What's a Friday without starting a Rumor...

The District's 2012-2013 deficit doubles from last year

On November 29, 2011, an audit conducted by Clifton-Gunderson put District 150's Education Fund $2.4 million dollars in the positive. Fast forward nine months to August 2012:

This school year, in spite of receiving millions of dollars in restructuring grants for both Manual (in 2010, $6 million over three years) and Peoria High School (in 2011, $6 million over three years), The District's 2012-13 tentative budget is said to show a $4 million deficit, which is double last year's deficit. The District received $4 million in grants, this year alone for Manual and Peoria High. 

2012-13 tentative budget projects $4 million shortfall

As the The District has reduced expenses by closing buildings and shrinking its work force, revenues also have steadily declined, said The District 150 Treasurer, Dave Kinney.

Though a number of programs were spared from cuts in the 2012-13 budget, Kinney could not say what might happen if state aid and property tax revenues continue to slide.

"I don't want to predict what we might look at going forward," he said, "but we have to look at something."

The $174 million spending plan represents an approximate 8 percent, or $3 million, cut to expenditures, excluding the capital projects fund.

Drops in state replacement taxes cost the district $1 million in revenues, and declines in property tax revenues, The District's largest income source, mean another $700,000 loss.

Kinney pointed out equal assessed valuations dropped last year also, which adds up to about $2 million in lost revenues over the past two years. The District expects $66.6 million in revenues from property taxes.

Well, does the Superintendent get the additional bonus?

June 18, 2012, District 150 School board members unanimously approved a new four-year contract for the Superintendent, with a salary increase of 2.5% (from $198,000 to $203,000 a year beginning July 1, 2012). The Board also approved a $5,000 performance bonus.

The Board increased the Superintendent’s salary by 2.5% 
The  Reading scores decreased by 2.7%.
Did the Board use I Can Read incentive Bucks to pay the Superintendent?

The Board also agreed that the Superintendent could receive an additional $5,000 bonus in the fall depending on the District's results on Illinois Standard Achievement Tests.

 Well, does the Superintendent get the additional bonus?

Reading and Math scores if the District continues on the current trend.

What's Hot Wednesday

Did last year's book debacle impact student achievement?

2 Anon said... 

"Okay, let's go back to this time last year. No books, virtually no reading curriculum. Teachers were on their own to build a reading curriculum. New curriculum for other subjects, with very little PD, and the books came waltzing through the classroom doors much later in the year. We all predicted it would impact student achievement.

It has."

Emerge Peoria posted several times about the book debacle:

The District's dismal Reading scores are inexcusable

I have been a “reading buddy” in District 150 schools for at least five of the last seven years. Nobody taught me how to do it; it wasn’t part of any coordinated effort. I talked to a teacher about her needs, signed up with the Principal, and sat down and started wherever the child indicated they needed to start.

While all of the AYP news is disappointing, I am most disappointed to see that Reading scores have gone down. I was hopeful that the Reading Buddy Program, which Grenita Lathan rolled out would make real impact. One would have expected the reading scores at the very least to stagnate – not go down.

Most astounding are the scores at Calvin Coolidge Middle School. Coolidge made AYP two years in a row prior to the 2011-12 school years. School officials have attributed the decline in Coolidge's reading scores, to an influx of students from Columbia Middle School (which closed in 2011 and re-opened in 2012 as Quest Charter Academy).

Reading Buddies is a volunteer program; it has nothing to do with what is happening with the District’s budget. How could such a program, with such a huge group of trained, ready and willing community volunteers, NOT be successful? How will the Reading Buddy Program address the continuing drop in reading scores going forward? Hopefully, volunteers won't be discouraged by the scores. From the District's website:

Volunteer "Reading Buddies" Excited to Work With Students

Following approximately one month of various training dates, more than 350 volunteers from throughout the Peoria community and local businesses completed a two-hour training session on the District's reading curriculum and working with students on phonics-based reading instruction.

Following the orientations at each school, each volunteer will work with three students assigned to that volunteer's group of five once a week, allowing each volunteer to make a commitment of only one day per month.

“As a supplemental instructional strategy, each volunteer group is meeting with three students over the course of one hour (20 minutes with each student) a week,” said Superintendent Dr. Grenita Lathan. “I believe this community investment will pay off significantly not only in increasing student achievement, but showing our students that our community supports education and each student's future.”

