Alex Stroble (seated at center) seen submitting his public comments to District 220 Board of Education members at Tuesday night’s meeting.
By way of setup, you may recall Alex Strobl, who was introduced to Observer readers during the April Board of Education election. Alex had been a candidate for the BOE but pulled his name from the ballot after some unfortunate interactions with sitting BOE members (Kazmier, Bradford and Altshuler) attempting to groom candidates for the upcoming election. Strobl spoke out against the hypocrisy of those members in criticizing Suburban Action candidates, Karam, McGonigal and Wang for running in a PAC where sitting member and candidate Bradford was running with an agenda endorsed by the BEA teacher’s union and had been part of a selection committee for candidates, along with Kazmier and Altshuler, that included interviews of candidates Strobl and Ding. Following some public personal attacks on his character and misstatements by those sitting members, Strobl came out with his own public statements explaining the actions of Kazmier, Bradford and Altshuler during the candidate selection process. Thereafter, these three BOE members have on multiple occasions, without notice to Strobl or to the public via the posted agenda, taken the opportunity to discuss Strobl at great length in front of the public during BOE meetings, and without providing Strobl an opportunity to respond or defend himself. Altshuler took another such moment to publicly criticize Strobl following the swearing in of the new BOE on May 4th. This past Tuesday, May 18th, Strobl appeared at the meeting of the District 220 Board of Education, and attempted to read a response into the record. The following was spoken by him during his 3 minute allotted time for public comment:
“Hello my name is Alex Strobl and I am here today in person to respond to the multiple times my name, motives, perspective and character have been discussed, unannounced, in this forum, the last of which was May 4th. I am requesting the exact same time that Barry Altshuler used during the May 4th Board meeting. The nine minutes Barry spent reading his prepared statement was not on the agenda nor was I informed that I would again be discussed. The exactly nine minutes I am requesting mirrors the time Barry was provided but does not include the time that was spent discussing me during the April 6th board meeting; together that would total over thirty minutes. Over thirty minutes our elected school board spent discussing a community member who was not present nor given the opportunity to be present. I am requesting that time be provided now, and only a third of it.
I ask that you hold a vote to allow me the nine minutes requested.”
After this request, the BOE members looked mutely upon Strobl, providing no response to his request, so he proceeded:
“I am requesting that my full response statement be put into the Board notes public comment section. I apologize for speaking quickly, but some of the members of this Board seem to want to silence me. To anyone interested, I will submit the full response in the area papers as well as several Barrington Facebook groups. I am here to again share with our Barrington 220 Community that I stepped forward, sharing my letter, because of the hypocrisy I witnessed during a non-partisan school board election. As I have stated, Barry Altshuler, a board member, put me in touch with a group that acted in a capacity to vet, select and prepare candidates along ideological lines. On that call, was the School Board President at the time (Penny Kazmier) and the School Board Vice President (now President Sandra Bradford). During that meeting Sandra was never asked any questions, was introduced as a Board member, and then at the end of my interview several members stayed on to provide additional help for the group. Sandra was one of those people… here is the Zoom Call photo (holding up a paper). Candidates don’t stay on to help! Again, this was a call that I was directed to by Barry and where Penny was present. Any reasonable person can see what’s going on here and what has transpired. This hypocrisy was my motivation. The rules can’t be different for some. No school board members, which are non-partisan positions, should be a part of such things. It violates the Board’s own Code of Conduct. Barry, to compare this behavior to putting up lawn signs is disingenuous and laughable.
Members of this board have questioned the legality of what some board members have done. They have also questioned my integrity, my intention, my character, my timing, and my ability. And they won’t even give me the same time to respond. All of these things are meant to distract from the unethical behavior they engaged in. For example, much to my surprise during the May 4th meeting, Barry Altshuler decided to use the Board’s platform to distance himself and talk about me without ever letting me know. Barry posited that I must be upset with him. I was never upset. I was disappointed. And I continue to be disappointed. Just at the last meeting the Board disregarded their own written policy that encourages participation of community members in the decision-making process when at that meeting they rushed to fill Board positions which do not reflect the diversity of this community and did this without community input. They held public comment until after those positions.
