Aug. 22: the public comments

PEORIA -- Another Monday, another Peoria District 150 School Board meeting.

Here are the public comments, below, from the meeting, since the board refuses to televise its meetings, and when it last did so edited out the public comments.

Activist Sharon Crews commented that 17 Lincoln Middle School students skipped the eighth grade and were sent to high school for the ninth grade. Fifteen of these were behind their age mates by only one year. She had to appeal to the Illinois Attorney General's office before District 150 officials would release that information. 

See her report below. 

Activist Terry Knapp criticized the revolving door of lawyers for District 150, and especially paying an Arlington Heights firm with local taxpayer money.

He and Crews had to call the Attorney General about five Freedom of Information Act requests, he said. The lawyers apparently advise District 150 to stall, then are paid again when they must respond to the Attorney General, he said. 

"Why not do this in house?" he asked. 

He reported that some new windows at Peoria High School will not open.  He also said the pass through issue discussed by Crews is not new.  It was happening several years ago, and is against district policy on social promotion. He knew of two students who skipped the 8th grade only to fail all their classes in high school since they were not prepared. 

Activist Sevino Sierra complained about the lack of TV coverage of board meetings, and about transportation glitches on the first day of school, a comment echoed by a parent who also appeared before the board.

Teacher union president Bob Darling praised Supt. Grenita Lathan for allowing him to speak at a staff event. He suggested weeds growing at Glen Oak School indicate that a community garden could also grow there. He also called for Trewyn School to be renamed for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In her response to the comments, Lathan said the windows and transportation glitches are being worked out, as are some class size problems. 

A recording of the public comments are posted here.

D150 Aug 22 2011

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 Here are the remarks from Sharon Crews:

Now that the Attorney General’s office gave the District the nudge needed to provide information about Lincoln 7^th graders chosen to skip 8^th grade and go directly to high school, I want to revisit the issue.

 The letter from the District’s lawyer indicates that 17 Lincoln students skipped 8^th grade.   The usual age for 7^th graders is 12-13.  Two of the Lincoln 7^th graders were ages 14-15 while the other 15 were 13-14.  That means that 15 students probably had failed only one grade in their 7 years of school.  In any case, these 15 were only 6 months to a year older than other 7^th graders.

 How many other students in the District are behind just one grade level?   At the last meeting, there was concern around the horseshoe as to fairness in District 150 with regard to suspensions.  I find it a bit ironic that you wouldn’t be concerned about fairness with regard to the Lincoln program.   Do you think that other parents in the District would consider it fair that their students have not been offered the opportunity to skip 8^th grade?  It doesn’t sound fair to me.

My own thinking is that being one grade behind is not that unusual; therefore, these Lincoln students should not have skipped 8^th grade.  Also,  we don’t know if these students were even academically ready for 8^th grade—there is a possibility they could have failed 7^th grade—but now they are in the 9^th grade.  Reading scores tell us that many District students are behind considerably more than their current grade level.  That means that many students have already been passed on without meeting standards for moving on. 

 We do not know how well these 17 Lincoln students did in the work covered during the after school sessions.  Did they pass all the tests and meet all the requirements?    Were there any students in this program that were not allowed to skip 8^th grade?  Of course, I don’t know how much this program cost a cash-strapped District.  I know that teachers were paid to conduct these classes.

 I hope you will make it a high priority to decide if this opportunity will be offered to future 7^th graders.  Was this just a one-time thing or some kind of pilot program?   Why or was this a program allowed exclusively at a school whose principal is from North Carolina?  Have you asked Dr. Lathan any of these questions or would that be considered micromanaging?  Such a program certainly goes against current board policy for social promotion. 

 I hope you will take the initiative to track these 17 Lincoln students to see how they do in the ninth grade.  Check their grades, their 9^th grade NCLB scores,  their discipline records.  That information should give you some data-based information as to whether or not a wise decision was made.

 Now back to the Campus police issue.  At the last board meeting, I stated that the proposed contract would not allow the campus police to use handcuffs.  Dr. Lathan said that handcuffs would be allowed. 

The excerpt from the policy that I provided you certainly states that officers can use physical restriction but “without the aid …of mechanical devices.”  Mechanical devices mean “handcuffs.”  There is a bit of an “if” clause—somewhat garbled with legal sounding language that seems to indicate the possibility of using handcuffs if a student is a threat to himself, herself, or others. 

Of course, most students who fight have already proven they are a threat to others.  However,  I’m not sure that a campus police officer would want to risk making the decision to use banned handcuffs if his/her decision will be judged after the event by those who weren’t at the event.  

I hope you will soon decide which group of students you want to protect—those that engage in fights or the innocent people that could be inadvertently hurt by those who choose to disrupt our schools. 

I assume the decision to avoid handcuffs is borne out of a desire not to embarrass students.  When students engage in violent behaviors, how much should you be worried about their egos for the short length of time it takes the police to remove them safely from the scene? 

The handcuffs might even protect them from themselves and from further harm for which they could be culpable.  In light of all the foreboding events that have taken place on Peoria’s streets this summer, you might want to rule on the side of caution in deciding issues regarding the Campus Police. -30-

UPDATE 8/23/11:  Here's an emailed comment from a teacher: 

It is getting harder to teach each year.  Forty years ago, we had one district administrator, one bookkeeper, and one secretary in our school office.  Now, there is a separate new building, four administrators, and a staff of twelve.   There are 25% fewer students in school now.

We have curriculum mapping, map testing, common core standards, No Child Left Behind, and many others.  And our student learning is diminishing.  Instead of looking at what is wrong with our society, politicians look at and blame teachers, the same teachers that, when they were in school, were just fine. -30-