This afternoon, we received a comment asking us to post campaign links for the D86 Skoda slate. We declined. To clarify, while this Blog focuses on D181, what happens in D86 will impact most of our students (some will go to private high schools). For the reasons stated in our 3:39 p.m. Comment
to the 3/19 Post, we will not post comments that attach links to Skoda's campaign materials. In the interest of respecting freedom of political speech, however, we will post resident's "comments" expressing their opinions on the D86 candidates, as long as they do not contain profanity, lies or unfounded allegations.
And so we begin with the the following comment that attached a link to highlights of D86 BOE meetings and the Circus-like antics of the Skoda/Manley/Cassini/Corcoran "Majority." This Comment of the Day speaks for itself and should, in our opinion, make anyone thinking of voting for the Skoda Slate on April 7th run for the hills OR make the right choice and vote for Planson, Hirsman and Carpenter!
Sound Off!
Comment of the Day:
British Tar: Thanks for your last comment and the link you shared. Here's another one, in case you haven't seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-G0fNHn5Ms&feature=youtu.be
11 comments:
This video is a real reminder of the horrible behavior Skoda, Manley, Corcoran and Cassini have exhibited as the D86 board majority currently controlling every decision made at the board table. D86 needs change and needs it now. On April 7th, vote for three candidates with integrity and who won't be disrespectful towards each other,the teachers,the administrators, the parents and most importantly, towards the students. All D181 taxpayers should attend Monday's (3/24) board meeting at Hinsdale Central's cafeteria (7 p.m.) and demand that Manley resign, that Skoda fire his campaign manager Bob Bland, return Bland's $10,000 personal donation to his campaign or else Skoda himself should resign and withdraw from the election.
I watched a couple of the D86 board meeting videos and a Skoda remix. I don't have any kids in D86 yet and although I am very concerned about D86 and appreciate community members, reporters, teachers and even high school students standing up to the current board, I think these videos are over the top with the music and the slogans. The reason I am pointing this out is because this blog although also supportive of the high school slate of Planson and company is ridiculed along with concerned parents whose children are too little to stand up for their rights and the teachers obviously don't feel they can speak up openly about misrepresentation or being used to support the administrative directives. Yes there are teachers that think inclusive is the way to go (based on what they said recently) but I highly doubt they are truly doing their colleagues any favors. If they believe in common core where is the evidence this has worked any where else to bring better results than what our students have shown in the past. Many parents are just becoming aware of the issues and although they are concerned, don't feel comfortable speaking up at board meetings or writing letters. Obviously as you spend more time within the districts, you feel more empowered to use your right to freedom of speech and demand for accountability but this is not valued by board members in D181, and community members who feel it's not how D181 parents should behave. I have to think that at least a third or more of those 1000+ people at D86 meetings were D181 residents. Why is it okay to raise a ruckus and be over the top in D86 but frowned upon in D181? Lastly having listened to Amy Mccurry at a few meetings as an FRN liaison (her previous position) I feel she is fixed in her views and tried to shut people down who had a different opinion than the administration. Is this who we want on the board of education? People don't change that quickly.
I would respectfully ask why a single elementary principal didn't feel the need to tell the board and community about how learning for all and integrated systems enhanced the 5th grade math MAP results. Not one school has addressed the fact that they messed up this grade by supporting a math acceleration plan that was also best practice. Lets just pass the buck onto the middle schools since this grade won't be their problem anymore. These 400 some students do matter and they are a sign of a failed experiment. Please look out for our students instead of helping promote the next best fad. Thanks Mr. Turek for asking the tough questions, not.
10:03 makes an excellent point. If D86 supporters don't like the tyrannical, narrow minded way that Skoda, Corcoran and Manley run the d86 board meetings, why is it ok for the D181 board to behave in this manner? After all, the amount of taxes we pay to D86 is a drop in the bucket compared to the taxes we in Hinsdale and Clarendon Hills pay to D181.
On the D181 election, I cannot support Amy McCurry's candidacy. While many in the community like Ms. McCurry, this is not a popularity contest and it is important to vote for the candidates that are ready to serve and have a working understanding of the district's finances or a true financial background. Ms. McCurry does not.In the information she gave the Hinsdalean on what she thought of the last tax levy, rather than answer that question in a substantive way, she said that she "looks forward to learning more about the tax levy process and all the factors that go into calculating a levy request." It is disappointing that she hasn't schooled herself up on how a BOE sets a tax levy, the most important task our elected officials are responsible for. With all of the upcoming financial issues that the district is facing, I and other taxpayers shouldn't have to wait for a newly elected official to learn the tax levy process before they can start making decisions. In the next year the BOE will not only negotiate a new teacher's contract, it will have to analyze the financials on an HMS referendum (whether it be for a new, renovated or expanded school). It will have to face the possibility of losing millions if Senate Bill 1 is passed placing the financial burden of funding teacher pensions on local districts. It will have to decide whether to potentially grow the budget or make cuts to existing line items to free up to $2 million needed to pay for "coaches" for each school to teach our teachers how to teach the integrated, social justice model Dr. Schneider is ramming through in the Learning for All Plan. Despite Ms. Lannon's recent glib statement in an editorial in the Hinsdalean, running a $50,000+ school budget is not the same as using a "common sense approach" in "balancing a family budget." That statement was "sophomoric" to borrow a phrase used by another commentor on this blog. No doubt, after interviewing Ms. McCurry, this statement was inserted in the editorial that ran the week before the Hinsdalean's endorsements, setting up the safety net to protect Ms. McCurry's financial weaknesses.
