Blogging Forgottonia

Matt Hutton, editor of the Daily Review Atlas, announced recently that the Review Atlas, the Galesburg Register-Mail and the Macomb Journal would all be printed in Galesburg instead of Peoria.  This will result in some minor cosmetic changes to the papers.  Hutton also announced that the Review Atlas will begin charging for obituaries.

I’m glad to hear that the local papers will be printed closer to home, but I’m more interested in hearing the story behind the “For Sale” sign on the Review Atlas building.  Still no official word on that front.

Another local media change is the revamp of the Galesburg.com blog page.  I’m not sure when this happened, and it may have been a while ago.  The old page was so antiquated & unappealing that I rarely visited it.  The new version is certainly a big step up.

On Tuesday, January 25, Monmouth-Roseville District 238 held a public meeting to ask for community involvement in developing a strategic plan for the district.  Superintendent Woehlke discussed how district finances are still very tight, and academic achievement in the district has hovered just above or just below the state average for the last five years.  As a part of this meeting, Margo Sorrick, Assistant Superintendent for Educational Services at Wheaton-Warrenville District 200, gave a presentation on how her district has consistently maintained high and yet steadily improving levels of academic achievement.

While I think we can always learn from the experiences of others – both successes and failures – I’m not sure how applicable Wheaton-Warrenville’s situation is to M-R238.  Comparing the districts on the Illinois Interactive Report Card, there are a few notable similarities, but also numerous glaring differences between the districts. Read the rest of this entry »

Michelle Nutting @ the Warren County Newswire has posted a good piece on the new Roseville Christian School.

I was rather critical of the idea of a private school opening up in Roseville when the idea first floated.  The anger underlying the criticism in that post stems from my belief that private schools take away from public education.  The passion in that anger stems from my belief that quality public education is essential to the success and well-being of our country.

My anger has cooled with time and the knowledge that there have not been major shifts in local school enrollment.  I was correct in my assumption that the initial interest in the new school was largely fueled by the anger over District 238 closing Roseville Elementary.  While over a hundred residents showed up for the initial informational meetings, only three students were enrolled when the school first opened (per the WCN post linked above, enrollment is now up to four).  I’m sure that the reality of paying thousands of dollars in tuition annually made a lot of Roseville residents realize that the 14 mile bus ride to Monmouth isn’t so bad.  Some students at United & other nearby rural school districts spend 2-3 hours on the bus every school day!

I also know that for one Roseville Christian student, the small class size & personalized educational environment has been a true blessing.  For that student’s sake, I hope this educational experiment succeeds.  However, I wonder how it can possibly be sustainable with so few students.  We’ll just have to see what the future brings for Roseville Christian School.

The home of the Review Atlas at 400 S. Main Street is for sale.  I searched the paper’s website, but I found no mention of the sale or their plans for the future.

It’s actually today, September 16.  Cinco de Mayo celebrates the victory of the Mexican army over invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla.  May 5 has achieved more notoriety in the U.S. … because we like to drink in May?  It’s become the Mexican St. Patrick’s Day.

There will be a local celebration of Mexican Independence Day on the 200 block of South Main Street (in front of La Tapatia) on Saturday, September 18, from 4 PM to 11 PM.  Gus Munoz, owner of La Tapatia, is organizing the event.  Come down and support a local business!

Vaughn’s Jewelry and the Downtown Coffeehouse, both owned by Tom & Mary Scudder, will be closing.  Unfortunately Monmouth seems to be losing more small local businesses than it’s gaining lately.  Walgreens and Dollar General are fine, and they provide employment (albeit low wage) and tax revenue.  However, no one is going to drive to Monmouth to visit those stores, and most of the profits generated by the chains don’t stay local, either.

Monmouth has a great downtown area, with local cultural institutions like the Warren County Library and the Buchanan Center for the Arts.  I hate to see the businesses there dying off.

According to the Review Atlas, Kevin Cerar’s new restaurant, Petey’s Pub and Grill, should open in the next few weeks.  The restaurant will employ 50 to 60 people including about a dozen full time employees, which is certainly good news for Monmouth.  It’s nice to see  a new local business open up, instead of more chain stores, and I look forward to checking out the new place.

According to recent articles in the Review Atlas, enrollment is down by 20 in Monmouth-Roseville District 238, and up by 20 in United District 304.  I have not yet heard about enrollment at the local private schools: ICS, Cornerstone Christian Academy & Roseville Community Christian School.  While this is certainly not good news for District 238, the anger generated by closing Roseville Elementary & (to a much lesser extent) Willits does not seem to have caused a major shift in enrollment.

If some Roseville residents want to contribute to the degradation of public education in Warren County and spit in the faces of their fellow villagers who can’t afford a private education for their children … by all means, start a new private Christian school.  However, in doing so they should know & accept that they’re part of the problem, not the solution.

I’m sure this movement to open a Christian school spawns from anger over the impending closure of Roseville Elementary School and not a fervent desire for religious education.  I understand that anger, but the M-R 238 administration & school board had to deal with the cold hard facts and do what’s best for the greatest number of students.  The two deficit-reduction scenarios that had R.E.S. staying open would have resulted in 250-350 more Monmouth students being bussed to Roseville than vice versa.  The accepted scenario results in 17 more Roseville kids bussed to Monmouth than vice versa.  Given those numbers, if someone can explain how keeping R.E.S. open would be fair, I’ll buy the Brooklyn Bridge from them.

The M-R 238 school board met last night and approved 88 layoffs, including 15 full-time teachers, 9 assistant coaches, & 1 principal.

Residents in Roseville met yesterday to discuss opening a private Christian school there.

And finally, the State House passed a measure that would allow districts to change to a four-day school week.

(SIGH)

When are Americans, the politicians and those who elect them, going to wake up & realize that education needs to be a top priority in this country?