Community input on the hopes for the new Superintendent will go a long ways towards buy in.

To accommodate those eager for involvement and preclude unreasonable demands, the Illinois Association of School Boards suggests that "the school board should establish procedures for ascertaining the views of the community in establishing qualifications and standards for the superintendency. […] However, public discussion of what the district needs in a superintendent must come long before the pool of applicants is narrowed down to a few finalists."

A head hunter has been chosen to assist the Committee, however I have yet to see where the Community will be able to give some input on this important position. Does the 10 member Committee appointed to review potential candidates cover the Community input aspect?

The 10 member Search Committee appointed to hire the new Superintendent consists of Dr. Andy Chiou, a local physician, who considers changing Peoria a "hobby". Dr. Chiou is thoroughly excited about the possibility of charter schools. Dr. Chiou, along with Glen Barton (retired Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, Inc.) also sit on the Governing Board of the District’s Community Foundation (Mr. Chiou is the Vice Chair). For those who are not familiar with the Community Foundation:

As you may recall, projected to open in 2010 is the Math, Science and Technology Academy (MSTA). The Academy will house 4th - 12th grade students interested in math, science and technology, with 450 students being selected using a lottery process. The MSTA is slated to cost $12 million dollars and will be a Charter School. The MSTA is to be housed at the current Adult Education Center on Moss Avenue.

The District's Community Foundation clearly has input into the hiring of the new Superintendent and have shown that they believe Peoria should be moving towards charter schools. As a result, is the 10 member Search Committee also looking for a Superintendent who will embrace charter schools, lottery systems and choice for parents? Is our community on board with school choice? Is our School Board on board with school choice? What impact will it have on the inner city? Does this explain why Edison is here to stay and why newly built schools are more like community centers? Can we afford it?

The District Community Foundation monies have been responsible for a lot of good that has happened in District 150, of course they want input. However, it is the School Board who should have final say over who is the Superintendent. The School Board was elected by the public to make the tough decisions. It would be unfortunate for this Community if any one group, other than those elected, had too much of an impact over what new Superintendent is hired.

The Community is crying out for transparency in the District’s finances. Since the decisions the District's Community Foundation make have such an enormous financial impact on the District, hopefully they too are being transparent about their plans for the District's future.

The District's Community Foundation plans need to be conducive to the District’s overall financial picture as set out by the Budget Committee and the Board - not driving it.

If we as a Community are opposed to school choice, charter schools and lotteries, now is the time to be proactive. Make it clear before the Search Committee of 10 sends forward a specific type of candidate.

Related articles: Hiring a New Superintendent – Some Appropriate Roles; Obama vows to double funding for charter schools; Our View: Give charter school a shot; District 150, BU look at partnership, STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) program."; District 150 works on charter school, opening in 2010, slated to cost $12 million; Word on the street: Charter schools a hot topic; Op-Ed: Save money by eliminating Illinois' cap on charter schools; Inner-city culture and the charter school self-sorting effect; Superintendent search committee appointed.