Proviso BOE meeting for December

On Monday, December 17, Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) held the regular meeting of the board of education at Proviso East High School. Board member Brian Cross was absent, as was his boss, Eugene Moore.

What happened that was noteworthy?

Board member Robert Cox and Superintendent Robert Libka talked about accountability. Cox expressed that the board would be working for the betterment of the district; Libka said he wanted the community to “look to proof of strategies and achievement” in the electronic newsletter.

Below you can read the follow-up questions on improving the district and accountability.

The meeting agenda included some terminations. Board president Emanuel “Chris” Welch said that the board would take action that would make it unnecessary to eliminate any jobs. How this was accomplished was not explained.

Board member Theresa Kelly was not happy with how the board meeting was conducted. She got a different agenda than the rest of the board members. Kelly is the lone opposition board member. People including the district's attorney became impatient as Kelly complained in closed session. Eventually, the district's attorney realized the problem and apologized for the misunderstandings.

When the board returned to open session board president Welch had everything as part of the consent agenda. I did not hear him call for items to be pulled from the consent agenda. After the vote on the consent agenda Kelly asked for items that she wanted pulled and discussed separately. Welch refused to call items separately, which is somewhat out of character. Normally, he's a reasonably flexible with board members. He let's the opposition ask questions. This time Welch offered to let Kelly switch her vote on the consent agenda, but he wouldn't open any individual issues for discussion.

Kelly probably should have realized that it was an omnibus consent agenda, but I don't think Welch ever clearly asked for items to be pulled from the consent agenda.

Kelly wanted to raised the issue about employees, especially support staff employees, who had already been terminated. Kelly thought it would be fair to undo the terminations already conducted since the terminations on the December agenda were being canceled.

(Normally board member Reatha “Sue” Henry, Eugene Moore's cousin and chief of staff, is willing to vote against the majority to prevent terminations. However, Henry's daughter, Shavonne Henry, is a secretary who was spared termination even though secretaries of equal or greater seniority were let go or forced to retire.)

Proviso West Dean Dylester Palm, sister of Principal Alexis Wallace, has retained a law firm to contest the furlough she was forced to accept.

Below are the questions I posed to Libka and the board of education in an email.

Last night both board member Robert Cox and Superintendent Robert Libka expressed intent to make District 209 better and a desire for the community to hold the district accountable.

By what measures does the board and administration want to be judged? I am particularly interested in learning your ways of measuring student performance and financial health of the district.

Also, some of the metrics only happen once a year, like standardized tests and the budget. Based on what information should taxpayers judge the academic and financial performance of the district quarter-to-quarter and month-to-month?

Welch wants BOE to speak with one voice: his

Apparently the president of the board of education Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) is upset with board members Theresa Kelly and Robert Cox for the statements they made to Proviso Herald (Chuck Fieldman).

Board president Emanuel "Chris" Welch has order Cox and Kelly not to speak to the media because it undermines the school board speaking with one voice.

I seriously doubt that discouraging minority voices from speaking to the media is ever appropriate for a school board.

But even if you assume the Cox and Kelly owe Welch respect because he's the president, he doesn't show Kelly any respect at meetings.

Welch regularly ignores her questions and proceeds to vote on issues without even giving the Kelly an evasive answer or an answer that dodges the question. And the board members that elected Welch president never stand up for Kelly and say, "Could we answer her question?" or "That was rude."

meeting of citizens critical of District 209

Last night an ad hoc group met to discuss their dissatisfaction with the district and particularly the board of education of Proviso Township High Schools District 209. The meeting happened at the Forest Park Public Library and was initiated by Bill Kirchner of the advisory and foundation committees assembled by dismissed superintendent Stan Fields.

I expected more people to attend. Maybe as many as 40-45 people attended some portion of the meeting. A few people observed that the meeting included people who were aligned with either Chris Welch or Eugene Moore as recently as the April, 2007 elections.

The other thing I learned at the meeting is that Fields is an exceedingly charismatic figure for some people. There's a small group of people who think he's great and bringing him back would be great for the district. Kirchner and some other members of the advisory committee and foundation committees fall into this category.

Kevin McDermott, who ran in the April, 2007, election on a slate backed by Democratic Committeeman Karen Yarbrough, seemed to be able to convince people that to build a coalition the group needs to focus on the commonalities of the members and not on what divides them. And as McDermott explained, Fields is a divisive figure. Many if not a strong majority of the people dissatisfied with District 209 were also dissatisfied with Fields.

