PeoriaStory

Rally pn Monday June 30, with a cake

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release: 

WHAT:   Medicare/Medicaid 53^rd Anniversary Event/Protest

WHEN:   Monday, July 30^th, 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m.

WHERE: Federal Bldg. 100 NE Monroe St. Peoria IL

VISUALS: Anniversary Cake, signs

 

INDIVISIBLE PEORIA AREA TO HOLD EVENT PROTESTING PROPOSED CUTS TO MEDICARE/MEDICAID DUE TO TRUMP-GOP TAX LAW

Peoria, IL  – As the nation marks the 53^rd anniversary of the adoption of Medicare and Medicaid July 30, Indivisible Peoria Area, with other local organizations, will hold a birthday event to highlight Rep. Darin LaHood’s voting record and to release a new report showing how vital health care services for millions of Americans, including over 4.5 million elderly, disabled and low-income people in Illinois, are threatened by severe budget cuts to pay for new tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.

The Trump-GOP tax plan that became law in December added nearly $2 trillion to the national debt. To make up the difference, President Trump and the GOP in Congress have targeted Medicare and Medicaid, along with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), for steep cuts. If adopted, these cuts will take health care away from millions of seniors, children, veterans and people with disabilities.

Rep. Darin LaHood voted against the interests of seniors and working families by voting in favor of the tax plan, last December, and by voting in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act in May last year.

The report prepared by the Alliance for Retired Americans, Americans for Tax Fairness and Health Care for America Now, shows how over 4.5 million Illinois citizens enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid face threats to their coverage because of the cost of the Trump-GOP tax cuts that mostly benefit the state’s wealthiest families and most profitable corporations.

These cuts are already raising premiums and out-of-pocket costs under the Affordable Care Act and causing millions to lose their health care. Additional proposed cuts to Medicaid and Medicare and repeal of the ACA could make life-saving medicines costlier for seniors and families eliminate key protections for people with pre-existing conditions and roll back Medicaid coverage for 2.8 million people in Illinois.

 

Contact: Jean Sloan, Indivisible Peoria Area 309-678-8099

                Admin1@indivisiblepia.com

The Shaft event

PEORIA, IL -- The Shaft, a historic Civil War monument, is on its way to restoration and establishment at the historic Springdale Cemetery. Dedication date is tentatively Memorial Day 2019.

A news conference on July 23 at the Peoria Riverfront Museum presented a history of the Shaft, and honored the community raising funds to restore it. 

Gale Thetford, the treasurer for the fundraising effort, said that the Shaft stood at the Peoria Courthouse until it was demolished to make way for a modern courthouse.

Then the Shaft was taken to the Detweiller Marina grounds and discarded there in pieces.  It was discovered recently, and the project to restore it began.  When $60,000 is raised, it will be sent to the original company that created it, which is still in business, then back to Peoria for dedication at Springdale.

Restaurant owner and civic activist Bruce Brown said that a community of people raised money for the monument in 1866, and a community now is raising money for its restoration.

Gale Thetford and Bruce Brown at The Shaft news conference.  A  piece of the monument is on the right.

t may be one of the first Civil War monuments in the nation, and certainly was the first in Illinois.  Peoria had a population of 19,000 when it was erected in 1866, but 30,000 people came to the dedication, Thetford said.

An eagle topped the Shaft, said to be 'Old Abe,' an eagle that flew screaming across battlefields. It also will be restored to top the monument. 

Bruce Brown, right, Norm Kelly and Civil War re-enacters at a recent Shaft fundraiser at Brown's restaurant.Brown and Kelly found the pieces of the monument and launched the fundraising effort.

Representatives of several groups spoke briefly and presented checks toward the restoration.  About half of the needed funds have been raised so far.  Donations can be made at the website Restoretheshaft.org.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

Effective teaching

PEORIA, IL -- Here is the comment from Sharon Crews at the July 16 meeting of the Peoria Public School Board, District 150: 

When I graduated from college, a friend asked me to visit her classroom at Roosevelt—I did and immediately went to the board rooms to apply for a job there and was hired.  Buck Smith supported teachers wholeheartedly and loved the students.  His expectation of teachers was that they “be fair, firm, and friendly.  Relationships that the students and I built there were easily brought back to life by Facebook fifty years later.  Many of my Roosevelt students became the parents of children I taught later at Manual. 

Students play a huge role in building relationships because they want teachers to like them.  My best example would be Gail Neal Rosado, who came to me at the end of her seventh grade year to tell me that she would be in my eighth grade class and that she would be my favorite student. That relationship has lasted a lifetime

Teachers do not need programs to help them build relationships with students.  First, they need what I received at Roosevelt—a principal who cares about teachers and supports them.  Secondly, they need to have their ideas and complaints made known to and considered by the superintendent, Wisconsin Avenue administrators, and the board.  Thirdly, they need support that allows teachers to interact with students because discipline problems are quickly removed from the classroom and dealt with in ways that produce positive results.

