Dr. Cynthia Fischer is assistant superintendent at District 150. She’s worked for District 150 since 1975, including stints as a resource teacher, coordinator of Special Education, principal of Peoria Alternative High School, director of Career and Technical Education, and interim co-superintendent.

She received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and special education and her master’s and doctorate degrees in education administration at Illinois State University.
Fischer and her husband, Bill, reside in Peoria.

Tell us about your background, schools attended, family, etc.

Growing up in a military family, as well as my mother being born in Germany, provided me an opportunity to visit different places and learn about different cultures. Both of my parents were very hard working, determined, and caring people. From my mother especially, I learned early on the importance of giving and caring for others, the importance of family, making the best of even the worst situation, and, most importantly, keeping faith at the core of your life. A huge blessing in my life is my husband, Bill, who recently retired from Caterpillar. He provides great support to me, as well as being a great father and grandfather.

I attended Illinois State University as an undergraduate, majoring in elementary education and special education. Continuing at ISU, I received my master’s and doctorate degrees in education administration. I’ve found you need to be a lifelong learner in today’s world and take advantage of the wonderful opportunities we have at Bradley University and our local community colleges to grow professionally and personally. I moved to Peoria in 1975 for my first teaching job at Peoria High School and have had the pleasure to serve District 150 through the years in a variety of capacities.

Who or what influenced your decision to take on a career in education?

Beginning as early as grade school, I looked for every opportunity to be involved with children: assisting in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and being a sought-after babysitter for the neighborhood and church. During high school and continuing through college, I worked at a YMCA, which provided me with incredible learning and educational experiences in daycare classrooms, teaching swimming and tumbling lessons, and working with special needs children and adults. The youth director at the Y took me under her wing and encouraged me to use my love and passion for children and become a teacher. From my first job teaching at Peoria High School, I knew I’d made the right decision. If done well, teaching requires a huge personal and time commitment, but the joy and satisfaction you get as you see your students mature and enjoy learning drives your passion. Seeing former students as adults making good decisions and contributing back to society is the true joy.

Tell us about your job as associate superintendent.

The magnitude, vast variety of issues, fast pace, and sense of urgency create challenges as well as a tremendous personal drive for me to assist District 150 superintendent Ken Hinton, our board, and administrative team as we move forward with reconceptualizing education in Peoria, always focused on what’s best for children. My specific areas of responsibility include career and technical education, student discipline, district/school safety, attendance, school security, alternative education, prevention and intervention programs for student support, early childhood education, community schools, grants, Adopt-A-School programs, and working with community agencies in a variety of partnerships. If you’ve heard my presentation on community schools, you’ve heard me talk about the many changes within our society and the impact it has on children and the educational process. We can no longer do it alone. In the past year, I’ve experienced a tremendous sense of community support and collaboration; it’s an incredible feeling to know our local businesses, churches, volunteer groups, social service agencies, and parents are pulling together to address the vast and changing needs of our children. I sense Peoria is becoming a united community that cares about its children and families—a value is being placed on education.

The most enjoyable and rewarding part of my job is the opportunity to work in so many of our schools; meet parents and students; attend activities within our schools; and see the incredible dedication of our building leaders, teachers, and staff. I marvel at the focused teaching and learning, creativity, and sheer passion of our staff.

You were principal of Peoria Alternative High School for 13 years. How’s it different from other high schools in the district? Do you think it’s succeeding in its goals?

Peoria Alternative High School (PAHS) has been a salvation to more than 800 students who may have become high school dropouts. It’s not uncommon to hear parents say, “Had it not been for PAHS, the caring staff, and the structure of the school, my child wouldn’t have made it through high school.” Many student graduation speeches have included, “PAHS saved my life.” Located for the first 12 years in the downtown YMCA building, PAHS reaches out to truant, chronically truant, and high school dropout students unable to succeed in the traditional high school setting, offering an opportunity for a new start in a structured and nurturing environment. Upon entering the program, students and their parents/guardians make a commitment that students will attend school daily and maintain a minimum 20-hour-per-week job. Supportive services are provided to students, such as daycare for parenting teens, transportation for teen moms and babies, development of an individual education plan, counseling and support built into the curriculum to focus on behavior and social/emotional needs that have kept students from succeeding, and a strong concentration on developing career and technical skills. Community support partners have played a tremendous role in the success of the program, providing individual tutoring and mentoring, recognition and incentive programs, scholarships, job shadowing programs, and more.

How has teaching changed in the past 10 years?

