Peoria Pundit

The community room at Godfather’s Pizza was packed once again last night by parents and teachers distressed over the proposed District 150 school closings of Kingman and Tyng. Several of the teachers present reported that Superintendent Ken Hinton met with them last week, spent 25 minutes shoving his agenda down their throats, and 5 minutes to seemingly address any questions, before it was time for class.

One teacher reported that Hinton told them that the closing of Kingman this year made the most economic sense. He saw “no reason why the board would not approve that decision”. Translation: They approve everything else I send down the pipe, why would this be any different? Kingman parents and children were not told the fate of their students for next year but it is assumed they will be split up and dispersed throughout the District. Hinton further explained that the entire district will see larger class sizes as a result.

Please see Peoria Story for more detailed coverage of last night’s meeting.

There is a community wide protest set for 5:15 p.m. prior to this evenings regularly scheduled board meeting. Several plan to call for for the firing of Ken Hinton, as well as the resignation of Board of Education President Dr. David Gorenz, who they feel has not done enough to reign in a rogue administration.

You should attend this evenings protest and board meeting if:

1. You agree that the arbitrary, expeditious closing of neighborhood schools would further de-stabilize neighborhoods

2. You fear that your school may be next on the chopping block (and it might!)

3. You feel that moves of this nature put the physical safety of our children at risk.

4. You feel that moves of this nature significantly threaten academic achievement.

5. You feel that moves of this nature will exasperate the movement of families out of the district and/or into private schools.

6. You are mad as Hell that despite Hinton’s recommendation to close multiple neighborhood schools, not once has this administration or this board seriously considered any significant reduction in a bloated administration and excessive, unnecessary spending that has virtually NO impact on student achievement.

7. You hold the current administration and board at least partially responsible for the current economic and academic chaos that has befallen our district and feel they will be unable to affect the public confidance needed for a successful reconfiguration of the district.

8. You demand and deserve to be heard via the public hearings that were scheduled and shortly thereafter canceled, prior to the closings of any schools.

9. You feel that the District has not adequately explained the cost savings to the district for such drastic cuts.

In short, you should just be there. Let’s take back our schools and take them back now!

Carp, crap, crap.

The last thing I wanted to see happen, did happen. The faceless gnomes who write the Peoria Journal Star’s anonymous editorials have weighed in and decided that Laura Petelle should be elected to the Peoria School Distict 150 Board of Education.

This is the worst thing that could happen. You see, I know Laura. I like Laura. I am impressed with her vast body of knowledge and I am impressed with her smarts. She on the right side on every issue regarding the school board. If the district IS going to close a high school, she wants the process to be thoughtful and deliberate, not a panicked response to the bad economy.  She wants value for the district’s dollars, and notes that there is no evidence that the over-expensive Edison program works, in that test scores are the same for district schools with the same demographics.

And here is the kicker for me: She ain’t nobody’s pushover. If she is elected, you will see Laura Petelle make district staff explain spending decisions, and explain why spending decisions are made without school board authority. You will see her demand that the staff treat the public with respect in regards to Freedom of Information requests.

So why am I upset that the nameless gnomes of the unsigned PJS editorial decided to endorse her? Because the PJS editorial board is a joke. No one respects their edit page. Their endorsement is a dubious honor at best, and at worst, a kiss of death.

So, if you have suffered brain damage at some time in your life, or if you did heavy drugs back in the 60s,  and you think the PJS edit page is a font of wisdom, go ahead and vote for Petelle.

But if you are like the rest of us and snicker at the idea that these clowns win awards for their writing, please ignore the fact that they endorsed Laura Petelle and vote for her anyway.

From my inbox:

The not-for-profit organization Look. It’s My Book! is holding a gala fund raiser with dinner, music and literary entertainment beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 4 at the Mt. Hawley Country Club, 7724 N. Knoxville, Peoria.

The event, which is open to the public, costs $50 per person, with reservations due by March 30.

Joe Smith, singer and guitarist for Waylon Jennings will perform, joined by best selling mystery author Dorothy Cannell, a former Peorian who will present literary entertainment.

Look. It’s My Book! is committed to providing six new books each year to every Peoria School District pupil in kindergarten through fourth grade.

Children select the books with Look It’s My Book! from a list vetted by Accelerated Reader, a program used by District 150.  Research shows that the only way to get children to read more is to make it fun for them, while at the same time a child’s reading skills and school performance improve if there are books in the home.

