PEORIA, Ill. — Despite earlier hopes to hold a vote this month on the matter, Peoria Public School District 150 on Monday night announced it would hold off on deciding whether or not the district will adopt a “balanced calendar,” or year-round schooling, model.
“I spoke to President [Doug] Shaw and said ‘hey, President Shaw, what I’d like to do is just sort of leave that,” said Superintendent Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat.
“We will, number one, put the information onto our website. President Shaw also asked me to figure out a way to send some hard copies to our families because not everybody really readily has access to the internet, and I thought that was a good idea.
“We have a lot of time, and at some point, we will discuss next steps in terms of coming to the board [with a recommendation on a vote]. In terms of next steps, just share the data, share the information, share the results, and wait for opportunity for additional feedback from our constituents, because time is on our side, because we’re talking about 2022-2023.”
Shaw also said the district plans to figure out ways to get more feedback from high school students.
Results from an ongoing survey shared with the board of education showed the traditional model overwhelmingly was the preferred method of the 1,815 family responses. 56% of family respondents chose that model as the best option for students, and 59% said it was the best option for their family units.
Staff surveys showed somewhat closer results. 38% of staff said the traditional model was best for students, 36% answered a modified model was best, and 26% the balanced model was best.
Of those same 893 staff respondents, 47% said the traditional model was best for themselves and their families.
In other district related news, board members voted to table a vote on renaming Thomas Jefferson Elementary School to the Rev. Cordy Tindell Vivian Elementary School until after the district’s buildings committee makes a formal recommendation.
