This is off topic, but I just got spammed by the District indicating that tonight is the deadline for twi 5th grade families to apply for their kids to do twi at Bessie Rhodes next year.
It would be very interesting to see how many non-Bessie Rhodes families apply. We are not at BR but do like the TWI program, but we are not sending our kid to a school that is set to close in two years.
This has got to be dissuading lots of people throughout the district who would otherwise be interested. It would be interesting to see if you could foia the number of apps when the window closes tonight.
This is a bit of a tangent, but how is it not a conflict of interest to be a director-level administrator in one school district and a school board member of another? Was Ms. McAlpin-Toney planning to resign her position if elected?
There are other people in similar situations - for instance Pat Savage-Williams is faculty and DEI liason at New Trier but also elected ETHS board president. I don't know if it's a conflict of interest but I don't really have a great framework to think about this kind of thing.
For instance, she's been part of the process in both districts to hire the Pacific Education Group and she has a relationship with PEG that goes back to 2007 or earlier. But I don't know how it's a conflict of interest, per se.
Of course it is a conflict of interest, but I presume it's not unlawful. Aren't the majority of District 65 Board members employed as "educators" or "educational consultants" in other districts? (Inconveniently, the District web site doesn't seem to have this information.)
As somebody said some years ago, school board members aren't paid, and everybody's mad at you, so few would be willing to do it unless they have some other interest;.
Would Sergio's job at the ISBE be a conflict of interest? Isn't that the government organization that is supposed to oversee public school districts? Isn't the ISBE the organization that gave D65 the award for financial excellence right before the board election? And Sergio submitted an entry form for it and lied and said our bus savings for the new school would be $5 million? Seems a little off.
That is correct. I don't think there is a statute which says ISBE employees can't tip the scale on stupid awards ... but it was RIGHT before the April 2024 election:
Thanks for that. I see that they're all in "education" (Daily Northwestern says Joey Hailpern " is a school principal in Lake County") except Mya Wilkins. She works at JP Morgan Chase, reasonably described as a criminal enterprise (https://wallstreetonparade.com/?s=chase) that is also the sole bank handling Cook County real estate tax payments.
This is off topic, but I just got spammed by the District indicating that tonight is the deadline for twi 5th grade families to apply for their kids to do twi at Bessie Rhodes next year.
It would be very interesting to see how many non-Bessie Rhodes families apply. We are not at BR but do like the TWI program, but we are not sending our kid to a school that is set to close in two years.
This has got to be dissuading lots of people throughout the district who would otherwise be interested. It would be interesting to see if you could foia the number of apps when the window closes tonight.
https://www.district65.net/register4/student-registration1/current-student-registration
This is a bit of a tangent, but how is it not a conflict of interest to be a director-level administrator in one school district and a school board member of another? Was Ms. McAlpin-Toney planning to resign her position if elected?
There are other people in similar situations - for instance Pat Savage-Williams is faculty and DEI liason at New Trier but also elected ETHS board president. I don't know if it's a conflict of interest but I don't really have a great framework to think about this kind of thing.
For instance, she's been part of the process in both districts to hire the Pacific Education Group and she has a relationship with PEG that goes back to 2007 or earlier. But I don't know how it's a conflict of interest, per se.
Can you say a bit more about how it's a conflict of interest?
Of course it is a conflict of interest, but I presume it's not unlawful. Aren't the majority of District 65 Board members employed as "educators" or "educational consultants" in other districts? (Inconveniently, the District web site doesn't seem to have this information.)
As somebody said some years ago, school board members aren't paid, and everybody's mad at you, so few would be willing to do it unless they have some other interest;.
Regarding D65 Board, here's what I know:
- Biz definitely consults with other Districts, that's her full-time job. She's consulted with ETHS, Lake County, District 73
- Joey has a consulting firm, outside of his day job, "Many Consulting LLC" but I don't know who his clients are.
As far as I know, the other board members don't have side gigs in the educational business but have full time jobs:
- Sergio Hernandez works for the ISBE as an "Equity Lead"
- Soo La Kim is a Grad School Dean @ Northwestern
- Mya Wilkins works in marketing for a bank
- Omar Salem is a teacher @ Niles North
- Donna Wang Su is an admissions dean @ Medill
Would Sergio's job at the ISBE be a conflict of interest? Isn't that the government organization that is supposed to oversee public school districts? Isn't the ISBE the organization that gave D65 the award for financial excellence right before the board election? And Sergio submitted an entry form for it and lied and said our bus savings for the new school would be $5 million? Seems a little off.
That is correct. I don't think there is a statute which says ISBE employees can't tip the scale on stupid awards ... but it was RIGHT before the April 2024 election:
https://evanstonroundtable.com/2023/03/28/district-65-celebrates-8-teams-and-individuals-who-earned-those-who-excel-award-from-illinois-state-board-of-education/
Like a week before. Stay tuned for part 2 of this series.
Thanks for that. I see that they're all in "education" (Daily Northwestern says Joey Hailpern " is a school principal in Lake County") except Mya Wilkins. She works at JP Morgan Chase, reasonably described as a criminal enterprise (https://wallstreetonparade.com/?s=chase) that is also the sole bank handling Cook County real estate tax payments.