District 304 “For The Record” Once Again Incomplete, Monolithic Board Voting Block Cracks!
January 14, 2010
I was not able to attend Monday night’s Geneva District 304 School Board meeting. Since our District is technologically challenged and apparently incapable of posting the meeting video on their own web site, and since Comcast is NOT the cable provider in Mill Creek, my comments are based on a reliable source that did attend.
Before I get into it, and before I spoke with my reliable source, I reviewed the “For the Record” meeting summary sent out by the District. It seemed pretty routine, at least until I spoke with my source. Once again, the summary does not accurately capture what went on at this meeting.
According to my source, the highlight of the meeting came late in the meeting under the Consent Agenda session. Apparently, earlier in the evening our Superintendent was again commenting on the search for savings ideas, yet during the Consent Agenda, his team brought forth a proposal to hire 4 more employees to fill vacant positions. Board member Grosso then pointed out that not filling vacant positions was a painless way to save and that these positions should not be filled. After some discussion, a vote was taken to not fill two of the four positions, with the two not filled being one custodial position and one bus related position of some sort. The striking thing here was that this Board actually voted to not fill these positions and that for the first time in recent memory, the monolithic voting block of Wilson, Moran, Stith and Nowak cracked. For the record (although you won’t find it in the District’s For the Record summary), Grosso, Juby, Wilson and Moran voted to not fill the two positions, while Henry recused himself and Stith and Nowak voted to fill the positions. I’m glad to see that Wilson and Moran finally have started to come around to Grosso and Juby’s point of view. It’s about time we saw some votes that matched up with the campaign rhetoric. Oh, and apparently not filling the custodial job is not really a problem, since one of the three extra “floater” custodians can fill the role! It seems that we have extra custodians that do “special projects” around the District when they aren’t filling in for absent custodians. Looks like featherbedding to me, yet the District can’t seem to find any fat to cut.
Meanwhile what did the District report as noteworthy in it’s For the Record summary? Routine summaries of presentations on Special Education Disciplinary Guidelines and a Kid’s Zone Annual Report. Then a District generated study on Administrator Staffing and Compensation, which has not as of Thursday night been posted on the District website despite the Superintendent’s comments saying that it would be. Then sections on Refunding of School Bonds and Electronic Board Packets. Then the hilarious section on Geneva 304 Freedom of Information Act Officer and Board Member Freedom of Information Act / Open Meetings Act. I quote directly from the District’s summary “…the Board unanimously approved the proposal by one of its members requiring all of its members to complete the free, online Freedom of Information Act and Open Meetings Act training available through the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.” Wouldn’t you think that the District could at least freely supply information on which Board member proposed this? Is it too much to ask to have the meeting summary tell us which Board member proposed what, and what the results of any Board votes were, including who voted yes and no? Instead we have Board member Nowak more concerned with hectoring fellow Board members to check the box on taking an online training course. I’d like to see a lot more transparency and posting of District information and presentations on the District’s website. If they did that, there wouldn’t be a need for a FOIA Officer because there would be a lot fewer FOIA requests. While the minutes don’t say so, I suspect that the expansion of duties of our District Propagandist Communications Coordinator would result in a pay increase, but I suppose I’d need to file a FOIA request to find out.
Meanwhile, while the discussion on filling or not filling positions, and the subsequent vote, were ignored in the District’s summary, we learn that Board member Moran and his wife will be participating in the Dancing with the Geneva Stars fundraising event. I guess after months sitting in the Board balcony, Mr. Moran can get out on the dance floor after all!
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Board President Mary Stith should voluntarily step down. If not, there should be an organized effort among Geneva tax payers to vote her out of office next election cycle. She epitomizes Tax and Spend, combined with political arrogance, combined with ignorance of the issues.