Local: D150 ready to cave, the insurrection MUST continue
I couldn’t go to last night’s meeting of the group of parents upset at District 50 for slashing a month of instructional time from primary school students (in daily 45-minute increments). I had to work.
In the days since the school board voted to slash the school day, there has been something of an uprising underway. Methods for replacing the board have been discussed. Suggestions include simply getting better candidates to run for the board, reducing board terms from five years to as few as two, electing the board all at once rather than staggered terms. The “doomsday weapon” in all this would be to demand a city or even a state takeover of the district, perhaps with educational guru Paul Vallas or his associates helping out.
No current school board members attended, which was wise considering the foul mood that D150 has created among parents. However, Bud Collier attended. He’s the former superintendent for Dunlap schools. Since his retirement, he’s been acting as a sort of go-between for Peoria city government and the city’s many school systems, the largest and most troubled of which is D150.
Collier came bearing a message: Stop all this nonsense and D150 might rescind its decision.
Via Diane Vespa:
But Mr. Collier insisted that we “had the Admins attention” and that they were willing to put options on the table. Ultimately, we were persuaded to “call off the dogs” and place them on a back burner, for now. In the interim, we will meet a few more times to explore options for saving 0K. We don’t anticipate this to be too difficult of an undertaking given the fact that it is less than 1/2 of 1% of their budget. There is a meeting scheduled with the District for May 22. The goal: a full rescission of last Mondays vote.
,,,
I am pleased with the outcome of the meeting, and although there exists an innate sense of unease with the Administration given the callousness they have exhibited towards the expressed will of the community, I, personally, am willing to put differences aside and work on behalf of the children as well as every citizen of Peoria.
The bottom line is this. It is one thing to not think things through, buy property, sell property, randomly knock down and build new buildings. But taking school time and fine arts teachers away from our youngest children to compensate for the lack of vision is fundamentally impacting the very foundation of the city of Peoria. Monday’s decision, if it stands, would have far-reaching consequences that go way beyond the boundaries of District 150.
Elaine Hopkins reported:
“I personally believe there will be something that will work. I’ve been told if you come up with legitimate solutions they would take a look at it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t find an option by next week. They’ve gotten smacked pretty good,†he said.
Collier said Hinton is willing to meet with four members of the group on May 22 and May 27 to consider options. The board next meets on May 19.
He urged the group not to attack school officials personally, and to focus only on the shortened school day issue and not other grievances.
And C.J. Summers:
I think it’s a good idea to try negotiations first, but we must, at the same time, keep the heat up. We won’t let the administration razzle-dazzle us like they did the school board last Monday night.
The fact that the District 150 board and the administration have shown in the past they they will sputter indignantly when people with common sense stand up to them, but in the end they will back down.
Peoria School District 150 hasn’t had decent leadership since Superintendent Harry Whitaker left. We’re not going to get decent leadership with Ken Hinton at the helm the administration we have now. And we’re not going to get rid of THEM until we get rid of the current school board. The very, very least that needs to happen is a change in how board members are elected. The current system doesn’t allow for adequate change, and it discourages new people from seeking election. I mean, who wants to be the only new board member on this group, especially if you oppose how the board operates? Being the lone gadfly is no fun.
The inference I draw from all this is that the board is willing to go back to a full school day and not fire the music and arts teachers IF the efforts to get rid of the current board stop.
Feh. Rescinding the decision they made last week should just the first step of what needs to happen. and I’m worried that if the board decides to rescind, if might lessen the motivation behind the insurrection. I mean, where would America be right now if King George III had rescinded the stamp tax?
We need to fight the disease that infects District 150, not just the most recent symptoms.
