PeoriaStory

WIU Trustees meeting part 2

MACOMB, IL -- The second part of the Western Illinois University Trustees meeting on June 14 was fascinating, as the new trustees debated program closes, following the rules, and heard that WIU is on "shaky ground," with the Higher Learning Commission.

WIU has a news release recounting some, but not all, of what took place.

If WIU is placed on probation by the Higher Learning Commission, every letter and other public document will have to say WIU is on probation, administrator Joe Reeves told the board. WIU will have two years to improve.

The conflict between the outgoing president and the campus and community drew national attention, Reeves said, and the attention of the Commission,.

The board held a lengthy discussion over which programs to cut, and finally tabled the motion to cut several, for further study. WIU faculty union president Bill Thompson told the board that "management by algorithm," by cutting small programs with few students has been taking place. It's convenient, he said, adding, "where is the algorithm office in Sherman Hall?"

A trustee said "Southern Illinois University justifies philosophy even though it has low enrollment," as important to a university education.  WIU has already cut its department, and may be the only university in Illinois without a philosophy department.

The board awarded tenure, including tenure to the new provost, Martin Abraham.  Then it debated at length whether to vote him in as provost.  "I want the board to follow the board regulations," BOT Chair Greg Aguilar said. "The old board didn't follow the rules and got in trouble." He read the board rules to the audience, which says the BOT will vote to hire the provost and other university officers.

But administrators said the president hires the provost reports the hiring to the board, and that's the way it's always been done, despite the board rules.

Finally the board "approved" the hire, then after another lengthy discussion named him acting president.

The BOT also voted new officers to begin July 1, in an apparent secret ballot.  The recording is silent for a long time.  This appears to be another violation of the Open Meetings Act. It then voted openly to approve the slate of officers.

Here are recordings of the meeting. 

The discussion over cutting programs:

Download WIU 5

 The discussion continues, and this recording should end with the start of the election of BOT officers.Stop listening there.

Download WIU 6

Tenure recommendations including new provost;re election of BOT officers, with long silence for apparent secret nominations; power struggle over whether BOT hires provost or just approves the hiring; appointment of new provost as interim president; The shaky ground speech.

Download WIU 7

-- Elaine Hopkins

 

The WIU Trustees meeting, part 1

MACOMB, IL -- The June 14 meeting of the Western Illinois University trustees, which saw WIU's president step down, has been broadcast on WTND-FM in Macomb, and live streamed on its website wtnd.org. The first half of the day-long meeting, that is.

I recorded it off the broadcast, and it is posted below.

The second half of the meeting will be broadcast on Monday, June 17, at 5 pm. 

The NPR station on the campus has a terrific website with a great piece on WIU Pres. Jack Thomas' s resignation.

The meeting began with Thomas's comments to the trustees, followed by marketing efforts at WIU.  Then the public comments began, many with a familiar plea not to cut popular programs to save money. Though administrators claimed that the proposed cuts had been studied carefully, the comments seemed to show otherwise. They indicated that the bosses with with the red pencils are out of touch with the students and profs.

Then came the charges of racism because the campus and town had been begging for 'Thomas, an African American, to resign or be fired. That's unfair -- Thomas did a bad job of managing the downside at the campus, as the NPR story shows.   It would be racist to refrain from criticism because he's black.

The strongest claims  of racism came from Ron Williams, who is leaving for another job. He called the criticism of Thomas "a symbolic public lynching," referring to the 'fire Thomas' signs that sprouted around Macomb.

Here are the recordings and what's on them:

No. 1: Thomas's address to the Trustees and some comments.

Download WIU No 1

No. 2:  More public comments.

Download WIU No. 2

No. 3:  Comments, Thomas's remarks on finances, and he said "a great deal of analysis has gone into these" program cuts." Then at 47 minutes into the recording, Ron Williams and his statement on campus and town racism.

Download WIU No 3

No. 4. A trustee questions Williams on enrollment projections for next fall and wonders why WIU has been saying enrollment will be up when the figures don't indicate that.

Download WIU No 4

-- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

 

 

 

WIU's new trustees: hummmm

MACOMB, IL -- Newly appointed trustees for Western Illinois University got a good look at what's happening on campus, at the March 29 meeting.  It wasn't pretty.

Once again the room was too small for the crowd, which left people sitting in the hall, listening via loud speaker.  Those packed into the room were standing around the sides.  Agendas were not available for the audience.  All this means very poor planning, as larger rooms are likely available.

