Local: Could Vallas visit the beginning of a city takeover?

December 11, 2007
By Billy Dennis

Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis had this to say about why he sought the help of Paul Vallas, the former head of the Chicago and Philadelphia school systems:

“This isn’t saying anything negative about the current school administration or board, but I think clearly, clearly something very dramatic has to happen in District 150 that hasn’t happened. If Paul can somehow help what they’re trying to do … then good for us. Lucky us,” Ardis said Monday.

While some members of the District 150 board attended this mid-November meetings, others were not, and I detected a smidgen of chilliness in the reactions of those who were not.

What could Vallas do that the District 150 is not already planning to do? The JS article states:

Vallas came to the struggling New Orleans district earlier this year after making waves previously in Philadelphia and Chicago. Key initiatives in those cities included after-school and summer school programs, reducing class sizes, budget overhauls and building new schools, according to a biography provided by the Recovery School District.

On paper, this doesn’t sound a whole lot different than what District 150 has been trying to do. The board has supposedly overhauled it’s budget, and also also wants to build a bunch of new schools, and offer new programs. The difference is that District 150’s plan is to close schools and consolidate them, creating larger class sized (it’s an economy of school  scale thing).

Another difference is that Vallas has a record of success, while District 150 has a record of saying success is just around the corner.

I checked out Vallas’ Wikipedia entry and was reminded that he was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools after the legislature gave control of the CPS to the City of Chicago.

As I have argued before (here and here), it makes sense for the city to operate the school system, since the economic viability of the city depends on having a school system people want to send their children to because of the quality of the education. District 150, on the other hand, seems intent on becoming an entity that offers social services.

Maybe the city ought to ask Vallas to make a pitch to the legislature to arrange something similar here in Peoria.

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7 Responses to “ Local: Could Vallas visit the beginning of a city takeover? ”

  1. RomanII on December 11, 2007 at 2:36 pm

    All we need to do is elect School Board members who know something about running schools. There are plenty of retired teachers out there who could do the job.

  2. SF Mom on December 11, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    I think it’s “economy of scale” …

  3. Billy Dennis on December 11, 2007 at 3:33 pm

    LOL! Thanks.

  4. diane vespa on December 11, 2007 at 5:10 pm

    Yay to Jim Ardis! His first quote referenced at the top of this post is the sane-est remark I have ever heard out of Peoria City Government. I hope he really means it and ramrods that attitude as far as it needs to go to affect (finally) some very real and measurable change!

  5. PrairieCelt on December 12, 2007 at 9:36 am

    Finally. It’s about time someone does something about this travesty known as Dist. #150. But, don’t hold your breath – the BOE and Administration will find some way to dance around accepting the assistance offered by Vallas. Totally predictable. We can only hope this is the City’s opening gambit in a takeover.

  6. Local: Vallas needed to start at District 150 yesterday | Peoria Pundit on December 13, 2007 at 1:10 am

    [...] RE: Paul Vallas [...]

  7. Local: Vallas needed to start at District 150 yesterday | Peoria Pundit on December 13, 2007 at 1:10 am

    [...] RE: Paul Vallas [...]