PEORIA, IL -- The students have spoken, the teachers have spoken and on Sept. 23 the parents spoke in favor of a new contract for Quest, the public charter school.
Four parents used the public comment section of the Peoria District 150 School Board meeting to urged the board to renew the contract to fund Quest for five more years, at a total of $30 million.
They emphasized the choice it represents for families, the small school environment where "everyone knows everyone," and a student can "email teachers in the evening and on weekends."
Activist Terry Knapp continued his efforts to persuade the board to drop Quest funding. He again emphasized the unfairness of closing Woodruff High School to open Quest, a project of former Caterpillar, Inc. CEO Glen Barton, now deceased. Woodruff has 20,000 alumni, he said. Quest has 120. "Nine hundred (Woodruff) kids who used to walk to school now are bused, leading to crime in the area.
Quest teachers also have no union, and a "45 to 50 percent turnover," Knapp said.
During a budget hearing, Knapp also complained about the board continuing to spend $1 million a year on out-of-town lawyers, when that money should stay in Peoria to circulate.
There were two hearings, the first one a budget hearing.
Kim Thomas, a former Illinois Teacher of the Year, told the board that math textbooks are needed. The math curriculum is now on-line. Her smart board doesn't work, and other teachers don't even have them, she said. Principal "walk throughs" are excessive, she said. "Bring something to share with our kids. Teaching is an art, not cookie-cutter."
Sharon Crews talked about discipline, with her brilliant remarks below. Be sure to read her comment.
-- Elaine Hopkins
From Sharon Crews:
I think I applaud the manner in which the cell phone policy was discussed and decided. Now I ask that you do what I don’t think has ever been done before Please keep extremely accurate records of both the successes and failures of the policy so that if any changes are needed, the same committee can make thoughtful revisions. Of course, input from all teachers as to the success of the policy should be considered.
A similar committee should be formed as soon as possible to discuss revisions to all discipline policies to include the kinds of consequences to be meted out for the various types of offenses. All voices should be heard, and ideas should be put in writing for consideration by the committee.
I do have some general suggestions relating to improving the discipline in our schools. First, students should be convinced that school administrators and support staff as well as central administrators support the teachers.
Students must understand that teachers control their classrooms--period. If administrators have a problem with a particular teacher, that’s between the teacher and the administrator. If a student tells an administrator that a teacher has misrepresented his or her behavior in a referral or has been unfair in some way, the administrator must have a meeting with both the teacher and the student—and must be the diplomat.
In addition to fear of lawsuits, I remember what started the mess we are in. It was my experience that those administrators who handled discipline often made friends with students by listening to student complaints about their teachers.
The day a student said to me, “I want to see my dean,” I realized the student had figured out what I already knew—the deans wanted to be the students’ friend. If administrators want to be the friends of students, they should go back to the classroom. The ideal, of course, is for administrators, staff, and teachers to model for students their friendly working relationships.
All building and central administrators and their staffs should support the teacher as the good guy. Secondly, teachers must be permitted to send disruptive students out before they incite others to join them.
I have heard that at some schools teachers are not allowed to send students out without a referral; at others, teachers can send a disruptive student to another location to chill. Neither option is sufficient. Consequences must be meted out before the student returns to class. Also, students sent out of class should be kept out of class for the rest of the hour.
I believe that teachers have stopped giving homework because they give students classwork instead to keep students busy while they handle discipline problems. Well-behaving students are being cheated out of time needed for teachers to teach them and to get to know them and their abilities.
Students don’t learn material covered in homework or classwork unless their papers are graded and then discussed.
I do believe that lawsuits must be risked in order to suspend or expel students for significant periods of time if they conduct criminal behavior at school. Selling drugs, carrying weapons (any gun or knife used solely as a weapon), and fighting are not just disruptive behaviors; they are illegal. The often ignored activity relates to problems created by gang members during the school day. Stop protecting them and drug dealers. - 30 -
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