Local ethicist implies that Representative Jehan Gordon is unethical

When I heard about Representative Jehan Gordon sitting on the Senate's Special Committee on Education Reform, I posted this piece about “Illinois upcoming Education Reform fight”. At that time I mentioned Gordon’s being involved with Stand for Children.

I felt Gordon was an excellent candidate for the Committee on Education Reform, because I knew that she had already been working on reaching out to those in the education community for input since 2009 (see invitation above - click to enlarge). I find it interesting that Bradley McMillan, our local ethicist, is implying that Gordon may have been unethical now that the education reforms are begining to see the light of day.

From what I know, I would agree with Gordon, that her support for reforms predates the campaign contributions.

Education reform linked to donation?
Rep. Jehan Gordon insists her support of bill predates $100,000 campaign donation

How much did campaign donations smooth the way for education reforms? The head of an out-of-state group that helped craft the education reform package Illinois lawmakers passed nearly unanimously this spring put a focus on that question with some unguarded comments at a conference at Colorado's Aspen Institute early this month.

And because she was one of the biggest recipients of campaign cash from Jonah Edelman's Stand For Children organization - some $100,000 in 2010 out of about $444,000 in donations she raised in the last six months of her successful re-election campaign - state Rep. Jehan Gordon, D-Peoria, is caught up in the controversy. She insists her support for reform predates those campaign contributions.

Legislature who had supported pension reforms during 2010, Edelman said during his Aspen remarks. But his organization stepped in with campaign donations targeted at several key races - six Democratic candidates including Gordon, and three Republicans.


After the election, the group crafted a series of proposed reforms that "tied tenure and layoffs to performance . . . streamlined dismissal of ineffective tenured teachers substantially" among other things and discussed it with Madigan, Edelman said. "He said he was supportive. The next day he created an Educational Reform (Committee), and his political director called to ask for our suggestions who should be on it."

Gordon was among those who were quickly appointed to the committee, as was the only other incumbent House member to receive donations from Stand for Children and win re-election. That move, said McMillan, highlights the ease with which money can appear to buy access to politicians.

Gordon was blunt in her reaction to the controversy: "You don't buy my vote." She turned the question on itself, arguing she'd also received donations in the past from union groups that were wary of Stand for Children's aims.

"Having taken support from education groups before does not make me beholden to anybody (either)," she said.

In fact, she said, she worked with all interested parties, from Edelman's group to state teachers unions. She touted her frequent contact with the latter group - including District 150's teachers union - while working on the reform package.

Most of the changes had been discussed for years, Gordon said, without lawmakers having a grasp of "how do you tackle this third-rail issue?" That included taking on such touchy union-related issues as teacher tenure.

When she heard what Stand for Children was supporting, "I felt it was an excellent platform, it was something I could support," Gordon said. And she did, after also giving local educators a heads up that she would be backing the measures and soliciting their input.

Because of that, Gordon said that "I absolutely don't regret" taking the $100,000 contribution. "I stayed true to what I've always said. I've always said we need to be doing more in education."

Gordon said she worries that Edelman's remarks "could potentially set us back" from any further education reforms. "This was a first step. There are a lot of things we can be doing to ensure that kids are receiving the best quality education." Source

Who wore it best?

State Representative, Jehan Gordon wore the look first in her January 2011 engagement photos. Socialite, Kim Kardiashian wore the look this past week in Monaco. Who do you think wore the look best?

The Illinois House Representative from the 92nd District making huge impact in education reform

He won a school board seat at the age of 19. After two years, his fellow board members elected him vice president of the board, and one year later, they unanimously elected him school board president, making him, at 23, the youngest school board president in Illinois history.

When he went on to win a seat as the Representative from the 92nd District in the Illinois House, many thought school reform would be the perfect platform for him. He dabbled a little bit, but now at the age of 30 he is a career politician, a member of Congress and the only platform that he appears to be interested in is probably the Nordic Track V7 Vibration Platform. His constituents have instead been left Schock(ed) by what appears to be his aspiration to use his platform to become a model.

It has been Jehan Gordon who has been consistently using her seat as the Representative from the 92nd District to further the experience she gained while serving on the Pleasant Hill School District #69 School Board. She is a member of the Elementary & Secondary Education Committee; Senate's Special Committee on Education Reform; and she is taking part in the hearings on the Performance Counts Act of 2012. Recently she introduced legislation setting guidelines for assistant principals, where there currently are none.

Legislation To Bolster Assistant Principal Requirements
House Bill 3171, sponsored by Jehan Gordon, gives assistant principals the same responsibilities as principals and creates a method for evaluating their performance.