District 209 board member Bob Cox spoke at the beginning of the meeting. A number of other public figures were present, including Barbara Cole, Daryl (didn't get the last name), Lula Greenhow, Larry & Linda Howard, Della Patterson, Ami Relf, Marty Tellalian, Carl Williams and Gary Woll. Rich Vitton was in and out of the meeting. James Graham appeared very briefly. And both Chuck Fieldman (Proviso Herald) and Josh Adams (Forest Park Review) attended. (Apologies to anyone I missed, I'm working from memory.)

I don't think the group has any chance of accomplishing anything if the anti-Welch, anti-Moore people spend their energy trying to detect and purge pro-Welch, pro-Moore people. If people show up to meetings and are helping the cause—or at least not hurting the cause—that should be enough. It's not like applying pressure to the board of education is some secret project.

However, whether she's actively trying to be obnoxious and disruptive or whether she can't help herself, Lula Greenhow, needs to be counseled that she needs to behave at the meetings. And if she can't or won't modify her behavior she should be excluded. Greenhow got into squabbles with multiple people. She talked all the time, including when other people had the floor. She offered nothing constructive and basically argued that the group should let the board do what it wants because it was elected by the people. She made statements that caused Kirchner to give a long explanation of the Open Meetings Act. I can't divine her intentions, but Greenhow acted like she was on a mission to make the meeting less effective. Since Greenhow's daughter works under Grady Rivers, a Moore politician, at Proviso Township it seems possible that she was deliberately trying to disrupt the meeting. On the other hand, Greenhow was a counter-demonstrator at the anti-pimp demonstration in Maywood. So she does have a history of eccentric contrariness.

Sharon Daley suggested the group use All Proviso Network to communicate. The software allows individuals to initiate discussions, be anonymous (or not) and engage in private communications. I'm not sure about setting up group communications. IIRC Kirchner said he was going to create a listserve on Yahoo Groups. (BTW, Google Groups may be slightly superior.)

After the meeting Daley expressed the sentiment that the challenge of organizing for reform in District 209 seems daunting because of the number of communities and the size of the project. She asked for an example of another high school district with so many feeder communities.

Relf said that she doubted the parents group from Proviso West would continue to be active with this group. I can understand why they would feel frustrated. The vision and purpose of the group didn't gel as smoothly as some would have liked. But I think it will get better over time.

The pro-Fields people are still feeling hurt about the board's action to begin termination of Fields. And some of them still believe there is a window of opportunity to overturn the decision.

The people who were critical of the district and board of education before Fields was put on leave get a little impatient with the pro-Fields people.

For example, everyone seemed to agree the district is doing as little as possible to fulfill the requirements of the Open Meetings Act with its minimalist agendas. The people who have been following the district from before the 2006-07 academic year know that the minimalist agendas were implemented by Fields. Somehow Fields' personal charisma keeps his supporters from assigning responsibility to Fields for the bad and questionable decisions that happened while he was superintendent.

There seemed to be consensus that we should all try to bring more people to the August 20 board meeting.

You can also read the Proviso Insider's take on the meeting.

Bob Cox considering resigning

A Forest Park Review editorial makes reference to Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board member Robert Cox considering resigning from the board of education to protest the direction of the district.

Cox mentioned the possibility to me on Monday.

Sorry, Bob, you can't get off that easy. You helped keep Emanuel "Chris" Welch as board president. Now you have a duty to do what you can from the minority to make things right.

You will learn to look for things that just don't seem right and use the media to raise issues so the voters will be informed.

Bob, the penalty for your sins is to witness the consequences of what you have wrought. Other reformers have been toiling longer than you. Hell, you might get off easy if the feds, the state superintendent of education or the regional superintendent of education swoop in and take out some or all of the board.

Bob Cox's misgivings about District 209

Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board member Robert Cox is publicly expressing misgivings about something. Forest Park Review included a news article (right of the main article with background in gray) and a letter to the editor.

Here is an update of my personal perspectives as a BOE member of Proviso 209.

The PTHS board of education "is as what the PTHS board of education does." Our reputation speaks for itself.

At worst our actions, with their generated circumstances that followed, cast a shadow of hypocrisy and double standards. I entertained fears brought on by those distortions and exaggerations of becoming a parody of a healthy school board.

I consider my participation in a recent two day IASB (Illinois Association of School Boards) workshop a rehab type of an experience for me. The training did provide a safety net and new bearings for me to anchor to.

Moving forward, one of the biggest hurdles is breaking down the buffers that permeate the public education process. Those buffers extend to the BOE and its process also. Boards have guidelines, agreements and codes to adhere to. Board members have roles, responsibilities, and relationships to honor. Here is where I see a dysfunction manifesting.

