The Peoria Public Schools Board spent nearly two hours Monday night hearing from 20 speakers on a proposed $624,000 contract with Elite Community Outreach — only to watch the vote collapse over whether the item had been legally posted at all.
The Elite contract, known to families as the Game Changer program, would fund an alternative behavior program for up to 50 students, led by Carl Cannon.
District union leadership said the program has 18 alleged legislative violations tied to staffing and funding. Supporters, including staff, parents and former students, point to its track record of helping kids the traditional school setting has struggled to reach.
Both arguments played out against a district that hasn't completed an audit in two years, leaving the board to weigh the program's future without a clear picture of what it can afford. Chief Financial Officer Michael Curry told the board he isn't confident in the district's current numbers.
On Monday, board members Andy Diaz and Sarah Howard, who joined the board earlier this year, were formally welcomed alongside the district's new administration, but tension in the room was evident well before the board reached the Elite item on the agenda.
Meeting attendee Charlie Thomas said "our board is struggling," adding, "You guys argue, you cut each other off ... If you don't want to be on the board, resign."
He also had a warning for the vote ahead, saying, "If you're voting on anything that affects students or this district, please make sure you know that if you're voting for the wrong reasons, we're going to find out."
Trewyn Middle School K-4 counselor Nikki Wagenshoots questioned whether the district was solving the right problem.
"We continue to pour money into programs that are reactive instead of proactive,” she said. “Are we really doing what's best for the students and families of Peoria Public Schools?"
District teacher Marie Lindahl raised a more specific concern about vetting, saying, "Making sure background checks are also done. I know that at our building, just to come help out with recess, we do a background check."
That call for tighter screening stood in sharp contrast to some of the program's staunchest defenders, several of whom pointed to their own prison records as the source of their credibility.
Elite staff member Christopher Clemens, who told the board he served 36 years in prison, said he sees his students' struggles because he lived them.
"I know what it's like to eat sugar bread sandwiches because that's all there was,” Clemens said. “Some of our students are living that same reality right now."
Clemens added the work gives his past a meaning.
"If I can help even one child avoid the mistakes I made, then everything I've been through has a purpose," he said.
Amonte Walker, who attended the program and starts at Richwoods High School this fall, described what set it apart from a regular school's response to misbehavior.
"When I messed up, they sat me down, talked with me, helped me calm down,” he said. “They made sure I learned how to do stuff better."
Despite the funding questions, superintendent Jerry Bell recommended funding Elite for another year while the district builds its own internal program.
"We do not throw away kids," he said. "We love each and every child. That's without question."
When it was time to vote, Board President Paris McConnell and the board attorney said the item had been pulled from consideration entirely — not just the consent agenda — because the agenda modification wasn't physically posted on the district building, even though it appeared on the district's website.
Board member Diaz pushed back, noting the board had voted on items in the past despite similar posting problems, saying, "it's not a violation of the Open Meetings Act, according to past precedent."
McConnell held her ground.
"The answer is no," she said.
Diaz and member Christina Rose made a motion to approve the contract anyway, but it did not move forward.
The disagreement spilled into a pointed, personal exchange between Diaz and Bell over a private conversation.
"You're getting very personal, and I will not go down that road with you," Bell told him.
The meeting ended minutes later on a motion to adjourn, with the Elite contract unresolved and school set to start next week.
One of the last audience members to speak, Rev. James Smylie III, closed the public comment period with a broader reflection on the meeting itself.
"It takes a whole lot to become a board member," he said. "It takes a whole lot to be a community member, and more important, in America, it takes a whole lot to care."
