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Considerations before voting on District 220’s $64M Referendum
Posted in Associated Press, Barrington Education Association, Barrington High School, Board of Education, Chicago Tribune, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, District 220 referendum, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Education, Elections, Illinois Policy Institute, Look For The Union Label, New Normal?, News Media, OP/Ed, Organizations, Pension Funding, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Resident Surveys, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, The Center Square, Transparency, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)?, Wirepoints on October 29, 2024| 1 Comment »
Two months ago, a headline in the Daily Herald read, “District 220 seeks $64 million tax hike for new auditorium, curriculum improvements.” The photo and caption appear above.
Straightforward, right? Apparently not.
That’s clearly not the primary marketing message District 220 wanted to convey now. In fact, a recent post by 220 lead with:
“A successful referendum in November will provide the district with an opportunity to further enhance safety and security at all Barrington 220 schools.”
There was no mention of an auditorium or curriculum improvement whatsoever.
Plus, a recent post on X mirrored that message:
Obviously, the highly paid 220 spin consultants have shifted their messages (featuring cheerleaders no less) to appeal to voters by diverting their attention, and we have issues with that.
However, we won’t go there. Instead, aside from a few editorials and edited District 220 posts, The Observer would like to present the following objective headlines/stories since the last 220 election to refresh your memories…
“Our Atrium: the heart of nowhere” – Posted by The Barrington Hills Observer October 19, 2024, published by THE ROUNDUP, February 23, 2024
“What message are you spinning to taxpayers 220?” – The Barrington Hills Observer, October 17, 2024
“Politics for sale: Big money floods Illinois campaigns with few rules and little enforcement” – Chicago Tribune September 1, 2024
“District 220 seeks $64 million tax hike for new auditorium, curriculum improvements” – Daily Herald August 24, 2024
“How’s my community? Measures of how your piece of Illinois is doing.” – Illinois Policy Institute July 22, 2024
“The big myth that needs debunking: Illinois needs more money for education – Wirepoints Special Report” – May 25, 2024
(Click on graphic to enlarge)
“New 2023 School Report Cards reveal to parents Illinois’ dismal student outcomes“ – Wirepoints May 21, 2024
“Illinois has MORE educators, LESS students than ever, yet officials complain about a ‘teacher shortage’” – Wirepoints May 15, 2024
“One big reason it’s hard to track Illinois’ educational failures. Officials keep changing the standardized tests.” Wirepoints March 25, 2024
“Study: Illinois’ spending per student is one of highest in the country” – The Center Square February 28, 2024
“Why are Americans becoming more stupid? Our entire education system needs a revolution” – UnHeard February 26, 2024
“District 220 Board to form Referendum Advisory Committee in 2024“ District 220 update December 21, 2023
“District 220 Board approves estimated 2023 tax levy (6.3%)” – District 220 update on November 27, 2023
“220 Board plans to form referendum advisory committee to gain fine, visual & performing arts feedback” – District 220 update November 8, 2023
“Barrington School District teachers to get raise, more time for leave and parent-teacher conferences withnew union pact” – Pioneer Press November 6, 2023
“5 facts they don’t want you to know about Illinois’ 2023 student test results” – Wirepoints October 31, 2023
“North suburban homeowners seeing biggest property tax increase in 30 years, treasurer’s analysis finds” – Chicago Tribune October 30, 2023
“District 220 enrollment numbers continue to decline” – District 220 update October 18, 2023
“District 220 to offer ‘free’ full-day kindergarten” District 220 October 18, 2023
“ACT test scores for US students drop to new 30-year low” Associated Press October 11, 2023
“District 220 Board begins review of possibilities for new fine, visual & performing arts spaces at BHS (3 options)” District 220 update October 4, 2023
“Low 3rd-grade literacy is warning for future learning, earning potential” – Illinois Policy Institute October 2, 2023
“How Illinois public school measures fail to add up” – Illinois Policy Institute September 27, 2023
“New Illinois law ‘closes’ loophole to prevent sexual grooming of students” – The Center Square August 8, 2023
“New Illinois law allows ten (10) paid days off from teaching for union work” – Illinois Policy Institute June 16, 2023
“Over 4 of 5 Illinois law makers get money from Teachers Unions” – Illinois Policy Institute June 14, 2023
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File
“Pritzker signs law stripping libraries that ban books from state funding” – The Center Square June 12, 2023
“Illinois has more graduates but with lower scores, fewer heading to college” Illinois Policy Institute June 1, 2023
“District 220’s private equity campaign” – The Barrington Hills Observer May 9, 2023
“New Board of Education sworn into office” – District 220 update May 4, 2023
“‘We have a lot of healing to do’: Incumbents hanging on in contentious Barrington 220 race” – Daily Herald April 6, 2023
Considering all of this, we have one question for voters: “What components in CUSD 220’s $64M Referendum actually addresses getting student’s education and scores back on track?”