Because District 150 gave me all those advantages during my seven years at Roosevelt and for about twenty-five at Manual, I was able to teach and to build strong relationships with my students.  If you have access to my records, you would find that in my first 30 years I wrote almost no referrals. 

Some teachers opt to have a quiet classroom.  I chose to teach by having discussions that required students to interact with me and with each other.  Using this method, I could ask questions that let me know immediately if students had comprehended the information that I had presented. A teacher and students together in a room five days a week for a semester or a year will build teacher-student relationships, and students definitely will build relationships with each other.  A good teacher will encourage and guide these relationships.

However, that interaction became harder and harder, starting in the late 1990’s and came to a screeching halt by my last two years.  From the 1990s on, I had to spend increasingly more and more of every hour handling discipline problems.  This was not the fault of students, teachers, or parents—it was due to changes in administrative policies and administrators that allowed students to disrupt classes with almost no consequences.

Policy demanded that no student could leave the classroom without a referral—that took time from teaching. Fights in hallways and the cafeteria became spectator sports with 50 to 60 students rushing to watch fights during which I even observed the student on the ground being kicked in the head.  In addition to severe discipline problems, changes in policy encouraged inflated grades, and summer school ended.

By the 2000’s Jeff Dutro and I took an account of Manual’s problems to the Peoria Journal and Elaine Hopkins was assigned to making Manual’s plight public.  I didn’t expect the front page banner headline that started “Manual teachers.”  Not knowing how my students would react, I read and discussed the story with all my classes.  All were supportive and one class stood up and cheered. 

After I retired, the Johns Hopkins era destroyed teacher-student relations when two thirds of the faculty was traded for new teachers and teachers transferred from other buildings—most, if not all, with no high school experience.  The strong relationships teachers had built with each other ended, and few veteran teachers were left to mentor the new teachers. 

Manual never recovered because teachers don’t stay long enough to build relationships.  Change is needed in the whole district, and I believe you all are capable of bringing about the needed change if you will allow teachers to be a strong part of the process.  Also, all changes must be evaluated regularly to determine if they are bringing about positive results. - 30 -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Riverfront Park saved? Maybe

PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:

HAS RIVERFRONT PARK BEEN SAVED FOR PUBLIC USE?

NOT YET, BUT PERHAPS

On July 2, the city of Peoria terminated the development agreement to build apartments in Riverfront Park. 

Friends of Riverfront Park (FORP) thanks all who helped get to this point to save the park for public green space.  The city of Peoria has posted the notice of termination on its website at

http://www.peoriagov.org/content/uploads/2015/11/Rivertrail-termination_1531158130_add.pdf

But concerns remain:  

1. The City’s application to the National Park Service (NPS) to sell the parkland for apartments must be withdrawn. We ask supporters to contact their council representatives and city manager asking them to immediately withdraw the application. Withdrawal places the parkland under the protection of federal regulations and continues its use as a public park.
   

2. FORP’s research found deficiencies in a prior land conversion of Southtown to Rocky Glen, completed in 2012. The National Park Service (NPS) agreed, and determined that the city has a likely shortfall in fair market value of the converted land.   
   

The city has stated that it will “work with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the National Park Service to resolve the issues related to the Rocky Glen conversion, in order to close out any outstanding issues with the Land and Water Grant,” 

http://www.peoriagov.org/content/uploads/2015/11/River-Trail-Update-6.29-July-6_1531158088_add.pdf

The city therefore needs new appraisals for these properties to determine their fair market value. 

The city SHOULD NOT PURCHASE additional land to correct an anticipated fair market value deficit until the appraisals are completed and accepted by NPS showing a deficit.  

Despite its extreme fiscal crisis, the city is proposing purchase of park replacement land that may cost more than its appraised value, creating excess fair market value. FORP does not want a set up for a future Riverfront Park conversion for development. The land purchase is likely to be on the council agenda for July 24.

Ask council members to reject the proposed purchase and look for other solutions, such as properties the city already owns in Southtown, which could be made into pocket parks. A public decision process also should be in place before replacement land is purchased. – 30 -

Here's the story in the Journal Star.

New District 150 Board president, and...

PEORIA, IL -- The Peoria District 150 School Board, which oversees the Peoria Public Schools, has a new president, Dan Adler. He received the unanimous vote from his fellow board members at a July 2 reorganization meeting.  Doug Shaw was elected vice president, the position Adler has held.

