PEORIA -- Here's a post from Jim Runkle, former swimming coach at Woodruff High School, closed by the Peoria District 150 School Board last spring supposedly to save money. Which it has not done yet:
Jim writes: I'm sure youv'e read today's PJStar (Nov. 15) and noticed the article about the possibility of re-opening of the Woodruff pool. The timing of this may be coincidental, but it happens right before the start of the boys high school season and the end of the girls season.
The Park District's competitive program usually sees a large influx of girls after their high school season and therefore needs more pool time. I believe the Notre Dame boys team has a large group and will need room also.If this deal gets done within the next eight or ten days, it would be at the very least, suspicious.
The school district has paid on average, slightly over $145,000.00 per year to use Peoria Park Pool, for at least the last three years.This is just one of many reasons that closing Woodruff (no pool rental versus 145 grand)t o save money was hard to buy into.
Having been around pools for 45 years, I can tell you they may be the most expensive room in a school to operate. I would find it very difficult to believe anyone could afford the rental fees that would be necessary to cover the expenses incurred by reopening the pool. I would guess there would some kind of "in kind" reciprocation, that would mean that District 150 is not saving, but rather adding money spent.
The building's Commons area is already used for various meetings, and now the pool reopens. How long before there are no savings at all?
I predicted the above mentioned scenario when the District voted to close Woodruff. I could be wrong, I have been before; but if this happens in the next couple of weeks, something smells. -30-
My take: I believe Woodruff was closed to make it available for use as the charter school. That charter school is a huge mistake of the board's, as real experts say they don't work. Here's a definitive article on charter schools from the New York Review of Books.
-- Elaine Hopkins
11/17/10 - Here's an emailed comment from Ed Dentino:
Read briefly the Charter School article. I know several teachers in area schools. They are unanimous in saying that the cultural and economic circumstances of their students is the determining factor of school results. The rest, as I like to say, is fluff.
"Guggenheim seems to believe that teachers alone can overcome the effects of student poverty, even though there are countless studies that demonstrate the link between income and test scores." -30-
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