The role of a teacher has changed immensely over the past 10 years, largely due to additional requirements and responsibilities added as a result of federal and state mandates—often lacking the funding source to support these initiatives. No Child Left Behind is certainly a clear example of a federal mandate that’s placed tremendous responsibility for student achievement on the classroom teacher. The educational system also is directly affected by the many changes we see within our society, placing additional challenges on teachers to address issues of violence, poverty, changes in the family structure, and changes in value structures, just to name a few. Ten years ago, children came to school with the necessary social and emotional skills, prepared to learn. In today’s world, teachers often have to teach social-emotional skills to students before academic areas can be addressed.

Another change is the use of data and how to use that data to drive instruction. Good teaching means identifying what students have or haven’t mastered quickly to determine strategies for instruction and ensure student success. Along with the use of data and good teaching strategies comes the need to assess the needs of the whole child and determine factors affecting the child’s ability to succeed. These factors may include health issues, attendance, family issues, learning difficulties—everything that affects that child’s ability to learn. Teaching is like putting together a puzzle. It’s making sure you have all of the vital pieces together in the right place to ensure success for each child. All of this is driven by the increased use of technology. Good teachers are using technology both in the teaching and learning process. Good mastery of technology and staying on top of rapid changes are critical.

Future changes in the classroom will be influenced by the globalization referred to in Thomas Friedman’s book, The World Is Flat. We’re no longer preparing our students for local or national competition, but rather competition with students throughout the world who currently are outscoring us nationally in the areas of math, science, and technology. This factor alone will force changes to our educational model. Secondly, we’re gaining more information on understanding how the brain really works in relationship to learning. It’s my prediction that both of these factors will have a tremendous influence on classroom instruction, with some changes already beginning to emerge.

Describe some of District 150’s successes.

There are many successes within our school system. Some of them include:
• Full-Service Community Schools at Manual High, Trewyn Middle, and Garfield Primary schools. A collaborative effort under the leadership of Community Builders, Full-Service Community Schools is a national model proven to impact student achievement, attendance, and parental involvement by empowering the community and having the school serve as a “hub” of activity, filled with programs identified by parents as needed to help their children and themselves succeed. Programs might include after-school tutoring, mentoring, summer recreational programs, and work skills programs for adults.
• International Baccalaureate Program at Richwoods High School, serving students both inside and outside District 150 in an educationally invigorating and challenging program of international status.
• A strategic plan that’s involved well over 750 community members and educators, resulting in the creation of a living document that serves as a road map, providing the direction to become the world-class school district we aspire to be. To date, 23 district action plans are either completed or in progress of being completed. Supporting the district strategic plan, school-based plans have been completed in seven schools, with 11 schools having completed phase one of the process.
• Positive Behavior Intervention System (PBIS) is a successful, research-based model implemented this year in 17 of our schools, with the focused outcome of increasing appropriate student behavior by defining what’s expected, teaching the behavior, and reinforcing the expected behavior. Through a three-tier system of support, the model promotes the collection of data to analyze the problem, and problem-solve to develop the necessary solutions and interventions necessary for student success.
• Health clinics are up and running in nine of our schools.
• Project Lead the Way (PLTW), sponsored by Caterpillar Inc., is a nationally developed pre-engineering program offering challenging, stimulating courses for high schoolers interested in engineering- and technology-related fields.
• Washington Gifted School was named the highest performing school in Illinois based on student test results using the Illinois State Assessment Test (ISAT).
• The “Can Do” program, spearheaded by Jennifer Wilfong, promises each fourth-grade student at Irving Primary School a $1,000 scholarship upon completion of high school and enrollment in one post-secondary class. The first group of fourth graders will enter eighth grade this year.
• Teacher Induction and Administrative Induction are two new programs providing critical training and support to new teachers and new administrators. Both programs show promise of increasing retention of staff, as well as skill building and knowledge of our district’s initiatives.
• Destination Technology, currently in its sixth year thanks to the support of Caterpillar Inc., provides engaging, hands-on career exploration in the areas of math, science, and technology for 124 students. Students meet on Saturdays during the school year and participate in a summer camp in June.
• First Robotics, sponsored by Caterpillar Inc., flourished under the guidance and support of volunteer Caterpillar engineers and District 150 teachers. This first-year program involved students from all District 150 high schools, and Notre Dame won the Midwest Regional competition, moving forward to the national championship held in Atlanta, Ga.
• Scholar’s Cup is a long-standing academic team event involving fifth-grade students from throughout the district. Enthusiastic student teams answer questions from all academic areas, and the top four teams advance to semi-final and final rounds, which are televised locally on WTVP-47.
• Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Center is an award-
winning, innovative, early childhood community learning center that serves children ages 3 through 7. A developmentally appropriate school curriculum and learning environment, along with the required parental involvement, provides a strong educational foundation for children, promoting respect and diversity within the learning community.
• JROTC programs at each of our four high schools.
• Both Charter Oak Primary and Whittier Primary schools received the “Blue Ribbon School Award” from the National Department of Education.