The plentiful supply of microphones didn't always work well, and some comments could not be understood.

The meeting began with a possible violation of the Illinois Open Meetings Act:  the officers were elected by secret ballot, then when the results were  announced the board voted to approve the results.

That wouldn't fly for a public school board, but perhaps the Illinois Attorney General's office will know the rules for higher ed.

Then came the first in a long series of presentations by the numerous administrators on campus.  The first one took 15 minutes, devoted to how students benefit from Greek life on campus. Hazing wasn't mentioned.

Next, the public comments. And it turns out that WIU allows those who want to speak to sign up days in advance, though nothing on the agenda states this.  There was a long list, and the comments were cut off after 20 minutes, despite what appeared to be a vote by the trustee to extend the time.  With the bad mic it was not clear what happened. My comments didn't make it, so they will be posted at the end of this story on the meeting.

I worried that administrators had signed up to speak, Stalin-style, to take up the time for comments, but apparently that didn't occur to them.  The comments mostly from faculty actually were honest and worth hearing, about WIU layoffs, program cuts etc. 

And the new board president, Greg Aguilar of East Moline, was apparently interested, as he thanked those who commented and said "we hear you."

He had stated more comments would be taken at the end of the meeting. I didn't wait around, as a long morning was likely before the meeting ended.

According to the agenda, which I somehow acquired when I tried to get my name on the comments list, six vice presidents and several other administrators were scheduled to give reports to the trustees. Their pay likely totals a million dollars, or more.    Getting rid of half of them would fund the campus NPR station, so endless beg-a-thons could be eliminated.

Here's the WIU press release on the meeting.

Will the new trustees do something about administrative bloat?  We'll see. Here are the comments I was not able to deliver:

Congratulations to the new trustees. If you do the right thing, you will be part of rebuilding this fine university, after its recent slide downward. Here’s what you must do:

First, send the budget and the cuts within it back to the drawing board. Many were chosen without any analysis or study. They were on a list someone compiled years ago, also drawn up without any analysis or study. It was just a list and it makes no sense.

For example cutting the funding to WIU’s award winning NPR radio station is crazy. It’s the best outreach WIU has to the public – way beyond pricey TV ads or internet videos which likely are deleted quickly before they are viewed.         If the station must spend all its broadcast time begging the public for money, that sends a message of instability, even crisis.

Then look at other campus services.  The gardener for the beautiful WIU library reportedly has been targeted for layoff. So who is going to take care of the fabulous collection of plants in the library? Will they be left to die?

These are 2 examples but there are many more, cuts without thought but with major implications for WIU, sending the message that the university is circling the drain. The faculty members know what’s happening. Those that can leave are bailing out – and losing the best and brightest will hasten WIU’s decline.

So – good luck in turning things around here. Don’t just rubber stamp what the administration wants or buy their talking point that cuts must be made. They have made stupid cuts. Smart cuts can be made  -– start with the large number of administrators -- but not stupid cuts.  

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A tale of two universities

MACOMB, IL -- The nearly five hour meeting of Western Illinois University's Board of Trustees on Dec. 14 revealed a tale of two campuses -- the good and the bad.

First the bad:  lack of transparency.  The 8 am meeting is too early for the public to easily attend. The room, in the student center, was too small leaving a standing room only audience squeezed along the walls. And when I asked for an agenda, it didn't exist!  It's on-line, someone said.  

That wasn't good enough, and I complained that surely there were copy machines in the building.  There were, and after a while agendas for the audience appeared, and were eagerly studied by those in attendance.

The trustees recently were found guilty by the Illinois Attorney General's office of violating the Illinois Open Meetings Act for a closed meeting in June that discussed laying off tenured teachers, shutting down WIU's NPR station and many other items that should have been discussed in an open meeting. 

A violation is a Class C misdemeanor that carries a fine and possibly jail.  It's still under investigation by the Attorney General, since the local State's Attorney recused  himself. The board chairwoman soon resigned.

Something needed to be said about this, so WIU's new lawyer offered an apology of sorts. But the issue was live, as an agenda item, misnamed, proposed to destroy tapes of closed meetings while the the Attorney General's office is investigating closed meetings to see whether they, too, violated the law.

