OT a little - Turmoil in Peoria District 150

[tornado]

In one way or another this could affect the sports in the area as it will almost certainly drive talented kids out of District 150, and cause further decline in the quality of education in Peoria.

Seems the District 150 Administrator is taking the iron fist approach and running everyone she sees as a threat out of the system...largely based on politics, jealousy, and power
the list of people who now oppose her is growing......including the top African-American leaders in our community..
"Don Jackson, president of the Peoria chapter of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, questioned Lathan??™s reliance on hiring
administrative staff from North Carolina, where Lathan was an elementary
school principal just two years before she was hired to oversee District 150.
It sends the message that no one from the Peoria community is qualified, he
said."

http://www.pjstar.com/video/x1612616903/D150-teachers-picket-meeting

[AZ BU Fan]

"Don Jackson, president of the Peoria chapter of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored People, questioned Lathan??™s reliance on hiring
administrative staff from North Carolina, where Lathan was an elementary
school principal just two years before she was hired to oversee District 150.
It sends the message that no one from the Peoria community is qualified, he
said."

http://www.pjstar.com/video/x1612616...picket-meeting

Would it be accurate to say qualified people from the Peoria community who ran Dist 150 got it into the mess it has been in for the last 10-15 years?

[tornado]

The mess was started long ago and was multifactorial....tied to declining parent involvement, discipline issues, plus declining teacher competency, and an administration that was more interested in choosing a predetermined liberal policy and making change for change sake - and all this was doubled down when Kay Royster was hired.
The large amounts of taxpayer funds headed towards District 150 seemed to all disappear and end up in the pockets of all of Royster's friends and cronies.
Royster - who did plenty to destroy Peoria's District 150 - then moved on to destroy a couple other school districts elsewhere - everywhere she's been...

http://peoriachronicle.com/2008/02/05/kay-royster-fired-from-another-school-district/

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-16/news/ct-met-superintendent-severance-20110716_1_severance-package-veteran-superintendent-board-president/3

Then the distraict hired Grenita Lathan...a virtual clone of Royster who only wanted to work with her North Carolina crowd and her own cronies...

Early on the teachers stumped and demanded Royster be fired, and they were all in favor and giddy over bringing in Lathan -- but Lathan has FAST worn out her welcome by bringing in gobs of people from North Carolina and shunning every chance to promote Peoria personnel and local people...treating the excellent and hard working people INSIDE District 150 like they were threats to her. She demoted them when she should have been promoting them.

For the teachers to overwhelmingly now oppose what Lathan is doing is VERY telling. she has totally lost control of the very system she intends to lead -- nobody respects her any more.

"District 150 Teachers Working in Fear"
"District 150 Teachers Intend to Picket"


Here's a funny side story that involves the son of Bradley's Joe Stowell...
People living IN Peoria District 150 are actually taking LEGAL action to try to have their property "DETACHED" and then - re-tached to a different school district.
Just what does this tell you about Dist. 150??

http://www.chillicothetimesbulletin.com/news/x503114606/Residence-wants-to-annex-to-Dunlap-School-District-323

[tornado]

now it goes beyond turmoil....can't see how in the world anyone would want their kids in this corrupt school district...

Now Dist 150 is holding closed, secret hearings late into the night just to run many of their better, and more highly honored people out of there..

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x513711997/District-150-hearings-continue

Why are the few little minds that are destroying this once-proud school district - pursuing their own petty little personal agendas while the whole da*ned system is falling apart?

Simply do the tiniest research and find that the very people Lathan is obsessively trying to throw out of there are the MOST successful and well liked principles District 150 has ever had.
AWARD winning leaders and teachers who have dedicated their lives and are well loved by everyone but the jealous Lathan who hates the accolades they get and who fears they may get attention she thinks she deserves!
The parents absolutely love these principles & teachers and want to keep them - so..
why is Lathan doing this and why won't she talk about it or allow open hearings as everyone is requesting??
What is she hiding?? Her personal agendas and vendettas to wipe all the local people out of there so she can bring in her friends and cronies from North Carolina?
Just read the many stories of how many of her buddies she keeps bringing into Peoria from North Carolina and paying them ridiculous salaries and fees when outstanding local people are far more qualified and deserving!!!

http://www.1470wmbd.com/About-a-Dozen-Speak-Out-About-Principal-Moves-Othe/12526646

http://peoriastory.typepad.com/peoriastory/2011/09/to-peoria-district-150-school-board-youre-wasting-money.html

You decide..