Elected to the board as a reformer, Adler replaces Martha Ross.  In comments she noted she has served for 17 years on the board, including three terms as president. "My goal was to change the culture of the board meetings," she said.  She has apparently succeeded, as the board appears to get along well now. In April she was elected to another five year term on the board.

In his comments, Adler said "we're in a great place," but challenges remain. In an era of questionable national discourse, the board should be "a model" of good behavior.  All adults function as teachers for youth,  he said. "Lets strive to be a model of respectful, spirited deliberations."

In addition, the board should focus on trust for each other, he said, collaborate with other organizations, and have "open and honest communication."

In public comments to the board, activist Sharon Crews urged the board to "revamp its discipline policy" to create good behavior among the students. She mentioned 15 young men recently arrested as members of a violent gang, the Bomb Squad. "The district likely failed these 15 young men," she said.

Read her complete comments below soon.

Activist Terry Knapp suggested that the gang fell through the cracks when Woodruff High School was closed, and students sent to the other high schools, which then were disrupted by grants requiring staff members to be terminated and replaced by others. "Kids were abandoned, traumatized," he said.

Here is an audio recording of the comments. 

Download D150 July 2

The shake up also had implications for sports teams, he said, with Central High School now in the 4A category, Manual High School in the 3A category. "If programs do not draw (kids) in, it's sad," he said.

In responding to the comments, the superintendent and board members expressed appreciation for the outside observations.

In addition they expressed their thanks to Peoria Journal Star reporter Pam Adams, who has retired after covering education for several years, and editorial writer Mike Bailey, who was let go, in a corporate "squeeze." He wrote many strong fair editorials on the schools and was a former education reporter. "We've lost good people," board member Dan Walther said.

Amen.

The board also awarded superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat a one time $10,000 bonus for her performance, 4 percent of her base salary. It will not be added to the base, Adler said.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Here are comments from Sharon Crews:

The Peoria Journal’s front page story on Friday and the recent arrest of fifteen young men, charged with very serious crimes, are wake-up calls for our district. If convicted, these young men, who probably attended our schools, could spend the rest of their lives in prison. District 150 must find a way to teach young people from first to twelfth grades that their actions have consequences and to show students that they are capable of changing their behaviors. Students must learn these lessons from people who care about them before their behaviors warrant the consequences of criminal activity meted out by the courts.

I would like to challenge district administrators and this board to devote all of next year to revamping the discipline policy and procedures to create classroom environments where learning can take place and where strong teacher-student relationships can be created. Also, much more attention must be paid to behaviors in hallways, the cafeterias, etc.

First, I recommend that the superintendent and all administrators forge relationships with teachers to allow teachers to be a part of the process. Administrators have a history of creating policy with an attitude of “our way or the highway.” Teachers do not show up to speak at board meetings for fear of retaliation the likes of which has a long history in this district. These changes must be done without purchased programs. Instead of paying out thousands of dollars for programs, pay teacher committees to work with administrators to come up with workable policies. For it to work, teachers must have a stake in creating the policy.

I believe the discipline policy should include the following:

Fair but firm consequences for various types of offenses. The assumption has to be made that students come to school because they want a diploma; therefore, getting zeroes for work missed as a result of bad behavior has to be a consequence. A possible policy could be that these students could make up the work with the grades counting if their behavior improves for the rest of a specified period. Such bargaining allows students the opportunity to prove to themselves and their teachers that they can discipline themselves—which is part of what schools must teach.

In addition to consequences, a student could be asked to write a letter of apology to whomever they offended or apologize to the class, etc., for disrupting the class. Only in rare incidents should such apologies be the consequence. Offering students the opportunity to seek redemption for bad behavior could be a positive experience.

I wonder if any of these fifteen young men failed classes in our district and got so far behind that they couldn’t see a way to graduation. Some are of the age when summer school would not have been available to them, so this is a likely scenario. Again, I beg you to consider the harm you are doing students by not allowing them a legitimate way to earn credits lost through failing classes. Also, summer school with 3-hour classes gives teachers a great chance to build relationships and gives students who most need it something to do in the summer. The discovery that all fifteen of these young men belonged to the same gang caused me to realize that some are of the age to have been in school ten years ago, at the same time one of our board members loudly decried the idea that there was gang activity or members in our schools.

An all-out effort should be made to have face-to-face meetings with parents to learn about discipline policies. Small groups of parents would be preferable. Parents need to be made aware of what is expected of their children and what behaviors are unacceptable, etc. When policies are explained, the moderator must be an administrator, not a teacher. Parents are well aware that teachers do not have the authority to assign or carry out consequences. Please consider devoting considerable time to finding viable solutions to discipline problems. - 30 -