This item was the last on a long agenda, and eventually was tabled as people spoke against destroying the tapes. That was a rare concession from the icy board of trustees.The faculty union also threatened to sue if the tapes were to be destroyed.

After a 45 minute presentation of "points of pride," about good programs at WIU, the public comments began. Here is a recording of the public comments:

Download WIU Dec 14 18

Several people spoke, including me, asking that the NPR station, WIUM-FM, be funded so it doesn't collapse. The board ignored the pleas, as usual.  Here is a story on the public comments.

The only hope for saving the station will be new trustees.  Governor-elect JB Pritzker will be able to appoint five new trustees in January, a board majority, so perhaps they will listen to the many pleas for the award-winning station, WIU's best outreach to the region.  

A group of retirees presented a statement supporting the university but urging, among other things, that the liberal arts be preserved as WIU restructures itself due to a $21 million budget deficit.  Their spokesperson, Paula Wise, expressed concern about low staff morale on the campus due to impending layoffs.

The new chairwoman of the trustees, Carolyn Ehlert Fuller, then announced "President Thomas, the board stands behind you and your team."  Thomas was also in the illegal closed session and has been criticized for rejecting faculty input into staff cuts. Fuller's term is up in January, and she is retiring.

An online petition caused WIU president Jack Thomas to meet with the faculty union and back off immediate proposed staff cuts.  He said they can wait until the new governor's budget message on Feb. 21, but layoffs will be announced on March 1, he said.

A long series of presentations then followed, some of them interesting, but many were way too long. WIU has some terrific programs, but its enrollment has dropped to about 8,500 students, down 28 percent since 2013.

The trustees quizzed the administrators about why this is happening and were told local area students are not attending WIU, and some scholarships for local students are not being used. 

 WIU is proud of its diversity. It "reflects the world around us," an administrator said.

Other facts from the presentations:  WIU's foundation assets dropped 3.5 percent in the recent stock market decline, and now is $56.2 million. Campus revenue is down 13.1 percent, and WIU's reserves have been depleted due to lack of state funding. "We're doing the best we can with the resources we have, vice president Joe Rives said.

The good: The campus staff has acquired $3.5 million in grants this year, and several new programs are designed to attract more students including many scholarships to make the campus affordable. 

Despite the problems, the administrators and trustees talked of hope from the new governor.  The president of the faculty senate summed it up: "Illinois is a large, rich state that can afford a good public university system," he said.

And here's the story from WIUM, a terrific story.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Criminal Investigation of WIU Board of Trustees, President, and other University Officers

MACOMB, IL -- From a news release: Will the State's Attorney Do It?

University Professionals of Illinois Call for a Criminal Investigation of WIU Board of Trustees, President, and other University Officers

CHICAGO - Referring to the recently released closed-meeting audio of the Western Illinois University’s (WIU) Board of Trustees meeting on June 28, 2018, the University Professionals of Illinois, Local 4100 (UPI) announced that they have contacted the McDonough County State’s Attorney’s Office and requested a criminal investigation of possible violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

UPI contends that several violations of the Illinois Open Meetings Act are evident in the audio transcripts and that the WIU Board of Trustees, President, and University Officers present at the meeting should be investigated for flagrant violations of the Act. Under the Illinois Open Meetings Act, violations can result in a Class C misdemeanor conviction which is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

John Miller, state-wide President of UPI said, “After listening to the audio recording, there appears to be a conscious practice of conducting University business in closed session, which is in clear violation of the law. What we heard in the recording is very troubling and contrary to the actions of a public board. The public and University community deserves better.”

Specifically, the UPI requests that the investigation consider, but not be limited to:
• Scripting public meetings;
• Conducting business/discussions in closed sessions;
• Planning additional closed meeting sessions to conduct public business/discussions;
• Conducting small group meetings (“2 plus 2” meetings); and
• Potentially, the failure to release closed session meeting minutes.

UPI further requests investigations into past closed sessions that have not been released.

“The WIU Board of Trustees has not released closed meeting minutes for almost three years. When we listened to the discussion on just this one closed door recording, we are understandably concerned that the Board may have a practice of conducting public deliberations behind closed doors. The public and community have a right to know the basis for the decisions the University has made over the last several years,” Miller said.

In addition to investigating closed sessions of the WIU Board of Trustees, UPI is asking the State’s Attorney to investigate what the Board appears to call “2 plus 2” meetings. According to Miller, the recordings suggest that two members of the Board are meeting together at one time to discuss University issues and sometimes with an administrator in what appears to be an attempt to circumvent the intent of the Open Meetings Act.