These people are literally suing at their own significant expense to get the HE** out of District 150!!!!

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x668518878/Property-owners-want-to-leave-D150-for-Dunlap-school-district

One last thing -- Grenita Lathan came from the Guilford County School system (Greensboro, NC) which was NOT doing well then - and continued to deteriorate for years after Lathan left..failing minimal NATIONAL STANDARDS in all but 29 of their 117 schools!!!! - LINK
only now beginning to improve under the NEW leadership since Lathan is gone...

http://www.news-record.com/content/2011/12/25/article/guilford_county_schools_rise_in_rankings_study_finds

http://sandhills.news14.com/content/school_news/654847/district-responds-as-nearly-half-of-guilford-county-schools-designated-title-i

http://greensboro.rhinotimes.com/Articles-c-2011-04-21-208074.112113-Why-Not-Just-Close-Our-Failing-Schools.html

This includes the findings after Lathan left that the school district needed $882 million in infrastructure work that she ignored while she was taking trips and looking for a better job..

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/article/195305/327/American-Jobs-Act-Could-Bring-675M-To-Guilford-County-Schools

[Chico]

For the first time in a long time, I agree with something Don Jackson says.

[tornado]

Anyone been following the turmoil that's happening almost non-stop in District 150?
One Peoria reader has a strong opinion

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140130/OPINION/140139843/10971/OPINION

On a slightly different front...Bradley has been involved a little with and promoted the collaboration between politicians, and business called Peoria Next...although this is not their fiasco.
It's confusing, but what's going on - is they've jimmied a quasi-legal way to grab even more taxpayer money and funnel it to their friends, their political supporters, or to whoever they want to funnel it to.
I guess it's just dirty government as usual, but for the fact that they hide behind the claim it's doing Peoria some good, starting businesses & even curing cancer...
BUT undoubtedly you have seen big names promoting the TWO BIGGEST actions by Peoria Next - the two things they tout as their crowning achievements - now have BOTH blown up horribly in their faces - and blown up far worse that even imaginable leaving taxpayers to foot the TENS of millions in losses.

Yes, as you probably have been reading their boasts - they have spent gazillions to develop as cancer research center - hire big name researchers and pay then multimillions of $$.

We all know how badly the Firefly Battery thing went where the city ended up with $8 million in debt because the business took the money and ran with it leaving debts & payroll unpaid.

Now we have a similar scandal at the cancer research facility that everyone was so proud of and bragging about....telling how it would better everyone's lives.

But the so-called world-class cancer researcher they brought in was a fraud - he (allegedly) faked his research to make millions without doing any work. Then when he got canned (he got ushered out quietly so as not to be further embarrassing to the people involved, but now the truth is coming out), he didn't like losing all that $$ so now he's suing everyone - the city, the med school & the docs making millions over there sitting around choosing who gets all that state money, just about everyone.
OMG - when will they ever learn. leave business to business and please politicians - stay out of it..

But there's certainly enough blame to go around that all these idio*ts - the researchers, the politicians, the business developers, the med school eggheads - all deserve some blame - will Phil Luciano take this one on?

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140128/NEWS/140128958

http://www.pjstar.com/x1372978079/Departure-of-UICOMP-researcher-Jasti-Rao-remains-mysterious

http://www.peoriamagazines.com/ibi/2012/jan/new-decade-peoria-next

http://lydia.bradley.edu/hilltopics/08winter/feature/page3.shtml

[tornado]

PS-
Fraud in cancer research is ubiquitous - why wasn't Peoria a little more careful with the millions they threw around

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/deception-at-duke-fraud-in-cancer-care/

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/10/15/mayo-clinic-finds-massive-fraud-in-cancer-research.aspx

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=722540#.Uuudh_ldVng

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/05/autism.vaccines/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CE0QFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.uillinois.edu%2Fcommon%2Fpages%2FDisplayFile.aspx%3FitemId%3D1271193&ei=bJ3rUoToH8egyAHEioCgBQ&usg=AFQjCNEY5BKbhZp0lCnzOr4Uj9sgzTt8lA

[bradleyfan124]

Peoria is just as political as any other place. Vonachen wanted his ballpark downtown and he got it. Maloof on his own decided Peoria did not want a gambling boat and he got his way, and Caterpillar said they wanted a museum next to their showcase and they got it. Forget what the citizens of Peoria wanted

[tornado]

smaller businesses need to be helped - they are dying left and right and bigger outfits take over -
every gas station is a Hucks or national chain, every small store dies because the cities open the bank for the big boys and anchor stores to set up shop and get tax-free breaks, and the millions that Peoria uses as their "Peoria First" or then they called it "Peoria Next" or soon it'll become "Peoria Next after the other Next"...
all that money goes to BIG corporations who take it and run leaving the taxpayers and others to pay for the cleanup of the predictable mess.