For reservations or further information visit the website www.lookitsmybook.org or

call 309/691-9266 or email janeteroth@yahoo.com.

Contributions to Look. It’s My Book!  are tax deductible.

Remember how PSD150 member Debbie Wolfmeyer earned the scorn of bloggers when she refused to meet with a parents concerned about cuts in the school day, essentially saying she got all the information she needed from the administration.

That certainly left me with the impression that she wasn’t the type of person to seriously question the the wisdom of administration, including Ken Hinton.

I came away from Monday’s meeting convinced that Wolfmeyer just might not be the Ken Hinton apologist it seemed at the time.

She and board member Martha Ross (my favorite school board member) repeatedly questioned the district’s practicees regarding travel spending. At issue was a request to approve travel that was funded by grants. Wolfmeyer and Ross were concerned because:

Many of the requests were for multiple personnel to attend the same events. The policy is supposed to be for one district employee to attend, and then came back and share the information with others.

Many of the travel requests were for spending that already happened. Gee, another case of the district spending money, then seeking a rubber stamp.

And Wolfmeyer complained that when she asks staff members for an explanation, the response if that the money comes from grants. I take that to mean, ‘It doesn’t matter. It’s free money.’

Actually, know. Once the district receives it, it’s taxpayer money, and the board is responsible for how it is spent.

Maybe its me, but it seemed to me that Wolfmeyer and Ross were double teaming Hinton, who seemed to be on the defensive many times during the meeting.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a long way to go before this board can hold it’s head high in terms of representing the citizens to the board, as opposed to what they mostly do now, which is represent the administration’s wishes to the citizens.

But I was cheered that there may be progress.

Just in time too. Hinton announced his timetable for reorganizing the district schools, which is code for closing one or more high schools. Details here.

Oh, and they fired their hired gun:

In a unanimous vote, the District 150 school board voted in favor of placing Guy Cahill on a 60-day administrative leave after which his contract will be terminated.

In recent weeks Cahill has been at odds with some administrators, board members and parents in the financially strapped Peoria school district.

Parents and teachers who opposed the potential closing or consolidation of some schools questioned his math on the district’s balance sheet. And tonight Carla Eman was voted temporary Controller/Treasurer, until the district can name an interim replacement.

Eman comes from the district’s accounting department.

Randall visited one of Peoria high schools during lunch and overheard the following dialog. He says it wasn’t at Manual. I can only HOPE it wasn’t Woodruff. Wherever it happened, and I have no reason to think Randall made it up, the following is disturbing in that the comments were directed at District 150 employees. Some obscene language follows: Read more »

On Tuesday, full-time journalists and bloggers in Peoria started getting calls and emails from folks tipping them off to the fact that Guy Cahill, Peoria School District 150’s hot-shot, hired-gun treasurer, had been fired. I’ll leave it to others to relate the details, because almost all of what I know I received second-hand from several bloggers and journalists who spent Tuesday trying to track the story down. And yes, this was the story I thought WEEK had all but nailed down when I asked readers to watch the news that night.

I would have printed it Tuesday, but had an ethical obligation to my source not to. The mainstream media held it because no official source would confirm it. But today the Journal Star’s Dave Haney has the story, based on anonymous sources from within the district, apparently.

The article was effusive in it’s praise of Cahill’s fiscal genius. My opinion of him was that he played games with numbers, essentially giving the board the numbers it needed to hear to justify the actions the administration and some board members wanted to take (moving Glen Oak School to the park and gutting the school day for grade schoolers) . I thought the board deferred to him far too often.

But things change. The information I am hearing suggests this departure is much more the board’s idea than Cahill’s.

Perhaps this is a coincidence, but the departure comes very shortly after the board put together a panel of experts to go over their budget. Did the process of gathering the panel expose the board to opinions of Cahill that were less than effusive with praise?

Peoria Blogger Emerge Peoria is engaging in some interesting commentary with a member of this panel. It’s a good read,  and perhaps indicating that this panel is going to operate transparently. Feel free to go visit and show her some leave and a comment or two.

From the Washington Post (hat tip Capitol Fax Blog):

A group of Democratic and Republican senators sought to trim as much as $100 billion from the economic stimulus plan. Some of the most expensive items to be cut:

• $39.8 billion for state education departments to shore up school budgets.
• $14 billion for education programs, including special education and Head Start.
• $9.5 billion for Energy Department programs, including an environmental cleanup fund.
• $6.5 billion for space exploration, science programs and grants for local crime-fighting efforts.

