Not going to have much time for the blog today, so discuss anything you wish. Possible topics include today’s Word on the Street column, in which it is revealed that current City of Peoria employee and District 150 school board member Rachel Parker might run for the Peoria County Board. Or the guy who’s running against Aaron Schock in November 2010.
Also, I’ve created a fan page for Peoria Pundit and the Blog Peoria Project on Facebook. It has 101 fans so far.
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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 The Blog Peoria Project, which promotes community-based citizen journalism in his hometown, Peoria IL. Call me at (309) 863-5748 and leave a message.
Recent Blog Peoria PostsWhen I was, say, six years younger I started getting a clue about who I was and what I was good for. Uh, I mean at. Good at. Heh, heh, heh, anyway. I was starting to figure it out. The first thing I really settled on was that I was a fundamentally lazy person. At my core I was most happy when I was just flopped somewhere and responsibilities were the easiest things to ignore. I understood that this was a major flaw and started trying to get a handle on work and getting off my butt more often. In my head that’s still who I am. I am still a fundamentally lazy person who wouldn’t know ambition or drive if they came up to where I was flopped and bit me in the face. In my mind that is still my prevailing sin that must be overcome and guarded against. Recent events, however, are starting to make me think that maybe I’ve changed.
I got sick this week. At first I thought I was just having difficulty adjusting to Daylight Savings time. I’ve gotten really good at getting up on time and getting on the treadmill first thing in the morning. I enjoy my exercise; I feel better, happier, fitter, and more hydrated ’cause I start drinking water earlier when I exercise. But this past week has been really hard for me. I was having a hard time getting to sleep and then a really hard time getting up in the morning. I was constantly running late and feeling awful while I did it. Instead of being a little giggly to hear the sweet chimes of my Jeeves clock I started having fond visions of just what I would do to a real Jeeves if he tried to wake me up. I felt horrible.
Then Wednesday rolled around. I woke up feeling the worse I had all week. My head was three sizes too big and full of cement. Some shop class had decided to practice their sanding skills on my throat and every last ounce of vip and vigor I had stored had been siphoned off by some evil person with a garden hose. I didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to move. But piano class had gotten move from Tuesday to Wednesday and I had to take Arianna and Samuel. Before that I had to call Dad ’cause it was Wednesday and I’d been looking forward to it all week. And before that I had to walk or else, um, or else I wouldn’t have walked. I would have, gasp, missed a day. And since I have a calendar I keep track of my exercise on anyone who came into my room and understood the arcane markings on the M. C. Escher calendar would know that I’d skipped a day. But, worse than that, I would know! I’d skipped one day back in February, the 9th, and it still haunts me. I couldn’t let it happen again.
I didn’t walk as fast as I normally do (I think I stayed at 2.5 mph the entire time. That’s normally just my warm up speed) and I was seriously dragging the whole way through, but I did it. I won! Then Crystal told me to go be sick after I told her I was pretty sure I was feverish. So I spent Wednesday being ill. I slept, I read, I watched a couple of movies, I slept some more and just generally felt horrible. I somehow managed to bludgeon my body into going to sleep Wednesday night only to wake up on Thursday with a terrible thought. If I didn’t get up and walk then I was going to miss a day! I’d managed to soldier on through Wednesday on shear will power so why would I punk out on Thursday? I was feeling much better. Really.
So on the second day of being sick I was once again on the treadmill. I only walked half my normal time and took it really slow, but it counted as exercise. I could mark it off on the calendar.
Who is this person? Who is this freak who can’t take a sick day when it’s given to her? Why is she on the treadmill? When did I change from the lazy bum who is happy to sleep the day away into this driven freak who folds laundry on her sick day? And what do I do about it now? I was so used to my prevailing sin being laziness that I got good at making myself get up and do. Now I need to make my self stop and sit down, but I’m totally unprepared for that.
I know I’m being funny (ish), but that one missed day in February really bugs me because other than that I walked every single weekday that month. And the one day off was supposed to be a treat, but I ended up feeling awful because I got really dehydrated and didn’t get my blood moving. I gave up on walking every weekday for a month and it wasn’t even fun. So it makes sense that I want to get March right, but I just don’t know how to deal with being driven. It goes against my nature or, I should say, it used to. Now, not so much.
Time magazine asks: http://If Rand Paul Good or Bad for the Republican Party.
