Big, green park-like campus apparently NOT needed at Sterling Middle School

November 3, 2009
By Billy Dennis

There’s a semi-secret plan in the works to rebuild Bel-Wood Nursing Home next to Sterling School across the street from Newman Golf Course:

Negotiations for the sale of property adjacent to Sterling Middle School are being hashed out by both sides, District 150 officials confirmed Monday.

Both School Board President Debbie Wolfmeyer and Superintendent Ken Hinton said the talks are in the preliminary stages, mostly involving the district’s attorneys. Peoria County officials would not confirm those discussions, saying only numerous locations are being considered.

As to any kind of dollar amount, Wolfmeyer said, “We haven’t gotten into that.” The county has $750,000 for land acquisition built into the construction costs.

Ah, so the School District is gonna squeeze $750,000 from county-wide taxpayers.

As a result, Peoria School District is jettisoning one of three baseball fields at the park.

And maybe 10 years down the road, we’ll have to relocate Sterling because there’s no room to rebuild it into a mega-school, surrounded by green space, like Ken Hinton and his flunkies absolutely insisted had to happen at Glen Oak School. Because there  were studies that showed kiddies learned better that way.

So, either everyone realized that that excuse was complete bull, or they just don’t give a rat’s ass now that someone is waving $750,000 under their noses.

Here’s an idea: Before the school board decided to have its attorneys work in secret to sell off green space that benefits students AND the surrounding community, maybe there ought to have been some sort of public discussion about whether it’s something the public wants.

But that would have required that Peoria School District 150 be capable of learning from past experience.

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5 Responses to “ Big, green park-like campus apparently NOT needed at Sterling Middle School ”

  1. Merle Widmer on November 3, 2009 at 2:57 pm

    Bill,

    Then maybe not at Sterling or elsewhere. A good chance that the location will say where it is. Source, trust me.

  2. SD on November 3, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    Why does this bother me in another way? A nursing home next to a school? A place where quiet it needed next to a building full of exhubrant children and ringing bells every hour. Somehow I don’t think this is a good fit for either one.

  3. Peoria Pundit » Big, green park-like campus apparently NOT needed … School on November 3, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    [...] Here is the original:  Peoria Pundit » Big, green park-like campus apparently NOT needed … [...]

  4. MAWB on November 3, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    Wrong on so many levels!!

  5. Precinct Committeeman on November 3, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    Once a public body advertises or discusses in public an aquisition of land for public purposes, all land owners jack up the price if they are in the running for land sales.