Deck chairs... Titanic... Change... Misdirection... and on it goes...

There used to be a plethora of blogs in the Peoria blogosphere that touched on salient issues daily. Back in the day, one of my favorites was the Eyebrows McGee Blog. I appreciate that Eyebrows didn't shut the blog down, once she stopped blogging. The following is an excerpt from a Wednesday, May 18, 2008, blog post from Eyebrows, entitled, District 150 Needs to Change:

"It would help immeasurably if the School Board and administration of District 150 would address the following issues:

OPENNESS: Operate under an openness policy. It seems to me that the District leadership has developed a defensive posture, which appears to be a combination of 1) a desire to discuss sensitive (but public) matters behind closed doors to avoid controversy; 2) a sense that, because sensitive issues are kept private, citizens "don't understand" the issues and so should accept the leadership at its word; and 3) a dislike of coming under criticism. There's also a history of crap PR-driven "justifications" for decisions the District leadership has made.

Solutions: Bring it all out into the open, kiddos. District 150 is a public body and the public has the right to run it. LET US. Be honest. Don't feed us a bullshit line about shorter school days leading to educational excellence. Tell us the budget is in dire straits and we have to make tough choices -- whether that choice is a tax referendum, closing certain schools, jettisoning administrators, shortening the school day, or just fiddling while Rome burns. That choice is OURS, not yours, and you might be shocked how many District 150 parents and taxpayers understand the concept of "tough choices."

Understand that your history of closed-doors and misdirection and PR-babble is going to take time to overcome, and only openness, forthrightness, and honesty will do that -- and that includes making a SHOW of honesty as well as actually being honest. You must avoid even the appearance of half-truths or secret knowledge or generalized obfuscation. 

(Also, if criticism makes you publicly defensive, neither school administration or public office is the proper place for you to be. Be defensive at home to your spouse or dedicated sounding board. You answer to the public at work, and the public is critical.)"  Source

"It's time to stop rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It has to change. It's time to change."   

 Laura Petelle

Knoxville Center for Success aka Suspension Center

Kohlrabi said...

"This was Laura Petelle's response to my email asking what was going into the Knoxville Building:"

"The BUILDING will house a new program, assuming that it's acceptable under the original program that allowed us to buy the building, which we're looking into.

This program will be "suspension respite" as well as transitional for students returning from the DoC or perhaps from other programs who need assistance in transitioning back to a regular school environment. Suspension respite accomplishes a few things.

First, students who look on suspensions as a vacation from having to go to school get a rude awakening. They STILL have to go to school, but now there's no fun at all. (In-school suspension is actually quite common -- I admit I served one myself in high school, for parking tickets of all things -- in districts that have the space to house such a program. Out of school suspensions are definitely a less-preferred option.)

Second, students who need behavioral assistance, etc., are able to get it -- suspending a kid for fighting for 10 days doesn't actually fix any underlying problems that are going on. This program will allow us to deal with underlying problems.

Third, it keeps students in the classroom and getting educated, even while they suffer the classwork and grade penalties that normally go with suspension, so while their grades suffer, we're at least keeping them from falling too far behind their classmates. (Since most students who end up suspended ARE struggling academically, and a suspension sometimes leads directly to dropping out as they decide now they'll never catch up.)

It's not intended to be a "stable" student population; it is intended to serve as an intervention and a stop-gap for those students who are in danger of expulsion, but who -- we hope -- can turn their behavior around with assistance."

Activists need your help to stay active

It was interesting watching the Block the Bonds group mount their campaign against building the museum Block. From what I was reading on the Peoria Chronicle, it looked like they really stood a chance of making a difference. However, when it came time for a vote, despite all of the cries for change and the words of support, folks went with the status quo. At the end of the day, the Block the Bonds actitivists were left crying for help.

Many Peoria bloggers and commenters could be considered activists. They are obviously passionate about the city in which they live, otherwise they wouldn't care enough to put together blog posts (or comments). While some blogger activists are being challenged to contribute more, others are actually putting their names on ballots in local elections and seeking board positions in the hopes of helping to make a difference in their community.

Laura Pettele is one blogger activist whose election to the school board was buoyed by the people who read her blog. Here's to hoping that other local activist bloggers and commenters can receive the same level of support in upcoming elections.

Can We Do a Better Job Taking Care of Our Activists?
Can someone be helped if they don’t meet you half way? I had a very intriguing conversation with a close friend the other day and she said that she supported President Obama. I asked, “How did you support him?” She stated, “I supported him by my approval of his campaign.” This really piqued my curiosity to dig further. After a few minutes of badgering her, I learned that she actually believed she supported the president just because she said she supported him.

