PeoriaStory

Event for Rocky Glen

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

Friends of Rocky Glen is sponsoring a Night Out for Parking Fundraiser from 5 – 8 p.m.  on Thursday, April 10, 2014  at The Locker Room, 112 SW Jefferson, Peoria IL 61602.

Everyone is invited to participate in this fun event. Appetizers are half price from 5 – 6 p.m., and there will be special discount prices on some items.

Ten percent of food and non-alcoholic sales will go towards developing a parking lot at Rocky Glen, the Peoria Park District’s newest park on Kickapoo Creek Road.   A parking lot near the Rocky Glen trailhead, will facilitate visits to Rocky Glen.

The Friends of Rocky Glen (FORG), is a non-profit group dedicated to the  preservation and promotion of this 72 acre natural area that includes a box canyon with 80 foot sandstone walls covered with carvings, seasonal waterfalls, rare plant communities and a history of coal mining and early labor union organizing efforts in Peoria.

Professor Ed Stermer of Illinois Central College’s Math, Science and Engineering Department  introduced Rocky Glen to the 125^th meeting of the Geological Society of America, in Denver, Colo. on Oct. 27-30, 2013.  Stermer described  Rocky Glen as a geoheritage site, with significant history and geology of interest to the world.  Here’s a link to a summary of his presentation:

https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2013AM/webprogram/Paper226846.html

 

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They just don't get it

PEORIA, IL -- The loss of two elections apparently has had little impact on the Peoria School District 150 Board of Education.

The sales tax referedum which was to funnel money for school construction failed on March 18, and incumbent board member Laura Petelle was ousted from her position, losing to someone who has promised not to serve.

At the board meeting of March 24, board members attacked their critics and called for civility, while dodging issues that critics addressed during the public comment session.

Some of their remarks were truly amazing, as the recording shows. 

 

Dist150 Mar 24

At the beginning of the meeting, Petelle said her child, and those of other board members and administrators, had been harassed and bullied because of the heated election.  That's a shame, of course.

Meanwhile, at a news conference earlier, allies of Supt. Grenita Lathan played the race card, claiming she was being attacked because she is black, even though the NAACP has sided with her critics, the Change150 group. But that issue was not mentioned during the public comments.

Those comments from 13 people were mostly critical of the board and administration.

A few Charter Oak parents addresssed the board, angry because after the most recent board meeting, where the actions of school officials at Charter Oak were criticized, they are now being discouraged from coming to the school. That's retaliation, they said.

Monica Wilson, a school resource officer and head of her union, asked the board to seek legislation which would enable the officers to carry guns, and form their own police force as other schools elsewhere are doing.  No board member responded to that.

Jeff Atkins-Dutro, head of the Peoria Federation of Teachers, said no board members had responded to the union's suggestion of a meeting to discuss the disconnect between the board and the community. He was ignored.

Sharon Crews said when Lathan calls for communication, she means for people to listen and follow orders.  Her remarks are posted below. 

Mimi McDonald asked why 24 of 27 school leaders have been changed and how this benefits children. She got no response.

Dan Dugale of Change150 asked the board to commission an independent review of the organizational culture.  He got no response.

Terry Knapp spoke about the receptionist at the administration offices who was forced out recently for failing to call Lathan "Dr."  Someone should do an exit interview with her, he said.

I spoke, telling the board that actions speak louder than words, so to win back the support of the public, the board should standardize meeting times and move the public comments to the beginning of the meeting; stop harassing those who file Freedom of Information Act requests; and eliminate the credit cards which promote the appearance of financial impropriety, and as well set limits on travel expenses, as state universities do.

Those comments did elicit responses.  Board member Martha Ross said the two meetings are different, since one is a board meeting and one is a committee of the whole.  I defy her to show what is different about these meetings.  The agendas are basically identical except people can only speak for two minutes at the committee of the whole, at the end of the meeting.

Board member Chris Crawford commented that people should have to suffer through the meetings (like he does, apparently).

Petelle gave the most amazing reponse, saying that the travel expenses are funded by federal grants, so it OK to spend to the hilt on the theory of spend it or lose it."They're giving it to use to train our teachers and pumping (money) into hotels," she said.  Really?

Board member Butler was incensed that Knapp criticized her for calling H. Wayne Wilson "H" on a television program, and said he asked to be called that. "For too long people have come to the podium and lied. This has to stop," she said.