In the comment I just submitted, I meant to say $50+ million budget.
Agree with previous comments. Also Mr. Turek during his first term has diminished public comments, fellow board members and expressed that the people he knows are all happy, so things are working fine. For someone who lives on one side of town, to use that input and apply it across the board is pretty unfair. He has not supported town hall meetings to avoid answering tough questions. He is not able to understand the test data and always seems to go back to the admin are the experts. Stopped listening to the podcasts in 2013 since there was obviously some kind of an ol boy network in play. Schuster could do no wrong and yes schuster, russell, and schneider did walk on water. Mr. Turek would constantly state what an exceptional state our district was in, how great these people were and thanked them profusely for their hard work every time they presented the same re-invented slides. Now the prior administrators are all chopped liver and are constantly the scapegoats for all of the district problems. All we hear is Schneider's lack of accountability for what his colleagues did. So what did he do for his first two years in this district? Igoe was doing all the special ed work. Benaitis is the biggest waste of tax money but the board obviously doesn't feel they should put a stop to the waste. Better to show solidarity and hold up the house of cards. I would take a little of the D86 board and put it into the D181 board where there is no oversight, just a lot of pushing the envelope around the table.
I have to agree with 10:03. I also agree with 4:54. But how do we know that having just one math coach per school will make any difference? There are still 22-25 kids per class with one teacher. How can one teacher meet the needs of all of these students from below grade level to accelerated and gifted? How many classrooms are in a school? How is one math coach going to make a difference? Schneider's and Benaitis's saying All Hands On Deck, well that's what these classrooms are going to need my friends. More hands! That $2 million dollars for math coaches is just a drop in the bucket compared to what it would really cost. Teachers will need help and to put in a program without the resources to help them is not fair to the teachers or to the students. And frankly the administration doesn't know what they'll need. None of them have any expertise in doing what they're doing.
It comes down to the community deciding do they want their taxes to pay for a learning plan that has already produced failing results for the current 5th graders or not? I'm all for supporting teachers and our children but not on a plan that has already produced failing results. I think it's somewhat fair to say (unless you have been fully engaged) that if you don't have a current 5th grader (the parent of a student in the experimental class) then you really don't know what's going on.
It's very important that parents vote in this election but understand what you're voting for. The integrated system will increase your taxes. Schneider and Benaitis have stated that they need all hands on deck. Teachers will need support. But let's be clear, this learning plan has not had good results with current 5th graders. You have to know what this plan means for your children. Know that it is one classroom and one teacher for students in grades K-5. Know that tiers will be removed out of middle school with grade compacting in math, and only ELA and ACE Social Studies for all students. And if you don't know what that means, you need to call the middle school. Reach out to a 5th grade parent and ask them what compacting means. And if you have students that are already double accelerated in math, you need to understand what an integrated classroom means in that situation.
Look at the Learning For All document. Go look at the goals. And parents need to understand that this administration doesn't look at data. They have not made one data driven decision in 3 years. They just do what they want. So don't be fooled by little * saying we'll look at data and talk to the teachers. They don’t care what the teachers say. Schneider may parade his little entourage of teachers in front of the BOE but those teachers are not representative of the entire population. And Schneider knows it!!
Make sure you understand who you are voting for on April 7th. I’m voting for Burns Giltner Gray and Czerwiec.
Did Ms. Lannom really make that statement comparing the school district budget to a family budget? I don't read The Hinsdalean so I didn't see it.
If so, that says volumes. I'm sure she thought that Mr. Giltner and Ms. Burns have strong financial backgrounds and so perhaps Ms. McCurry could lean on them but, in our community, we have a plethora of experienced candidates who are ready to serve on election day. D181 is not starter district for teachers, administrators nor BOE members.
The elementary classes that are currently inclusive are only consistently meeting the needs of the middle group and even those less than the former ability grouped system. The new math materials were selected, in large part, for how well they could be used in an inclusive classroom. The Madison parents spoke out against Investigations but what many don't realize is that part of what they didn't like was inclusive classrooms and less time with a teacher for their students. What they don't realize is that that is what is coming for them next year with Math In Focus. Better materials, maybe, but same delivery. I don't believe the DOL when they say that they will let teachers ability group with tiers using above grade level materials. That goes against everything Learning For All has been about since day 1. And, if that was the case, why didn't they use that delivery method with the pilot classes? Pilot classes were also limited to primarily use of grade level materials with the ability to "pull from" above or below.
Talk about haphazard and inconsistent. Every school/class/grade will be doing something different. Who will be keeping track of it all? How will we standardize and assess student growth and learning. And, the most important question of all, why are we doing it and what data supports it? The next question being, how can our district possibly support such a system financially and what else will we have to cut to make it happen? An improved Science curriculum, full day kindergarten, an improved foreign language program? And, again, WHY are we doing it? Inflexibility and poor identification issues were easily - and very inexpensively resolved. What a huge waste of resources this has been. Oh well, it's just money, the people in D181 have plenty to spare I guess... Vote Gray, Giltner and Burns.
For those people tempted to vote for only three candidates. That is basically a vote for Mr. Turek. If you do not want him back, vote Gray, Gilter, Burns, and Czerwiec!
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