Decatur Vote Illinois
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Articles

Typical reporting, capturing a story at a particular point in time.

The Board of Education directed staff to move forward with a district-wide analysis, and to concurrently prioritize getting repair estimates on the two Dennis Lab Buildings, which will lead to development of a long-term plan. At the August 8th Board Meeting, there were also updates on school secu...   See Article

Original Report, 08-11-2023

8,147 students were enrolled in Decatur Public Schools for 2021-2022, according to the Illinois Report Card. This number has declined each school year since at least 2017-2018, when enrollment was 8,923 students. The largest decline has been among White students, going from 3,340 in 2018 to 2,535...   See Article

Original Report, 08-11-2023

Decatur Public Schools District 61 (DPS61) is governed by a Board of officials elected in odd-numbered years during municipal elections, and led by a Superintendent. We may add more information at a later time. Below are links you may find useful. District Information District Website Communi...   See Article

Summary, 08-09-2023

Today's Finance Committee Meeting covered discussion of electric buses, a delayed budget, and fund balances. Watch the video. Dennis I attended in hopes of Dennis updates, but there were none. After the meeting, I asked Director of Buildings & Grounds, Kent Metzger, if he got the clearance to...   See Article

Original Report, 08-01-2023

DPS61 will hold a Finance Committee Meeting tonight, Tuesday August 1, 2023, at 4pm at the Keil Administration Building, 101 West Cerro Gordo Street, in the Third Floor Conference Room. Meeting Agenda: Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Discussion Electric Bus Discussion Budget Update Audit Upda...   See Article

Summary, 08-01-2023

DPS61 held a special board meeting on July 24th, 2023 to approve a General Contractor bid for the new K-8 Magnet School, to provide updates about The Dennis Situation, and approve staffing changes. Staff changes included hiring, transfers, and resignations, as well as compensation for things like...   See Article

Original Report, 07-28-2023

This is a comprehensive catalogue of documents, emails, interviews, our internal notes, and other sources related to the Dennis Story. Some off-the-record information and private notes are excluded. Some documents may unintentionally be missing and may be available at The Dennis Topic. This page ...   See Article

Original Report, 07-25-2023

After Dennis School Closures, Decatur Public Schools released the 2013 Health, Life, Safety reports, which include detailed inspections of both the original Dennis and former French Academy buildings. These detailed inspections are required every 10 years, per Illinois Health/Life Safety Code, Se...   See Article

Original Report, 07-25-2023

School Districts are required to get detailed inspections, by structural engineers, of all District buildings every 10 years. After the two Dennis buildings were closed, the Decatur Public Schools District 61 released the 2013 reports. The reports detail issues with both buildings that required r...   See Article

Summary, 07-20-2023

In Illinois, the 2024 Primaries election is March 19th, and the General Election is November 5th, 2024. For most offices, the filing period is November 27th - December 4th, 2023. Decatur Vote will likely begin election coverage in November, possibly December 2023. The following Municipal Election...   See Article

Summary, 07-20-2023

The Decatur Public Schools Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Monday, July 24th, 2023 at 5:30pm at the Keil Administration Building. The announcement states the District will "present another Dennis Lab School update and take-action on Open Session agenda item(s) as appropriat...   See Article

Summary, 07-19-2023

The Keil Administration Building (or Keil Building) houses DPS61 Administrative offices, and the Board room where most Board of Education meetings are held. Location The Keil Building is near the 51 South & Eldorado intersection, one block North of the Circle K. It is a tall, brick building.   See Article

Summary, 07-19-2023

After Dennis Closures were announced, I attended the June 13th Board of Education Meeting to hear any updates from the District and interview District officials about transparency. The schools were inspected during the last day of school, and closed the following day due to structural concerns, o...   See Article

Original Report, 07-14-2023

On June 23rd, 2023 I sent a FOIA request to Decatur Public Schools District 61. On July 10th, I received an incomplete response. I submitted a Request for Review from the Attorney General's Public Access Counselor. We will write a follow-up article at a later time with more details. Info: How t...   See Article

Summary, 07-14-2023

After over a month of trying to get questions answered and trying to secure an interview with Dr. Clark, I got a couple minutes of her time at the July 11th Board meeting. She advised me to email her with remaining questions and that she would get back to me Monday. These are my questions, which ...   See Article

