I would add, that's speaking to having an *official* legal mechanism...community members have free reign to organize in various ways to push for things, i.e. a petition or protest. I think where it would get tough is trying to hold blanket accountability for all seven board members when they all have different shares of blame.
I would add, that's speaking to having an *official* legal mechanism...community members have free reign to organize in various ways to push for things, i.e. a petition or protest. I think where it would get tough is trying to hold blanket accountability for all seven board members when they all have different shares of blame.
The reality is, there are four incumbents and three have not declared their intentions around running again. Part of me would love nothing more than to have the public weigh in on them given the current circumstances we're in under their watch, but it's scary to think of the prospect any of them could be allowed to continue beyond this term.
For the other three, Sergio has been a board member for far longer than the other two and is more deeply attached to most of the current mess given nearly 8 years of being involved. I don't have a great read on Mya, but Omar has seemed to be reasonable. You have to also consider that some of these more tenured board members likely carry disproportionate power in voting, decision making, etc.
Having the entire board just resign overnight probably isn't helpful at this stage, with everything else going on. Asking the current president and longest-tenured board member not up for reelection in the spring to step down might be the biggest acknowledgement of accountability and doing right by the community he serves, but I don't think there's any chance he has the self-awareness to take his medicine. Can't wait for the latest edition of "say it to my face" based on this...
Mya was initially appointed by the people who got us into this mess. So she doesn't have much credibility as an independent voice. Her resume looks good given that she works for the biggest bank in the US. But she works in marketing, and I don't remember her ever bringing up any serious questioning of administration mismanagement.
Granted, I didn't have high expectations but Omar has made a couple of independent votes, but he doesn't appear to be that interested in reform and accountability.
It was good to see Christian Sorensen endorse a public superintendent search process. Both Mya and Omar went along with the secretive process that brought us "Do Not Hire" Turner. In my book that is disqualifying if/when they run for reelection.
For me, the absolute minimum requirement to get my vote is to commit to an open superintendent search process.
I'm with you on doing an open search moving forward. It's a key part of rebuilding public trust and democratizing the process. I am hopeful that enough candidates will share the same view on that particular issue that it's more of a disqualifier for those who don't than something considered a differentiator.
Re: Omar and Mya complying with the closed process, I would imagine there are less obvious/visible dynamics within the board that might influence the amount of going against the grain we see publicly. If you're a stick in the mud right off the bat amid 5 other board members who have been there longer, you might not get their allegiance on other things you'd like to push for.
Do you think we overpay the Supt. or that an open search process would make you feel more comfortable with the pay? Without knowing what other candidates were considered, I'd have to say whoever was "signing up" for the job Dr. Turner has had to consider the choppy waters ahead. Yes, you could argue something like "that comes with the territory", but you can't deny that it increases the level of difficulty of the job to essentially plunge into the deep end of a mess.
Superintendent comp is not the enemy here. Bloated admin and years of inaction to address deficits are.
Her compensation is pretty in-line with what other supes in the area make. I think superintendent compensation in general is a national issue, but not one that Evanston deviates from the norm. I could be wrong but I think she still makes less than the ETHS Supe. The last one, Witherspoon, was making close to $400k in his later years.
Omar officially lost me when he said during the recent Foster School pause discussion, "We should've had this meeting a month ago." Really? No one thought that pausing the school might be a good idea until right after they started building it? I think many of us predicted this whole scenario--- they would start building and say it is too late to cancel.
Just for clarity, I believe that specific comment was in regards to how he requested that meeting in September. If you watched it, it seemed evident most of the group was kind of like "why are we even here", as illustrated by DT referring to it as a detour. The calls for a pause undoubtedly kicked up a bunch after the meeting where they announced the projected $13m deficit and Grossi mentioned state takeover.
I think you are right that they essentially have tried to slow play this all along instead of the transparency of "we know we can barely afford this, and we know it flies in the face of the looming financial crisis, but it is enough of a priority that we're willing to cut A, B, and C to see this through."
I am not worried about the salary in terms of wanting an open process.
I want the open process to ensure public scrutiny and participation. This board is so shameless that maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference. But imagine if Horton had been announced as a finalist. There would surely have been a vocal contingent saying “this guy? What are you thinking?” Regardless board members would have to justify voting for one person out of a finalist pool.
The last two searches the public doesn’t know what the pool looked like. Maybe it was crap. Because they did the search in the dark we will never know.
Figured as much -- but when you say "Omar lost me" it seems like you're using one small clip to write someone off entirely, lumping him together with the other 6 as if the blame is shared equally across the board. Maybe that was a bad take, but I think he's had moments of pushing back publicly and has been more open to engaging with the public than the rest of his counterparts.
