Blogging Forgottonia

If you wish to voice your concerns about the “Wacky Wednesday” changes in the school calendar for the 2012-2013 school year, please come to the M-R 238 School Board meeting tonight at 7 PM.  The meeting as the District Office in the old Willits School, 105 North E Street.  Don’t be late – the time allotted for public commentary is at the beginning of the meeting.

I went back to the Monmouth-Roseville school district website to see what information was available regarding the March 13 meeting.  The minutes aren’t yet published online, but the agenda was available.

I read through the agenda.  The first thing that I noticed is that the public input session is at the beginning of the meeting.  So, unless specifics of the meeting are published beforehand, the public doesn’t have a chance to comment on anything being discussed and voted on in that particular meeting.  We only have an opportunity to get up and complain after the fact, which is what I’ll be doing at the April 17 meeting.

Secondly, there was NO information published in the agenda about the proposed “Wacky Wednesday” schedule change for the 2012-2013 school year.  The recommendation for this schedule change came out of the District Goals Committee, and this is all that was published in the agenda:

10.2 District Goals Committee Report to Board
Committee Co-Chairs Presentation
Recommendations
This agenda item is intended for information only. No board action is anticipated,
but the board may act upon information presented if they so move.

Does anyone see a heads-up that the council is going to be voting on a schedule change for the 2012-2013 school year?  I sure don’t.  There’s no information at all.

So far, Bobbi Uddin, who voted against the schedule change, is the only school board member who has responded to my email.  I think there are some Monmouth-Roseville school board members who need a lesson in open government.

“Wacky Wednesday” is a term Peoria blogger C. J. Summers of the Peoria Chronicle used to describe a plan to dismiss students from District 150 schools 90 minutes early on Wednesdays.  While the proposed 60 minute late arrival on Wednesdays at Monmouth-Roseville schools may not be as onerous and absurd as a 90 minute early dismissal, I find this concept equally “wacky.”

If teachers want collaboration time, it should be done before or after or in-between class hours.  There are also numerous “teachers institute” days throughout the school year when collaboration activities could be organized.  Throwing off the regular arrival schedule one day every week is an unacceptable burden on working parents.  I doubt there are many parents in the district who are going to be happy with this plan.  As a parent of five Monmouth-Roseville students, I am completely enraged that this is even being considered.

This issue requires significantly greater consideration and public input before it is put into effect for the 2012-2013 school year.  Before I would even consider supporting such a schedule change, I would need to see hard evidence that cutting into classroom time with “teacher collaboration” time provides a measurable educational benefit to the children in districts where it has been instituted.

I emailed all the M-R 238 school board members on Thursday voicing my opposition to this proposal, and I have yet to hear back from any of them.  I would encourage anyone reading this to do the same.

I regret to report that 12/31/2011 will be the final business day for Warren County Pharmacy in County Market.

I wondered before Warren County Pharmacy opened whether Monmouth could support four pharmacies.  I’m sad to see my suspicions born out and another locally owned & operated business close its doors.  The Gracey’s are good people, and I wish them well in the future.

Matt Hutton, the paper’s editor, is leaving.  His farewell article gives no indication regarding who will be replacing him.  The paper’s building at 400 S. Main was for sale, but now the listing has disappeared from the Mel Foster Co website.  What does GateHouse Media Inc have planned for the Review Atlas?

OK, can someone tell me why this article about the recent addition of 80 acres to the Northwestern Illinois Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center in Monmouth was printed in the Aledo Times Record, and why this article about the new Monmouth underage club AfterDark was printed in the Galesburg Register-Mail?  Better question … why was there nothing in the Review Atlas regarding these rather newsworthy local events???

11-year-old Destiny Kimble was killed in a motor vehicle accident on February 19^th, 2011.  The accident left her mother seriously injured and her 15-year-old brother in a coma.

Destiny’s fellow students at Central Intermediate School are asking that each person donate ONE dollar to this family to help with their medical expenses.

It only takes ONE minute, ONE prayer, ONE dollar to make a difference!

A Dollar For Destiny

P.O. Box 231

Monmouth, IL 61462

Thank you to the Review Atlas for their article on A Dollar for Destiny!

UPDATE [3/6/2011]: And thank you to the Peoria Journal Star for reprinting Ryan Neal’s article!

Harry Bulkeley thinks we’re not asking the right question in regards to the debate over the federal budget.  For him, the only important question is “Do we have any money to pay for______?” And the answer, according to Mr. Bulkeley, ‘is a clear and resounding “NO!!”’

First off, the discretionary spending being discussed in his editorial accounts for something like 12% of the federal budget.  So Mr. Bulkeley – along with the President, the Congress, and most media outlets – ignore the other 78% of the budget because they don’t want to touch those political hot potatoes (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and defense spending).  It’s cowardice and our children deserve better.

Secondly, cuts in social programs today often lead to GREATER costs down the line.  For instance, if you cut funding for preventive mental health services, the people benefiting from those services don’t just disappear.  They end up in emergency rooms and jails, which are far more expensive and far less effective means of addressing their needs.  Worse, people who were once able to function, hold jobs, pay taxes & provide income for their families are no longer able to do so.  So yes, absolutely, it’s better to send out the government collectors plate to preserve programs like that rather than ax them for short term improvements in the balance sheet.  You may save a dime today, but you’ll spend a thousand dollars tomorrow.

What we can’t afford is the conservative social engineering started by that Republican deity Ronald Reagan that shoots money like a geyser UP the social ladder, concentrating wealth & power among the super-rich top 0.1% while everyone else gets screwed.  Why is the social security payroll tax capped at incomes a little over $100K?  Why do the rich get to pay only a 15% tax rate because most of their income is from capital gains?  Republicans are even trying to kill the estate tax by playing it off as a small business killing “death tax” in a horrifically disingenuous propaganda campaign.

These policies all serve to create a new American aristocracy with wealth & power concentrated in the hands of a few.  The heroes of the American Revolution fought & bled & died to break away from the tyranny of the British aristocracy.  Aristocracy is the enemy of democracy, not socialism.  I fear most Americans won’t realize that until it’s far too late.

I agree – ask the right questions.  Harry Bulkeley and most of the folks commenting on his editorial are NOT.

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.