Filling a vacancy of a BOE seat is a very important task for all boards. After the results of our decision this past Monday, I am embarrassed for myself and for the BOE. Not for anything personal against Brian Cross, we have history, but for allowing the presence of prejudice. By not taking more time for discussion we eliminated the "discovery" that discussion yields.

I can count on my hand the number of students I have influenced; Linda Howard's career in education as a teacher literally has influenced thousands of students. I do not feel the Proviso 209 board needed another political pundit. How did we lose this opportunity to strengthen our board's weakness in breaking down the buffers with teachers?

To the public that elected me, I wish I could say watch us because we are performing for our students. I am compelled to say watch us because we need your help. I cannot pretend that the board of education's actions and methods are not political any longer. I hope the silent majority of our board will take up the cause for discussion instead of limiting our abilities.

We need to be accountable and data driven in our entire decision making for District 209.

My self assessment as a BOE member is a grade of "F." I contributed to the infamous knowing-doing gap. In other words, knowing what to do but not actually doing it.

I offer no excuse for my past actions. I am committed to do better. I am committed to strive for a healthy board of education that in practice focuses on our students first instead of pretending to do so.

Students first, Proviso first.

Bob Cox
Forest Park, District 209 Board of Education member

If Cox has been "born again" as a reformer skeptical of D209's leadership, what do you expect him to do?

last night's District 209 board meeting

Last night the Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) board of education held its regular meeting.

District 209 has a new board of education. Robert Cox and Robin Foreman were elected in April. Brian Cross was appointed last week.

The interpersonal dynamics are different from the old 4-3 split, so the meetings feel a little different.

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There were a large number of parents and community members who raised concerns. Having a long public comment period followed by a long closed session left the board members a bit drained. It sometimes seemed like board president Emanuel Chris Welch was fishing for a motion or a second and the board members were too weary to do it.

The board largely approved the agenda items. One twist is that the board voted to pay Anthony Scariano's firm for legal work, but not to use the firm in the future. This vote was unanimous. (I think Dan Adams was absent. IIRC there were only six board members voting and the rest of them were there. Adams doesn't say much, so there's not much difference whether he's there or not.)

The board also voted down the line items to pay for community liaison officers at Proviso East and Proviso West. The Proviso West positions died when no board member seconded Robert Cox's motion. Brian Cross requested more information before approving the Proviso East liaison officers.

A number of parents expressed suspicion of the plan to have the Hillside PD write local ordinance violations against Proviso West students. Police Chief Joe Lukaszek explained the local ordinance violations are like parking tickets and a better deal for students than handling the issues through arrests. The parents didn't like the idea of the police being involved because it would lead to students having permanent records that could penalize them in the future.

What Lukaszek said may have been the truth, but the parents probably had some reasonable concerns. At some point someone is going to call the cops for something minor and then it's going to escalate with the police officer on scene. And employers are looking for ways to more efficiently search police records, so that which is hard to search today may become easier to search tomorrow.

Cox made the statement, “I'd rather have police than National Guard in my school.” Apparently when Cox was a Proviso East student the National Guard was called out to keep discipline in response to a crisis. (Anybody know the details?)

My two cents is that teachers and deans relinquishing (abandoning?) disciplinary duties has led to hiring legions of school disciplinary personnel. And discipline has become more of a problem. I predict that increasing reliance on the police will make discipline within the schools worse not better. The schools that function the best don't have lots of security goons, cops or National Guard keeping order. The schools that get the best results use teachers supported by deans to keep good order and discipline.

However, I expect once Brian Cross gets to read “exhibit 'A'” he'll be fine with hiring the liaisons at Proviso East. And once the meeting is in another building with fewer Proviso West parents the board will approve the Proviso West liaisons. Without the parents there some board member will second Cox's motion.

The parents and citizens raised a number of concerns. Arbdella Patterson asked details about Bateast Insurance (see Proviso Herald (Chuck Fieldman)), the company hired to replace Eugene Moore. I raised concerns about hiring Danielle Ashley and David Bonoma & Associates. One family raised a discipline issue pertaining to a specific student. The local ordinances were an issue that got members of the audience giving the “amen”. One person raised the issue of reducing the number of credits to graduate. Another raised the issue of student fees. One citizen objected to the short notice on filling the vacancy on the school board.

Katrina Steele (sp?) objected to removing the boys bathroom doors at Proviso West. Welch put Principal Alexis Wallace on the spot after she said, “[The doors] were removed by the maintenance department because of vandalism.” Since Wallace avoided answering the question about who authorized the removal Welch said in an accusatory way, “You're not running your building.”