Ouch, what a thin skin she has. And no response that a long time employee was forced out for failing to call Lathan "Dr."

Lathan responded by saying the critics are only hearing one side of the stories.

Though the board is not listening to its critics, it does seem a bit rattled.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Here are the comments from Sharon Crews:

 

 

 

The superintendent’s recent calls for increased communication need clarification as to the meaning of communication. Lathan’s actions and words convey the message that communication occurs mostly when she is the speaker while the listeners absorb information and/or follow orders. 

The reality seems to be that punishment awaits those who would question any of her orders. I believe one of the very first principals to express a difference of opinions was banned from principals’ meeting.  He was soon demoted; consequently, he sought and received a better offer elsewhere. There are many such stories to tell. Shutting people up and out does not create a healthy educational environment.

Lathan also stated that she has tried to explain her strategic plan to the public--the implication being that we are not listening.  On the recent “At Issue” program Butler said the public needs to listen.  Recently, 3700 voters were listening and watching and voted accordingly.  Now is the time for two-way communication. 

Successful schools are built with a chain of relationships, not with a chain of command.  Lathan first tried to destroy the relationships between principals and teachers by playing fruit basket upset.  So far most of the relationships between teachers and teachers and teachers and their students have been salvaged and all that is good in this district is coming from those relationships.

Lathan brought all her relationships and loyalty with her, and she and they have built few Peoria-based relationships.  There is no longer a chain of anything—too many missing links. 

All we have is a talking head issuing orders that are followed only out of fear and intimidation.  Now board members, the ball of communication is in your court.  Please stop listening to only one side—District 150’s future is in your hands.

 

 

Thomas Pandolfi, brilliant pianist

EAST PEORIA, IL -- Pianist Thomas Pandolfi presented a brilliant program on March 21 at the Illinois Central College Performing Arts Center.

Entitled Into the Night with Gershwin, a trademarked title, the event mixed the great American composer's classical and pop standards, a living rebuke to today's trashy musical taste.

Pandolfi, an incredible talent, played hard, fast and loud, on a concert grand with  a terrific sound.  No microphones were visible, and none were needed.

He began with the solo version of Gershwin's Concerto in F, a piece rarely performed without an orchestra.  As Pandolfi said in a brief talk after his performance: "It's more challenging for the soloist."  Indeed!

Then came an improvisational medley of three Gershwin standards:  Our Love is Here to Stay; The Man I Love; and I Got Rhythm, still famous for brother Ira Gershwin's lyrics, which the audience could barely resist singing out loud. These pieces are "just as hip and cool today" as when they were composed decades ago, Pandolfi said.

After an intermission, he played three famous 1926 Gershwin classical preludes. Then he completed the evening with Rhapsody in Blue, the 1927 solo version, which is also seldom performed without an orchestra.   

Pandolf'i's talk on this piece, one of the most well known American classical compositions still played around the world, included the fact that it was written in two weeks! 

Two encores included a medley from Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Weber (whom Pandolfi considers a modern disciple of Gershwin), and a Chopin nocturne.

This was a dynamic evening, from the appeal of Gershwin to the incredible talent of Pandolfi, who played every piece perfectly from memory, with hands moving so fast they were a blur to the eyes.  Amazing.

It's sad that the large audience was composed mostly of seniors, with very few young people who could certainly benefit from familiarity with Gershwin's fabulous classical and popular music.  It was a virtuoso performance which needed no strobe lights or explosions to carry the evening.  Pandolfi need only his Juilliard-honed talent.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

Children's museum moving forward

PEORIA, IL -- The long awaited children's museum, now slated for Glen Oak Park, is moving forward, with bids likely to be taken soon, Emily Cahill of the Peoria Park District said on March 20.

Cahill spoke to the Greater Peoria League of Women Voters. The museum aims to make Glen Oak Park a day long destinations for families, she said, as the Peoria Zoo also is there.

The museum will add jobs and stabilize the neighborhood, she said. It will be focused on education through play. "Kids learn through play," she said.

Reaching young children is essential, she said, as 85 percent of the brain develops by age three, and children learn more between the ages of four and five than they learn from ages six to 18 combined.

Many Peoria children, living in poverty, have never been more than three miles from home, she said. "It's our duty to bring these things to them."

