D15 April Election: 9 Candidates Vie for 4 Open Seats
Three incumbents are running again, and the fourth open seat will be Board President Tim Millar's, who is running for District 1 councilman. A number of hot-button issues have come to the surface over the last month.
Four seats will be open on the District 15 school board for the April 9 election, with nine candidates on the ballot.
There have been a number of polarizing issues that have popped up in the last couple of months in District 15. Issues that current and future board members will have to deal with.
In mid-December, 2012, the proposal to privatize bus services received numerous comments and criticism, regarding how the move could possibly jeopardize the health, safety and welfare of students.
Then, proposed schedule changes for District 15 students to accomodate more training and development time for teachers also met with frustration and concerns from parents earlier this month.
A recent letter to the editor summed up at least one perspective on what parents are grappling with due to the potential early starts or late dismissals to allow for development time for teachers during the current school schedule.
Among those running for the District 15 school board are incumbents Margaret (Peggy) Babcock and Richard L. Bokor, who were both elected in 2009.
David Seiffert who was appointed to the seat vacated by former D15 board member Mark Bloom in 2011.
Other candidates for the open seats are Matthew Lyons, Jennifer Zold, Donna Johnson, Ramnath Cidambi, Abdul Javid and James G. Ekeberg.
james urban
9:30 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
people of palatine, make sure you check the backgrounds of all these candidates very carefully as many are planted by the IEA which is the teachers union and they do not have your best interests at heart. You have to put taxpayers in the board seats that think about the taxpayers not about how they can continue to get raises and bloated pensions. all voters in these local election must remove all the ex teachers, administrators, anybody that has any education background from these boards. Your teachers all were just given raises. How is that feeling to you as you lose your jobs, you salaries are decreasing and all these people associated with the schools keep getting more.
Bucephalus
9:56 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
james is exactly right. The schools should be run by nobody with education experience. This is the same reason we have pilots who know nothing about flying, engineers who don't know algebra, and generals who know nothing of warfare.
LS
12:35 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
The address for the survey can be found below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LateStartEarlyRelease
The address for the petition can be found below:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ccsd15-school-board-listen-to-constituents-late-arrival-early-dismissal-schedule-enrichment-time-end-of-the-day-friday-no-lost-instruction-time
Scott
4:11 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
The hired staff has the education experience; the BOE are elected officials from the public at large there to set policy.
This is just like the Village Council; they hire experts in the various areas (public works, finance, etc) but the council is from the public.
james urban
9:31 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
take a look at the incumbants voting records and see if they voted NO to anything.
james urban
10:36 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
look who came out of from under his rock. Mr liberal left wing crackpot bucephalus. Yes mr liberal, they do have pilots flying that are not REAL pilots, yes they have engineers who do not know algebra because there are not any teachers anymore that teach algebra and yes they have MANY MANY generals who have never been to warfare. but see you will try to dig up facts to back you up because you are a LIBERAL that is probably a UNION guy that is somehow connected to all this madness.
Bucephalus
11:08 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
james, I have a simple question for you. Is it possible to disagree with your assessment of things, without somehow being lazy or a crook? Is it possible that there are people who disagree with your viewpoint who are also hard working, taxpaying, and unrelated to teachers?
Jacek
9:39 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
Was James G. Ekeberg on the Board before? The name sounds familiar.
Bucephalus
9:59 am on Friday, January 11, 2013
Yes, he was on the board from 2007 to 2011 when he lost his bid for reelection, coming in fifth. He finished behind current board members Scott Herr, Manjula Sriram, and Gerard Iannuzzelli. He also finished behind David W. Seiffert but ahead of Gerald D. Chapman.
Maryb
5:39 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
When Ekeberg was on the board before he approved the teachers contract from 2009 - 2012 which reduced the number of school days. He advanced the ill fated $27 mil bond deal in 2010 and his 2007 campaign, running with Bokor who lost, was heavily financed by education employee union PACs. He was thoroughly defeated in 2011 when he ran for reelection.
LS
12:34 pm on Friday, January 11, 2013
The address for the survey can be found below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LateStartEarlyRelease
The address for the petition can be found below:
http://www.change.org/petitions/ccsd15-school-board-listen-to-constituents-late-arrival-early-dismissal-schedule-enrichment-time-end-of-the-day-friday-no-lost-instruction-time