A source says the doors were ordered removed by Superintendent Stan Fields. Later in the meeting when discussing replacement of the fence at Proviso West it was clear Fields was managing the project without involving Wallace. So, if Fields feels he can remove a fence at West without involving Wallace, why wouldn't he feel the same about bathroom doors? And what is Welch trying to achieve by belittling Wallace?

One citizen asked about the Proviso foundation and was concerned about secrecy. Board member Kelly said that one of the school board candidates (in addition to Brian Cross, Kevin McDermott and Linda Howard applied; see Forest Park Review (Josh Adams)) identified herself as a member of the foundation board. Fields claimed the board does not exist, but avoided saying Howard was incorrect. It seems likely Howard has been promised a position on the foundation board even though the board doesn't formally exist.

Fields also made the claim his advisory board is open to all. He claims he solicited people to join at every community forum he attended. Neither Josh Adams or I remember him making the offer at the Forest Park forum. Although another local journalist remembers the offer being made at a forum in Berkeley.

Welch and Fields used their ability to decline to answer questions to dodge critics. If Welch or Fields felt they had a good answer to a citizens question or a question by board member Kelly they'd give the answer. If they didn't have an answer they felt would make them look good they merely ignored the question.

Cox and board member Robin Foreman both cast “no” votes. I think this was at least partially done to try to create the appearance of independence. However, the “no” votes weren't attached to substantive critiques on the issue being voted. And neither Cox or Foreman supported Kelly in trying to get more information.

Remember, Cox is the board member who voted for Brian Cross to be the candidate to be considered by the board when they were in closed session and then voted against Cross in open session. Because Welch's block was split between Howard and Cross the closed session vote was more important than the open session vote. So Cox has already established a track record of casting meaningless votes of dissent to create the appearance of being independent.

Kelly is trying to establish herself as an independent voice of opposition. She finds it more intimidating to be in a 6-1 minority than a 4-3 minority. She's also sensitive to the criticism that she's both not confrontational enough by insisting her questions get answered and the criticism of not working in a cooperative way with the majority.

Welch did engage in some criticism of Fields for not communicating with the board and residents better. Of course, this could be seen as self-serving because one of the agenda items was to rehire the publicity firm Danielle Ashley. The contract calls for Danielle Ashley to keep its bills below $10,000 per month.

Also, Fields has this weird way of phrasing district policies. He talks about district policies in the third person describing them as the policies pass by the board of education. Look, Dr. Fields, if you recommended the policies to the BOE and the policies were passed, why not talk about the policies as being district policies? It sorta sounds like Fields is trying to evade responsibility for policies like he's some flunky bureaucrat implementing policies decided by some remote governing body.

Danielle Ashley was hired as was David A. Bomona & Associates. Bomona will be the district's lobbyist for $8,000 per month, plus expenses.

D209 board of education declares Flowers' seat vacant

Today at 7 PM the Proviso Township High Schools Board of Education (District 209) board of education held a special meeting to declare the seat held by Charles Flowers, EdD, vacant.

The seat was declared vacant by a 5-1 vote. Board member Theresa Kelly voted “nay” and Flowers did not attend. Board member Dan Adams made the motion to declare Flowers' seat vacant. After a period of time when the board president was fishing for a second, the president said board member Robin Foreman seconded the motion, although her second was inaudible to the audience.

The meeting was held at Proviso Math and Science Academy. The meeting was sparsely attended. The meeting was announced on Friday, June 29, the day Flowers took the oath to be Cook County Regional Superintendent of Education. Flowers was elected to the four-year term on November , 2006. Induction as Regional Superintendent of Education happens on July 1 so turnover will happen while schools are on summer break.

I was one of two citizens to speak on the issue.

My position is that Flowers should have resigned. This would avoid the appearance of partisan politics and conflict of interest when Flowers exercises oversight of District 209. The board of education should not remove Flowers by declaring his seat vacant at this point. The district should seek guidance from the Cook County State's Attorney or Illinois Attorney General. If the state's attorney or AG says Flowers needs to resign then he'll presumably.

Instead the board majority had their political hack law firm write an opinion that cites case law and Illinois AG opinion but ultimately rests on a judgment call.

Arbdella Patterson also gave a statement to the board. She drew attention to the numerous conflicts-of-interest that either exist for board members or applied to past votes. Board member Reatha “Sue” Henry argued with Patterson during her public comment. Henry didn't like Patterson mentioning Henry voted (4-3 vote) to hire her daughter as a secretary. And Henry argued that it wasn't a conflict of interest for her to vote on her boss Eugene Moore to make $150,000+ per year as the district's insurance broker because she works for Moore in his capacity as Cook County Recorder of Deeds, not his insurance business.

