Reliable source told me that the union leads were contacted a day prior by the board president regarding the superintendent search interviews. Only one union leader managed to attend. This approach by the board does not demonstrate a commitment to fostering open communication and lacks transparency towards the union leaders who have supported them.
Especially bad because it’s a contract year. You’d think they’d try to play nicer. Feel free to email me: tom@foiagras.com if you have anyone I can reach out to
The Superintendent search is alarming insofar as they didn’t seem to make any substantial adjustments from 2020. Sergio claiming robust community engagement lands as disingenuous, given it isn’t accurate.
Sssssoooo ..... if we implemented my swear jar idea from the last time this topic came up on this blog, that would be at least $5 each from Sergio Hernandez and Soo La Kim for talking a good game, but doing something else all together. This one is so full of nonsense that $5 probably shouldn't cover it.
Waiving 5 figures worth of late penalties doesn't "disabuse" Horton of the idea that the District is willing to put up with his nonsense. Just the opposite, it screams out that they are going to let it go. I am willing to bet that if no one asks again for another six months, we are going to find more of the same.
In the meantime, the Board is approving the maximum increases in the tax levy, getting ready to cut a bunch of jobs, preparing to close schools (plural), and draining the District's reserves to address the financial hole that Horton's leadership has put the District in.
I literally just sent them an email and said this; that they couldn't just waive those fees because it would violate their responsibility as a fiduciary. They essentially just gave him a $10000 check.
How much would it cost in legal fees to take Horton to court to get the fees? Probably less than $10,000… When you make public comment, ask them if they are consulting with counsel on their options.
I wrote the board an email asking about their fiduciary responsibility to the community and the need for them to collect the entire late penalty. They responded that Horton is current on his payment. Sigh. You would think they would have some resentment towards him given all of the lies he told them and the mess he left that they would enforce it. I really don't get it.
What kind of scandalous info does Horton have on this Board, its president in particular, that it just WON’T make him live up to his promises or even admit that they were wrong about him? It must be top-level blackmail-worthy. How else can you explain the utter bullsh$t going on with this Board? Getting Horton to pay up the full amount we are owed due to his default, well, it’s not just an opportunity to recoup money, it’s their actual responsibility to the citizens of this city. I am so sick of this board of education! They have abdicated all responsibility to the people they serve. I don’t understand why there aren’t pitchforks and torches and angry villagers mobbing the board of education meetings. This is a travesty. This city is going to be in ruins financially very soon between the fiscal irresponsibility of our city council and our current D 65 Board of Education. I’m disgusted. And I want to hear from people who still can defend what this board is doing. I want to hear the defense from this board. I want to hear from them why they think it is acceptable to lie to the public, to hide from the public hiring decisions that affect our children, to spend our money and lie about how much we have, and how we will use it…the list goes on. You may say they didn’t lie, because they allegedly didn’t have all of the information. My response to that is if they didn’t have the information, it’s because they didn’t look for it. Because they didn’t do their job. It’s literally their job to know and they sit complacently, trusting buffoons that have no actual experience doing their jobs. And God only knows what buffoon they are hiring next. They have already stated that their goals for hiring a superintendent do not match what the public wants and they also DGAF. This board has shown time and again that they will do whatever the hell they want, and the public be damned. I don’t understand how this can even happen in a city full of so many highly educated and invested citizens! How the hell are we allowing this to just happen? I gotta get out of this place- if it’s the last thing I ever do.
I don't know man, a lot of weird shit went down in 2020 so who knows what kinds of skeletons live in the closet down there.
I think you'll find the same attitude with the City of Evanston too, except a few city council members, most of them (including the Mayor) consider the stakeholders in decisions to be employees and vendors, and not citizens. The Mayor himself in one of the latest meetings chided the board for potentially damaging our reputation with commercial real estate agents!
I hate to be a paranoid "deep state" guy but the reality is that, in many cases the people we elect prioritize the bureaucracy over the people who elect them. I understand that they need the bureaucracy to get stuff done, but something is out of balance at the moment.
AAANNNDDD, don't be surprised when they hire Dr. Turner for the position and the same results continue to happen. The district is is dire straights and probably will not be back to how it was 10+ years ago unless they clean house administratively and a good chunk of the BOE. It's a shame that this is what has come to a school district that used to be high ranking and sought after... AAANNNNDDDD don't be surprised when ETHS starts to exhibit these same attributes reputationally.
Reliable source told me that the union leads were contacted a day prior by the board president regarding the superintendent search interviews. Only one union leader managed to attend. This approach by the board does not demonstrate a commitment to fostering open communication and lacks transparency towards the union leaders who have supported them.
