PeoriaStory

The $290,000 consultant: what tha.....???

PEORIA, IL -- Public comments at the Peoria District 150 School Board meeting of Nov. 24 focused on a $290,000 consultant from North Carolina hired by the district to show teachers how to teach.

He made that astonishing sum for 177 days in Peoria, more than the superintendent is paid, board critic Sharon Crews said.  She filed Freedom of Information requests to find out what he is being paid.

Her comments will be posted below. 

Here is a recording of the public comments:

 

Dist 150 Nov 24

 

Critic Terry Knapp termed the $290,000 payday "unbelievable."  Then he turned to Quest, the science and math academy, and a story in a recent Journal Star newspaper telling of failing grades there. Quest is negotiating with District 150 for funding, but there's been no discussion in public, Knapp said.

He mentioned the 190 pupils in the Quest high school, 35 below the recommended maximum, and asked why the dropouts had not been replaced from the waiting list. 

It's because they are "troubled" students on that list, he said, quoting the news story.

Quest students have been taken to Turkey for a foreign trip for four years, he said. "I think it's dangerous," he said, mentioning US sailors recently attacked in Istanbul. Why no comments on this? he asked the board.

"What's the Turkish connection to Concept Schools?" he asked, but already knew the answer, reported on this blog and elsewhere. 

He also questioned why Quest students are partnering with Peoria Heights schools for sports.  They should go back to their home schools, he said.

And he questioned why the board closed Woodruff High School as too small, claiming there were not enough students for four Peoria High Schools.  But Quest is running a high school, making four again, he said.

Nancy Diefenbach questioned why the district's low test scores have not been discussed by the board. "This is not close to the district I was in," she said.

She attended grandparents day at Charter Oak, she said, and while the children were thrilled to have grandparents visit, "I saw disruption in the classrooms," that did not take place before the disruption there last year, she said.

Sevino Sierra commented, "it's a shame you have let Peoria Stadium go down."

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Here is the comment of Sharon Crews:

 

How many of you know how much you have paid James Rainer, the reading consultant from North Carolina?  From September 2010 to October 19 of this year he has received $290,000 for 177 days in Peoria.  That is considerably more than Dr. Lathan was paid for a contractual year on the job.

I don’t know how many hours a day he puts in for his standard fee of $1800 per day.  My guess is that his day isn’t as long or as demanding as a teacher’s day—and his pay is better.

In 2012 twenty-five teachers were paid a stipend of $26 an hour for six hours of training for a total of $3900.  Were teachers paid to attend other sessions held after the school day?  For the many school-day sessions, subs had to be paid for teachers.  The cost of food may have been involved.  How can you justify this ongoing expense?

This administration spent $2,628,000 on McGraw-Hill textbooks.  Considerable money was spent on teacher guides that should thoroughly explain how to teach the company’s Reading Mastery program.  Rainer is a certified national trainer of this company’s direct instruction method—which means the program’s weaknesses will not be acknowledged.

Rainer received his bachelor of science degree in 1974.  His resume does not mention any course work since then.

He taught 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades from 1975 to 1977.

He taught kindergarten from 1980 to 2001.  He has not taught since.

That means he has never taught children any of the elementary reading skills about which he now claims to be an expert.  Every District reading teacher has more experience in the classroom—and most have more recent and more advanced college course work.  How insulting to our teachers!

His resume claims that his consulting has helped six districts raise test scores—well, we know that didn’t happen in District 150. 

NCLB introduced a testing frenzy.  Test preparation, consultants and programs promising miracles and the tests themselves might well be the reasons students aren’t learning.  Real teaching is not even encouraged—just boring repetition required for test preparation.  Teachers are the scapegoats, so no one is searching for the real obstacles to learning that keep many individual students from educational success.  Hyping students up to go to college is not making them college-ready.  800 students attending a Bradley vs North Carolina game won’t help either.

