Billy Dennis

Peoria Notre Dame High School is not a public school. They are under no legal obligation to be open or transparent.

No one is going to vote a member off the Notre Dame school board for any reason. Mainly, because there is no Notre Dame school board. Peoria Notre Dame has a principal and a superintendent, but they essentially take orders from the Diocese of Peoria. This means they ultimately answer to Bishop Richard Jenky.

If you, for example, are upset at Peoria School District 150 for moving Charter Oak Primary School Principal John  Wetterauer because he allegedly didn’t adequately train teachers in how to administer a state test to students, you have the right to form a group that demands the superintendent be fired, and target school board members for replacement, and have your messages heard at city council meetings. It makes no difference that the board investigated the allegations fairly openly and transparently. You are upset and you have an avenue to show your anger.

But if you are upset at how Peoria Notre Dame got rid of now-former Principal Charlie Roy, you have no school board members you can punish by refusing to vote for them. Here’s what went down. Late on Feb 26, word started getting out that Roy was fired. The next day, kids refused to go to class and they staged a sit-in in the common area. They were then told that Roy suddenly resigned, and a later email sent to kids confirmed this. No one bought it, and the belief now is that he was asked to quit after he gave his bosses word he was taking a new job in California.

But Peoria Notre Dame isn’t talking. They don’t have to.

So, what to do? You can try to agitate to get rid of Superintendent Sharon Weiss, but as long as she enjoys Bishop Jenky’s support, she’s golden.

Want to get rid of Bishop Jenky? Try petitioning the Pope. Get back to me after you find out how THAT works.

Or, you can simply refuse to send your kid to Notre Dame. But that means, probably, sending your kid to District 150 schools.

Seriously, I do NOT know what the issue is these parents have with District 150. If your kid is motivated to learn, he’s going to do it in either a parochial school or a pubic school environment. If your kid is going to be a drug-addled douche, he’ll find lots of company at Peoria Notre Dame or District 150.

But parents with money will continue sending their kids to Peoria Notre Dame, no matter the risk of “douchbaggery,” because it’s NOT District 150.

Did you hear? A few weeks earlier, Principal Charlie Roy had a role in getting track coach Mike Sullivan to resign. It seemed he asked a female student if she was wearing panties. I’m trying to wrap my brain around how ANY teacher could ask that question and not be at risk of immediate termination (or at least being paid a visit in the parking lot by her father and uncles bearing pipes and large sticks).

But according to many, many commenters on my blog, he’s being making completely inappropriate for almost all the 30-plus years he’s been a teacher there. I have had NO comments that getting rid of him was a bad thing.

And he taught there for MORE THAN 30 YEARS.

But don’t worry. Peoria Notre Dame is ultimately under the control of priests. And we KNOW about how they have handled the abuse of children in the past.