The Community Word

After the Sept. 18 “summit” meeting of the Peoria School District 150 board and the Peoria City Council, I spent a few minutes chatting with board members Mary Spangler and Debbie Wolfmeyer.

I’m glad I did. Spangler brought up one of the issues that makes her and other board members and school administrators so bullish on their school construction plan: Lighting. They have seen studies, Spangler said, that show there’s a strong correlation between how well-lit classrooms are with the student achievement. Bear in mind, this is NOT just about making sure that the rooms are bright enough to read and see the blackboard from the back of the room. It’s also about the lighting source, and that’s why they want new buildings with plenty of natural light pouring into rooms.

I couldn’t agree more. I was a student at Glen Oak School in the 1970’s when the district decided to go around and brick up most of the windows in the classrooms. They did this all across the district in order to save money on heating.

As I understand it, anyone who complained that it was depressing to sit in classrooms without natural light, the argument was made that windows were too distracting for students. Student achievement would certainly soar now that the kids can’t stare out the windows all day.

It’s the same old story. Different decades bring different educational theories and different magic bullets that will cure troubled schools.

Remember open classrooms? It was another theory popular in the 1970’s in which entire schools were constructed without walled classrooms. The feeling was that making kids sit in rooms with walls was too confining, and that students would learn better if they could walk around. By the time I started reporting on education at newspapers in Illinois and Missouri, many districts were looking to get rid of these buildings, and those that weren’t were desperately trying to find ways to remodel these buildings to create walls to cut down on the noise.

I can’t argue with the idea that plenty of natural light will help kids learn. I hated it when those bricks went up.

But I can insist on proof — not theories or cherry-picked anecdotal evidence — that the only way to get that benefit or to duplicate the success that’s claimed at the Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center is to build mega schools that replace smaller neighborhood schools, or that these schools must be placed on wide grassy campuses.

Superintendent Ken Hinton wants to give parents the right to choose which district school to send their children. I completely approve. But as Mayor Jim Ardis reminded him at the summit meeting, parents already have school choice — and they are choosing to move to Dunlap, Metamora, Washington, etc. One of the reasons they are doing so is that they are losing their neighborhood schools.

When the City of Peoria hosts the next summit meeting, I hope there is a presentation made about the Andres Duany Plan and New Urbanism, which holds that when sustainable neighborhoods are walkable, neighborhoods survive. And if Peoria’s neighborhoods cannot be sustained, the flight to the suburbs will continue and then all of Peoria’s schools will have 70, 80 or 90 percent poverty-level enrollment, not just those mentioned at the meeting.

I have a sneaking suspicion that New Urbanism and the school district’s desire for newer schools are not incompatible. But I there’s gonna have to be some compromise from both parties. And, that means that District 150 is going to have to stand back and re-evaluate the absolute conditions it has set up for the new Woodruff High School feeder school.

Jehan Gordan announces for the 92nd District

When Aaron Schock decided to abandon his spot in the Illinois House of Representatives months after winning re-election, there was already a very viable candidate being groomed to take him on in 2008.

That that woman announced her candidacy … but without having an face an incumbent, and without any announced opposition in either the primary or general election.

Jehan Gordon, current member of the Pleasant Hill School District 69 board of education, announced she is running to replace Schock. She was surrounded by friends and family, as well as local political leaders including State Sen. Dave Koehler, former State Sen. George Shadid, County Board member Lynn Scott Pearson, Peoria School District 150 member Martha Ross and Peoria County Democratic Party Chair Billy Halstead.

She worked on the campaigns of both Koehler and Senator Barack Obama. She also attended a two-week camp run sponsored by Obama to encourage young people to get involved in their communities.

Koehler thinks Gordon is a better fit for the district than Schock has been. Being a member of a minority helps her understand the needs of the entire district, as does her job as Diversity Retention Coordinator at Illinois Central College. She’s a 1996 graduate of Limestone Community High School, which sends a message that “it’s not just about Peoria. It’s about the whole district.”

“I have no doubt that she’s going to be a super elected official,” he said. She’s also the daughter of Annie Jo Gordon, a long time activist with the Tri-County Urban League.

Halstead said he and other party organizers approached her not long after the last election to convince her to run. It was felt that her age and energy would make her the perfect candidate to run against Schock. And she had agreed to run months before Schock decided to run for Congress, making him ineligible to run for the General Assembly.

As of right now, no one else has declared for the seat in either the Democratic or Republican parties. Peoria County Board member Jimmy Dillon was considering a run, but told Halstead he was not. Democrat Allen Mayer is reportedly considering a run. Gordon’s supporters told me that Mayer was one of the Democrats who met with her to convince her to get in the race in the first place.

Judging from her speech, she’s planning to make education the big issue in her campaign.

“I’ve been out knocking on hundreds and hundreds of doors,” the attractive 26-year-old told the audience standing outside the rocket statue at the front of LCHS. “Right now, the people don’t feel that they have a voice in Springfield.”

Voters are telling her that they want their children to receive the same education as children in Dunlap, Metamora and Washington.

“Where students live should not affect the quality of education they receive,” she said.

I talked to her for about 5-10 minutes after the event was over. If there’s one thing she wants to see come to an end, it’s the schools’ dependence on property taxes and state aid. My observation is that if the most recent state legislative session revealed anything, it’s that what the state giveth, it can take away.

Electoral politics being what they are, Gordon is a great candidate.