 

Nov. 30, 2014:  Here's an emailed comment from Ed Dentino: 

The news about the District 150 school superintendent and her staff is just amazing....  kind of like a fiction writer would consider as being too far out to believe. 

As I see this continuing saga with the school district, I can only wonder what dream they are living in: cronyism, credit card expenses, schools being run by Turkish nationals,  wildly overpaid 'consultant', suspect administrative moves, etc..

Seems to me that a $2.6 million book purchase could have been inclusive of the extra benefit of the publisher's 'certified national trainer'.

A few years ago, I went to the District 150 office and filed a document to ask for a list of classmates from a 1950 grade school class.  I was denied the list on the basis that it was considered to be guarded privacy content.  Cannot even fathom what privacy that could be invading.  Wonder if the staff are aliens from a distant planet just morphed to look like earth people. 

Regards,
Ed

World class performance

PEORIA, IL -- Another world class performance delighted Peoria audiences on Nov. 23, as the Bradley University Community Chorus, Chorale and Symphony Orchestra presented Mozart's Mass in C Minor, K. 427. It was accompanied by Symphony No. 3 by Charles Ives.

The latter, a modern harmonic but dissonant work completed in 1904, received the Pulitzer Prize in 1947 when it was first performed. Hearing it was fascinating. 

But the Mozart piece was the main attraction, filling the huge Cathedral of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception -- a vintage hall, beautiful, with great accoustics for music. 

The large audience, almost standing room only, proves that classical music will bring out its fans, if the price is right.  The event cost $10.

The Mozart number, sung in Latin (!), was no doubt a challenge for the choruses and soloists, but they and the orchestra did a georgeous job. 

It was a lovely event, something more likely to be performed in Chicago or New York City -- but very much appreciated in Peoria.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

The Shape of Things: well done

PEORIA, IL -- The Corn Stock Winter Playhouse's current offering, The Shape of Things by Neil LaBute, is extremely entertaining and well done.

The dialogue is sharp, the actors quite skilled, and the play deals with some interesting ideas about art.  It runs through Nov. 23.

It revolves around two twenty-something couples, one an artist, who court, flirt, and quarrel -- and then.... Well to report the surprise ending would spoil the fun.

It's great to see young actors so skilled, and apparently hooked on theater.

The play, which premiered in 2001, thankfully was written before the use of cell phones became part of the mix. It's traditional drama, without much techno distraction.

The Corn Stock Winter Playhouse keeps offering terrific plays, with very skilled actors, events worthy of the Chicago stage.  Amazing.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

PEORIA, IL -- Here's a thoughtful op-ed piece from Amy Scott of Bradley University:

 Social movement activism has long been a cornerstone of the great American experiment in democracy. In the Sixties and Seventies, we witnessed movements for civil rights, women’s rights, and a push for more a more peaceful world. There were also widespread citizen efforts to protect our skies, streams, and rivers from toxic industrial pollutants.

Swayed by citizen pressure, a bipartisan administration passed some of the nation’s strongest environmental laws. The Clean Air Act (1970) and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (1972), remain two of the most crucial protections for the safety of our air and water.

Unfortunately, industrial pollution continues to degrade our environment and threaten the health of our communities.  Just last year, parts of Peoria and Tazewell counties were declared “non-attainment” zones because they failed to meet the EPA’s standards for sulfur dioxide pollution, a severe respiratory irritant. The EPA cited the ED Edwards plant in Bartonville, which is coal-fired, as a major contributor to this pollution.

Despite lawsuits and non-attainment status, in 2013, the Illinois Pollution Control board granted Dynegy, the Houston-based owners, a “variance” from state environmental air regulations.  Effectively, our state’s environmental protection agencies have given Dynegy a license to continue polluting at unacceptable levels. As stewards of Central Illinois, we have the responsibility to envision a future in which our energy doesn’t pollute our air, destroy our source of water, or heat our planet to the point of irreversible damage.

The EPA’s Clean Power Plan proposes to reduce carbon emissions nationally, and every state will decide how to implement the EPA’s plan later this year.  Already, Illinois has the fourth-highest installed wind capacity in the nation; over 91 communities across Illinois are powered by renewable energy; and, there are nearly 100,000 clean energy jobs in our state.  Central Illinois must build on these gains.  

We need citizen involvement to ensure that our leaders promote energy efficiency and prioritize investments in renewables like wind and solar. A local community group is hosting a public forum outlining our options for renewable energy in Illinois at Bradley University on Monday, November 24^th at 7:00 PM at the Marty Theater.

In 1962, environmentalist Rachel Carson asked a question that still resonates:  “Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of acquaintances who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?”  If your answer is, “Not me; not my loved ones; not my neighbors,” maybe it’s time to get involved. 

Amy L. Scott

Associate Professor of History

Bradley University

Amy L. Scott is an Associate Professor of History at Bradley University, where she teaches courses on U.S. Social Movements, Urban History, and the History of the American West.  She is the co-editor of, City Dreams, Country Schemes: Community and Identity in the American West (University of Nevada Press, 2011), as well as numerous other articles on the history of social movements and American cities.  

Medicine: the inside story

PEORIA, IL -- Here's a very interesting article by Dr. John Carroll that tells the inside story of what goes on in hospitals.

(Carroll will not like this comment, but I have read that most medical students also are not taught how to do abortions, though huge numbers of women have them.

(The answer to that may be do-it-yourself abortions, explained on the Web.)

Today I heard a story from a friend who recently took her sick baby to the OSF emergency department. She spent a half day there, only to be told that babies get sick and will get over it within a week or two.

He was checked out, she said, and doesn't have any visible infections, but he's been crying constantly and seems sick. He's at home now, still crying.

After reading Carroll's piece, it makes you wonder. This baby is on Medicaid. Low pay for the hospital.

My own experience, not at OSF, has been mixed.  Doctors generally follow treatment guidelines, which may fit most people but not all.

Think of the bell curve -- those at either end may not fit the guidelines.

But don't take my word for it.  Guidelines for rectal cancer have been studied at the University of Michigan and found wanting. "In this day and age of practicing medicine, particularly with cancer, physicians rely on these guidelines heavily. Our study suggests we need to be careful about that. The guidelines are of varying quality and they have varying recommendations. It’s not as easy as just viewing a guideline and following it,” says senior study author Sandra L. Wong, M.D., M.S., associate professor of surgery at the University of Michigan Medical School.

In my long lifetime, I found I have to research something then tell the doctor what I want.  The docs usually comply, but not always. They are following guidelines which may or may not fit me. Or the baby.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

 

Two events of interest

PEORIA, IL -- From the Peoria Area World Affairs Council:

The Save the Children group in Central Illinois, in partnership with The ONE Campaign, will join other non-profits on Tuesday,November 18 from 6:30 – 8:00 pm in Peoria. At this Meet Up, we’ll be talking with attendees about how to help kids survive and thrive and eradicating extreme poverty. We’ll have action opportunities folks can take locally to make a global impact. For details about this event,  Shawn Phetteplace of The ONE Campaign ([email protected]).

 

On Wednesday, November 19.  Diana Onken from Save the Children Action Network will be speaking on foreign aid and child/maternal health.  “Dollars and Sense: The Impact of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Budget.” It is at 7pm and will be held in the Marty Theater of the Student Center. It’s free and open to the public. 

Irving Berlin' White Christmas: terrific

PEORIA, IL -- The musical Irving Berlin's White Christmas finished a run at the Peoria Civic Center Theater on Nov. 16 as part of the Broadway Theater series.  It was terrific.

I expected something so sentimental and schlocky that I nearly sold my tickets. I was so wrong.

This show features an Actor's Equity cast loaded with talent, georgeous sets and costumes, fabulous dancing, great music and orchestration, and a snappy style that makes vintage songs seem contemporary.