I would add, that's speaking to having an *official* legal mechanism...community members have free reign to organize in various ways to push for things, i.e. a petition or protest. I think where it would get tough is trying to hold blanket accountability for all seven board members when they all have different shares of blame.
The reality is, there are four incumbents and three have not declared their intentions around running again. Part of me would love nothing more than to have the public weigh in on them given the current circumstances we're in under their watch, but it's scary to think of the prospect any of them could be allowed to continue beyond this term.
For the other three, Sergio has been a board member for far longer than the other two and is more deeply attached to most of the current mess given nearly 8 years of being involved. I don't have a great read on Mya, but Omar has seemed to be reasonable. You have to also consider that some of these more tenured board members likely carry disproportionate power in voting, decision making, etc.
Having the entire board just resign overnight probably isn't helpful at this stage, with everything else going on. Asking the current president and longest-tenured board member not up for reelection in the spring to step down might be the biggest acknowledgement of accountability and doing right by the community he serves, but I don't think there's any chance he has the self-awareness to take his medicine. Can't wait for the latest edition of "say it to my face" based on this...
Mya was initially appointed by the people who got us into this mess. So she doesn't have much credibility as an independent voice. Her resume looks good given that she works for the biggest bank in the US. But she works in marketing, and I don't remember her ever bringing up any serious questioning of administration mismanagement.
Granted, I didn't have high expectations but Omar has made a couple of independent votes, but he doesn't appear to be that interested in reform and accountability.
It was good to see Christian Sorensen endorse a public superintendent search process. Both Mya and Omar went along with the secretive process that brought us "Do Not Hire" Turner. In my book that is disqualifying if/when they run for reelection.
For me, the absolute minimum requirement to get my vote is to commit to an open superintendent search process.
I'm with you on doing an open search moving forward. It's a key part of rebuilding public trust and democratizing the process. I am hopeful that enough candidates will share the same view on that particular issue that it's more of a disqualifier for those who don't than something considered a differentiator.
Re: Omar and Mya complying with the closed process, I would imagine there are less obvious/visible dynamics within the board that might influence the amount of going against the grain we see publicly. If you're a stick in the mud right off the bat amid 5 other board members who have been there longer, you might not get their allegiance on other things you'd like to push for.
Omar lost me with his ridiculous “combat pay” comment regarding the Supt. salary.
Do you think we overpay the Supt. or that an open search process would make you feel more comfortable with the pay? Without knowing what other candidates were considered, I'd have to say whoever was "signing up" for the job Dr. Turner has had to consider the choppy waters ahead. Yes, you could argue something like "that comes with the territory", but you can't deny that it increases the level of difficulty of the job to essentially plunge into the deep end of a mess.
Superintendent comp is not the enemy here. Bloated admin and years of inaction to address deficits are.
Her compensation is pretty in-line with what other supes in the area make. I think superintendent compensation in general is a national issue, but not one that Evanston deviates from the norm. I could be wrong but I think she still makes less than the ETHS Supe. The last one, Witherspoon, was making close to $400k in his later years.
Omar officially lost me when he said during the recent Foster School pause discussion, "We should've had this meeting a month ago." Really? No one thought that pausing the school might be a good idea until right after they started building it? I think many of us predicted this whole scenario--- they would start building and say it is too late to cancel.
Just for clarity, I believe that specific comment was in regards to how he requested that meeting in September. If you watched it, it seemed evident most of the group was kind of like "why are we even here", as illustrated by DT referring to it as a detour. The calls for a pause undoubtedly kicked up a bunch after the meeting where they announced the projected $13m deficit and Grossi mentioned state takeover.
I think you are right that they essentially have tried to slow play this all along instead of the transparency of "we know we can barely afford this, and we know it flies in the face of the looming financial crisis, but it is enough of a priority that we're willing to cut A, B, and C to see this through."
I am not worried about the salary in terms of wanting an open process.
I want the open process to ensure public scrutiny and participation. This board is so shameless that maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference. But imagine if Horton had been announced as a finalist. There would surely have been a vocal contingent saying “this guy? What are you thinking?” Regardless board members would have to justify voting for one person out of a finalist pool.
The last two searches the public doesn’t know what the pool looked like. Maybe it was crap. Because they did the search in the dark we will never know.
It has nothing to do with the pay; I was commenting on my disappointment with Omar. The “combat pay” comment was a stupid dig at the community.
Figured as much -- but when you say "Omar lost me" it seems like you're using one small clip to write someone off entirely, lumping him together with the other 6 as if the blame is shared equally across the board. Maybe that was a bad take, but I think he's had moments of pushing back publicly and has been more open to engaging with the public than the rest of his counterparts.