The dispute over whether Peoria School Board member
I can think of several reasons why BU’s current statement might be wrong. It could be a clerical error, an unpaid parking fine, or, as unlikely as it sounds, animus on the part of BU or someone who works there. There’s also the possibility Butler never applied for graduation and was never officially given the degrees. And, of course, there’s the possibility she made the whole thing up.
The
It also matters that as far as school board members go, Alicia Butler is one of the few good ones on the board. She’s been skeptical of the district’s plans for Glen Oak School and Glen Oak Park, and has been respectful toward the concerns of neighbors. Butler insists that she in fact does have these degrees. I’ve sent her an email with some questions of my own, and an offer to speak directly on this matter.
I hope for her sake and the sake of Peoria School District 150 and its students that she is able to get this matter resolved quickly, and let voters cast their votes without this being over their heads.
Her response to the PJS article is here, in PDF format.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
We shall see. How hard is it to produce a hard copy of your degree. I am looking at 2 degrees right now sent by ICC and Illinois State University. Wanna see them?
When we got up to five between us and sevenish bar admission certificates (which look the same as diplomas), we started kinda tossing them in a pile. I think they’re all in a cabinet somewhere. I meant to frame them but framing is expensive and one of mine is real sheepskin (did you know you can laser print on sheepskin?) so it has to be specially handled for framing and costs even more. (And some of those bar admission certs have pretentions to being blueprints — they’re HUGE.) So I could see if she just doesn’t know where they are.
However. Most colleges’ registrars will produce a transcript within two business days for a nominal charge (or free), by fax or mail. And most let you fill out the form requesting one online these days. Takes ten minutes.
Bullshit
Bullshit to my diploma pile? That’s not very nice.
Seems strange to me. After reading the story in the paper, I went down to my den, opened the file cabinet, and picked out copies of my transcripts, both from WIU and UIS. I was able to put my hands on them in about two minutes.
When Bradley University offers you a job, you are rquired to have your alma maters send them transcripts to verify degrees.
If BU is wrong and Ms. Butler is right, it seems like it may be cleared up in a couple days.
(By the way, I’m happy to share my transcripts with anyone who wants to see them. That includes the two classes I dropped at WIU, and the six classes where I got C’s.)
You have a “den”? Do you have an architect’s table in there, ala Mike Brady?
No, but the doorway is covered with groovy beads, just like the enterance to the attic after Greg moved up there.
Den, home office, extra room in the basement… whatever. It’s the room with the computer, file cabinet, bookshelf, and a whole bunch of my son’s junk.
IF she has them, she can easily produce verification. Inability to produce means she doesn’t have. I can not only quickly produce copies of my two degrees but also copies of transcripts within minutes. And as others have mentioned, if you can’t you can easily get them from the University that granted you the degree or as most employers do, verify the granting of a degree with the University (which says she didn’t get them). There is no real story here (other than that she falsely claimed degrees she doesn’t have) about nefarious purposes — dirty political tricks — maybe a little on the timing — but if she were on the up and up, it couldn’t have happened!
And why all the handwringing over timing? Would you have taken this same position if it were someone that you didn’t support? And what should the PJS do, sit on the story because of the timing and it being too close to election? No they did the right thing…got a tip and pursued it. I think you would have done the same exact thing had the tip come to you.
PeoProud, if you will re-read the post carefully, you will see that I made the point that the PJS can and should be expected to follow up on a tip of this nature. I simply said that I hoped the investigated and reported on it as the news came in and didn’t time the story to cause her to lose an election. I suggested that the PJS could be a little more transparent with readers as to the timeline of this story, as it is an issue.
Point taken…..but you seldom see if stories “based upon a tip received last week”. Why assume they held it or would consider holding it to influence an election….just seems like a stretch to me.
But on the bigger issue, she’s in deep and her explanation (or lack of one) only made it worse.
You do on blogs.
And I agree. She has to get aggressive in her defense.
The description of Ms. Butler as a “good school board member” in this post sickens me. What kind of example does that give to the children? Perhaps we should have her teach a civics class in the high schools where she can tell the students directly “Don’t worry about working real hard in school. Go ahead and drop out. Then you can just lie about your diploma!” But wait, we can’t do that because you must have a degree teach! There isn’t anyway for her to “fix” this mess. Either you have the degree or you don’t have the degree. It is clear that she doesn’t have one. It is my sincerest hope that the voters send the right message and send her packing.
Butler has been the only member of the current board that takes seriously the concept that she is a custodian and representative of the Peoria public. There are PhDs there who don’t get that the Peoria public is the ultimate boss and we expect them to implement our collective vision how WE want our schools to be. This situation is bogus.
She’s Hot…So leave her alone…District 150 has no integrity…and they (the district) are all over Mr. Hinton…I bet Mr. Hinton could produce his fancy degrees at a moments notice…Aaron Shock, I bet is beaming with pride with how he left the school board…and look at him…He’s graduated to the Illinois State legislature. I am so happy that my kid will never go to that district. Liars and crooks where in the world is Mayor Maloof when you need him.
“It’s the room with…a whole bunch of my son’s junk” — that would describe just about every room in my house.
Maybe one day you groovy cats will explain what this has to do with whether or not Peoria’s only decent school board member fudged her resume or not?
:-p