Really? That’s the rumor according to WMBD 1470. The Peoria blogs are on fire with the rumor: Peoria Pundit, Peoria Chronicle, Peoria Illinoisan, & Emtronics have all picked this up.
Geographically, if a Peoria high school HAD to be closed for budgetary reasons, it would make more sense to close Central. That way the north, east and south sides would be covered and the former Central students could be fairly evenly divided. This move makes it look like District 150 is abandoning the South Side … because they would be abandoning the South Side. That part of town has enough problems without District 150 adding to them!
With all the negative events happening in District 150, it really puts Pekin’s school issues in perspective. While we should never be satisfied and should always keep pushing for better education for all the children in Pekin schools, we can be thankful that we’re not facing the serious budgetary, academic and public relations problems of District 150.
2 responses so far ↓
1
Emtronics
// Jan 28, 2007 at 3:48 pm
I have to agree on closing Central. It makes sense as that building is the oldest and the smallest. But let me throw this out as Central has a very powerful (with money) Alumni Association.
Move Central (Peoria High) to Woodruff. Drop the Woodruff name and Name that school Peoria High. Then close Central down. Peoria would have 3 high schools one with the Peoria name and all that “history” people in the Alumni so love.
2
knightindragonland
// Jan 28, 2007 at 5:38 pm
Sounds reasonable to me, but I’m sure Woodruff alums and some Central alums attached to the old building probably wouldn’t be so hot on it.
As far as losing the name Woodruff … from what I’ve read it sounds like E. N. Woodruff was a bit of a crook anyway. He certainly had a very important role to play in Peoria history, but he’s not exactly a role model for our children. Of course one could make the same argument about many other historical figures. For example, some might oppose the use of Thomas Jefferson’s name because he was a slave owner.
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