(Bell rings)
Sounds like my time is up. I want to again thank those who stood up for me, Mike Shackleton, Angel Wilcox and Katie Karam. I’ll be sticking up for myself from hereon out. Do not mention my name again without calling me first.”
Whereupon Strobl provided the remaining script of his comments (see below) to the BOE secretary. Member Wang asked President Bradford if the Board was permitted to give Strobl more time, which she glossed over saying the Board would need to vote on it and that they needed to take the comments of the remaining public first. Two other residents spoke and without entertaining a vote on Member Wang’s request to allow Strobl more time, President Bradford called public comment closed.
Now, Strobl’s written comments submitted to the BOE on May 18:
“I am here to again share with our Barrington 220 Community that I stepped forward, sharing my letter, because of the hypocrisy I witnessed during a non-partisan school board election. Specifically, a Daily Herald article published on March 27th decrying party politics in Barrington’s local elections, when through experience, those pointing the finger were actively engaged in partisan politics, with the power of three board members (to include the president and vice president) and in secret. This hypocrisy was my motivation. The rules can’t be different for some.
As I have stated, Barry Alstshuler, a board member, put me in touch with a group that acted in a capacity to vet, select and prepare candidates along ideological lines. On that call, was the School Board President at the time (Penny Kazmier) and the School Board Vice President (now President Sandra Bradford). Both were there in their board member capacity.
Members of this board have questioned the legality of what some board members have done. They have also questioned my integrity, my intention, my character, my timing, and my ability. All of these arguments are meant to distract from the unethical behavior they engaged in.
I did not want to distract from this core point, namely the unethical and hypocritical behavior. As a result, I did not attend the April 6th meeting. I had made public my experience and felt that was enough. I want this unethical behavior to stop – or at the very least the hypocrisy of it to stop – and for the people of this community to be aware of what is going on in Barrington 220. The April 6th board meeting was an embarrassment. I want everyone to know that I called Penny several times during that meeting and sent her a text at 9:25PM that read “Hi Penny, I’m happy to come down right now and talk to you. This is not right.” I never received a response or a follow up. Everyone who was watching the meeting that night got to see, on full display, some of what I encountered in my interactions. The brazenness and victimization of some of the members was both shocking and sad. That said, in my mind there was a new board elected, people knew what happened, and it was time to move on.
Apparently that sentiment was not shared. And truly, to my surprise, during the May 4th meeting, Barry Altshuler decided to use the Board’s platform to continue to again have an open discussion, but not about the issue at hand, rather about me. It was a thinly veiled attempt to clear himself from any responsibility by shifting focus, and trying to close everything up. This is reprehensible and one of the many glaring hypocrisies of some of the members of the board. The same man who minutes prior lectures others on “no surprises – we have to avoid blindsiding each other” and “you should have come to hear my side – nobody asked me” uses the power of his platform and tax payer time to read a prepared and disparaging character statement about a community member. This was not on the agenda and I was not informed that I would again be discussed by the board. What Barry, Sandra, and Penny did was wrong and people have a right to know what their elected members are doing.
Barry, in the statement you read on May 4th, you questioned how I felt about you. You posited that I must be upset with you. I was never upset. I was disappointed. I was disappointed that the man who took care of my children – who reached out to me to ask me to run – never had the common decency to follow up with me because I was not part of his, or his group’s, agenda. I was disappointed that after my call with Penny – when I got to see behind the curtain – I got to see that all those people who felt their voices didn’t matter – were right. I was disappointed to see the meeting on April 6th and the brazenness of unethical members. I was disappointed that at no time did those three board members reach out to me – except for Penny – and then only to compel me to write a follow-up statement to free her of responsibility from her own actions.
