Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Mr. Nelson should follow Mr. Cassini's Lead and Resign

While we know that there was some divisiveness during the Hinsdale D86 high school district board of education elections, resulting in turnover on the board and perhaps a change in the "majority," we want to take this opportunity to commend D86 Board Member Cassini for voluntarily resigning last night as the board's president.  He did so after only serving as the President for two months, citing difficulty meeting the time commitment demanded of the president as his reasoning.  While some community members may view this as a cop out, we applaud him for recognizing that he needed to put the taxpayers, parents, students, teachers and administration first and not continue in a role he could not properly commit to.

We hope D181 Board Member Michael Nelson follows in Mr. Cassini's lead and resigns from the elementary/middle school board.
Mr. Nelson served as the Board President during his first 2 years on the board.  As we have previously reported, he missed 7 out 15 meetings in 2013.

But not only has he missed 47% of the D181 Board meetings in 2013, Mr. Nelson also serves on the Village of Hinsdale Plan Commission, and has missed 100% of the meetings held in 2013 (per the Plan Commission's meeting minutes and/or videos posted online) at:   Village of Hinsdale Plan Commission meetings.  He was absent on January 9, February 13 (meeting cancelled), March 13, April 10, May 8 and June 12 (meeting cancelled due to lack of quorum). There is a meeting on July 10 -- will he be present?

It appears that Mr. Nelson, who has volunteered or been elected to serve on 2 important public entities,  thinks it's fine to serve in name only.  Well, as Concerned Parents, we think this is disgraceful.  If his paid employment is his priority, that is fine with us, as long as it doesn't interfere with his ability to adequately represent our interests on these public boards.  Service on the D181 School Board and the Village of Hinsdale Plan Commission requires him to be present (preferably in person, and at a minimum by phone) at the public meetings, since under the Illinois Open Meetings Act, business of such entities must be conducted in public session (unless the matters being discussed fall under Executive Session privileges).  He cannot truly do his job and participate in the decision making process of both these boards if he is absent.

So we ask again:  Mr. Nelson, would you please resign from the D181 Board of Education and allow a truly committed community member to be appointed by the current board to serve the needs of all D181 constituents?






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