“The language of the recording indicates a desire to purposefully circumvent the Open Meetings Act.,” said Miller. “The Open Meetings Act was passed to hold state officials accountable. When violated, there is no accountability.” - 30 -

 

WIU Trustees violate the Open Meetings Act

UPDATE --  Here's a great report from reporter Rich Egger of WIUM-FM on the Tri-States Public Radio website. It shows the board fawning over Gov Rauner hoping to please him with layoffs, among other things.

MACOMB, IL -- Western Illinois University's Trustees violated the Open Meetings Act at a June meeting, according to the Illinois Attorney General's office.

Here's what WIU posted on its Website:

The Western Illinois University Board of Trustees acknowledges that it did not comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act

.

It is with regret that I accept the resignation of trustee and former chair Cathy Early. The University has always been central to Cathy’s life, and her service and commitment to Western over the years are greatly appreciated. Cathy will remain an important part of the Western Illinois University community.

 

The Board will, in tandem with University General Counsel Liz Duvall, ensure compliance with the Act, and the Board will participate in additional Open Meetings Act training in cooperation with the Illinois Attorney General Public Access Counselor (PAC).

 

As directed by the Illinois Attorney General PAC, the June 28, 2018 closed session audio recording and minutes can be found here.

 

Sincerely,

 Carolyn Ehlert Fuller

Chair WIU Board of Trustees

Violating the Open Meetings Act is a Class C Misdemeanor, but apparently nobody is being charged with that. 

The written minutes of the meeting reveal little of what took place. I listened to the entire recording, some of which could not be easily understood.  The trustees discussed how to cut the budget by eliminating programs and the award winning NPR station, without any real discussion on the worth of the programs or the station, and the people they were firing.

They discussed the 'script' they would use for the open meeting and if they were approached by the media. That conversation reveals what is already apparent: the open meeting is a performance, with real issues already decided in the closed meeting, a huge violation of the Open Meetings Act. 

The recording tells the tale. "Don't say we're in trouble," someone says of WIU's financial situation. "We will  have to beg for a special appropriation," someone says. "We need more international students and out of state students,"  says someone sounding a lot like WIU's president. (They pay higher tuition.)

The trustees discuss looking for more income, but their ideas, including recruiting retired faculty and alumni to recruit students, seem to fall flat.   Will that work?  I'm not optimistic.

In fact, gutting the NPR station, WIUM -FM, is really stupid, since it announces WIU's presence hourly.  This was done without consulting station managers, and its general manager has now resigned.

The public is enraged over the threat to WIUM, WIU's best public relations tool.  Nobody mentions this aspect of the station and its audience in the meeting.

In fact no one mentions the contradiction of how more students can be attracted to a university which is gutting its programs.

As for the cutting of programs and the faculty and stuff who run them, someone says "we just do it and see what happens."  Disgusting.

The trustees are apparently as incompetent as WIU administrators. All should be replaced.  Let's hope the newly elected governor, JB Pritzker, will do something to save the public universities in Illinois.  He can start by finding sharper people to run them.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

About that Chicago teacher's strike...don't be duped!

PEORIA -- Trying to decide how to interpret the Chicago teacher's strike?  Read this:

It's a stunning indictment of the Democratic party and its anti-teacher, anti-union stances.

It makes me wonder if some of my friends, who have abandoned the traditional political parties, are right.

It somewhat explains what Gov. Pat Quinn is thinking, as he attacks teacher pensions and retiree benefits. (Though he may be a dupe of House majority leader Madigan, who wants his daughter, Lisa Madigan, to be governor.)  

I believe the national Democratic party has fallen into a Republican trap -- a clever way to alienate the party from its union base of voters and workers.

It's the old divide and conquer routine, spiced with liberal helpings of money, a/k/a bribes. (Rep. Jehan Gordon, D-Peoria, got $100,000 in contributions from one of these anti-teacher groups, and voted to gut teacher benefits.)

Smart local Democrats won't fall for this tactic -- mindful of the old axiom that 'all politics is local.' 

I'll continue to support Obama as the lesser of evils, but if Quinn and the rest continue alienating their natural constituencies, they will learn a hard lesson come election time! 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Education panel: riveting!