Via Rich Miller:
A new opinion by the Illinois Supreme Court is very bad news for not-for-profit hospitals in Illinois who want to qualify for local tax exemptions.
Yes. It seems that it IS legal for cities to make nominally not-for-profit hospitals pay property taxes. Miller links to lots and lots of articles about it. Apparently, this [...]
Original post by Billy Dennis
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Rachel Parker seconded Jim Stowell’s motion to fire Julie McArdle back in April, even though she knew that she did not have all the (untainted) information she needed to make a fair decision.(Please check Dist. 150 board minutes). She was just “going along”. She even admitted that “in the future” she would do her due dilligence in a more timely manner, to be more fair. Is this the type of decision making
we want on the county board?
150watchdog, I’m having a problem with your logic. You are saying that if a person seconds a motion, not vote for but seconds, they lose all credibility in your eyesight? What if that person seconds the motion to get discussion brought out about a matter? Or are you one those who believes that everyone go along with your line of thinking and you are above the law and above being questioned.
Help me to understand your way of thinking.
Also, Julie McArdle was not fired, her option was not renewed. There is a difference.
No, Julie McArdle had a two year contract from the beginning of the 2008/2009 school year. The school board fired her for “blowing the whistle” on the previous principal at Lindbergh. Lots of foul play has gone on in district 150 this past school year, that in the “real world” would be grounds for legal action.
No, Mshirey, she had a contract for one year with an option to renew for an additional.
FYI. Things have been going on at 150 for years and they have resulted in legal action up to an including this issue with McCardle.
General- I admire you for supporting your wife. I am doing the same. She had a two year contract. I have seen it.
If she had a 2-year contract (and not one a 1-year with an option for a second) then it would be clear in the language of the contract. Perhaps the board has been given a characterization of the chontract that is at odds with the language (which woduld not surprise me). The only way to clear it up is for the public to take a look at the contract, something the school board will not allow because it is not in their interests to do so. Perhaps a copy of this contract might find its way into the hands of some blogger who would print the entire thing.
General: FYI: Julie continually asked for a contract to sign from the day she was hired. She FINALLY was given a contract to sign in January 2009, 6 months after being “hired”. The school year was 2/3rds over. The entire episode couldn’t be played off worse than JR.EWING’S Dallas character—-the dream, or in this case—-the nightmare! PS. I have seen the email that Rachel Parker wrote admitting she did not check into this situation and will “do better next time”, she also said to have a great holiday weekend!
PS General: Rachel seconded the motion–yes, but there was NO public discussion (deal done behind closed doors) AND she voted to fire her. Don’t distract from the truth, it’s not attractive…….this is an ugly situation where a select group of individuals that conspired to try and destroy the career of an award winning administrator. Unfortunately, it will be the taxpayers and the children that will pay.
Mrs. McArdle DID have the courage to stand up and speak for what she believed in and look where it got her! I have had an interest in district 150 since I began my education and I can tell you that the corruption in the district has gone from bad to horribly worse! It is a shame that the people who suffer from this corruption are the students and excellent teachers.
I won’t detract from the truth and I hope you don’t add to it. We can go back to the vote itself and see if it was to “Fire Julie McCardle” or the vote was to “accept the option on her second year or not” .
I have no problem admitting my errors when I make them and I hope you are the same.
One thing you have assured me of is the decision to leave the school board behind. It is a thankless, unappreciated, time consuming positon that is scrutinized by public people who don’t have the courage to stand up and make a differnce themselve or offer any positve ideas but never pass up an opportunity complain or be critical of those who do.
Keith, since this is your wife’s contract, you would be more privy to the details than I would since I did not see it, however like you said this is my wife and I will continue to defend her. She has done nothing but try to make this board and this school district a better place since she has been there. Oft times she is the lone vote on some issues, issues that matter most, but you all seem to forget those times and love to remember one or two votes that you didn’t agree with and choose to condemn her while forgetting the hundreds if not thousands of votes she has mede that you did agree with.
And just as you are with your wife, I’m going to defend mine. My wife didn’t bad mouth you and yours but you guys drew first blood. Also, and I am not privy to the conversation or email that may or may not have transpired with you 150 watchdog and my wife, but if my wife did admit to you that she didn’t have all the information but will do better in the future, it is a hell of a lot better than what you get from the other board members or other politicians in this area. The rest won’t even answer your emails or calls let alone admit an oversight and to do better or differently.