Board president Emanuel “Chris” Welch didn't maintain order when Patterson was speaking. So, I figured if it was fair for Henry to interrupt Patterson, I could call out the attorney, Michael Del Galdo, of Giglio & Del Galdo on his BS.

Things Del Galdo said to the board:

• Flowers was notified of the meeting at 6:28 PM on Friday. Although, as board member Robert Cox noted after the meeting Flowers had been aware of the issue for a long time. Cox had asked Flowers about it. Del Galdo said a lawyer—presumably from his firm—was at the swearing in ceremony to make it official that Flowers' seat could be declared vacant.
• Del Galdo repeated the point a number of times that the legal opinion was based on “incompatability of office” not conflict of interest. This was mostly twisting words since the two ways the offices were incompatible came back to conflict of interest issues. Two offices are incompatible if one exercises supervision and control or if on apportions or distributes money to the other.
• Del Galdo claimed—in response to my critique that the litigation connected to Flowers assuming duties as Regional Superintendent—that there would be no need to bill District 209 for legal services from this point forward because now the issue would be in the hands of the state's attorney and AG who have to rule on declaring Flowers' seat vacant now. Something tells me this is a lie. Del Galdo knows he and the board have created a situation that will probably require legal work. And the law firms aren't going to do the work for free. We'll see if Del Galdo keeps his word and stops billing for this issue from tonight forward.

Cox made a point that was somewhat dishonest. He said that if the board position remains vacant for 45 days then Flowers will appoint someone to fill the vacancy. I assume Cox realizes Welch didn't engineer declaring Flowers seat vacant the first working day of July just to let Flowers appoint his replacement.

Cox also expressed regret Flowers wasn't present to explain his explanation for whether holding both offices was “incompatible”.

Kelly started a speech opposing the motion to declare a vacancy. Welch tried to call the question for a vote, but Kelly wouldn't yield.

Some stuff happened after the meeting adjourned.

I had words with Del Galdo. I tried to ask him a question. He refused. He told me, “If you want to get treated like a professional you need to act like one.” Forgive me, Mr. Del Galdo, but I've seen how your kind act. There's no point in being polite and hoping for modest reforms of “half a loaf”. You are aligned with a political machine that's going to do what it wants. So, don't expect critics to be polite. When dealing with greedy political hacks, politeness is for chumps.

Welch and Pioneer Press reporter Chuck Fieldman had words. Fieldman is from the camp that thinks everybody involved with District 209 is tainted, if not equally tainted. Fieldman was trying to get Welch to comment on the story he's doing on the photocopier contract. See Proviso Herald (Chuck Fieldman). Welch was yelling at Fieldman, which is rare. Welch was a communications major at Northwestern. He's pretty good at presenting himself when he's on the top of his game. Welch refused to answer Fieldman's question and ended-up yelling across the room, “Your paper is nothing but a political rag. You can print that.”

Cox encouraged me to apply to be a school board member.

FPR coverage of D209 switching law firms

Forest Park Review (Josh Adams) wrote about Proviso Township High Schools (District 209) terminating Odelson & Sterk as the district's law firm and hiring Giglio & Del Galdo.

Odelson & Sterk is a politically connected law firm that is most closely associated with President of Cook County Board Todd Stroger, at this point. Odelson & Sterk also seems to have synergy with James J. Roche & Associates. Roche is (or was) the law firm of Emanuel "Chris" Welch.

Giglio & Del Galdo is a politically connected law frim tha tis most closely associated with Melrose Park Village President Ron Serpico, at this point. When Giglio & Del Galdo tried to get the District 209 business in the past, Burt Odelson made an issue of the firms questionable activities in Cicero.

The vote to hire Giglio & Del Galdo was... out of the ordinary. The vote initially failed three yeahs (Adams, Cox and Welch) to three nos (Flowers, Foreman and Kelly) and one abstention (Henry).

After moving on to other business and without holding any further public discussion on the issue, Welch announced that Henry and another board member had changed their vote, thus awarding the district's business to Giglio and Del Galdo.

I'm not a lawyer (IANAL), but that seems like it just ain't right. If board members can change their votes after the fact, couldn't public meetings go through the whole agenda without taking any votes and then have board members submit paper ballots with "yes" or "no" checked next to each motion?

Robert Cox, a newly elected board member from Forest Park, voted to bring in the new legal firm largely out of fiscal concerns, he said. Based on information provided by the superintendent, Cox said he understood that Odelson and Sterk was attempting to bilk the district out of money.