Meanwhile, next door: “Federal judges allow Iowa book ban to take effect this school year”
Posted in Associated Press, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Politics, School Districts on August 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) speaks at a rally on Nov. 6. | Scott Olson/Getty Images
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa can enforce a book ban this school year following a Friday ruling by a federal appeals court.
The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district judge’s earlier decision that temporarily halted key parts of the law, including a ban on books depicting sex acts in school libraries and classrooms.
The law, which the Republican-led Legislature and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds approved in 2023, also forbids teachers from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with younger students.
Reynolds said in a statement that the ruling reinforces the belief that “it should be parents who decide when and if sexually explicit books are appropriate for their children.”
“This victory ensures age-appropriate books and curriculum in school classrooms and libraries,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement. “With this win, parents will no longer have to fear what their kids have access to in schools when they are not around.”
LGBTQIA+ youth, teachers and major publishers sued in November to permanently overturn the law, which they say resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from Iowa schools before U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher blocked its enforcement in December.
In addition to schools removing books with LGBTQ+ themes from libraires, they also shut down extracurricular clubs dealing with those issues and removed pride flags from classrooms, the students’ attorneys argued in court. Students had to censor themselves about their gender identities and sexual orientations, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
“Denying LGBTQ+ youth the chance to see themselves represented in classrooms and books sends a harmful message of shame and stigma that should not exist in schools,” plaintiffs’ attorneys Lambda Legal, the ACLU of Iowa and Jenner & Block said in a joint statement.
Attorneys for the state of Iowa argued that the law is constitutional and that the state has a right to enforce it.
Iowa enacted its law amid a wave of similar legislation nationwide. Republican lawmakers typically propose the laws, saying they are designed to affirm parents’ rights and protect children. The laws often seek to prohibit discussion of gender and sexual orientation, ban treatments such as puberty blockers for transgender children, and restrict the use of restrooms in schools. Many have prompted court challenges.
Remembering D-Day: Key facts and figures about the invasion that changed the course of World War II
Posted in Associated Press, The Greatest Generation on June 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »
FILE – American soldiers and supplies arrive on the shore of the French coast of German-occupied Normandy during the Allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 in World War II. Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States, 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle. The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces. (AP Photo, File)
Associated Press
OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — The June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Nazi-occupied France was unprecedented in scale and audacity, using the largest-ever armada of ships, troops, planes and vehicles to punch a hole in Adolf Hitler’s defenses in western Europe and change the course of World War II.
With veterans and world dignitaries gathering in Normandy to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the landings, here’s a look at some details about how the operation unfolded.
WHO TOOK PART
FILE – American paratroopers, heavily armed, sit inside a military plane as they soar over the English Channel en route to the Normandy French coast for the Allied D-Day invasion of the German stronghold during World War II, June 6, 1944. (AP Photo, File)
Nearly 160,000 Allied troops landed in Normandy on June 6, 1944. Of those, 73,000 were from the United States and 83,000 from Britain and Canada. Forces from several other countries were also involved, including French troops fighting with Gen. Charles de Gaulle.
The Allies faced around 50,000 German forces.
More than 2 million Allied soldiers, sailors, pilots, medics and other people from a dozen countries were involved in the overall Operation Overlord, the battle to wrest western France from Nazi control that started on D-Day.
WHERE AND WHEN
The sea landings started at 6:30 a.m., just after dawn, targeting five code-named beaches: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, Sword. The operation also included actions inland, including overnight parachute landings on strategic German sites and U.S. Army Rangers scaling cliffs to take out German gun positions.
Around 11,000 Allied aircraft, 7,000 ships and boats, and thousands of other vehicles were involved.
MANY DEATHS ON ALL SIDES
A total of 4,414 Allied troops were killed on D-Day itself, including 2,501 Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded.
In the ensuing Battle of Normandy, 73,000 Allied forces were killed and 153,000 wounded. The battle — and especially Allied bombings of French villages and cities — killed around 20,000 French civilians.