These Irving Berlin songs are alive and well in the 21st century, and will continue to live after the real schlock -- contemporary rock and rap -- are consigned to cultural oblivion. 

There is absolutely nothing offensive in this show, making it ideal for children and those who have turned away from the Broadway stage because of language or other issues.

It's not 'edgy,' but it's so well done that edgy isn't required to make it interesting.

The cast is soooo good -- and that's to be expected as many are veterans of Broadway, TV and movies. That's what it means to be a member of Actor's Equity Association, the union for actors and stage managers.

They sing, they dance, they act in the simple plot: boy meets girl, they break up,  they reunite. Snow even falls on the audience at the end. 

This show is headed for Pittsburg, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Boston and New Haven, a holiday treat for theater audiences there.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Peoria Library book sale

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

Friends of Peoria Public Library Hold Giant Annual Book Sale

 

                The Friends of Peoria Public Library, who operate The Friendly Finds Bookstore in the Main Library LL2 at 107 N.E. Monroe, will hold a half-price sale on the thousands of used books in the store on Saturday, November 15, and Monday, November 24-26 from noon to 4:00 p.m.

                The sale features all hard bound and paperback books as well as audio visual items.  Paperbacks will be 10 cents, children’s books and large print books are 25 cents each or five for $1.

                The used books are donations from the library and community members and the funds raised go to support the Peoria Public Library including paying for the Summer Reading Program, children’s activities, author talks and much more. For more information about the Friends or the Friendly Finds Bookstore call 309- 497-2145 or visit http://www.peoriapubliclibrary.org/

29 deaths yearly from air pollution here

PEORIA, IL -- Two dozen environmental activists gathered for a Nov. 12 news conference to report new and ominous information on the effects of air pollution in the Peoria area.

Their goal: ultimately to pressure the Edwards coal fired power plant near Bartonville to install pollution control equipment, or to shut down.

"The health impact of Edwards is worse than we thought," said Tracy Fox, one of three speakers at the event. 

They cited figures showing there are 29 deaths yearly from air pollution.  There were 54 bad air days in 2012, and 490 asthma attacks yearly in the area.

A sign held by a member of the group stated: "Citizens litering, $50 fine. Dynergy: free." Dynergy owns the Edwards plant.

photo courtesy of Kady McFadden

A nurse, Teresa Smith, said "hundreds are struggling to breathe because this polluter uses this community as a dumping ground.We need renewable energy."

Fox said the group has been working with the Peoria City/County Health Department" which contacted Dynergy, the owner of the Edwards plant, on its air and water pollution and coal ash landfill.

"It's isolated financially," she said, meaning the Edwards plant lacks access to Dynergy's money. That makes pollution control equipment less likely.

The third speaker, Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health with the Respiratory Health Association, said the coal plant pollution also is linked to global warming and climate change.

Hot weather is moving north, and could produce temperatures of 115F in Chicago, he said.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Here's the news release:

 

Local Public Health Experts Reveal Peoria Air Pollution Impacts Health More Severely than Previously Reported

 

Peoria Residents Call for Stronger Smog Pollution Safeguards from the U.S. EPA

 

 

PEORIA, Ill.  – Today, respiratory health experts and local residents will outline new revelations from a Clean Air Task Force report on public health that demonstrates how Peoria’s air pollution problem is far worse than it previously reported. Dynegy’s E.D. Edwards coal plant in Bartonville is one of the top polluters in the area, and other regional coal-fired power plants are contributing to dangerous levels of smog pollution in the Peoria area.

The report first estimated the annual health impacts of the Edwards coal plant at 7 premature deaths, 10 heart attacks and 110 asthma incidents. When the Clean Air Task Force ran its models with the Edwards coal plant’s actual 2012 emissions data instead of EPA predictions, the group found that pollution from the E.D. Edwards coal-fired power plant in fact contributes to 29 premature deaths, 45 heart attacks and 490 asthma incidents each year.