District 150 has had to make some tough decisions the past few years. In your opinion, what are the greatest needs of District 150?

Our focus and challenge is twofold: raising student achievement (particularly closing the achievement gap), and achieving financial stability. Our greatest needs in accomplishing these tasks include finding predictable and adequate funding sources to support programs and activities related to student achievement and determining additional opportunities to reduce expenditures without affecting student success. These sometimes are conflicting and enormously tough challenges. Another critical need is to have a united community that recognizes the importance of education for all children and the urgency in creating this value change to enable our children to succeed in the emerging competitive global economy. It’s encouraging to feel support and desire from community leaders to work together as we move forward to solve this issue.

We have a tremendous need to address the perception of our public school system—or should I say misperception? It’s the intention of our administrative team to better inform our parents and community of the many outstanding strengths and successes found within our schools, as well as our plans of reconceptualizing education in Peoria Public Schools. Although we have many challenges ahead of us, the future looks bright. Could Peoria schools provide such tremendous offerings that parents and children would choose to attend our schools and the best and the brightest teachers would be attracted? Yes.
Of course, there’s the well-publicized need to close and consolidate schools as we right-size the district for today’s enrollment and funding needs. Closing schools is a very difficult challenge, but rest assured that as we proceed, we’ll keep our focus on what’s best for the children while taking into account the many views, ideas, and needs of other vested stakeholders.

What do you see coming on the horizon?

• A benchmarking system in grades three to eight to better identify academic needs to guide teaching and learning.
• Professional development, focused to give all staff state-of-the-art tools to improve instruction, obtain optimum results in learning, understand students living in poverty, use problem-solving tools for intervention and prevention in both academic and behavior, help students prepare for career tech development, work with parents, and ensure school safety.
• Expansion of alternative education programs and services at the primary, middle, and high school levels for students who, after exhausting all options for intervention in the regular school, are unable to be successful and need specialized instruction and/or support.
• Implementation of grade level expectations and the New Standards Aligned Report Card, which will result in a personal education plan for each of our students, beginning at the primary level. The format for report cards will include “I can…” statements that will communicate to parents expected skills specific to the state standards and grade level, indicating whether their child can or can’t accomplish that skill. For students who can’t complete this skill, interventions will be developed specific to him or her.
• Continued expansion of high school career and technical education, including the implementation of a career tech plan for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
• Collaboration with the Renaissance Park Education Committee and the City of Peoria to develop a proposal for a Math, Science, and Technology Academy.

Explain the new truancy program initiated this year. Is it working?

Research tells us truancy is one of the most powerful predictors of school failure, including a higher potential of dropping out of school, as well as an increase for undesirable behavior such as teen pregnancy, drug/alcohol use, and involvement in the court system. Developed by teachers, counselors, parents, and administrators, the Peoria Public School Attendance Plan highlights the importance of students attending school every day and being on time—expected skills in the workplace, as we know. The plan clearly defines expectation of students, parents, teachers, school administration, and the community. As a preventative measure, teachers are expected “to teach the plan and expected behaviors,” as well as continuously reinforce good attendance by acknowledging and rewarding students who are at school every day on time. On the fifth, 10th, and 15th unexcused absences, letters are sent or hand-delivered to parents notifying them of the absences and upcoming consequences. A parent meeting is requested with school officials in order to identify why the student isn’t coming to school and to develop a plan to address those issues. The school code says parents are responsible for ensuring children attend school.

Our regional truancy program, Project TARGET, becomes involved with students under age 13 at their 10th unexcused absence, providing supportive intervention services to the student and parent. When children under age 13 reach their 18th unexcused absence, Project TARGET takes the parents and student before the court system on charges of neglect. Students over 13 years who reach their 18th unexcused absence are offered an Alternative Attendance Agreement, signed by the student and parent, which allows students to continue attending school. However, if they obtain two more unexcused absences, they’re automatically transferred to the Truancy Alternative Program (TAP).