With the help of the CEO Roundtable, the District set out to find 500 adults to work with 300 students in the District. Students are chosen based on classroom and school assessments given throughout the school year.

Blogger, Randall Emert a/k/a Emtronics a/k/a Peoria Anti-Pundit to run for 1st District council seat

Just a couple of weeks ago, Denise Moore announced that she would be seeking to fill Councilman Clyde Gulley's 1st District seat. Today, blogger, Randall Emert a/k/a Emtronics a/k/a Peoria Anti-Pundit is announcing his candidacy for the 1st District seat with a 1,347 word essay, which is actually free of curse words. It appears that his platform will be consistent with some of the issues that stick in the blogger's craw. 

In a previous post, I chided blogger, Randall Emert a/k/a Emtronics a/k/a Peoria Anti-Pundit, about running to represent the long standing residents of the 1st District:

Spin: Racism is okay during moments of levity...

... and Mitt is entitled.

I don't care what they say, I like my bracelet

Trolling on matters of race

Just in case you didn't notice - I am African-American. This blog is fully administered by me - a black woman (see my Profile). I believe in and promote black pride in community and family. If you don’t like that, or have anything against that, you probably SHOULD come to this blog. However, don’t come with your fangs out, come to read and learn. You know who I’m talking to.

Warning - Please be aware of the Trolls

Regular readers will notice that Trolls regularly come to this blog, fangs on display, literally salivating, as they try to jump on any nuance that MAY BE in the promotion of what this blog stands for.

The Trolls spew very bitter venom. They literally growl at you with their words. The Trolls try to sting you. You can almost envision the contorted face of the Troll, as it pound out it's words, trying to entrap the black blogger. The Troll is very predictable in trying to use racism in reverse, in an effort to goad the black blogger into appearing racist for daring to be a being a proud, vocal, black person.

Responding to the Troll is futile.

If you must respond to the Troll, keep it terse. The Troll’s mind is made up, there is nothing you nor I can say on this blog to persuade them. They come to the black blog looking for a fight – seeking validation for their skewed way of thinking. There the Troll goes again trying to score a one up. Spewing venom, as if the black blogger is prey that needs to be immobilized and digested.

One could cage the Troll and treat it like the fanged SPAM it is... It's tempting, I know, but don’t do it. Let it's comment sit, on display, for all whom may read the blog may observe the black blogger, refusing to indulge a very ugly, thirsty, Racistroll, by not reacting in the stereotypical way it thinks a black person will, when confronted with nonsense about race. Black Blogger 101.

"Paul Ryan's ex-black girlfriend" is ubiquitous

God told ya'll she don't like ugly

Republican Convention Could Be Shut Down Due To Hurricane

Meteorologists and Republican National Convention planners grew more concerned Wednesday about the potential for Tropical Storm Isaac to develop into a hurricane aimed squarely at Tampa, Fla., the host city of the GOP convention beginning Monday.

In response to the increasingly dire reports, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn said safety concerns would trump politics, even if that might mean shutting down the four-day convention.

"If we had to make that decision to cancel or to postpone or move the convention, we will do that knowing full well that my obligation and the city’s obligation is to move people out of harm's way. The politics will take care of itself," Buckhorn said Wednesday morning on CNN's "Starting Point" with Soledad O'Brien.

A canceled postponed or hastily moved convention would be a major setback for the GOP presidential ticket. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan could use a flawless convention to help them recover from a difficult week that began with last Sunday's comments by Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) about "legitimate rape" and pregnancy.

...

Gun play vs shots fired..

What's up with the use of the words "gun play" these days? Does being involved in gun play, carry a lighter sentence than being involved when shots are fired? Well, being involved in gun play does sound friendlier than being involved in a shooting, but somebody could end up dead or injured either way. 

Shooter fires two bullets at car on Columbia Terrace

 _____________________________________________

Daylight Gunplay: Two shot in West Bluff

Third escaped shot as bullet passed through clothing

  _____________________________________________

Bullet hole found in window of Peoria home

Don't Shoot and District 150

The website for the Mayor's Don't Shoot initiative has been launched. It holds a lot of good information about how the program should work in our community. There is also a component for involving District 150. There are four components to the school program.