Bob Cox is a nice guy. I believe he means well, but... Just because Odelson & Sterk were billing more than the district wants to pay hardly proves that Giglio & Del Galdo will reduce the legal bills.

BTW, Cox was the treasurer for the Proviso First Party. I'm curious if Giglio & Del Galdo was a big contributor to Cox's election.

Also, you can read the Forest Park Review editorial.

I guess my comment on the editorial is that Forest Park Review probably should have spent more ink being concerned about the source of the Proviso First Party's campaign contributions before the election. Post-election hand wringing seems like closing the barn door after the cows have left.

In fairness to the Forest Park Review, the Citizens For Better Schools--the slate running against the Proviso First Party--didn't raise this issue very effectively as part of their campaign.

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ED, Proviso Township High Schools has a new board of education [D209]

Proviso Township High Schools has reconstituted board of education. Board members Gary Marine and Shirley Madlock finished their terms and were replaced by Robert “Bob” Cox and Robin Foreman.

Incumbent board member Theresa Kelly was re-elected on April 17, 2007. By a 5-2 Emanuel “Chris” Welch was re-elected president of the board of education. Charles Flowers and Kelly voted against Welch. Dan Adams was re-elected vice president of the board with Flowers and Kelly abstaining. Reatha “Sue” Henry was re-elected as board secretary 7-0.

Madlock gave a prepared speech and was, at times, so choked with emotion she had trouble delivering it. After thanking people she said her number one goal on the board of education was to improve education. Madlock took a swipe at unnamed parties by saying, “Not everyone is open to change.” When I asked her after the meeting adjourned if there was someone specific who she thought was not open to change she shook her head no.

Madlock speech included cliches about finger pointing. Madlock said, “If we want Proviso to be a better place we have to look at ourselves.”

To me this all sounded self-serving. Madlock said virtually nothing in open session for four years. When she did take a stand in closed session it was largely to look after her sister's interests as an employee of the district. Now that Madlock's off the board she wants other people to consider how they are responsible for Proviso's problems.

In the same speech Madlock had the audacity to say improving education was her number one goal. Proviso Township High Schools is 90th of 90 in the Chicago area. What did Shirley Madlock accomplish to improve education during her term? What did she even try to accomplish?

The woman has some chutzpah to give a long speech about how the rest of us should be looking in the mirror and asking ourselves to take responsibility. She quoted the popular Dale Wimbro poem, “The Man In the Mirror”. Madlock's been on the board of education. She's the one legally responsible for the situation. And what did she try to do to make it better?

Gary Marine gave a simple statement thanking everyone and wishing the best to his colleagues continuing on the board.

Kelly's statement was also simple thanking her supporters and saying, “We will move the board forward.”

Cox gave a somwhat confusing speech. He asked people to envision someone in 30 years talking about his high school experience at Proviso. Cox referred to the graduate reading 48 books, which seems almost realistic. But then he talked about learning Arabic and Chinese—which aren't even offered. And Cox referred to his fictional alumni being offered six scholarships.

Foreman gave an enthusiastic speech. She thanked the community. She promised not to take the position lightly. She promised to be accessible, “You can reach Robin,” she promised. Then she said she'd place Proviso first. And then students first. And then teachers first. And then she promised to put a bunch of other stakeholders first.

After the meeting I overheard Kelly talking about Foreman. Foreman was trying to be friendly, including a bunch of touching. Kelly resented the presumption that such intimacies were appropriate. Kelly believes the rumor that Foreman posed for the pictures used in the mailing attacking Kelly for wasting district money on excessive travel.

Carla Johnson and Kevin McDermott, two of the candidates who ran but didn't place in the top three, attended the board meeting. Johnson ran with Cox and Foreman. McDermott ran with Kelly and Ralph Harris.

If you want to comment on some of the other changes to local government why not start a discussion on All-Proviso Network?

A07, Proviso First Party probably in violation of law [D209]

Thursday I visited the Illinois State Board of Elections and learned a couple facts about the Proviso First Party. The committee has only filed a statement of organization. Robin Foreman is the chair of the party and Bob Cox is the treasurer.

The statement of organization was filed April 3. Since it was filed less than thirty days before the election the party wasn't required to file a pre-election report.

However, the requirement to declare all contributions over $500--monetary or in-kind--still applies. These contributions are required to be reported within 48 hours.

The committee has sent at least five mailings. I have received at least three. Mailing to the entire district costs about $8,000. Obviously the committee has bought a large number of signs too. I seems likely the Proviso First Party has spent $25-50,000.

The party could be in compliance with all election laws if it raised all this money in contributions of less than $500.