Especially bad because it’s a contract year. You’d think they’d try to play nicer. Feel free to email me: tom@foiagras.com if you have anyone I can reach out to
Will do!
The Superintendent search is alarming insofar as they didn’t seem to make any substantial adjustments from 2020. Sergio claiming robust community engagement lands as disingenuous, given it isn’t accurate.
Its totally befuddling
Sssssoooo ..... if we implemented my swear jar idea from the last time this topic came up on this blog, that would be at least $5 each from Sergio Hernandez and Soo La Kim for talking a good game, but doing something else all together. This one is so full of nonsense that $5 probably shouldn't cover it.
Waiving 5 figures worth of late penalties doesn't "disabuse" Horton of the idea that the District is willing to put up with his nonsense. Just the opposite, it screams out that they are going to let it go. I am willing to bet that if no one asks again for another six months, we are going to find more of the same.
In the meantime, the Board is approving the maximum increases in the tax levy, getting ready to cut a bunch of jobs, preparing to close schools (plural), and draining the District's reserves to address the financial hole that Horton's leadership has put the District in.
Simply mind-blowing.
I will be speaking in public comment of next meeting on this: austerity for thee but not for the out of state guy making $320k a year
Every member of this school board needs to go. I don't understand how they can do this either. Don't they have fiduciary responsibility?
I literally just sent them an email and said this; that they couldn't just waive those fees because it would violate their responsibility as a fiduciary. They essentially just gave him a $10000 check.
How much would it cost in legal fees to take Horton to court to get the fees? Probably less than $10,000… When you make public comment, ask them if they are consulting with counsel on their options.
The repayment agreement says Horton pays the legal fees! There's absolutely no downside to dragging him to court
I wrote the board an email asking about their fiduciary responsibility to the community and the need for them to collect the entire late penalty. They responded that Horton is current on his payment. Sigh. You would think they would have some resentment towards him given all of the lies he told them and the mess he left that they would enforce it. I really don't get it.
What kind of scandalous info does Horton have on this Board, its president in particular, that it just WON’T make him live up to his promises or even admit that they were wrong about him? It must be top-level blackmail-worthy. How else can you explain the utter bullsh$t going on with this Board? Getting Horton to pay up the full amount we are owed due to his default, well, it’s not just an opportunity to recoup money, it’s their actual responsibility to the citizens of this city. I am so sick of this board of education! They have abdicated all responsibility to the people they serve. I don’t understand why there aren’t pitchforks and torches and angry villagers mobbing the board of education meetings. This is a travesty. This city is going to be in ruins financially very soon between the fiscal irresponsibility of our city council and our current D 65 Board of Education. I’m disgusted. And I want to hear from people who still can defend what this board is doing. I want to hear the defense from this board. I want to hear from them why they think it is acceptable to lie to the public, to hide from the public hiring decisions that affect our children, to spend our money and lie about how much we have, and how we will use it…the list goes on. You may say they didn’t lie, because they allegedly didn’t have all of the information. My response to that is if they didn’t have the information, it’s because they didn’t look for it. Because they didn’t do their job. It’s literally their job to know and they sit complacently, trusting buffoons that have no actual experience doing their jobs. And God only knows what buffoon they are hiring next. They have already stated that their goals for hiring a superintendent do not match what the public wants and they also DGAF. This board has shown time and again that they will do whatever the hell they want, and the public be damned. I don’t understand how this can even happen in a city full of so many highly educated and invested citizens! How the hell are we allowing this to just happen? I gotta get out of this place- if it’s the last thing I ever do.
I don't know man, a lot of weird shit went down in 2020 so who knows what kinds of skeletons live in the closet down there.
I think you'll find the same attitude with the City of Evanston too, except a few city council members, most of them (including the Mayor) consider the stakeholders in decisions to be employees and vendors, and not citizens. The Mayor himself in one of the latest meetings chided the board for potentially damaging our reputation with commercial real estate agents!
I hate to be a paranoid "deep state" guy but the reality is that, in many cases the people we elect prioritize the bureaucracy over the people who elect them. I understand that they need the bureaucracy to get stuff done, but something is out of balance at the moment.
Excellent. Now I'll know they're bluffing when they say we have to pay school fees on time!
AAANNNDDD, don't be surprised when they hire Dr. Turner for the position and the same results continue to happen. The district is is dire straights and probably will not be back to how it was 10+ years ago unless they clean house administratively and a good chunk of the BOE. It's a shame that this is what has come to a school district that used to be high ranking and sought after... AAANNNNDDDD don't be surprised when ETHS starts to exhibit these same attributes reputationally.
Already happening at ETHS but they are somewhat shielded due to having better finances and less assets to deal with