Original Report, 07-13-2023

Last night, the Board of Education and the public received an update about the plans for Dennis and Garfield students for the 2023-2024 school year. The schools were closed on May 31st, one day after the school year ended, due to structural concerns. The initial plans were to move Dennis 7th &...   See Article

Original Report, 07-12-2023

Decatur Public School District 61's next Board of Education Meeting will be held on Tuesday July 11th, 6:30pm, at MacArthur High School, 1499 W. Grand Avenue, Decatur IL. Regarding Dennis, the only item on the agenda is an "Update on Dennis Lab School" from Administration, with no actio...   See Article

Summary, 07-07-2023

I’m Reed Sutman with Decatur Vote. For a copy of this speech see [that table] or DecaturVote.com You stated you would “schedule a community forum” to share recommendations. A forum suggests back-and-forth discussion. Instead, you prepared a final recommendation, scheduled a special meeting ...   See Article

Opinion, 06-27-2023

I have requested interviews with District officials multiple times, regarding Dennis Schools, and have been repeatedly denied access. You can read some of the history in my full report. Today, I have again been declined the opportunity to ask questions. I emailed Chief Operations Officer Dr. Mike...   See Article

Original Report, 06-27-2023

A Board of Education Meeting is scheduled for tonight, June 27th, 2023, at 6:30pm at the Keil Administration Building, 101 W. Cerro Gordo Street. Update: The Board Meeting can be watched on Youtube The agenda includes: Time for public comment - 3 minutes per person, must arrive early to sign in....   See Article

Original Report, 06-27-2023

Dennis Lab/Mosaic Campus and former French Academy/Kaleidoscope Campus were inspected on May 30th, 2023, the last day of school. Both buildings were closed the following day due to structural concerns. Dennis Students are attending at Garfield Learning Acadmey with the addition of Modular classro...   See Article

Summary, 06-20-2023

Dennis Lab's north staircase is structurally damaged and separating from the building. Part of former French Academy's exterior walls and roof are deteriorated, rusted, and/or bowing. The District first publicized concerns on May 31st, 2023, one day after the school year ended, despite knowing of...   See Article

Original Report, 06-20-2023

These are my personal ideas for how DPS61 transparency can be ensured and improved, both in regard to Dennis Lab's Structural Issues and the District as a whole. These ideas have not been vetted and may or may not be viable. If you would like to advocate for or against any of these ideas, see my ...   See Article

Opinion, 06-20-2023

Free Open Source Software (FOSS) is software that can be used by the public for free. "Open Source" means the source code is also publicly available. Developers (or anyone) can view this code, report issues with it, and suggest changes to it. Decatur Vote believes in collaboration, and ...   See Article

Blog, 05-16-2023

The final results are in for Macon County. Only 64 mail-in-ballots were returned after election day, and no Decatur results changed from the preliminary results counted on April 4th. @image(2023.results.prelim) Follow us on Facebook @DecaturVote and sponsor this work on Patreon. City Council: L...   See Article

Original Report, 04-19-2023

Will Wetzel for Decatur Public School Board stated in a March 6th Facebook Post that he was "Labor Endorsed" and listed "Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly | DEA | DFTA | DESPA | AFSCME". Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly represents over 30 unions, which includes 4 AFSCME u...   See Article

Original Report, 04-14-2023

Decatur Vote is funded by sponsorships and my own money. I do not run ads. I do not use paywalls. Decatur Vote is Temporarily Closed. See the announcement I've had a total of 4 sponsors since launch in July 2022, which is greatly appreciated. As of December 1, 2023, Decatur Vote has cost me more ...   See Article

Blog, 04-11-2023

About Decatur Vote Decatur Vote is a locally-minded news organization, focused on elections, government, local issues, civic and charitable organizations, and local leaders. We do investigative journalism, organize and catalogue local information, encourage local civic engagement, and hold leader...   See Article

Blog, 04-11-2023

Will Wetzel shared his endorsements and listed AFSCME. Due to inaccuracies and poor writing, this article has been removed. An archived copy is available. If our archive is lost, there is another copy on archive.org. Please read our updated article, posted on April 14th.   See Article

Fact Check, 04-11-2023

The City of Decatur and Illinois Department of Transportation hosted a community forum on March 30th for Decaturites to learn about and make suggestions for planned changes to U.S. 51 North and South. I attended the event as an interested citizen, not as a reporter. I am sharing what I learned, t...   See Article

Opinion, 04-06-2023