The more alarming part of this revelation is there are millions of people in our community who feel the very same way. They feel that they support someone simply because they say they do. My friend never held campaign signs, voted, contributed to President Obama’s campaign, or participated in a phone bank; yet she confidently believed she supported him. How can we really believe we support someone (or something) if we never translate that endorsement into an action?

We have community activists that commit their efforts, finances, risk their freedom and reputation, and sometimes willing to lay down their lives to help others. But if we do not convert our moral support into tangible actions, we are as opposing to them as those who openly contest their ideology. When the possibility of failure emerges and a plea for actionable support is needed, the volume of the vocals reduces to a whisper.

Some of us continually pay for what we want but beg for what we need! What we need is self-efficacy, equality, and invasive education that roots out the cosmetic coverings of knowledge we have carried for generations. Activism is tough work. It frequently means working for people who don’t understand the real help they need. But as we witness activism, whether on large or small levels, we must give true support of progressive and effective movements or we can expect that at the end of the day, the activist will be the one crying for help. Source

Past time for the BOE to lay down some rules

Since the BOE voted to stop airing their meetings, information coming out about the District has been at a minimum (see … moratorium). Three specific reasons have surfaced as to why the meetings are no longer broadcast: control the message, tired of being bullied and the cost.

The fact that not televising the meetings is a cost saver has yet to be proven (even though I seem to recall BOE member Ross asking about it twice). However, it has become evident that the real reason for not televising the meetings is more than likely wanting to control the message, along with not wanting to publicize the level of discourse.

BOE member Stowell is correct that the District should care about the message that the public receives if the speakers make unfounded comments. But not televising the meetings in an attempt to “control the message” won’t work.

BOE member Petelle has speculated that perhaps allowing back and forth dialogue would allow the District to address the unfounded issues immediately. With discourse being at the current levels, in my opinion, back and forth dialogue in this type of forum could be a quagmire.

Sure it’s got to be hard being a BOE member on the end of a well researched issue that you have no knowledge of, delivered jabbingly (new word). However, you can’t deny that the District Watch Group has brought many issues to light that the BOE and the broader public were not aware of.

Mrs. Petelle’s intentions are good, but how many BOE members are really prepared to address the various issues that randomly come up from speakers? The majority of the commenter's at the BOE meetings are very well prepared. They have done the research, they have talked to people, they have handouts and they are passionate about that of which they speak.

Providing opportunities for members of the community, including employees, parents, and students, to have input in local school board deliberations is a very important part of conducting school system business.

At the same time, however, the BOE cannot effectively do its work and reach reasoned decisions if the public commentary portion of BOE meetings sets a tone of incivility and disorder. Thus, policies dealing with public commentary during official meetings of the BOE must make The Rules very clear...

The Rules

The Board encourages, welcomes, and will make opportunities for public comment on matters coming before the Board.
• All comments made during the public commentary portion of Board meetings will be limited to specific items included in the official meeting agenda.
• Individuals wishing to speak during the public comment portion of Board meetings must, prior to the Board meeting, have his/her name placed on an official list of speakers kept by the Clerk of the Board.
• Persons whose names do not appear on the approved list kept by the Clerk of the Board will not be permitted to speak.
• Speakers whose names appear on the list kept by the Clerk of the Board will be called in order and given a specific time limit within which to make their comments to the Board.
• Inappropriate comments, name-calling, profanity, the venting of personal issues, or other disruptive behaviors will not be tolerated.
• Civility will be insisted upon and enforced during all Board meetings.

Any individual or group of individuals whose comments and/or physical behaviors are deemed disruptive of Board business, and/or who engages in speaking on subjects not at the time relevant to matters before the Board, will be removed from the Board chamber and escorted off school system property. Source

If an issue is important enough for back and forth dialogue, perhaps the BOE member could discuss it after the meeting and/or place the item on the Agenda for a later date.

Give these volunteers time to do the research and get answers after the issues are raised and then hold them accountable based upon that feedback.

It's wonderful to see an elected official doing their job

I went to Ms. Petelle’s blog this morning - it appears all of her blogging friends have disappeared. Why is that? Ms. Petelle is one of the few members of the Board of Education who is not afraid to do what she was elected to do. In this instance alone she has proven to be one of the most conscientious, hard working Board of Education members in recent history. She should be commended for the homework she did and the way she laid out her thought process. I trust the decision she made in the end – because I saw her working through it. Good look Ms. Petelle.