A Knight in Dragonland

I had just finished a very good dinner, and I just about lost it when I read that comparison.
“I disapprove of what you say,” the French philosopher Voltaire is reputed to have said, “but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
Had Voltaire uttered the first line of that famous quote at [...]

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In the Nov. 30 edition of the Daily Times, Judy Tisdale wrote a column on the Opinion page entitled “Consolidation isn’t the only answer.”
Money Quote:
One thing bothers me more than anything else about this proposal. Some people seem to have the notion that consolidation will fix any perceived shortcomings in the elementary education available in [...]

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There was a letter to the editor in today’s Daily Times entitled “Smoke, mirrors.” It was sent in by Tom Frazier of Pekin as a specific rebuttal of another letter to the editor. That letter (by Ray Garber Jr. of Pekin) was written in support of Mike Noyes and his publication of paraphrased [...]

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Last night was District 303’s school board meeting, and boy did I miss a whopper! I really need to start going to these things. Shannon Tebben-Sandoval (journalist for the Times, wife of Edgar and daughter of once-and-perhaps-future mayor, Dave Tebben) has an article front and center in today’s Daily Times.
The actual business of [...]

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This is old news, but it’s new to me.  I was digging through the District 108 website when I saw this.  For the 2005-2006 budget, District 108 was honored with the Meritorious Budget Award from the Association of School Business Officials International.  Here is the list of school districts receiving the award.
So … let me [...]

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My running commentary on the Pekin school consolidation issue is getting some press over at the Peoria Pundit. I guess Mike Noyes has seen what I’ve been writing, although he chooses to address Bill Dennis regarding unsigned editorials and not me regarding Pekin school consolidation. Noyes refers to me as “an anonymous blogger.” [...]

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The Opinion page of the Daily Times weekend edition has an unsigned editorial entitled “Consolidation controversy arises again.” I have to agree with Bill Dennis regarding unsigned editorials in the mainstream media … I’m not a fan. At a paper as small as the Daily Times, it seems especially silly. Come on, [...]

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There were two pieces written in the Nov. 24 Daily Times relating to Pekin Grade School District 108 that provide starkly contrasting views of the situation in the district. I’d like to use this post to compare these views. There was also a letter to the editor by Karin Howland of Pekin urging [...]

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A letter to the editor from James Drainer, president of the Education Association of Pekin, was published in the weekend edition of the Daily Times. This must be the same letter Drainer mentioned to the 108 school board on Monday. Drainer decries Mike Noyes’s use of Mark Sattazahn’s letter of resignation in his [...]

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Mark Sattazahn, the former 108 teacher and author of the letter of resignation quoted by Mike Noyes in his Nov. 1 column, confronted the District 108 school board at their meeting Monday night. See my previous posts on this controversy here (mentions the Noyes column in passing, before I knew the letter was leaked [...]

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Until yesterday, I was worried about Jim Mangan. Articles from the Pekin Daily Times printed since the NON-BINDING consolidation referendum (here and here and here) made it seem like Mr. Mangan had gone soft – quoting him in support of a study and saying that he had an “open mind” about consolidation. He has [...]

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I’ll start with Daily Times columnist Judy Tisdale, who scolded Jim Mangan & Company in her piece on Thursday for not getting the referendum held in a way that it would be directed at only the people affected by consolidation. She also had the following to say about the questionable meaning of the referendum:
Now, [...]

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Michelle Teheux, city editor of the Pekin Daily Times, wrote a wonderful piece in today’s paper entitled “Consolidation is not the answer.” That gets right to the point, doesn’t it?
I’d encourage you to read the article, but here are some highlights.
Money Quote #1:
I’m always in favor of taking any action that will help our [...]

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Mike Noyes got another “love letter” to the editor today. Again, it’s from a teacher – Jefferson Primary School teacher Angie Brush.
Money Quote:
What exactly is going to be different if we consolidate? Is consolidation another word for “magic wand,” that when waved over both districts the graduation rates and test scores will rise? [...]

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The headline story for today’s Pekin Daily Times was “Voters favor District 108, 303 consolidation.” The final vote on the non-binding advisory referendum was 23,605 yes and 11,650 no. Thankfully, the Times reporter Nick Vogel points out the obvious:
There is just one problem: The entire county got a chance to vote on the [...]

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