PEORIA -- More than six months ago, the Peoria District 150 School Board decided, without a public vote, to discontinue live cable TV broadcasts of its meetings in favor of broadcasting them a week later with the public comments censored out. Now the live broadcasts may be coming back. Maybe.
At its Nov. 22 meeting the board announced it was looking into bringing them back. It will take $5,000 in new technology, Supt. Grenita Lathan said. But there's a hitch.
Now the cable provider Comcast has contracted out its public access work, so a proposal must be made to an entity in Chicago to resume the broadcasts, she said. No mention was made of whether the public comments will be included, but likely they will be part of a live broadcast.
Other possibilities include live audio and video streaming on the Internet, requiring $1,200 in equipment. Plus paid staff members to operate the systems.
Meanwhile as usual I recorded the public comments, which will be posted below in an audio file.
The meeting, held at the Thomas Jefferson School gym, had audio problems with a microphone that kept humming. Here's a summary of the highlights:
Activist Terry Knapp talked about bullying at all levels including administrators recently bullying three teachers trying to get them to resign. At least one of these teachers is highly experienced and has tenure, but was placed in a different school with an overcrowded classroom, Knapp has said.
The teachers union contract forbids outright firing and instead offers remediation.
"It's incredible," Knapp said. Bullying "should never occur administration to teacher."
Activist Sharon Crews talked about the dress code and enforcement of it, or lack of enforcement. "Look at what is really happening," she urged board members. She reminded them that there is still no policy on tardies, said to be a problem for teachers.
Seven people including the president of the Parent-Teacher Organization, spoke about overcrowding at Whittier School, which has experienced a 26 percent increase in enrollment. Among the complaints: art and music rooms have been converted to classrooms so art and music are taught from carts; young children stand in long lines for lunch; recess has been cut back and playgrounds are overcrowded, equipment worn out; some classes are too big; children are being tutored in the hallways.
In her response to the comments, Lathan said the Whittier problems will be looked at.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Here is the audio recording.
Elaine, I found out from someone that they can start the live recordings now. The cable deal concerns channel 22 not Ch.17.
Chicago is working out a deal with the public access channel which is Cn. 22. Ch. 17 is the education channel and under a different contract I am told. You can check this out with Dennis from Peoria who films for PCCEO.
Posted by: General Parker | November 28, 2010 at 10:26 PM