PEORIA -- Wasted money was a major theme of comments from the public to the Peoria School District Board at its Sept. 26 meeting. It took place at the former Woodruff High School, newly reopened as a career and technical center after being closed for a year.
The high school remains its old self, trophies and photos and slogans on the walls intact. Activist critic Terry Knapp congratuated the board on reopening Woodruff. He has argued for years that the district needs to offer career and technical training to its students.
But another issue from Knapp drew a standing ovation from some in the audience. He complained about the situation at last week's Peoria Central vs. Manual football game where the two high schools were separated by yellow police tape, and Central students and fans were confined to a side of the field with only portable toilets and no running water, while the other students had access to full services.
A long tradition of allowing spectators, especially former coaches and teachers, to stand by the fence to watch the game also was forbidden, he said. "There were 15 barricades" and "crime scene tape."
He termed the situation ridiculous and embarassing, and said no other schools have been subjected to this treatment. If a few students act up, punish them and ban them from all games, he said, but don't punish everyone.
Peoria Teachers Federation president Bobby Darling refuted Knapp's comments, saying people felt safe at the game. "Do something positive if you want to help," he said.
The public comments, as usual, are posted here.
Activist Sharon Crews presented research showing District 150 spent $85,000 on materials when similar materials are available free on the internet. See her full written report below. Her research suggests favoritism or worse on the part of Supt. Grenita Lathan toward her former North Carolina colleagues.
See this unrelated story from the New York Times on financial corruption in education to imagine what could happen in District 150.
The meeting audience was filled with dozens of school bus drivers, whose representatives complained about the district outsourcing their work and bad management practices by the transportation boss, an Arizona transplant Lathan hired. "
"We want to know if you plan to disband transportation. Sit down and discuss it. Stop allowing management to ruin our work histories by vindicative acts," one said, adding that busses are overcrowded, lack monitors, and drivers hours have been cut back so they cannot earn a living. They're bargaining with the district.
Lathan replied that bargaining will resume soon and the district does not want to privatize the bus service, though it has just hired a service to help transport students. She blamed the drivers for late busses.
During a separate public hearing on the district's budget, Knapp commented the district should stop wasting money on outsourcing services and excessive legal fees. "Attorneys are sucking the life out of this district. Getting rid of attorneys will help balance the budget," he said.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Comments of Sharon Crews:
In past years, teachers were part of the textbook selection process. Several publishers submitted samples of their texts for the grade level and subject matter needed. Teacher committees were then given a check list of desired contents and asked to rate texts accordingly. By following such a procedure last year, the District would probably have saved considerable money—and isn’t saving money one of the highest priorities of the District?
At least, 552 Thinking Map notebooks were purchased from a North Carolina company—apparently one for every primary teacher and every Peoria High teacher at a cost of about $65,000. Shipping costs for orders of 24 to 84 books to 14 schools cost $3976. In addition, $1200 each was paid to eleven North Carolinians, each to conduct a half day session of a two-day Thinking Map seminar. Including $4500 more for travel expenses, the cost of materials and speakers was $85,000. I am assuming that these speakers teach or work for schools in North Carolina. Were they given two paid days off to come to Peoria? Also, it is my understanding that two District 150 administrators were trained in North Carolina to conduct Thinking Map seminars. Why couldn’t they have trained District 150 personnel and saved the District $18,000? In response to my FOIA request I did not receive copies of any invoices for Thinking Maps for middle schools, Manual, or Richwoods. However, I did receive copies of duplicate invoices for seven primary schools—I didn’t add that $28,000 because I believe I was just given duplicates--but maybe not. Do middle school and high school teachers have Thinking Map books? If so, I was not given information as to that added cost. If I FOIA for clarification, would that be considered a violation of the FOIA regulations for frequent requesters asking for the same information? I would hope not. If you had asked teachers to look over the Thinking Map materials, I do not think you would have bought the materials at all. A Richwoods junior told me that her teachers have been using graphic organizers since she was in the 5th grade. Also, the middle school teacher’s guide to the District 150 Pearson Prentice Hall history text has great transparencies for various types of graphic organizers—very similar to the eight thinking maps you just purchased. I hope you all understand that these graphic organizers aren’t rocket science. Any teacher is smart enough to adapt any graphic organizer to his/her particular subject and grade level. Just Google “graphic organizers” and you will find sites that offer many impressive graphic organizers (all very similar to the Thinking Maps)—usually some combination of circles and/or rectangles and straight lines. One site of 35 organizers states, “You have permission to print and copy these pages for classroom use.” If continuity is needed, the District could have chosen a few types of organizers; and in a couple of sessions, teachers who haven’t already used graphic organizers could have been well informed. And $85,000 would have been saved. Besides money spent on Thinking Maps, the District paid over $58,000 to the 95% group—about $36,000 was for consultants. Are teachers ever asked for feedback about the value of these often very repetitive workshops? I was told by one teacher that one session was exactly like the one presented weeks before, and the presenter was embarrassed to learn that she had repeated an earlier session. In my FOIA I requested data about all textbook purchases from September, 2010, to August 31, 2011. Why didn’t I receive any data about the purchase of the new social studies books and the new science books? Also, why was money wasted to replace science books that are only five years old? The district cannot afford upgrades that often. The District’s new strategic plan includes more software updates and more professional development. How many more superfluous trips, speakers, and materials will be purchased at the expense of larger classes and fewer teachers—and time wasted with five weeks without textbooks? -30-
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