Peoria Next did give a huge sum to Bradley (more than once) - and now all those guys who were supposed to use that money for research are long gone or doing something else - and nothing has ever came of that money - was it all wasted or end up in someone's pocket?? Is it not fair as a taxpayer that I would like to know that answer?

https://www.collectiveip.com/grants/NSF:0332714

BTW - via personal communication with one of the "researchers" named in that grant - a guy who is long gone from this community now - he stated at least $2.4 million in research grants came his way via Peoria Next and that there's essentially nothing to show for it now but they had to ask for it & accept it because if they didn't they'd never get the offer again! That same "researcher" who had never done any research before in his life - just coincidentally was also on the board of Peoria Next deciding who got the money - hmmm sounds a little fishy - sorta being given the job of steering the $$ and then steering it right into your own bank account..
And at least two of those researchers retired to nice locations rather early in life... FWIW

Now Dr. Rao is gone under weird circumstances...

[BuB]

Peoria is just as political as any other place. Vonachen wanted his ballpark downtown and he got it. Maloof on his own decided Peoria did not want a gambling boat and he got his way, and Caterpillar said they wanted a museum next to their showcase and they got it. Forget what the citizens of Peoria wanted

Don't leave the Rex-Plex out of the picture. Millions of dollars to get it started including future promises just to secure the property. They boast thousands of members yet the majority are subsidized. The city decided to compete with other local business and took away many of the members from Landmark Health/Fitness, Lakeview YWCA, YMCA North, and The Clubs at River City. This help contribute to unintended consequenses such as Lakeview YWCA closing and River City being put up for sale several different times in the past. Did Landmark also have a change of owners as well? I heard it did.

Lakeview's closing then led to Peoria Park District being GIVEN a facility valued at over 8 million dollars after an auction failed to get 1 suggested minimum bid.

http://www.ricklevin.com/auctions/auctionDetails.aspx?aid=701&ati=3

http://www.pjstar.com/x1905499478/Pe...e?rssfeed=true

[bradleyfan124]

You are right BuB.. Peoria touts they promote small business but they actually run them off. I have had Contractors tell me if they are offered work they first ask where. If they are told Peoria they refuse because they wont do work in Peoria because of the anti-business attitude

[tornado]

Read the entire multipage column today by Phil Luciano interviewing District 150's Grenita Lathan...

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140308/NEWS/140309205/10927/NEWS

wow - she still just doesn't get it....constantly blaming the parents, families, kids themselves - even blaming all of Peoria as a terribly negative community...

Her complaints start with ripping into Peoria families as all fractured, dysfunctional, uncaring, uninvolved, and difficult to deal with.
she then launches into further criticisms - they are all negative, always looking for something to get upset about and complain about - even if it's based on false information...

oh - and while she's at it she rips the media - for always reporting the negatives and not reporting all the good stuff.

Does Grenita know she works for those people - she is their employee?
She is not their queen and they are not her subjects who are expected to kiss her *** to get into her good graces.
does she know those are not her kids getting terrible educations in District 150 - those are the kids of the very Peoria families she is ripping and blaming.
Nowhere in that column do I see any humility or in any way Grenita taking any responsibility for the mess that exists - and even when she does blame someone else other than the parents & media - she blames the people in her office for not being good communicators.

[tornado]

The people have spoken...
so just how displeased are the people of Peoria with District 150 & Grenita Lathan?

They booted a current board member & Lathan supporter and elected a candidate that isn't even running - by a whopping margin 69-31 pct.
Finally the voters are waking up - elect people who will run those crooks out and get the right people in to run the schools if you care for your children.

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140318/NEWS/140318861

[bradleyfan124]

We need to do the same for all the crooked,self-serving politicians

[Chico]

The people have spoken...
so just how displeased are the people of Peoria with District 150 & Grenita Lathan?

They booted a current board member & Lathan supporter and elected a candidate that isn't even running - by a whopping margin 69-31 pct.
Finally the voters are waking up - elect people who will run those crooks out and get the right people in to run the schools if you care for your children.
http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140318/NEWS/140318861

IMO, the children are part of the problem. Police have been assigned to the hallways for years. Why? Not because of the teachers, janitors, etc.