The exact German casualties aren’t known, but historians estimate between 4,000 and 9,000 men were killed, wounded or missing during the D-Day invasion alone. About 22,000 German soldiers are among the many buried around Normandy.
SURVIVORS
Inevitably, the number of survivors attending major anniversary commemorations in France continues to dwindle. The youngest survivors are now in their late 90s. It’s unclear how many D-Day veterans are still alive. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs says it doesn’t track their numbers.
5 things to know about Memorial Day, including its evolution and controversies
Posted in Associated Press, Education, Nostalgia, Politics, Signal Hill NSDAR, The Greatest Generation, Topics Of Interest on May 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »
The sun shines through the flags in the Memorial Day Flag Garden on Boston Common, May 27, 2023, in Boston. Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members. But it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and retail discounts. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, file)
By BEN FINLEY | Associated Press
NORFOLK, Va. — Memorial Day is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.
But for people such as Manuel Castañeda Jr., the day is very personal. He lost his father, a U.S. Marine who served in Vietnam, in an accident in 1966 in California while his father was training other Marines.
“It isn’t just the specials. It isn’t just the barbecue,” Castañeda told The Associated Press in a discussion about Memorial Day last year.
Castañeda also served in the Marines and Army National Guard, from which he knew men who died in combat. But he tries not to judge others who spend the holiday differently: “How can I expect them to understand the depth of what I feel when they haven’t experienced anything like that?”
1. WHY IS MEMORIAL DAY CELEBRATED?
It’s a day of reflection and remembrance of those who died while serving in the U.S. military, according to the Congressional Research Service. The holiday is observed in part by the National Moment of Remembrance, which encourages all Americans to pause at 3 p.m. for a moment of silence.
Memorial Day-What to Know (© Provided by The Associated Press)
2. WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OR MEMORIAL DAY?
The holiday stems from the American Civil War, which killed more than 600,000 service members — both Union and Confederate — between 1861 and 1865.
There’s little controversy over the first national observance of what was then called Decoration Day. It occurred May 30, 1868, after an organization of Union veterans called for decorating war graves with flowers, which were in bloom.
The practice was already widespread on a local level. Waterloo, New York, began a formal observance on May 5, 1866, and was later proclaimed to be the holiday’s birthplace.
Yet Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, traced its first observance to October 1864, according to the Library of Congress. And women in some Confederate states were decorating graves before the war’s end.
David Blight, a Yale history professor, points to May 1, 1865, when as many as 10,000 people, many of them Black, held a parade, heard speeches and dedicated the graves of Union dead in Charleston, South Carolina.
A total of 267 Union troops had died at a Confederate prison and were buried in a mass grave. After the war, members of Black churches buried them in individual graves.
“What happened in Charleston does have the right to claim to be first, if that matters,” Blight told The Associated Press in 2011.
In 2021, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel cited the story in a Memorial Day speech in Hudson, Ohio. The ceremony’s organizers turned off his microphone because they said it wasn’t relevant to honoring the city’s veterans. The event’s organizers later resigned.
3. HAS MEMORIAL DAY ALWAYS BEEN A SOURCE OF CONTENTION?
Someone has always lamented the holiday’s drift from its original meaning.
As early as 1869, The New York Times wrote that the holiday could become “sacrilegious” and no longer “sacred” if it focuses more on pomp, dinners and oratory.
In 1871, abolitionist Frederick Douglass feared Americans were forgetting the Civil War’s impetus — enslavement — when he gave a Decoration Day speech at Arlington National Cemetery.
“We must never forget that the loyal soldiers who rest beneath this sod flung themselves between the nation and the nation’s destroyers,” Douglass said.
His concerns were well-founded, said Ben Railton, a professor of English and American studies at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. Even though roughly 180,000 Black men served in the Union Army, the holiday in many communities would essentially become “white Memorial Day,” especially after the rise of the Jim Crow South, Railton told the AP in 2023.
Meanwhile, how the day was spent — at least by the nation’s elected officials — could draw scrutiny for years after the Civil War. In the 1880s, then-President Grover Cleveland was said to have gone fishing — and “people were appalled,” Matthew Dennis, an emeritus history professor at the University of Oregon, told the AP last year.
By 1911, the Indianapolis 500 held its inaugural race on May 30, drawing 85,000 spectators. A report from The Associated Press made no mention of the holiday — or any controversy.
4. HOW HAS MEMORIAL DAY CHANGED?
Dennis said Memorial Day’s potency diminished somewhat with the addition of Armistice Day, which marked World War I’s end on Nov. 11, 1918. Armistice Day became a national holiday by 1938 and was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.