I stopped by the Citizens for Better Schools campaign office yesterday. One of the projects on which they were working was submitting a formal complaint to the state board of elections.

A07, letters to editor Proviso school district race [D209]

Forest Park Review received enough letters to the editor that it put some in the paper and posted the rest online.

In the paper version Proviso First Party candidate Bob Cox had the following letter.

Proviso First

I want to thank the Forest Park Review editors for giving me their endorsement. I also appreciate the paper's call to the public to give the District 209 board of education election the "time of day."

Because the election process only allows sound bytes and monologues, it was unfortunate that no forum was really made available to all the candidates in the 209 BOE race.

To set the record straight, my colleagues Robin Foreman and Carla Johnson are neither bureaucrats nor politicians. Some of their qualities have gone unnoticed. Robin's experience with people and as a proven manager is valuable to the stabilization of the fragmented BOE. She will be a catalyst for remedying complacency. Carla Johnson understates her role as administrative assistant to Sen. Kimberly Lightford for the past eight years. Ask any CEO or senior executive how important their assistants truly are. She will be a conduit to the BOE in researching and monitoring state policies, and her "can do energy" is clearly an asset for the daunting tasks ahead of us.

The Proviso First Party is a team I'm proud to be on and one that will serve the entire Proviso community well. We are running because we are stakeholders in the Proviso community. We are a fresh start. I see nothing gained to align myself to anyone or anything but principles and common sense. This is common ground we the Proviso First candidates all share.

Online District 209 board member Charles Flowers, EdD, had the following letter published. He supports the Education Reformers slate.

Flowers calls for change

As a member of the board of education for Proviso Township high schools, I have been part of the minority along with Theresa Kelly and Gary Marine. We have been the minority that has questioned the decisions and actions of the board majority, led by Christopher Welch that has failed our students, teachers, schools and residents.

I endorse the slate that includes Ralph Harris, Kevin McDermott and Theresa Kelly. I appreciate that the Forest Park Review endorsed Harris and McDermott, two of the candidates needed to change the leadership of the school board. However, without electing the full slate, you will be subjecting students and taxpayers to more of the same from Christopher Welch and the board majority--an employment agency for their families and friends and continued failure of our students!

Without changing the leadership of the board of education; I know from first hand experience that it would be foolish to expect that Christopher Welch would change how he has and continues to micromanage District 209!

The Forest Park Review's criticism of Mrs. Kelly and the board minority is misleading and baseless! The newspaper seems to want Mrs. Kelly and the board minority to take responsibility for district problems that have been created by decisions driven by the board majority! Did it bother you that the current superintendent and the board majority refused to terminate the pay for play contract of $160,000 to Eugene Moore, recorder of deeds? He receives a monthly check of $15,800 as the insurance broker for the district at the expense of needed programs for under performing students and increased medical insurance premiums for employees of the District! Imagine, Mr. Moore is rewarded for services that are and have never been rendered to the district! Please forgive and excuse my outrage for wanting to use our tax dollars for students!

Christopher Welch and the superintendent (or CEO when Welch placed the unqualified and rubber stamp of Robert Libka in charge that led to an additional $9 million in deficit spending and failure to seek approval from the full board of education $10,000 to attend a graduate program to obtain the superintendent's endorsement at Western Illinois University, during work hours!) sets the agenda for board meetings. How about committee reports that are chaired by the board majority that are and have never been reported on to the full board or public. Recently, until the legal department of the Illinois State Board of Education intervened to uphold district policy that ensures that all board members in District 209 shall enjoy placing items on the agenda, the practice by the superintendent (Stanley Fields) and board president Christopher Welch has been to shut out input from the board minority! This practice supports your assertion that "the last six or seven months we can count on one hand the number of times that the word 'student' was used by an incumbent board member." Shame on the superintendent and Chris Welch for producing a board agenda focused on contracts and employment for friends and family!

It is indeed unfortunate that the actions of the board majority taints the full board. What's even more criminal to our students and taxpayers is that the Students First Party (Robin Foreman, Carla Johnson, and Bob Cox) are purporting that they intend to stop the patronage hiring and play for pay politics! These candidates are supported by the current board majority (Christopher Welch, Sue Henry, Dan Adams, and Shirley Madlock) that supports these practices! Yet you warn Bob Cox not to get to close to any of the incumbent board members! Mr. Cox has already associated and joined himself with the primary board member (Christopher Welch) that has led our students to the lowest PSAE test scores in the almost 100 year history of District 209! We can not afford to continue to have individuals make recommendations and decisions in the best interest of our students based on blind faith and personal interests! The reality is that Bob Cox is running with a slate that has a candidate (Robin Foreman) who is the aunt of Nikita Johnson-business manager for District 209 and Carla Johnson, the mother of Eugene Moore's grandson - get the picture! To add insult to injury, this group in their second glossy brochure mailer to Proviso Township residents is advocating "the board must initiate a district wide reading program in our grammar schools." Excuse me, but wouldn't that be an initiative that the feeder school boards of education in cooperation with the superintendent initiate? Have they forgotten that they are candidates for District 209?