I continue to be disappointed while watching the board meeting on May 4th as the board disregarded their own policy manual which (in section 3:10) states that the board values “participation by students, staff, parents and community members in the decision making process.” Yet at that meeting the four of you rushed to fill board leadership positions which do not reflect the diversity of this community. You did this without community input, holding public comment until after you filled those positions. And then I was further disappointed – but not at all surprised at this point – to watch the positions be filled straight down the 4-3 vote to include removing Angela Wilcox, a respected board member, from her current position without any discussion. Again, no discussion, no community input, just straight down the line.
Finally, I was disappointed that after this power grab Barry felt it was appropriate to use his position and time to once again speak about me – to speak at me – without ever having the common decency to inform me – a community member – that this was going to happen. These are the people that are writing Diversity and Inclusion statements – people who don’t want real diversity or inclusion. These are the people that claim to want the community to come together and then vote a straight line without any discussion that, once again, not only removes an experienced and respected member of the board from her previous position but selects a president who misrepresented her role in all of this.
Sandra has written that she was invited as a candidate to this group meeting. During that meeting, she was never asked any questions, was introduced as a board member and then at the end of my interview and after I was asked all of the ideological questions I previously referenced, several members stayed on to provide additional help. Sandra was one of those people – here is the Zoom call photo. Candidates don’t stay on to help. A call again that I was directed to by Barry and where Penny was present. Any reasonable person can see what’s going on here and what has transpired.
Attack and belittle me all you want. It does not erase what happened or what is going on in this community. Barry Altshuler put me in touch with what he called a “progressive” group that he said would help get me elected. On that call both the President (Penny Kazmier) and Vice President (and now president Sandra Bradford) were present in their board capacity. This was a meeting where a single candidate was being vetted/chosen/selected/prepared along partisan lines. At no time did the board members recuse themselves or distance themselves from what was happening – during or after.
No school board members, which are non-partisan positions, should be a part of such things. It violates your own Code of Conduct (2:80:1 & 2:80:2). It’s at best poor form and at worse an overstepping of power. Barry, to compare this behavior to putting up lawns signs is disingenuous and laughable.
The board members I mentioned – to include Barry – talk about the fact that there was 11 candidates and that I could have run with any other group. But the fact is that at least three of those 11 candidates never had a chance – they just didn’t know it. They were up against your machine and a group of parents forming in response to it. You can see that clearly by who actually got elected. And let’s think through that election. Even if I won, I did not want to lose time with my family and work so that I could show up to meetings where four members would railroad an agenda – like you just did in filling those new positions – and then put me behind a banner so I didn’t even show up on camera like what happened to Katie Karam. I am thankful there are people to fight the good fight on this board but I could see the writing on the wall.
I wanted to work with community members from all walks and all perspectives to try to solve problems for our children and community, not spend four years bearing witness to hard lined agendas. Barry and Sandra talk about unity and seemingly take every action to further divide the community. They didn’t start this polarization but they further stoked it – as evidenced by past actions and now Sandra as president and Angela removed. You seem to have no interest in uniting this community and your actions demonstrate that at every step.
I agree that it is in everyone’s best interest for the board to unify. That said, teams are built on trust not retreats. And the foundation of trust is honesty. It was never about good candidates or diverse perspectives; it was about the right agenda. It is this hypocrisy that I am here to highlight. Community members attacked other current members on this board for working with groups in the community while they were themselves doing it, in secret, and with the power of three members of the board to include the president and vice president.
I own my ignorance. I thought non-paid, non-partisan, board positions would attract a different kind of attention. In talking with people across this community I think many others suffer from that same naiveté. No one should have any misgivings about what’s going on here moving forward.
I want to again thank Mike Shackleton and Angela Wilcox for sticking up for me on April 6th and I want to thank Katie Karam for sticking up for me again on May 4th.
I will be sticking up for myself from here on out.
Do not mention my name again without calling me first. Thank you for your time.”
To watch the portion of the video queued to the comments, click here.