On April 22, 2025, the Barrington School District 220 election results were certified. Among the successful candidates was incumbent Erin Chan Ding.
The new members were installed at the May 6, 2025, School Board meeting. Ding previously won election in 2021 and had served as a School Board member for 4 years before winning reelection. During those years of service from May 4, 2021, through her reelection and installation on May 6, 2025, Barrington 220 School District policies, including the Code of Conduct, were discussed, revised and voted upon. Ding vowed to uphold these policies when she took her oath of office, the most recent being her swearing in on May 6, 2025. Among these policies are:
2:80-E Exhibit – Board Member Code of Conduct
Each member of the Community Unit School District 220 Board of Education ascribes to the following code of conduct:
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I will represent all school district constituents honestly and equally and refuse to surrender my responsibilities to special interest or partisan political groups.
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I will avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety which could result from my position, and shall not use my Board of Education membership for personal gain or publicity.
Board records show that the Board discussed and voted to reaffirm the Code of Conduct on September 5, 2023, where Ding seconded the motion. Ding further serves on the Board’s Policy Committee that once again reviewed and recommended this Code of Conduct on August 24, 2024.
As seen in recent publications, on June 18th, Ding officially launched her candidacy in the Democratic primary in the 52nd House District. In doing so, Ding has squarely violated the Board Member Code of Conduct. In Sec. 2:80-E(1), Ding swore to:
“refuse to surrender (her) responsibilities to special interest or partisan political groups…”
Yet, on June 18 she launched a decidedly partisan campaign for a Democratic position. In Sec. 2:80-E(2), Ding swore to “not use (her) Board of Education membership for personal gain or publicity.” Yet, as seen on her social media pages and in media releases, Ding has published and been quoted using her Board of Education position as a boon for her Democratic campaign:
“As a twice-elected school board member, I care deeply about ensuring all children and people feel valued and seen — and confident that their local representatives will work for them.” (Daily Herald article)
Ding has violated her oath of office and her commitment to non-partisan representation of the Community Unit School District 220 Board of Education. One of the Illinois Democratic Party’s largest funding comes from Illinois Teachers Unions.
Wirepoints recently reported: “In the last four years alone, Illinois lawmakers and political candidates have taken nearly $30 million in contributions from teachers unions and their national affiliates. Nearly $26 million, or 94%, of those contributions have been accepted by Democrats… Since 2020, 19 of the top 20 recipients of teacher union political contributions were Democrats or Democratic Party-supported initiatives.” (https://wirepoints.org/teacher-unions-have-spent-nearly-30-million-on-elections-in-four-years-wirepoints/)
In fact, Illinois Federation of Teachers endorsed the Democratic challenger, Maria Peterson, in the last election for the 52nd House District. (https://www.ift-aft.org/candidates).
You’ll be hard pressed to find a Republican among these endorsements, although there are a few. And, Peterson’s D-2’s for her run for the 52nd exhibits over $37,000.00 in donations from Illinois Federation of Teachers and Lake County Federation of Teachers.
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It is implausible to believe that Ding will not be beholden to the teachers’ unions or disavow endorsements and donations from their lobbyists. Similarly, JB Pritzker’s $50,000.00 will be in play,
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not to mention the other hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Democratic Party that built up Peterson’s $2,821,571.28 war chest. Ding simply cannot avoid the “appearance of impropriety” while she panders to these partisan special interest groups in order to build her own war chest.
And, of course, she votes on the union contract for the D220 teachers as well as on any disciplinary actions to be taken against a teacher. Yet, she lists among her endorsements multiple “public educators” in Barrington 220. How does this not present a “conflict of interest” and an “appearance of impropriety”?
Beyond these clear violations of the Code of Conduct, in seeking these endorsements Ding has also violated Sec. 2:105 Ethics & Gift Ban, which prohibits acceptance of political favors.
It is also implausible to believe that Ding did not conceive of running for the 52nd at the same time she was running for 220 School Board. Ding deceived the voters in running for her current position on the Community Unit School District 220 Board of Education. In fact, she has commingled her Erin for Illinois social media page with that of her Erin for 220 page as if there’s no distinction.
“Friends of Erin Chan Ding” is listed as being responsible for her “Erin for Illinois” Facebook page in her run for the 52nd District and is the committee that ran Ding’s School Board election. This is another clear violation of her oath and the Code of Conduct. She boldly states: “And yes, I’ll continue to serve on the Barrington 220 school board with my whole heart during this campaign,” as though she has the unfettered right to defy the rules that govern her School Board conduct.
We call upon and urge all voters to demand Ding’s immediate resignation from Community Unit School District 220 Board of Education as she has violated the Board Code and demonstrated her clear partisan representation of the public in this position.
Editorial note: We’d be remiss in failing to point out that two other Community Unit School District 220 Board of Education members have participated in Ding’s announcement that she’s running for higher office, with both Barry Altshuler and Harathi Srivistava appearing at Ding’s announcement party (both pictured in the photo above).
While this may not rise to the level of an OMA violation, it certainly evidences the very partisan (Democratic) nature of your current District 220 Board of Education. Indeed, Srivistava was widely endorsed and largely funded by the Illinois Democratic Party.
Related: “Chan Ding running in Democratic primary in 52nd,” “Three (3) Democratic candidates queued to run for the IL 52nd District House seat in 2026”