Having an individual at the table from a specific community in no way guarantees that they will represent what is best for students. What's important is that who ever sits at the table regardless of the community that they represent, understands that all decisions that are made for students representing the 10 communities of District 209 are driven by the following question: How does it impact student achievement and learning?

The most essential step is to get the board to function properly by selecting a new president and board members that truly put students first!

The only way to get a new president of the board of education is to elect Ralph Harris, Kevin McDermott and Theresa Kelly. All the other candidates in the race have committed to voting for Christopher Welch to remain as the leader of the board of education ... this includes Bob Cox!

The question that rest with all the stakeholders involved in District 209 is can and do the students and taxpayers deserve two more years of Christopher Welch leadership? The answer is absolutely, NO!

That being said, voters would do well to show Bob Cox the door!

Charles A. Flowers, Ed.D
District 209 Board of Education member,
Suburban Cook County Regional Superintendent of Schools - Elect

There are also letters in support of the Education Reformers by Michael Brooks of Broadview and State Representative Karen Yarbrough.

And board member and candidate Theresa Kelly wrote:

Kelly for D209

While I was not endorsed by the Forest Park Review, I ask for the support of all voters who see the need to reform Proviso Township High Schools, District 209.

I am running with a slate of candidates under the banner "Education Reformers." The two candidates joining me on the slate are Kevin McDermott of Westchester and Ralph Harris of Bellwood, both excellent candidates and both are endorsed by the Forest Park Review.

I am running for re-election because I want to improve Proviso Township high schools by replacing the machine politics of school board President Chris Welch and his political boss (Recorder of Deeds Eugene Moore) with fiscally responsible education strategies focused on students and their families.

Chris Welch has run Proviso Township high schools into the ground. Test scores are 90th of 90 high school districts in the Chicago area. The deficits have become untenable, even after Welch obtained a "back door" referendum to increase property taxes without the permission of the voters. Crony hiring and promotion is rampant and demoralizing to teachers and staff. A number of large contracts have been awarded to the politically connected, many of who gave large contributions to either Welch's school board race or his campaign for state representative. This is not acceptable.

There are seven seats on the board of education. Three are up for election on Tuesday, April 17.

To keep control of the school board, only one Welch supporter needs to win; to switch control of the school board all three candidates from the "Education Reformers" slate need to be elected. Do you want to wait two more years to begin the process of reforming your public high school district?

I'd like to respond to the Forest Park Review's criticisms of my service on the board of education. However, the criticisms were extremely vague and not based on factual information. I am frustrated the Forest Park Review failed to specify its reservations about my service.

The Forest Park Review has been a valuable partner in the process of improving Proviso Township High Schools. The coverage, analysis and columns in the Forest Park Review have been essential to explaining the issues facing the district. People read the Forest Park Review across Proviso Township for the coverage of District 209.

I ask all voters to support Ralph Harris, Kevin McDermott and me (Theresa Kelly), so we can join board member Charles Flowers. Give us a chance to show that Proviso Township High Schools can be better.

A07, Eugene Moore asks polling judges to support his candidates [D209, D88, BW]

This is the letter from former Democratic Committeeman Eugene Moore to election judges. Here's the substance of it:

Of course I'd like you to help me spread the word prior to Election Day about these School Board Proviso First Party candidates for District 209: Robin Foreman, Carla D. Johnson, and Robert “Bob” Cox.

Help us also in District 88 elect Yvette Ramirez, Daphne Walker, and Re-elect Tommy Miller.

In the Village of Bellwood, we're supporting for Village Trustee Edward Lezza, Jr., Philistine Murphy [sic], and M.C. Robinson.

The committeemen, Democratic and Republican, are responsible for appointing election judges. So, Moore has no official responsibilities or official relationship with the judges.

But like a desperate gambler Moore is trying to gain an advantage--any advantage--by bluffing. This is similar to Moore buying an advertisement in the Proviso East football calendar claiming he was still the Democratic committeeman after Rep. Karen Yarbrough had already beat him.

What do you make of Moore not listing his picks for the Village of Maywood and District 89? Do you think he's got a separate network he's working for his candidates in those races?