PEORIA -- Put four experienced educators at a table to discuss educational policy and expect a boring evening, right?  Wrong!

The Peoria Area League of Women Voters Oct. 5 educational policy panel was fascinating -- and one that every politician should hear.  These people spoke the truth, as they saw it from the trenches. An audio recording will be posted below.

First the participants and the goals for the evening:

• Jerry Brookhart, Regional Superintendent of Education, an elected official with years of teaching and educational administration experience.
• John Wetterhauer, Principal of Charter Oak School in Peoria, an experienced teacher and administrator. 
• Tim Sponsler,  a retired school psychologist who has had administrative experience in both public and private schools, and former principal at East Peoria High School.
• Hedy Elliott Gardner, who teaches history at Calvin Coolidge School, GED courses at the Peoria County jail and at Procter Center and Harrison Homes, and is a former vice president of the Peoria Federation of Teachers.

The panel was to discuss the role of the federal government in public education in determining quality education, accountability including measuring teacher effectiveness through test data,  and common core standards for all students K – 12, as well as the criteria for federal funding for schools.

This panel discussion was part of the Peoria League’s study of educational issues for the national League. In general the educators were critical of most of the federal government's interventions in public education, and felt education  should mostly be a local and state matter.

Here are some of the key ideas and opinions from the discussion:

Brookhart: "Education is the largest political thing in the city, county and state" because "politics is the distribution of resources and the distribution of these dollars is the largest issue."

On common core standards: "we're a world economy and need standards to be competitive with the rest of the world."  Standards are different from curriculum.  Standards and accountability "are here to stay."

(Brookhart had to leave before the discussion ended because of another commitment.)

Wetterhauer: Children from different states entering Peoria District 150 schools vary widely. Some from the southern states are way behind, but from New England they're likely ahead.

"At Charter Oak we see the disconnect: have we made parents feel welcome? A school is only as strong as its community, its parents, teachers and administrators. I have single moms doing the best they can, some have three jobs.  What do we do to help them? This is a huge issue."

"A core curriculum is important."

"We don't need monthly assessments," twice a year is enough. The ISAT only measures how well the student did that day.  The goals of No Child Left Behind are unrealistic, and schools that score low are not "failing" if they're making progress.

Neighborhood schools are important and District 150 should go back to the K-8 model.

 

Sponsler: "I don't think the federal government should be involved" in standards and accountability. The US is very large and there's no common culture.  States and local governments should be deciding most issues in education.  The federal government has done a good job in ensuring civil rights for minorities, the poor and disabled students, but as for "the rest of it, they mired us in paperwork, politicized the process and came up with dumb ideas."

Schools face enormous challenges today, including financial challenges. "We don't have control of all the faactors. We should pay teachers enough to attract the best and the brightest."

But in Wisconsin they're cutting pay and benefits and collective bargaining rights. That's no way to attract people to the profession where half leave after five years. Instead "pay teachers like electricians" so they earn top dollar after five years."  Politicians "say education is a top priority but where do we put our resources?"

"Can we cut military spending and still blow up the world 14 times" and give (teachers) adequate pay? 

Minimum standards should be determined by local teachers with state input, not the federal government.  "Everybody needs something to shoot for - goals. We need to meet standards for each grade level."

 

Gardner: The US seems headed toward third world status in education, and common standards are needed "to bring us back."  But "we're testing too much, buried in bureaucracy," teaching to the tests.

"We're under pressure to teach to (the test)" but there are too many variables to judge teaching by a student test. "Teachers cut out subjects to get them (pupils) to pass the test," and they lose a well rounded education.

Multiple choice tests, done on a computer, don't tell a teacher much about a child.  Creativity is not measured, and testing each month is a waste of time and money.

The federal government" has done a poor job." Much time and money was wasted on seeking Race to the Top grants, and looking for other competitive grants.

"It seems like a scam. Stop the madness and get back to teaching kids. We could have paid for larger class sizes instead but we blew it all on nothing (grant seeking that involved luncheons, travel and paying substitute teachers.)."

Neighborhood schools are very important where children can walk to school or there's an easy drive to school intead of busing across town. Some parents lack cars and phones and can't attend events far from home.