This museum will be far from a traditional museum, and has been especially designed to focus on Peoria's history and natural resources. It will offer kids a chance to engage in non-structured play and learning, based on learning standards, she said.

Most of the exhibits are deliberately non-computer based, she said, as children need non-structured activities.

"Everything is gender neutral, she said, with colors designed to attract boys and girls.

Its galleries, to cover 8,000 square feet, will focus on construction, farming, sand play, Peoria history, science/technology (which will include a worm farm!), theater, sports and the Illinois river valley.  A tot town will include a hubcap house, which the designers saw and photographed, she said.It's part of Peoria's history, she said.

The museum backers have raised $5.2 million of the $6 million the museum is expected to cost, she said. Bids are going out in April to rehab the 1894 pavillion building, formerly used for the park district's administration.  "We repurpose structures," she said.

There will be an entry fee, yet to be determined, but scholarships for school classes, she said, and curriculum guides for their teachers. The aim is to make it self supporting. 

Many of the park district's 12,000 volunteers will be recruited to help, she said, along with college students.

This museum sounds wonderful.  It likely will be superior to the Navy Pier museum, and different in focus from the wonderous museum in St. Louis.

Cahill hit all the right notes in her talk to the League.

The museum is aimed at kids 0 - 8, but older kids and their friends, parents and grandparents may well be equally enchanted by what they find there.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Farmers market

PEORIA, IL -- Here's a farmer's market, operating now:

Congratulations to Change150, and...

PEORIA, IL -- A big congratulations to Change150, whose strategy worked beautifully to begin a turnaround of the Peoria District 150 School Board.

Their 'candidate' won, to defeat an incumbent of the rubber-stamp board. 

Since she has said she will not serve, there's a chance to appoint someone for a one-year term, or run a candidate next spring for that vacancy and another,  belonging to Chris Crawford, who looks anguished and/or bored at every meeting. Likely he won't run for another term.

Now, perhaps, the board will get the message from the public and make some basic reforms.  The board is the boss, not the superintendent.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Communications:  Standardize the times and place of board meetings, to 6:30 p.m., in the administration building. Standardize the public comments to 3  make that 5 minutes each, at the beginning of each board meeting. Actually listen to what the public is saying.

2. Freedom of Information Act issues: Stop trying to frustrate those who file FOIA requests, and don't call them 'recurrent requesters,' to delay responses (they will agree to a delay if the response requires it).  Listen to what they turn up.

3. Fiscal responsibility: Cancel the credit cards immediately. Restore the purchasing department and bid what is needed. (There are many instances of no-bid items on those cards that should have been bid.) Institute limits on travel, meals and the like. If a model is needed, check out what the state universities do and copy it.

4. Peoria Stadium: Immediately turn over Peoria Stadium to the Peoria Park District for its uses. If payment is needed, let the park district sign an IOU, and private fund raising will seek the money.  Strong fundraisers (at the stadium?) likely will raise a lot.

5. Restore the ousted principals and others, whose experience and community support should not be wasted.  Yes, this is politically difficult -- the board must admit it was wrong to rubber stamp what the superintendent did.  But the community has spoken, and doesn't want this type of authoritarian leadership, with fear instead of collaboration.

These five items will do much restore public confidence in the board. A few years of restored public confidence and the sales tax referendum, which failed because of Peoria votes, might pass next time.

Then get back to educating children. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Jerome Kern event

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release. This sounds like fun. 

A Jerome Kern event is scheduled for the Apollo Theater, 311 Main, on  Saturday April 5.

 

The evening begins with refreshments at  6 p.m., followed by Edith Barnard and Wes Sedrel singing and playing the best jazz of Jerome Kern.

 

At 7 p.m. there will be a film, Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in Roberta, a 1935 award winning film with Jerome Kern's music.

 

To add to the evening's festivities, overdressing is encouraged. Dress like Ginger, Fred or "fancy" and join the promenade (optional!)

 

Festival seating is $6.00 each or 2 for $10 with movie poster attached!

 

Heartland Festival Orchestra: Great Sound

WASHINGTON, IL -- The Heartland Festival Orchestra's Vibrant Mendelssohn concert on March 15 was lively and well done, and sounded great.  In fact the sound was excellent -- full, fast, melodic, just right for Mendelssohn.