• First - the program uses the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence. The pledge is signed by the student at school and is a voluntary promise that they will never carry a gun to school, will never resolve a personal problem or a dispute with a gun, and will use their influence with their friends to keep them from resolving disputes with guns.
• Second - is a speaker’s bureau where Mayor Ardis and other members of the task force will make anti-gun violence presentations to the students throughout the school district.
• Third - is a “Stop Gun Violence” poster contest. It is hoped that the task force can turn the top three posters from four age groups into a “Don’t Shoot” 2013 wall calendar.
• Fourth - is a reading program modeled after the Peoria Reads! program, but using age appropriate books dealing with the issue of gun violence. Source

In the meantime...

Since when is the 1800 Block of North Bigelow Street in the West Bluff

Reading Buddies for students-Parent Mentors for parents

Parent-to-parent mentoring programs in the Rio Grande Valley are helping parents play a more meaningful role in their children's education. Developed by The University of Texas, the programs are based on the concept of parents helping other parents play a proactive role in ensuring that their children get the most out of their education.

Many parents who comment on this blog, have attested to having times when they or another parent they have contact with have been befuddled by what to do when it comes to dealing with matters of their child’s education.

In just the past two months, I have had three (3) parents whose children have Individual Education Plans (IEPs) reach out to me, in hopes of finding answers. When they went to the school, the answers they got were reactionary and in all cases invited more questions that parent didn’t feel equipped to ask.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of parents with students who have IEPs are uninformed as to exactly what the IEP means to their student’s future. In almost all cases, it will mean that their child will be able to graduate with sub-par reading, writing and arithmetic skills. The student begins to see what it means to their future, as they begin to become angry at teachers and suffer from feelings of being less and feel ashamed. As a result, they may begin to act out.

From Peoria Story regarding class size.

For the 2011 school year, 21% of students in District 150 had an IEP, which is actually a legal contract between the parent and the school. IEPs, that teachers through no fault of their own, simply do not have the time to review, implement, or update until required to do so. Consider the size of the class, factor in the number of IEPs and the fact that the teachers don't get a chance to review the IEPs before the class is fully stocked, it's an equation for disruption.

In some school districts, they have Parent Mentors that are specifically for students who have IEPs. The majority of parents in the inner city are not so fortunate as to have a parent who participated in the PTO, or who may be savvy in dealing with schools. As a result, some parents will need to be empowered to advocate. Another parent could do that for them.

Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Maryland

Parents also need Mentors to help deal with issues of gifted education and other matters of programming. Teaching and accepting parents who advocate for their student will be a learning process for all involved, as schools will need to realize that a parent who advocates for their child should not be viewed as an adversary, but as a part of the team.

There are some parents who understand how to grow a thirsty student, I am fortunate enough to be able to learn from some of them. However, at this juncture, we need to share our knowledge and an organized effort to mentor parents is warranted.

If the District can't/won't implement a Parent Mentor program, at the very least, they should consider an Ombudsman to assist parents.

A Parent Mentor:

• Listens and provides support to families and educators on an individual basis.
• Guides families through the special education process, including rights and responsibilities.
• Provides information and resources to families on such subjects as education laws and community resources.
• Attends meetings at the request of parents or staff. These meetings include Individual Educational Program (IEP) meetings, Multi-Factored Evaluation Team meetings (MFE), Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) meetings, Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) team meetings, and more.
• Organizes and conducts information sessions or workshops based on the needs of families and professionals in the community.
• Helps build collaborative partnerships between families, schools, and community to benefit students with disabilities.

Reasons to call the Parent Mentor can include situations like these:

• I'm worried about my child moving from one school to the next.
• I feel alone and wish I could talk to another parent who understands my concerns. 
• I feel no one is listening to my concerns about my child.
• I have questions about my child's education, and I forgot to ask them at the school meeting.
• I'm worried about my child's progress and am not sure what to do.
• I would like to have someone attend and support me at an IEP meeting or another meeting at school.
• I'm not sure if I have all the information I need and would like to speak with someone who can provide information in a "parent-friendly" way.

Running for office in the City of Peoria?

Here’s a voting block that I DARE YOU TO COURT…

… African-American and Latino-American mothers whose children attend public schools. This group of citizens is continually overlooked when “leaders” are planning for neighborhoods and education. They are not your ever visible soccer moms, they are virtually invisible in certain parts of our community. You have to be in certain neighborhoods to even see them. IF they are working in Peoria, they are more than likely the only one of color doing so in their place of employment (unless you work in District 150 Administration).