So the next time you question “is this the type of decision making we want on the county board?”, maybe you should remember what you’ve been getting along. Then again, maybe those are the type you prefer.
General- Please do not include me when you say “you guys drew first blood” I did not say anything negative about Rachel. I only corrected your statement regarding the contract. I agree that being a school board member is a thankless job.
There are many thankless jobs in district 150: the teachers, the janitors, the cafeteria workers. If it wasn’t for these people the district would not exist. It is unfortunate that the people who work the closest to our children of the community are the ones who the board truly fail to listen to. Communication needs to be of the utmost importance in order for issues to be fixed in the district.
I’m with you General. Your 3rd paragraph said it best and I quote; “It is a thankless, unappreciated, time consuming positon that is scrutinized by public people who don’t have the courage to stand up and make a differnce themselve or offer any positve ideas but never pass up an opportunity complain or be critical of those who do.”
I say Bingo because that is exactly what happens here in the blogs. A bunch of nameless loudmouth nothings who have no positive support for the schools and only want to tear the system apart despite the fact that the schools do teach, do have success, and it does have caring people on the Board. The few here that do use their name still rag on the District yet they too offer up nothing. If I was on the Titanic with these people, I’d send them below with a cork and tell them they can fix the hole.
If the Board didn’t want to re-hire McArdle then so be it. It was their right and no this isn’t a conspiracy. This type of hiring and firing goes on all through corporate America, just ask some of those white collar folks at CAT that were let go last December.
P.S. Emtronics is Randall L Emert Sr
General: so what you are saying is: we could do a lot worse than your wife! That is frightening…
Yeah, we could have you running which is more frightening.
lol General! You know, there are lots of thankless jobs out there. Remember, Rachel ran for election, she was not forced. Perhaps a bit of research would have shown her what she was up against. Also, the board needs to clean out the administration and start over, then they’ll have a chance to redeem themselves.
150watchdog: Who are you? Why don’t you run?
I’m calling a foul here. There’s no residency requirement for making comments. If you live close enough to Pe4oria to be aware of this blog and concerned enough to have an opinion, your opinion is as valid as anyone elses.
Amen to cleaning out the adminitration!Then the new administration needs to have a regular presence in the schools as does the school board. I have alsways said the the school baord members need to make unannounced visits to the schools during the school year to really get a good picture of how hard the teachers work to educated the students and also to see other things they may know nothing about.
have to live in peoria proper! I don’t.
Then maybe you should keep your nose out of 150 proper? It seems someone outside Peoria always knows what’s best for us. Just saying…
Better yet Emtronics……why don’t you run!!!
Its funny that Emtronics is bashing people who do nothing but complain and aren’t willing to get off their asses to run for office because that kind of reminds me of someone who was going to run for the Peoria City Council in District 1 not too long ago.
And if I read it right, Mr. Parker was considering a run for the school board? Are there different legal requirements for school board members than there are for the position of mayor? I sure hope not.
I could not run for medical reasons at the time, otherwise, I was ready to go. I would never run for the School Board because people here tend to bash them the worse. I do wish someone would run against my school board rep., Ross.
“It is a thankless, unappreciated, time consuming positon that is scrutinized by public people who don’t have the courage to stand up and make a differnce themselve or offer any positve ideas but never pass up an opportunity complain or be critical of those who do.”
Here’s my problem with what General Parker had to say—I would hope my time in the classroom is me standing up and making a difference. I would also say that my comments sent to the BOE in e:mails as well as my words being read at board meetings offered many other, positive ideas regarding the closing of Kingman and Tyng schools. Now, I may not use my name when I post on here, but I certainly did when I sent the e:mails from my district account. Some board members sent the basic “Thanks for the input” and two sent replies which were less than friendly. Finally, some of the board members ignored my comments altogether. Mrs. Parker is one of the ones who didn’t respond at all.
Some bloggers may not go into our schools and make a difference. They may not stand up at board meetings and offer any other ideas. There are, however, those of us who do. It’s not fair to clump every single “anonymous blogger” together as a bunch of crazies with nothing to offer.
Washington Nationals (45-81): 15
Chicago Cubs (62-61): 6
Wow!
Cub fans have been awful freakin’ quiet the last month, haven’t they CJ?
Yeah, it’s been kind of nice, actually.