The evaluations would look at the duties and measure the performance of the assistant principal, comment on the strengths and weakness to offer improvements, and align them with the Illinois Professional Standards for school leaders.

Additionally, after 2012 assistant principal evaluations will include data and indicators of student growth as part of the evaluation.

House Bill 3171 passed the House at the end of March, and passed the Senate on May 12th. The legislation now moves to the Governor for further consideration.

District 150 Assistant Principal Assignments for 2011-2012:

Synopsis of House Bill 3171 as introduced
Amends the School Code. Provides for the employment of assistant principals. Includes provisions concerning (1) their duties, (2) their contracts, (3) their reclassification, and (4) their evaluation. Removes language that provides that if a principal is absent due to extended illness or leave of absence, then an assistant principal may be assigned as acting principal for a period not to exceed 60 school days. Provides that no principal (rather than no principal who has completed 2 or more years of administrative service in the school district) may be reclassified by demotion or reduction in rank from one position within a school district to another for which a lower salary is paid without written notice from the board of the proposed reclassification by April 1 of the year in which the contract expires. Effective immediately.

Politics a segue to being famous

First it was Congressman Aaron Schock in Gentleman's Quarterly...

Recently, State Representative, Jehan Gordon, who is engaged to be married to Derrick Booth (Manual High School Basketball Coach), submitted her engagement story to Munaluchi Bridal and was chosen to be featured on their blog. Munaluchi Bridal is a new, upscale bridal magazine, geared towards the upwardly mobile African-American woman.

"We were just STUNNED when we got this submission from Jehan Gordon with these gorgeous images from her engagement session. The trendy couple was photographed by the amazing husband and wife duo, Jarod and Julia, of Schilling Photography. Jehan and Derrick are such a striking pair, and through these images you can just see the divine love they have for each other. Enjoy this love story of Jehan and Derrick…"



More photos here.

Illinois' upcoming Education Reform fight

Representative Jehan Gordon has earned a reputation for listening to her constituents. In April of 2009, Rep. Gordon invited several people (teachers, parents, etc...) who are involved in the Peoria educational community to become part of her Education Advisory Committee.

The group had an opportunity to meet with Rep. Gordon for an update on legislative developments in Springfield and share their thoughts about issues affecting the education community.

In the coming weeks, Rep. Gordon, who is a member of the Senate's Special Committee on Education Reform, will be taking part in hearings on the Peformance Counts Act.

The Performance Counts Act of 2010 (PCA) is a draft of proposed legislation, commissioned by Stand for Children Illinois (based in Oregon) and Advance Illinois. On December 16th and 17th, it was the central point of discussion at Education Reform Hearings at the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora. The PCA appears to be extremely fast moving legislation that many believe will be voted on by the General Assembly in very early January 2011. It is a sweeping proposal addressing tenure, evaluations, dismissal, collective bargaining, and strikes.

Reportedly, Rep. Gordon received some campaign contributions from Stand for Children and on their website, she is vaguely referred to as one of nine "champions of education". Rep. Gordon, is in position to play an integral part in moving Stand for Children's agenda through the legislature.

Editorial: Illinois school reform proposals
The best way to improve education in Illinois dramatically is to attract and keep the best teachers in the classroom and more quickly and efficiently fire the worst.

That's the aim of a draft proposal — dubbed the Performance Counts Act — introduced to a special Illinois House committee last week.

The reforms would:
•Make teacher performance the main factor in layoff decisions. In many districts, teachers are laid off by seniority — last in, first out. That means good young teachers are fired instead of less effective teachers who are protected by seniority.

•Make it easier to fire ineffective teachers. Right now, the process to fire a teacher is so cumbersome that many principals don't try. This would streamline the process significantly and spare kids from the worst teachers.

•Ensure that only the best-performing teachers earn tenure. Instead of a virtually automatic tenure award after four years of service, teachers would be granted tenure only if they've been rated "proficient" or "excellent" in evaluations. That's a smart step. But it also depends on far more honest teacher evaluations, tied strongly to student performance and classroom observation.

The most controversial part of this package: curbing teachers' right to strike. The proposal would hand more power to school boards to resolve contract disputes.

Right now, teachers can strike after negotiations and mediation fail. This proposal would create a new step. If mediation fails, a three-member panel would be created — one member picked by the school board, one by the union and one by the other two members. The panel would hammer out a settlement. If either side rejected that settlement, the details of it would be made public.

But the final decision would rest with the school board. It could accept the panel's settlement or the union's offer, or impose its own settlement. The union could strike only if the school board failed to act.

