A Knight in Dragonland

It seems that my interpretation of the Illinois statute governing school consolidation is correct, at least according to Don White, District 108 superintendent. White offered his clarification as a letter to the editor in the Times today.
White attributes the following quote to 108 board attorney Mike Tibbs:
A petition to create an optional elementary unit [...]

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Well, it seems like Jim Mangan isn’t the only one who writes “specials” to the Times regarding consolidation. Today we have a piece by former 108 board member Sandi Roos-Ellwanger entitled “District 108 shows voters no respect.”
Ms. Roos-Ellwanger has some not-so-nice things to say about district 108 superintendent Don White and the 108 school [...]

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Guess who is ranting in the Daily Times again? Come on, I’m sure someone knows the answer to this one.
Surprise, surprise … it’s Jim Mangan. I’m sure everyone is shocked at that announcement. Another “Special to the Times” appeared in today’s paper. I know I feel special for reading it.
This time, [...]

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Both the District 108 and District 303 school boards met on Monday night to vote on tax levies for the upcoming year and discuss the issue of school consolidation.
I’m not going to weigh in on the issue of tax levies. Frankly, all the discussion of abatements and different state & local regulations makes [...]

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I’d like to thank Michael Legel of Tremont for his letter to the editor that was published in today’s Daily Times. Sometimes I wonder if I’m talking to myself here, and it’s nice to see someone with the same perspective in print.
Money Quote:
School consolidation is more about saving money. Comparing test scores is a [...]

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Well, we all knew this was coming, right? It’s time to blog about the latest in a LONG series of Jim Mangan rants, and the first since his smackdown at the last 303 school board meeting. First we heard from his journalistic proxy and official brown-noser, Mike Noyes. Now the big man [...]

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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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