“Seeing this toll to public health in the Peoria area due to pollution from coal plants sets off alarms for health experts,” said Brian Urbaszewski, Director of Environmental Health with Respiratory Health Association. “We need public health protections that shield children, seniors and those living with lung disease from the effects of breathing ozone smog-forming power plant exhaust.”

On December 1st, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will issue new proposed standards on smog pollution. The current smog pollution standard is 75 parts per billion (ppb), but many health experts, epidemiologists and medical organizations like Respiratory Health Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and many others have endorsed a standard of 60 ppb to safeguard public health properly. If the smog standard was set to 60 ppb as recommended by health experts, Peoria would have been alerted to 54 unhealthy air days in 2012, 17 in 2013 and 11 so far in 2014, all related to smog alone.

Smog, also known as ground-level ozone, causes premature death, asthma attacks, aggravates other lung diseases such as bronchitis and emphysema, and may cause permanent lung damage and harm the central nervous system. Coal-fired power plants - like those operated across the state of Illinois by Dynegy and NRG Energy- are some of the largest contributors to smog. Smog is formed from the pollution emitted from these coal plants as it interacts with sunlight.

“As a community that has fought for cleaner air for years, it is heartbreaking to see that our problem with air pollution is actually worse than we thought,” said Tracy Fox with Peoria Families Against Toxic Waste. “We’ve got a tremendous opportunity to cut smog pollution in our community. Big polluters like Dynegy are going to fight these vital health protections tooth and nail, which is why it’s crucial for us to stand up for a strong smog standard.”

“As a nurse, an asthmatic and a lifelong Peoria resident, I’ve experienced the daily impacts of pollution from local coal plants,” said Teresa Smith, RN, Peoria resident. “We face above-average rates of asthma here in Peoria, so it is urgent that we cut smog pollution in order to protect statewide public health.”

Clean energy forum Nov. 24

PEORIA, IL -- Here's a news release:

Community Group to Host Public Forum on Clean Energy

Speakers to discuss how Central Illinois can benefit from President Obama's new plan to cut dangerous carbon pollution from power plants

 

What:

As Illinois works to develop a plan to comply with President Obama's Clean Power Plan, Central Illinois leaders from several industries, areas and backgrounds will gather to discuss how Central Illinois can benefit from these efforts to reduce dangerous carbon pollution. 

 

The speakers will give a comprehensive overview of how climate change impacts Central Illinois, the importance of taking action as a community, and the clean energy solutions that are already at work in the region. Representatives from the agricultural, scientific, faith and youth communities will share their perspective on how the new standards represent an opportunity for Illinois to grow its booming clean energy economy while preserving Illinois’ air, water and land for future generations.

 

Each speaker will present and a question and answer session with the audience will follow. The discussion will focus on Illinois’ role as a leader in the movement toward clean energy.

 

The recent IPCC report on climate change exposes the dire consequences of failing to act to address climate change, and right now there is an unprecedented opportunity for IL and the rest of the country to move beyond fossil fuels. A new proposed rule called the Clean Power Plan is a plan for states to cut their carbon emissions and promote renewable energies like wind, solar, and energy efficiency.

This forum aims to create an opportunity for people to better understand opportunities for cleaner energy in Peoria from the Clean Power Plan, as well as see how Central Illinois is already taking steps to move towards renewable energy.

 

When: Monday, November 24th, 7:00-8:30 PM

 

Where: Bradley University, Marty Theater, 915 N Elmwood Ave, Peoria, IL

 

Who: Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance and 200+ community members

 

 

Speakers:

• Brian Urbaszewski, Respiratory Health Association
• Keith Bolin, farmer and wind energy advocate
• Todd Abercrombie, EverGreen Home Energy Consultants
• Ernestine Jackson, Peoria NAACP
• State Senator Dave Koehler

--

Laurel Wolf

Central Illinois Healthy Community Alliance
503-853-6640