An act of Congress changed Memorial Day from every May 30th to the last Monday in May in 1971. Dennis said the creation of the three-day weekend recognized that Memorial Day had long been transformed into a more generic remembrance of the dead, as well as a day of leisure.
In 1972, Time Magazine said the holiday had become “a three-day nationwide hootenanny that seems to have lost much of its original purpose.”
5. WHY IS MEMORIAL DAY TIED TO SALES AND TRAVEL?
Even in the 19th century, grave ceremonies were followed by leisure activities such as picnicking and foot races, Dennis said.
The holiday also evolved alongside baseball and the automobile, the five-day work week and summer vacation, according to the 2002 book “A History of Memorial Day: Unity, Discord and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
In the mid-20th century, a small number of businesses began to open defiantly on the holiday.
Once the holiday moved to Monday, “the traditional barriers against doing business began to crumble,” authors Richard Harmond and Thomas Curran wrote.
These days, Memorial Day sales and traveling are deeply woven into the nation’s muscle memory.
Jason Redman, a retired Navy SEAL who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the AP last year that he honors the friends he’s lost. Thirty names are tattooed on his arm “for every guy that I personally knew that died.”
He wants Americans to remember the fallen — but also to enjoy themselves, knowing lives were sacrificed to forge the holiday.
The Lyrid meteor shower peaks this weekend, but it may be hard to see it
Posted in Associated Press, Lighting Ordinance, Topics Of Interest on April 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
FILE – The Lyrid meteor shower is seen over Burg on the Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn off Germany, Friday, April 20, 2018. The Lyrids occur every year in mid-to-late April. Peak activity for 2024 happens Sunday, April 21 into Monday, April 22, with 10 to 20 meteors expected per hour, weather permitting. Viewing lasts through April 29. (Daniel Reinhardt/dpa via AP, File)
By Christina Larson | Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Lyrid meteor shower is underway. But with a nearly full moon in the sky during the peak, it might be tough to see clearly.
The Lyrids occur every year in mid-to-late April. This year’s peak activity happens Sunday into Monday, with 10 to 20 meteors expected per hour. Viewing lasts through April 29.
Here’s what to know about the Lyrids and other meteor showers.
What is a meteor shower?
Multiple meteor showers occur annually and you don’t need special equipment to see them.
Most meteor showers originate from the debris of comets. The source of the Lyrids is the comet Thatcher.
When rocks from space enter Earth’s atmosphere, the resistance from the air makes them very hot. This causes the air to glow around them and briefly leaves a fiery tail behind them — the end of a “shooting star.”
The glowing pockets of air around fast-moving space rocks, ranging from the size of a dust particle to a boulder, may be visible in the night sky.
How to view a meteor shower
Meteor showers are usually most visible between midnight and predawn hours, and don’t require special equipment. Just look up.
It’s easier to see shooting stars under dark skies, away from city lights. Meteor showers also appear brightest on cloudless nights when the moon wanes smallest.
“Look to the northeast and just keep staring at the same spot in the sky” to see the Lyrids, said University of Warwick astronomer Don Pollacco. ”It’s always impressive when you see these things.”
The clearest sighting for the Lyrids is in the Northern Hemisphere, but moonlight will interfere with viewing, according to the American Meteor Society.
Under ideal conditions, “the meteors often appear very bright with bluish trails and often the trails seem to hang around for a few seconds in the sky,” said Pollacco.
When is the next meteor shower?
The meteor society keeps an updated list of upcoming large meteor showers, including the peak viewing days and moonlight conditions.
The Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks in early May with best viewing in the Southern Hemisphere. The shower is caused by debris from Halley’s comet.
Most Americans Feel They Pay Too Much In Taxes, Ap-Norc Poll Finds
Posted in Associated Press, Cook, County, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions on February 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »
FILE – The Internal Revenue Service 1040 tax form for 2022 is seen on April 17, 2023. Majorities of U.S. taxpayers say the amount they pay in taxes is too high, with many saying that they receive a poor value for the taxes they do pay, according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. | AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File
By CORA LEWIS and LINLEY SANDERS | Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A majority of taxpayers feel they pay too much in taxes, with many saying that they receive a poor value in return, according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Two-thirds of U.S. taxpayers say they spend “too much” on federal income taxes, as tax season begins. About 7 in 10 say the same about local property taxes, while roughly 6 in 10 feel that way about state sales tax. