Peoria’s School District 150 administration heard concerns from parents, faculty and fellow board members about the final draft of the school reconfiguration plan Monday.
The plan aims to cut costs, create a more clear pattern of grade levels, and address issues of overcrowding in some school buildings while others are underutilized. Glen Oak Community Learning Center would move from K-6 to K-8. Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat says it’s less disruptive for students:
“A small neighborhood K-8 school can avoid the handoff problem of students to a middle school and would help avoid the decline of student achievement commonly associated with the move to a middle school, so it really makes sense,” Desmoulin-Kherat said.
Kherat was referencing a Brookings Institute study that eschews the middle and junior high school configurations.
One Glen Oak parent told the board she was worried about having eighth graders in the same building as kindergartners and said there are already too many lunch periods.
The bulk of the three-hour long meeting was spent discussing
proposed changes to the makeup of individual school buildings and the subsequent changes, like adjusting start times and rerouting buses.
The first aspect of the plan was unanimously approved. The board voted in favor of making Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Center a preschool. The school is currently pre-K to first grade.
The District is expected to vote on the remainder of the plan during a special meeting on March 8.
The board also unanimously approved the employment contract for Superintendent Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, whose appointment to the permanent position was approved Jan. 25. The contract says her salary from Jan. 27, 2016, to June 30, 2017 is $210,000.