I’m guessing that money that Peoria School District 150 thought would help plug that budget hole was part of that $39.8 billion. And if so, I’m guessing that they will take another stab at closing Woodruff and Peoria Central. And I’m guessing they WON’T be discussing eliminating administrator jobs and cutting consultants.

And none of the items I’m seeing on the elimination list look like shovel-ready infrastructure projects designed to create jobs and stimulate the economy.

No doubt there will be screaming from some quarters about how Congress hates poor people.

I used to give Martha Ross all kinds of grief. For years, she has been the only member of the District 150 board who, as a matter of personal policy, to vote against expulsion of students. I thought she was just a soft-on-crime, bleeding-heart (for lack of a better term) type who was contributing to the decline of discipline and safety in the schools.

I still don’t agree with her on that, but I see her point. There needs to be a place to put these kids. Sending them home is exactly what they want.

But she’s also the only member of the board that has consistently shown that she’s thinking for herself.

And she drafted a plan to get the district out of the mess it’s in, and sent it to Superintendent Ken Hinton. C.J. has the entire letter, and I’m impressed with a lot of it.

There has been calls by some for the district to save cash by scrapping any and all plans for alternative schools. I’m sure Ross opposes that. I also wish her impressive list made some mention of eliminating consultants.

But I like that she did this. I like that she made the letter public. We need this discussion.

Meanwhile, board member Jim Stowell responded to Elaine Hopkins’ article critical of the district’s audit.

And Peoria Anti-Pundit has his say:

Over at the Peoria Pundit, Billy posted on the issue of the 10 million as if something criminal had happened and wanted to know why the Peoria Journal Star wasn’t investigating this alleged crime more deeply.  This is the same guy that wouldn’t be happy unless the Journal Star burnt to the ground and he was the only news source left in Peoria.  It is almost libel in the way he presented this whole issue, something he wouldn’t tolerate from any commenter.  Makes me want to bang my head against the wall.

So, here is the gist of today’s article on Peoria School District 150: ‘Gee, people sure are upset that our finances aren’t perfect. It’s all because school budgets are difficult to understand. So, let’s have Board President David Gorenz personally pick a group of ordinary citizens to will explain things to the unwashed masses.’

The Peoria Journal Star printed this crap without any critical analysis or background.

No doubt this group will include members of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, which is on record praising the board for making decisions.

He’s what I want to see. I want to see ONE SINGLE ARTICLE from the Journal Star that mentions details from most recent audit — it’s available upon request from the district, for God’s sake — in which the auditor criticizes a $10.5 million budget discrepancy and complains about a slew of errors and omissions. It seems that the financial brainiacs who work for District 150 have a poor understanding how school finances work, too.

If actually requesting and reading the audit is too much hard work for stressed out reporters, they can always cut and paste the juicy parts from this article written by Elaine Hopkins. The Journal Star ought to be familiar with her work. She used to write for them.

That didn’t take long. About a month after the District 150 School Board revealed that it secretly had revived a plan to consolidate schools — including the loss of one high school — the district is now putting those plans on hold again.

According to the Journal Star, it’s all due to the stimulus package:

While there are many unanswered questions surrounding the federal bill that passed in the House last week, School Board President David Gorenz said at Monday night’s board meeting that, if passed, it could have a significant impact on the district’s financial woes.

“We are confident we will get considerable funding from the stimulus package,” Gorenz said. “But what it ultimately gives us is more time to study the situation before we make any major decisions.”

While the Senate reviews the bill and finalizes a plan to be signed by President Barack Obama, possibly by Friday, the board will immediately put together a special committee of community members with financial planning experience to lead upcoming budget decisions.

I call B.S.

No one knows exactly what’s going to be in this legislation. No one knows who is getting money or for what.
When Gorenze says he is “confident” that enough money is coming to make closure of schools unnecessary, he’s talking out of the wrong part of his anatomy.

Here’s my theory for why they are giving up: The public is furious. They are furious that TWO high schools — both Woodruff and Central — would be closed. The public thinks the people who run the district should be made to answer for a years upon years of bad financial decisions. They want the district to make cuts, They want the district to fire administrators, or send them back to the classroom. They want the district to be more accountable. They want explanations for the problems found in three audits in a row, as reported by citizen journalist Elaine Hopkins.

If the efforts to close these two schools continue, they would have had to answer too many questions. These are questions, by the way, that the mainstream news media isn’t asking but the bloggers are.