Our Average Daily Attendance (ADA) rate, which also is used to calculate our state funding, increased by 1 percent this year. For the first year of implementation, we were pleased with the 1 percent increase; however, we feel next year we can do even better. A committee is working on ways to make the plan more effective. This may include better marketing to the public about the importance of school attendance, addressing the high numbers of excused absences, requesting business owners to allow students in their stores only during school hours if they’re accompanied by a parent, and training for staff to improve accurate data reporting and intervention tools for students who struggle with attendance. This issue will take everyone working together to realize the success we know needs to happen.

As part of the attendance plan, the Truancy Assessment Center was implemented. This was a very successful collaboration between the Peoria Police Department, Project TARGET, and Peoria Public Schools. The program experienced a lot of success, serving more than 160 students caught violating the daytime curfew violation. Located at Peoria High School, students were brought to the center by Peoria police officers. Many truants were identified by citizens who called the 494-CARE number, which triggered the support of an officer in the vicinity. An assessment was completed, parents were contacted, both student and parent received a warning ticket, and the student was returned to school. Of the students who received services through the center, only 9 percent were repeat offenders who returned to the center with a second offense.

What’s your opinion of the community school concept, and can it be implemented in District 150?

This is another subject that’s near and dear to my heart. It’s been my privilege to be a part of the original planning committee that, after researching this national concept, met last June to determine whether it would “play in Peoria.” It’s incredible to think that within one year we’ve brought our community together to embrace Full-Service Community Schools and have been blessed to have Community Builders as the lead agency coordinating the school and community effort. As a result of this focused effort, we’re so pleased swimming, tennis, basketball camps, chef school, gardening for parents and children, arts and photography, fitness for adults, “Peace-Making Circles” for children, literacy clubs, and more will be available this summer—free—for students at Garfield Primary, Trewyn Middle, and Manual High schools. Had it not been for community schools and the wonderful partners that have joined for the summer programming, these children wouldn’t have had these opportunities. If this was accomplished in one year, what will happen next year?

Have you had mentors? What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from them?

It’s my belief that most successful individuals have had at least one person in their lives who was willing to take them under their wing, make them feel special, highlight their potential in life, and open doors to them that might not otherwise have been opened. I’ve been very lucky to have had several individuals serve in this role: a teacher, a boss, and of the most influence, my mother. What I’ve learned from the powerful effects of mentoring is that we need to ensure every child in Peoria Public Schools has someone who’ll act in this role. It’s extremely encouraging to see the number of organizations working within our schools to help provide this critical need for our children.

What options do students have within District 150 for career and technical education?

There’s a perception that when closing the academies, we no longer have career and technical education for students, but it’s quite the contrary. What was formerly the Woodruff High School Academy will continue as the Woodruff High School Technology Program, with Cisco Networking, Oracle, Web Page Design, Computer Repair, and PLTW is also continuing. If selected, students in eighth grade who apply are offered the Technology Program for four years. Richwoods High School has expanded the number of courses being taught in the health field for the 2007 school year. Peoria High School Business Academy students will be integrated with students served in the regular Business Department at PHS. The Mentoring Program, which was an extremely successful component of the Business Academy, will continue this fall thanks to the efforts of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and our many volunteers.

In terms of expansions, last school year brought the addition of PLTW. All courses are weighted, and Bradley University is accepting these courses for college credit. We hope to offer the middle school component of PLTW, “Gateway to Technology,” as a pilot beginning this fall in one of our middle schools. Thanks to the collaboration with the Graphic Design Department of Illinois Central College, we added two fully equipped graphic design labs, using ICC curriculum and offering dual credit. We also added a Machinist Assembler Program at MHS thanks to the incredible support of ICC and Caterpillar, Inc.

We continue to have nine Work-Based Learning Programs: Automotive Fundamentals, Construction Industry, Criminal Justice, Culinary Arts, EMT—Basic, Graphic Design, Health Occupations, Microcomputer Networking, and Project Lead the Way. Students attend their home high school and participate in the Work-Based Learning Courses off site, most of which are offered through ICC. As a service to our region, we’re fortunate to have P.E.R.F.E.C.T., which provides transition services between our high schools and Work-Based Learning Programs to ensure communication and a successful transition. In addition, P.E.R.F.E.C.T. serves as an entity to help identify needed career tech programming and assists in developing identified programs. On the horizon are the potential creation of a child development program, perhaps taught at the Valeska Hinton Center, and the exploration into a service/hospitality program. Lastly, work is being finalized on our career technology plan to be implemented in kindergarten through eighth grade, emphasizing introductions of various careers and reinforcing work habits critical for success in the work environment.  TPW