These are the parents who are blamed for everything that is wrong in our cities and schools, yet they are never consulted about what their needs are when folks decide to run for office.

Locally, leaders are beginning feel the sting of just what it looks like when the voices in inner city neighborhoods are oppressed for generations. They have learned the hard way, that all citizens must be considered when we are talking about the development and well-being of the City of Peoria.

What can the City do to get inner city parents to realize that they do have a voice in this City? What would help them to see that people need to/want to hear from them? Who will court this voting block? Who will arm folks with the facts and encourage them to get out and vote for the change that directly affects them and their children? Who?
                                  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Who Is for Kids? Who Is Just Kidding?

Years ago a campaign slogan asked, Who's for Kids? and Who's Just Kidding? It's time to turn our rhetoric into votes for those who understand the impact of our schools on our communities.  Now is the time to vote for those who are for kids because they will strengthen your schools and your communities at a time when political courage is needed most.

Here's a notion that is difficult to dispute: Communities are known by the schools they keep.

Are your local or county governing boards, your local, state and federal elected officials, your real estate officials, your local business leaders, and your local faith community paying attention to the impact of funding on their schools and their communities?

If schools begin to slip in achievement, facility upkeep, and overall characteristics that make schools effective, enrollment will decline, parents will seek alternatives, real estate values will sink, businesses will not move into or will even move out of your community. You will be left with a community that it is just a shadow of itself.

Telling Our Story That Stings and Sticks with Community Leaders

Now I am not necessarily advocating the "sky-is-falling" approach, but we all need to become more proactive in telling our story that stings and sticks with our community leaders. And we need to find ways to get our government officials — those with education funding responsibilities — to know that making the commitment to education is making the critical choice to maintain and develop a prosperous community in a negative time. Standing up for what's right for our communities should make them a candidate for the next local edition of a "profiles-in-courage" piece in their media outlets. And it will also get them re-elected. Source

Teacher's Union allegedly poised to file suit against PSD150

Recent comments  indicate that the tenured teacher fight is heating up here in Peoria. Word is the Teacher's Union is filing a law suit this week, on behalf of recently fired tenured teachers. As previously reported, one recently fired tenured teacher filed a lawsuit against the District in civil court this past week and negotiations to pay off other recently fired tenured teachers are are said to be currently underway...

Comments from Emerge Peoria Blog. Click images to enlarge.

This fight is not particular to Peoria, all across the country teachers are being denied tenure and fighting to maintain it:

Many New York City Teachers Denied Tenure in Policy Shift

Nearly half of New York City teachers reaching the end of their probations were denied tenure this year, the Education Department said on Friday, marking the culmination of years of efforts toward Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s goal to end “tenure as we know it.”

Only 55 percent of eligible teachers, having worked for at least three years, earned tenure in 2012, compared with 97 percent in 2007.

An additional 42 percent this year were kept on probation for another year, and 3 percent were denied tenure and fired. Of those whose probations were extended last year, fewer than half won tenure this year, a third were given yet another year to prove themselves, and 16 percent were denied tenure or resigned.

The totals reflect a reversal in the way tenure is granted not only in New York City but around the country. While tenure was once considered nearly automatic, it has now become something teachers have to earn.

A combination of factors — the education reform movement, slow economies that have pinched spending for new teachers, and federal grant competitions like Race to the Top that encourage states to change their policies — have led lawmakers to tighten the requirements not only for earning tenure, but for keeping it.

Joel I. Klein, the former schools chancellor, began nudging principals several years ago to judge teachers more critically when deciding on tenure, and the percentage of denials slowly rose. But in 2010, when the mayor set about “ending tenure as we know it so that tenure is awarded for performance, not taken for granted,” 89 percent of teachers were still receiving it after their three-year probations ended. Source

"Dont Shoot," it's the Police

David, you got work!

Author David Kennedy's "Don't Shoot: One Man, A Street Fellowship, and The End of Violence in Inner City America," is a Peoria Reads! Special Project, as well as the inspiration for a Peoria Police Department task force and public initiative called "Don't Shoot."

Published in 2011, Kennedy's book addresses violence through a program that brings gang members to the negotiating table, and intensifies police focus on crime hot spots, in order to prevent deadly shootings.

Kennedy is tentatively scheduled to visit Peoria in late August, and will meet with city officials.

