PEORIA, IL -- The latest election for school board members in Peoria District 150 may be history but the debate over Supt. Grenita Lathan and her administration continues.
The two Change150-recommended candidates won the election. They campaigned on getting rid of Lathan. But they don't take office until July 1.
At the board's April 13 meeting, board members defended Lathan, who was both attacked and praised during the public comments session. Here is a recording of the public comments and responses from the board:
The board 'hired someone as a change agent. We asked for someone strong in instruction and curriculum," Linda Butler said in defending Lathan from an attack by critic Sharon Crews. Her report will be posted below later.
Board president Debbie Wolfmeyer said of the election: "keep it in perspective. Only 23 percent voted in District 3, less than 10 percent of the voters."
Jon Bateman, appointed last year to the board, lost his seat in the election. He defended Lathan at public forums.
He accused District 150 critics of misusing statistics (to show the lack of progress under Lathan) and worse. "Telling half truths is lying by omission," he said.
"The voters sent a message for change," said Kathleen Diefenbaugh, a Lathan critic. Families are moving out of the district, she said. "Do something now."
A woman who said she represented the Peoria Black Chamber of Commerce, defended Lathan. "The attacks on Lathan" should stop, she said.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Here are the comments from Sharon Crews:
In May, 2012, Dr. Lathan asked the rhetorical question, “What happens when decades of ‘Educational Malpractice’ have been allowed to permeate the foundation of an educational system?” Her answer: “Across the board failure and completely unacceptable results from staff and students!” She called our community, children, parents, and teachers failures. Then she uttered the words by which she chose to be judged, “This pattern of failure will no longer be allowed to continue…the bar has been raised.”
A few have publicly refuted the retired principals’ data taken directly from the Illinois 2014 test results. However, Lathan, with no data to back her up, stated that District 150 has been failing for decades—more than twenty years, right? I do not believe that there is any data to back up her claims. Only in the last decade were tests given to students used to judge schools and teachers. All measuring sticks would have to be very subjective.
Unfortunately, Dr. Lathan was not present on February 22, 2010, when the board officially hired her. On that night, Wolfmeyer congratulated the students, staff, and parents for the nine awards given to District schools by the Illinois State Board of Education.
The Academic Excellence Award to Washington Gifted, Academic Improvement Awards to Woodrow, Sterling, and Harrison, and Spotlight School Awards to Hines, Rolling Acres, Roosevelt, Whittier, and Woodrow.
Spotlight School awards require that at least 50% of a school’s students are from low-income families--and hear this: Each Spotlight School must have made AYP during the award year and two prior years.
This positive data was actually Lathan’s starting point, but she labeled the District a failure from the get-go. Why didn’t the board speak up when this criticism was leveled at everyone in the district—including three of you?
Now consider the irony of the Illinois data in light of the 2010 data.
Both Harrison and Roosevelt, honored in 2010, dropped to the two lowest elementary schools in the state under Lathan’s leadership.
Dr. Lathan trusted that the millions she spent on technology, programs, and texts would lead to acceptable AYP scores. It didn’t happen. From day one she bragged she would raise the bar—and she accepted AYP as that bar. Had she approached this task with the humility we all knew was required, she would not have had to hide the test results from the public. Neither NCLB nor Lathan should have been judge and jury for this District. -30-
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