That's a powerful proposal. It would invite public scrutiny of negotiations and protect teachers from dysfunctional school boards. But it would, essentially, end teacher strikes.

The House committee wrapped up hearings on these ideas last week. An Illinois Senate committee will consider them early next year. Read entire editorial here.

Good showing locally by African-American Women in November 2 election

Jehan Gordon Illinois House 92nd District
Incumbent state Rep. Jehan Gordon, D-Peoria, easily won re-election Tuesday for a second two-year term to the 92nd Illinois House District seat. The 29-year-old Ms. Gordon, won by beating out Republican Peoria City Councilman Jim Montelongo. Final Numbers: Gordon 62% - Montelongo 38%

Ms. Gordon was the first black woman to win the 92nd District when she was first elected in 2008; and the second woman to represent a district that includes the southern two-thirds of the city of Peoria, including Downtown, West Peoria, Peoria Heights, Kickapoo and portions of Bartonville and Limestone Township. Source




Mary McDade 3rd District Appellate Court Justice retained her seat. She was less than popular because of her decision and consequential defense of reducing the prison sentence of Dione Alexander (a/k/a “the Woodruff High School shooter”) from 24 to the minimum six years. Final numbers: 26,174 Yes - 11,186 No.

Judge McDade, the first African-American to hold public office in the ever progressive Peoria, was elected to the District 150 BOE in 1968 and served a five-year term that ended in 1973. She was president of the board in 1972-73. During that time she was part of the effort to desegregate the schools, to increase the number of minority teachers, and to include multicultural textbooks, and she personally worked diligently to try to stem the tide of what she considered “exponentially-increasing expulsions”.

She is also a co-founder of the Human Service Center; and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Peoria Public Library where she served three years. Source

County Board District: 3 Lynn Scott Pierson, Democrat. Twenty-four year incumbent Lynn Scott Pearson, 68, of Peoria was challenged by Republican Karrie Alms, 51, of Peoria. Final numbers: Pierson 783 - Alms 319.

Mrs. Pearson, a retiree of Caterpillar, Inc., has an extensive background of community service. She has served as President of the Board of Directors for Friendship House and Chairperson of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission. She has also served as a member of the Retired Senior Volunteer Program Advisory Council and the Peoria County Democratic Women Committee. District 3 is all in the city of Peoria and includes Downtown and northeast along the river, with boundaries of Knoxville, Nebraska and Glen Oak Park. Source


County Board District 1: Bonnie Hester, Democrat. Mrs. Hester ran uncontested and has spent 35 years in the public sector: 25 for the Peoria City/County Health Department and most recently as Program Assistant for the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program.

Before her retirement from the Health Department, Mrs. Hester served on the Health Care Committee for Peoria County Employees and as president of local union AFSCME #3665. She was president for 14 years. District 1 boundaries: Rt. 116 in City of Peoria south and city and township limits. Source

County Board District 5: Rachael Parker, Democrat. Mrs. Parker ran uncontested and is currently employed by the City of Peoria as a Development Specialist in the Department of Economic Development.

Mrs. Parker was elected to the District 150 BOE in April, 2007, to serve District 2. She is also a small business owner with two home based businesses. She will be required to forfeit her seat on the BOE in order to serve on the County Board. Source

Honorable mention:
Recorder of Deeds: Evonne Fleming, Democrat.

Evonne Fleming has worked in the Recorder's Office for 21 years. She ran on the platform of improving the indexing system to be more user-friendly, protect historic information and increase office morale. Final Numbers: 20,585 Fleming - 29,337 Horton.

Unfortunately for Ms. Fleming, we Peorians are notorious for our belief that family members should inherit elected positions, which makes it no surprise that Fleming would loose to Republican Nancy Horton, who was appointed to the post in March, after the Jan. 29 death of her husband, former Recorder Brad Horton.
Source

State Representative Jehan Gordon - Racing to the Top

State Representative, Jehan Gordon sits on the Race to the Top committee and is working with the Illinois State Board of Education to ensure that Peoria schools are not overlooked. To follow is a short statement about her commitment to RT3.

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A strategic team has been put in place for RTTT. This money will flow through the Illinois State Board of Education and as a State Representative, I will be in constant contact with that agency and utilize every resource that I have in Springfield to best position our community for this phenomenal opportunity. This is a team effort and it will require hard work on behalf of many people to get this done. I am up for the challenge because the reward--our children receiving the kind of education that we all can be proud of--is the ultimate prize!

Read the entire statement here...