In late June, the Peoria Police Department initiated a task force aimed at reducing gun violence. It was the third year in a row for the task force, and came at the end of an especially brutal stretch of gunplay, in which the city saw 50 percent of the year's gun violence take place in six weeks - from May 9, to June 20. Source

By the numbers
A violent crime task force that is part of a major anti-street violence initiative called Don't Shoot has been saturating crime hot spots since mid-June. Below are the results from June 20 through Aug. 13. Source

- 1,616: Traffic stops
- 604: Traffic citations
- 129: Municipal ordinance violations
- 202: Vehicle impounds
- 477: Arrests
- 33: Guns
- $29,751: Cash
- 1,175: Grams of marijuana
- 64: Grams of crack
- 34: Ecstasy tablets
- 20: Grams of heroin

Discrimination lawsuit filed against District 150

Look around Peoria, you will see black folks unemployed, getting passed over for opportunities, not getting jobs because our hair doesn't look "just so"; being the first laid off from their jobs, yet you never hear about any of them suing for discrimination. I've said it before and I'll say it again... it's amazing to me how other folks seem to have no problem finding an attorney that will represent them in discrimination lawsuits. This statement is not to take anything away from Mrs. Lawler's suit, I'm just saying. Anyhow...

At Monday's BOE meeting Terry Knapp said:

... and now:

Tenured teacher who was fired from District 150 files lawsuit

One of the tenured Peoria School District 150 teachers fired this spring because of an unsatisfactory evaluation has filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court, claiming the district failed to consider her disabilities before she was dismissed.

Eymarde Lawler, then a special education teacher at Trewyn School's Day Treatment Program, says, according to the lawsuit, that her unsatisfactory evaluation stemmed from post-traumatic stress disorder and other disorders brought on after she witnessed two gunshot victims immediately after an attempted murder near Trewyn in August 2011 and after she was seriously injured by students.

A week after the shooting, she was assaulted by a student at Trewyn. Suffering from a concussion, she had to be taken from the school by ambulance. Her rotator cuff was injured after an assault by a student in February.

Lawler is one of 10 tenured teachers fired in the wake of new state regulations that allow school districts to bypass seniority rights in work force reductions. So far, she is the only one to file a lawsuit.

Lawler and her attorney, Richard Stegall, charge that the district ignored medical recommendations to transfer her to a classroom of students with less violence-prone disabilities, which forms the basis of the lawsuit.

The school district's failure to accommodate her disability resulted in her unsatisfactory evaluation, Steagall said. The lawsuit also alleges the district retaliated against Lawler for reporting her disability and requesting a transfer.

Lawler had been employed by District 150 for 10 years, gaining tenure after three, which gave her sufficient seniority to avoid the layoff, according to the suit. She had worked at Trewyn for one year.

Lawler, who earned $56,000 a year, is asking to be reinstated to her job as a tenured teacher with back pay, benefits and $1 million in compensatory damages.Source

Rampant speculation about AYP scores

Speculation is rampant that only two schools in District 150 may have made AYP for the 2011-2012 fiscal year. Scores that currently appear on the ISBE website appear to be incomplete. However, one of our more astute education bloggers "Jon" speculates as follows:

Goodbye to the old Loucks School 1914 - 2012

About one-third of the Loucks School building is currently being demolished, leaving about 55,000 square feet for use by the Quest Charter Academy High School. The part being demolished is the oldest section of the building, which was built in 1914. The new high school should be a good look for the neighborhood. (click images to enlarge). Hat tip to Bree for the photos.

1st Parent University of the 2012-2013 school year - tonight

Dr. Steve Perry is the keynote speaker at District 150's first Parent University kick-off event that is scheduled for 5:00 - 8:00 this evening. Dr. Perry also spoke at this morning's kick-off breakfast, that was held at the Civic Center Bradley University’s Renaissance Center. From what I have heard, he cussed up a storm and rattled some folks.

In the video above Dr. Perry appears to be talking to a somewhat upscale group of volunteers, teachers and community leaders. The message he delivers to them is good.

The thing is, even the most educated among us have struggles understanding the school system. Some of us  (parents, community leaders, volunteers) can do research and know somebody to ask questions to firm up our understanding about certain aspects of education. Unfortunately, there isn't a huge pool of folks out there with the right answers, or any answer for that matter. Many simply don't have the resources to get answers and therefore we remain silent or go along with the "hired experts," hoping for the best, afraid to stand firm and demand quality in education.