"A lot of my kids are 2,3,4 grade levels behind. They don't need iPads.  In adult literacy, I use a 45-year-old book, Of Mice and Men. I teach in Harrison Homes in someone's kitchen.  They still learn.  In Havana, Cuba, they have quality education (without elaborate schools.)  They do have discipline and value education. This is what we're missing. Money is important but we're fooling ourselves if we think this is the only answer."

"We need minimal conmpetency (standards) made by teachers at the local level.  Too much of this assessment is money making business and it's gotten way out of hand."

Here's an audio of the discussion:

LWV Oct 5-1

Here's the question and answer session:

LWV Oct 5-2

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

After School Programs: new Illinois law sets framework

PEORIA -- The first Illinois community meeting on a new state law setting up a framework for after school programs brought together advocates for these programs.

The July 19 meeting attracted Christopher Koch, Illinois State Superintendent of Schools, Kathy Ryg, director of Voices for Illinois Children and Karrie Reuter, of the Illinois Dept. of Human Services, with many Peoria area educators and agency heads in the large audience.

The event was convened by Ill. Rep. Jehan Gordon, D-Peoria, who pushed for passage of the law, SB 3543.

Advocates said the bill passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support, and will be signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on July 27.

It sets up the Illinois Youth Development Council to coordinate and strengthen after school programs, and will establish demonstration programs to evaluate best practices, outcomes and costs. But it carries no funding, only hope that private foundations will fund demonstration programs. The General Assembly must use a separate appropriation to fund it.

"I want to come up with a solution to violence" and other youth issues, including unsafe sexual activity after school, Gordon said.

She pointed to high STD rates in the Peoria area, with the rates growing the most among children ages 11-16.

Middle class parents routinely schedule after school activities for their children, from sports to  music, art, dance and other lessons.  But poor children are more likely to languish in front of a TV or amuse themselves on the streets, unsupervised.

"Approximately half of all K-12 children are either responsible for themselves or are left in a sibling's care after school hours," according to ACT Now, an agency that advocates for after school programs. 

Audience members in a question session said the money needs to go to grass roots groups now providing activities. Gordon agreed. "It's hard to ensure the funding gets to the grass roots," she said. "In this program, the grass roots create the state program."

Reuter and Koch stressed evaluating the demonstration projects, and setting up systems to track children through the programs into adulthood.  But no one offered details on how such programs should be evaluated.

Providers from programs run by the Peoria Urban League and the Peoria Boys and Girls Club were present and offered support for the new law. Someproviders talked about how poor children may have no role models or family members that care about them.

Others said children suspended or expelled from school should be sent to these programs, where they might find caring adults and mentors.

Koch said that idea should be explored further. "They aren't going to get better from putting them out on the street," he said. 

Peoria regional superintendent Gerald Brookhart said Peoria County has 33,000 kids but only seven truant officers. He suggested storefronts in inner city neighborhoods "might have more credibility" than officials. "I don't have any credibility but others do. They know who's not in school," he said.

Reuter of DHS said,  "before you expel the kids, call us, we can work with them," adding a phone call doesn't cost any money.

Ryg said her agency's website has state budget and policy analysis. ACT Now's website will follow the new legislation, she added. 

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Great music for kids

PEORIA -- Thousands of children listened attentively on April 24 to a concert by the Peoria Symphony Orchestra, designed especially for them.

There were no visuals, no video games, no lyrics, rap or otherwise -- just lush classical music, played with the symphony's usual energy and verve.

The children from around 70 schools attended three 45-minute concerts at the Peoria Civic Center Theater. Some came from as far away as Normal.

They filled the theater for the first two concerts, but there were were some vacant seats for the third concert, and attendance was down a little this year. Students pay $4 to attend.

Conductor David Commanday introduced the pieces and talked about the instruments in the orchestra.

The music selected for the children made no concessions to their youth. The pieces included "The Ride of the Valkyries" from Wagner's opera The Valkyrie; a movement from Handle's Water Music; a dance from Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird; a movement from Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93, and "In the Hall of the Mountain King," from Grieg's Peer Gynt.

A 17-year-old violinist, Hannah Dremann, winner of the Peoria Symphony Guild's 2007 Young Artist Competition, performed as a soloist with the orchestra.

She played well and look great in a lovely red satin gown.

The concert concluded with movie music from a pirate film, showing the pervasiveness of classical music in our culture.

These concerts have been taking place since the 1950s, have introduced thousands of children to classical music, and inspired them to become performers and listeners. What could be more worthwhile?

--Elaine Hopkins