Let’s face it: One of the reasons Schock was able to win in the heavily Democratic 92nd was that he actively campaigned in the minority community and was able to get endorsements from some leaders in the black community.

I just cannot see any white opponent scooping up those sorts of endorsements. And I don’t seeing anyone outworking her. I count Schock’s last opponent — Peoria City Council member Bill Spears — as a friend, but his campaign relied too much on help from out-of-towners like House Speaker Mike Madigan. Gordon’s campaign will be much more “grass roots.”

And if the GOP manages to get a viable candidate willing to run against her, they won’t be able to whine about how young she is. She’s older than Schock was when he first ran.

And while Schock talked like a moderate in the district, he was a darling of the conservatives in Springfield. Koehler says that Gordon will talk and act the same whether at home at the state capital.

If I were a betting man, I’d put the rent money on Jehan Gordon being the next state representative for the 92nd District.

The bloom is off the rose for young Mr. Schock

I’ve written before about how Republican Party loyalists are a bit annoyed at Aaron Schock. Less than a year after they spent millions getting him re-elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, he decided to abandon that seat to run for the one being vacated by U.S. Rep Ray LaHood.

This means that the GOP is more likely than not to loose the seat to the Democrats. Until Schock defeated Ricca Slone, the 92nd was considered a safe Democratic seat. But Schock — who has a knack for picking opponents who have weaknesses in their base — won back in 2004.

And now Schock made tongues wag yet again. This time, some of his fellow GOPers were upset at the special favors he was getting from the party organization, and for possible violations of campaign finance rules. Here are some of the complaints I heard:

· The Shock for Congress campaign is passing out the same literature, they say, that was distributed by the Schock for State Representative campaign. Presumably, that literature was purchased long before anyone knew Ray LaHood wouldn’t run for re-election and long before Schock officially entered the race. So the literature must have been bought with money raised for a state race. That’s a big no-no.

· The Schock for Congress campaign is using the same phone number from the state rep campaign. This account with the phone company was opened with money raised for the state rep campaign. Unless Schock office gave up that phone number, and handed it over to the congressional campaign and paid for with federal campaign funds, it might not be exactly legal.

· And some of the ire is directed at the Peoria County Republican Central Committee. They have allowed Schock to set up his Congressional campaign office inside their offices. That’s a no-no too, apparently. In fact, sources say the desire to separate state and federal election efforts was one of the reasons the county GOP moved its offices away from its location next to Ray LaHood’s local offices at 4238 N. Knoxville to its new location at 8835 N. Knoxville Ave.

Right now, I’m not sure if “state” campaign funds were being used on behalf of a “federal” campaign. If so, it’s a violation of federal campaign finance laws, or so I’m told. If not, then it’s at the best ethically questionable.

And my post on this apparently struck a nerve. I wrote about this on my PeoriaPundit.com blog on a Friday. That weekend, he moved out, my sources say. One of his primary opponents, former Peoria City Council member John Morris issued a press release asking Schock to do the right thing. Had that not happened, there was serious talk about making a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission. THAT is a big deal, unlike the allegations that passed back and forth when Schock ran against State Rep. Ricca Slone. Those were treated like most allegations of cheating are treated in Illinois — with a certain amount of amused interest by the media, but with no real consequences (at one point, they were debating the ethics of free hot dogs and soda, for crying out loud).

But this is a federal race, and the national media is looking at it. And the media looooves to write about Republicans accused of campaign violations. Those guys have no sense of humor.

While 11 out of the 20 Republican county chairs in the 18th district have reportedly endorsed Schock, that doesn’t mean that Schock is endorsed by the party as a whole. The GOP and the Democrats alike pick their parties’ nominees through primary elections, not in smoke-filled cloakrooms. In other words, the people who pick up party ballots pick the nominee, not the party itself.

Letting Schock set up an office inside the county’s party HQ months before the primary sends a message to the rank and file: What you want doesn’t matter. The powers-that-be have pre-selected their favored candidate, so just give up and go home. It’s a great way to de-energize the party faithful.

And I’m sure that those folks who have contributed to or are working as volunteers for either Jim McConoughey or John Morris are absolutely thrilled (note the sarcasm, please) that their party itself is using their money to provide facilities to Schock.

And I’m also hearing that one of the people who is a bit annoyed is none other than Ray LaHood. As an incumbent, LaHood is very much aware of the effect this sort of nonsense is having on the GOP’s chances of recapturing Congress.

And the thing is that Schock has a history of bending if not breaking what should be simple and easy to understand campaign rules. With the media and voters hype-sensitive to crooked electioneering, one wonders what other rules Schock might break or bend.

I’m recalling the history of the district. In 1956, Rep. Harold Velde endorsed his top aide Bob Michel, who won the party nomination in a crowded field. In 1994, Michel in turn endorsed Ray LaHood, his aide, instead of the more conservative Judy Koehler.

Perhaps LaHood might want to consider doing the same thing. Considering that everyone is assuming that whoever wins the GOP primary is going to win the general election, they may as well pick someone who acts like a grown-up and plays by the rules.

Schock’s campaign manager is Steve Shearer. This is the same Steve Shearer who’s managed the campaign of U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller, the same guy who’s unannounced his retirement after being called the most corrupt member of Congress because of his shady land deals in Nicaragua and his marriage to an anti-American Guatemalan politician who happens to be the daughter of genocidal dictator.

Tags: aarron schock, district 150, Jehan Gordon