Parent University should be about teaching parents HOW to help their children. It does not matter how dynamic the speaker is, or how well he can relate to folks, if parents are not taught how to ask for what they need to help their child learn - or how to advocate for their child, nothing will change. Browbeating has never been known to be a motivator.

Dr. Perry is currently an Education Contributor for CNN and his speaking fees are in the range of $10,000 -$20,000. For that price, tonight should be a pretty good show, let's hope parents show up.

What's important to people from other places...

... is not necessarily what is important to life long Peorians.

We continue to hear locals talk about what they don't like about Peoria. One of the issues that come up regularly is the fact that "people from other places," don't have our best interest at heart when they volunteer to run for office; sit on local boards, or take jobs that directly impact our bottom line.

A candidate who recently threw his hat into the ring for the 5th District City Council seat, is Caterpillar Enginer, Dan Adler. Dan is from Marshfield, Wisconsin, "a small city in the center of the State." Dan believes:

"Peoria is a nice place to live, but it could be so much better." 

Over on the Peoria Chronicle they take Dan to task for choosing a "puzzling platform" because he wants to focus on the completion of the Kellar Branch Trail. You can read about what others feel is important to the 5th District here, and it ain't the Kellar Branch Trail.

Over in the 1st District, Clyde Gully is retiring, after twelve years of sitting on the Council. 

A candidate seeking to fill Gulley’s seat is Denise Moore, a financial adviser and business consultant. Denise is from Bloomington, she and her husband Gary Moore (WEEK-TV) own a home in Spring Grove. Gary may as well be a life long Peorian, when you consider how much he knows about this community and how much he gives back.

Mrs. Moore is also very active in the community, she reportedly has served on the Tri-County Planning - SMART Goal Setting Committee, the Minority Business Enterprise Ad Hoc Committee, the Rain Garden Committee, and the Southtown Stakeholder Committee. She is a past secretary of the National Association of Women Business Owners and is a trustee on the Proctor Hospital Foundation Board. Some of the issues of concern to Mrs. Moore: 

• Job growth, business investment/development within the 1st District.
• Focus on the Warehouse District and Downtown (she is a propopent of what's been going on in the Downtown)

Are these the issues that life long residents of the 1st District would think to be most important? One person I know that would question if these are the issues that need to be addressed by the 1st District Council person would be life long Peorian, resident of the 1st District, Emtronics a/k/a Randall Emert a/k/a Peoria Anti-Pundit. In a recent 1157 word salvo,  entitled "Idiots at the Helm," Anti-Pundit raised these issues:

• The crappy $13 Garbage Fee on water bills. 
• Raising property taxes that’ll drive out people and they will leave Peoria. 
• District 150 is a mess and nobody who values their child’s safety, let alone education, will allow their kid to go to any district school. 
• Bullshit spending on Head Start and even the $80k and more for ELITE. 
• Our council think a success is drinking Irish beer in the middle of a taxpayer paid street to benefit a local bar owner. 
• Taxpayers paid millions to have Water Street installed so we can pay city services to close it so those who seem not to have day jobs can lounge in chairs and tables at a local bar.
• Success is lowering the crime rate.
• Success is repairing and cleaning the streets.
• Success is having a great fire department and sidewalks in ALL neighborhoods.
• Nothing done on Griswold in over 40 years or any side street but with the Southside TIF money we install ornamental lights and fix a roof on an empty building.  

So, while the issues that Mrs. Moore raise may all be very good issues, her perspective of what should be on the front burner for Peoria and or Peorians and their neighborhoods appear to vary greatly from what at least one (1) long standing citizen of the 1st District may think is important. 

But then again, Mrs. Moore is the only person in the 1st District that has thrown her hat into the ring.

School starts at Quest Charter Academy August 20th...

weather permitting.

School was originally slated to start at Quest Charter Academy on August 16, 2012. However, due to delays around construction, the date for the first day of school was pushed back to August 22 20, 2012.

Now that construction has finally begun the roof has collapsed and apparently citizens are "lucky" it collapsed inward and not outward onto one of the busiest streets in the City - University Street. This is an interesting method of demolition  - luck. Brought to you by the very experienced  River City Construction, courtesy of us, the taxpayer.

Apparently the back hoe driver accidently "tapped" a beam. Surely he has used a Cat back hoe before. Right?