The Barrington Education Association (BEA), the teachers union for D220, has been very vocal publishing social media posts, emails, and flyers supporting their four endorsed candidates for school board election. Beyond being vocal in support they have been extremely vocal in criticizing the three candidates (Katie Karam, Steve Wang and Malgorzata McGonigal) who chose not to meet with them to seek a union endorsement, nor to meet with an organization called Be the Change Barrington (BTC).
Who is BTC? They have a website that lists various positions and recommendations for the administration and education of students in D220. However, nothing on these pages identifies who exactly they are, who they are accountable to, where they live, or even if they are residents of D220.
Their list of recommendations (more accurately demands) is a platitude of critical race theory, alleging widespread racism and social injustice within D220. However, from police sources, there is little evidence of hate crime within our district. So what are these recommendations based on?
Apparently, a survey of around 600 alumni and active students. The survey does not break down the percentage of alumni to current students, nor does it identify whether any of these alumni are currently living within D220, parents of students, or taxpaying members of our community. Yet, the BEA has crowned them as an important representative voice of D220 and has lambasted and shamed the three candidates who chose not to meet with these unidentified individuals.
Why should you care? To follow are some of the recommendations of BTC for your children:
“BTCB calls on Barrington 220 to critically examine and make changes to its staff training, curriculum requirements, and administrative policies in the pursuit of anti-racism and dismantling white supremacy.”
“All educators and students must undergo a mandatory anti-racism training and unconscious bias training. Anti-racist and unconscious bias training is necessary for supporting the multiracial, multilingual, and multicultural student body within Barrington 220.”
“Barrington 220 must play an active role in challenging the myths of colorblindness and meritocracy within the education system, and instead commit to practicing anti-racism, anti-bias, and equity. In order for training sessions to be sustainable and meaningful, they must go beyond the intellectual work of fighting oppression and challenge staff and students to do the deeply personal, emotional, and communal work of dismantling racism and white supremacy culture.”
The list is much broader and can be found at this ink: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N9DdAepfjRtjNjhA0UMddGkrXMFfNHU-/view
These recommendations have been cited by the BEA and its four endorsed candidates as important lesson plans and discussions that your children should be given in their D220 education.
The BEA has a lobbyist group (iPACE) that sends out mail pieces, i.e. “in-kind” donations, on behalf of the four candidates endorsed by the BEA and also provides monetary donations to those candidates. Recently, the Palatine League of Women Voters (LWV) hosted several Candidate forums, including forums for school board candidates and library board.
For a group that claims to be “non-partisan“, the BEA through its lobbyists, iPACE, has donated significantly to Democratic candidates, including $52,800 in 2019 to former Speaker Michael Madigan.
Also, LWV was outspoken in a recent Herald article surrounding Karam, Wang & McGonigal, for school board and Croll, Ordway & Stenberg for library board: “A partisan political group in Barrington has expressed support for candidates in school and library board races, a move criticized by the League of Women Voters, which says party politics has no place in local elections…”
Wow! Pot? Kettle? Sounds like the BEA and LWV need to take a long look in the mirror.
So, in what conceivable way can the LWV forum have been considered non-partisan under these circumstances? Particularly where the BEA, which pays dues to IEA and iPACE, started a full court press on endorsements and social media posts supporting Ding, Klauer, Ficke-Bradford, and Mitoraj by February 6th, a month prior to the LWV forum, and iPACE had already made donations to Ding which she stated she used for signs and mailers (mailers that coincidentally didn’t include campaign disclosure information as required by SBOE).
There is a lot of ugly going on around the D220 community.
The BEA is flexing its union muscle and it wants to con you into voting Ding, Klauer, Ficke-Bradford, and Mitoraj. They even went so far as condescending to come back to full time school the week before the April 6th election. Why? Because they want their handpicked four to be elected and vote the BEA union byline.
Make no mistake, D220 families; if Ding, Klauer, Ficke-Bradford, and Mitoraj are elected to the school board on April 6th your kids will be back to e-learning and remote school on April 7th.
If you want a board that will advocate on behalf of your children, tax dollars and community, it is imperative that you VOTE KARAM, WANG, & McGONIGAL for school board.
– Guest essay