Violin soloist Lara St. John did a good job with Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin in E Minor, Op. 64, and played it from memory, quite a feat.

The orchestra also played Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 in A Major, and Carl Maria von Weber's Oberon Overture, both done with precision.

The Heartland Festival Orchestra is somewhat unique, in that it focuses on the visual as well as sound, a smart policy in today's entertainment scene.

For this and most concerts, the women in the orchestra  wear solid color blouses with sleeves and black pants or black long skirts.  The men wear black dress shirts with ties. The effect is pleasant and colorful.  Artistic director/conductor David Commanday is also usually dressed casually, and not in a tux.

For this concert, soloist Lara St. John's gown was somewhat odd, a yellow patterned affair that frankly did not look good on her or on stage under lights.  She would have been better served in a low cut black or dark colored gown, with sleeves. (To look their best, women should wear sleeves unless their arms are perfectly toned.)

A large screen above the stage provides close ups of the orchestra and its musicians, from two in-house video cameras, adding another visual aspect to the concert. 

Added to the smooth informality of the evening is the reception afterwards, where audience members can meet and talk with the musicians.

The Heartland concerts are always interesting and well done, as was this event.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

March 18 Primary Endorsements

PEORIA, IL -- There are not many contests in the Democratic Party primary on March 18, but the election remains important, as does voting in that primary to show support for Democrats. (Yes, they're not what we hope for but better than their opponents.)

Republicans have a governor's contest to decide, but all of those candidates are so flawed and lame that there's no reason to vote for any of them.

Here is my take on the election: 

• Endorsements in the March 18 primary contested races: Quinn for governor, Mellon for Congress, Yes on school facilities sales tax. (It's only a penny.)
  

• People who live in District 3 for the Peoria School District 150 race should vote for Sue Wolstenholm. (This is a protest vote against what’s been going on in District 150.)

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Change150, other groups support Sue

PEORIA, IL -- Change150, the group formed to improve Peoria School District 150 and its school board, held a news conference on March 14 to show community support for its efforts, and to urge people to vote for Susie Wolstenholm on March 18 to send a message for change.

The group released statements of its core issues and values, both on its website. These are eloquent documents, and include the interesting idea of ending the five year school board terms by cutting them back to four years, to provide more accountability from the public.

That might encourage more people to run for the board, if a shorter commitment would be involved, spokesman Sea Stipe said.

It would also require the Illinois General Assembly to act with legislation.

Other groups standing with Change150 included retired teachers, the unions, and the Peoria chapter of the NAACP, whose president Don Jackson said the education committee had studied district issues in depth, and found problems.

"Progress has been reversed with this board and administration," Jackson said. "African Americans have been forced to resign, reduced (in job responsibilities) or quit," he said.

The first principal targeted was an African American, he said, adding "this isn't about race but bad administration."

Jackson's comments effectively countered those made at the recent school board meeting where an African American accused district critics of metaphorically  "lynching," the African American superintendent.

Jackson also said school district electoral boundaries should be revised. "We need more representatives in the lst District," Peoria's south side, he said.

All the groups present endorsed Wolstenholm, to send a message for change to the district.  She has said she will not serve if elected. The board would then appoint someone for a one year term to replace her. 

Then the public would be able to vote on candidates next spring.

Change150 plans to present a slate of acceptable board candidates to replace her, Stipe said, adding that anyone can apply to be recommended by contacting the group through its website.

And if the incumbent candidate Laura Petelle wins the election, Change150 will still continue to work for change, Stipe said.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Here is the statement read by the Tuesday Morning Breakfast Club,  a group of retirees:

We are seeking thoughtful change in the administration of District 150 because it is our belief that the children of Peoria deserve a quality education in a stable environment conducive to learning, and that these are not the conditions present in the setting created by the current administration and Board of Education.

 Our primary objective is that all children of the district receive a solid educational foundation, especially in reading, writing and mathematics, in an atmosphere where all individuals – children, teachers, and parents – are treated with dignity and respect.

 It is not only our responsibility, but our duty, to ensure all Peoria children meet the future prepared to succeed and to insist that not only the District Administration, but our elected Board of Education members, make their decisions based on the criteria of supporting student achievement.

This summarizes why we are supporting, and endorsing, Sue Wolstenholm