PEORIA -- The incoming superintendent of Peoria School District 150, Grenita Lathan, was scheduled to speak on April 22 at the South-West Kiwanis Club. But she blew off the engagement, leaving interim superintendent Norm Durflinger as a stand in.
I attended to hear the new superintendent -- as did several other guests in the audience. But once Durflinger got beyond praising everyone he has worked with at District 150, even though he has laid off a lot of them, presumably because the district "needs fixing," as he put it, his remarks were worth hearing. He said:
- If Gov. Pat Quinn cuts back the school funding 'foundation' as proposed, District 150 "will lose millions." It already has a $6.5 million deficit. The alternative high school, early childhood education and adult education will be casualties.
- On vocational education, "we are woefully behind in vocational programs. I do not believe we are meeting the needs of many students. Manual High School is beginning a vocational program. "So many students come from low socio-economic backgrounds" they have "different learning styles" and need hands-on experiences. Vocational education "is the way out of poverty."
- He decided to support the science/technology charter school because District 150 "was losing the support of the business community and it wanted" the charter school. "I'm not a charter school fan."
- But -- "We need lab schools, Edison, Johns Hopkins, charter schools, to study the best practices. It's not necessarily the answer." The charter school will be "as good as the accountability of the Board of Education requires," and can be canceled if it doesn't work.
- "Choice" schools and private schools accessed with vouchers lack accountability. "We start having an elite private school system." But public education is supposed to be a "melting pot" for all. "I don't want to see the demise of public education."
Asked whether he has read Diane Ravitch's excellent new book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System" (see story below), he said he has not, though his statement on public education reveals he agrees with her about public education.
Asked about the incoming superintendent, he said, "she's going to demand accountability of our principals who will demand accountability of teachers. She will be very demanding. I've seen quality. I'm pleased with the board's choice."
She's also a good speaker, he said, adding "good leaders never make everyone happy."
Then he said, "I've been told that Dr. Lathan asked the board five times 'do you really want change?' and five times the board said 'yes.'
Fasten your seat belts.
-- Elaine Hopkins
4/24/10. Emailed Comment from Ed Dentino:
I have to agree with a couple of points that interim superintendent
Norm Durflinger made. I am a product of Manual Training High School
last class 1962. In 1963, the school became Manual High School.
The two skills that I learned that have been the most used in my work
life were drafting and typing. Others that counted were English usage
and math. Without drafting or vocational options, I can't guess what
direction I'd have taken. Maybe geography or history as I had a lot of
National Geography reading growing up. Gosh knows, I could have really
failed and become a politician.
As school board members, various education officials and administrators
got more philosophical and less practical, the system seemed to go off
the tracks. They tried to simplify the system into a one size fits
all basic education with reading, writing, and arithmetic being the
staples. Not only did that leave behind the community needs, it left
out a couple of the basic realities of human nature.
Many young people are focused on what it takes to achieve a life based
on natural skills, talents and interests. Dropping out early became
normal for many due to few provisions for those goals to be achieved.
Getting through the basic education system of K-12 and then to face
Junior College or a College or University became too distant, and far
from their immediate concerns. And lacking that early goal, they
dropped out in droves. Following that, street crime, teen pregnancy,
court costs, jail and prison costs soared. Put some attorneys and
others into expensive cars and homes - left a lot of the city deluged
with problems.
Norm Durflinger acknowledges that vouchers and 'choice' schools duck
the issue of quality public education. I agree. My view is that those
options support private schools that are public in charter but private
in spirit. Those options dismiss the bigger picture of what is
occurring when the school system does not become inclusive to the needs
of the students, their teachers, the community, and the nation. -30-
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