Monday, April 8, 2013
Palatine resident Steve Bramer discusses the safety records, and compares them between District 15 and Durham School Services.
Recent articles in the Daily Herald and the Patch have presented information about District 15 transportation safety. The articles include numbers, but little detail. Interestingly, the two articles report from the same source but actually show different numbers. Even worse, neither article provides significant information on safety for Durham School Services. This is important because District 15 is considering outsourcing transportation, and Durham’s is the only bid still under consideration. The following compares D15 vs Durham transportation safety records. The Durham information is publicly available, and the D15 numbers are from an FOIA request. All information covers the same time frame as reported in the papers (1 Jan 2013 through…
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Resident Dave Wilson explains why he supports Roman Golash for the D211 school board.
The District 211 Board of Election race has not gotten the attention it should have this election cycle. It's very important for the public to know some facts before casting a ballot on Tuesday: - Both Bob LeFevre and Ed Yung voted against transparency. There was a vote to begin recording their meetings, the way District 15 has been doing for quite some time. D15 makes each BOE meeting available on their web site. It should be a no-brainer these days to record public meetings so the community, if unable to attend in person, can easily view what decisions were made. Several community members addressed the Board asking them to vote Yes. With no valid reason (because there isn't any), both Yung and LeFevre ignored the request and voted NO. - …
Abdul Javid provides a side by side comparison of the D15 candidates.
Dear Community Members; Current board member Scott, has posted a very informative link on recent Forum, providing link and outlining questions. As additional input for the undecided voters, I have put together a side by side comparision of candidate profiles based on input given by them to Palatine Patch and Daily Herald. Scott Herr, link:http://palatine.patch.com/articles/letter-to-the-editor-undecided-for-district-15-board-race Side by Side Comparision of Issues given by candidates to Patch, Daily Herald, Education, D15 Parent status, Occupation. http://abdulfordist15.org/sites/all/themes/responsive/images/D15-Candidate-Analysis.pdf Please pick the candidates you think deserve to represent you and make District 15 a better place …
District 15 School Board Vice President Scott Herr provides an opportunity to revisit the recent candidate forum, and a breakdown of questions asked and answered by the candidates before you vote on Tuesday, April 9.
Dear Community Members, Who will you vote for on Tuesday? Undecided? Candidates answered nine questions at the recent forum. Video and the start times for each question can be found at: The Questions Q1 Concerning the Late Start / Early Release for teacher development time, how would you vote between Monday Late Start, Wednesday Late Start or Friday Early Release? Q2 Do you feel that class size matters and what do you feel is an ideal class size in our district? Q3 Several schools are currently at capacity with no hopes in the near future of having enrollment numbers decline. Currently an entire 3rd grade class in one school has an average of 31 students per section. With that said, what is your position regarding redrawing the district …
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Resident Len Green explains his support of the 1-2-3 candidates, Matthew Lyons, Jennifer Zold and Donna Johnson.
- OPINION
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Saturday, April 6
Editor's note: Letters to the Editor are presented as they are originally submitted by our readers. Palatine Patch neither agrees nor disagrees with the opinions presented. Two years ago, D15 voters indicated their dissatisfaction with the Board by voting in a new group of elected representatives and giving the then Board President the lowest number of votes in the race. That was a resounding rebuttal of the policies he and current candidates Ekeberg, Babcock and Bokor had tried to ram through, including the infamous $27M bond issue in 2010. At a recent public forum, candidate Seiffert said he would have supported the bond issue too. Given that the current board has managed to negotiate labor contracts without needing to raise bond …
Friday, April 5, 2013
District 15 resident and parent Lisa Beth Szczupaj talks about the recent candidate forum, and how it has helped to form her opinions on who she supports for the school board.
Put simply, 7 of 9 candidates verbally supported Friday Early Release at the Board of Education Candidate Forum held on Tuesday night. Walking into the canddiate forum Tuesday, I was confident that we would receive a thumbs up from 6 of the 9 candidates who have consistently shown support from the beginning in regard to the importance of considering, first and foremost, the impact of this decision on students and their families. I was hopeful that the three incumbent Board of Ed members (Bokor, Babcock and Seiffert) would finally see the light, choose to support the effort and make their intentions known at the Forum. In the end, I was terribly disappointed with the lack of backbone shown by both Peggy Babcock and Dave Seiffert as they …
Joshua Kilroy, Chairman, Illinois Citizens for Better Schools, explains why he supports Cidambi for District 15 school board.
Editor's note: Letters to the Editor are presented as they are originally submitted by our readers. Palatine Patch neither agrees nor disagrees with the opinions presented. On April 9th, voters in CCSD 15 have the opportunity to vote for an exceptional community leader to join the School Board; Ramnath Cidambi. Mr. Cidambi, 41, works in IT and has two children in CCSD 15 schools. Ramnath Cidambi understands that our students compete in a global market and need an education that gives them the skills they need to succeed. He also appreciates that there are new educational technologies that can help students learn in a more personalized manner. This is why Illinois Citizens for Better Schools had endorsed Mr. Cidambi. What is most …
Thursday, April 4, 2013
District 15 resident Juli Calamia explains her support for Peggy Babcock, Richard Bokor, David Seiffert and JIm Ekeberg for D15 school board in the upcoming election.
- OPINION
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Thursday, April 4
Editor's note: Letters to the Editor are presented as they are originally submitted by our readers. Palatine Patch neither agrees nor disagrees with the opinions presented. Dear Friends, I am writing you with grave concern about what is happening to our district. The decisions that are being made, how the employees are being treated, that the focus strictly on the financials and most of all how all of these things are directly affecting the children. It is my opinion that the BOE is operating under false pretense and they are either telling half truths or just outright lying. At the end of my letter I will give you some websites and you can use these to make an educated decision on what is best for this district on your own. In my …
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Resident Vicki Wilson explains her support of Jennifer Zold, Matthew Lyons and Donna Johnson for District 15 school board.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, April 3
Editor's note: Letters to the Editor are presented as they are originally submitted by our readers. Palatine Patch neither agrees nor disagrees with the opinions presented. The outcome of the District 15 Board of Ed election on April 9 will determine if all the work toward 2-way communication, transparency, deficit reduction, and common sense governance over the past 2 years continues or is reversed. We have 3 honest, ethical, and caring community members who have stepped up to run for these important unpaid positions. They are Matthew Lyons, Jennifer Zold, and Donna Johnson. Each has the right motivation and track record one should look for in a school board candidate. They are independent thinkers we can trust. Public servants, not …
Palatine Township trustee candidate Kevin McGrane talks about his, and his running mates' goals for the township if they are elected April 9.
- OPINION
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Wednesday, April 3
Editor's note: Letters to the Editor are presented as they are originally submitted by our readers. Palatine Patch neither agrees nor disagrees with the opinions presented. My wife and I bought our first home in Palatine Township a little over 5 years ago, and God willing we will raise our family here in the years to come. I think it is important to be active in the community so I have volunteered with the Palatine Township Republican Organization for the last 3 years and most recently several other community organizations. In doing so I have had the chance to speak to hundreds of township residents who are sick of rising taxes and have a general distrust in politicians. With the state of the economy and the fiscal disaster that is IL, …
Stephen Bramer
11:08 pm on Tuesday, April 9, 2013
I'll be interested in seeing that org chart! more ›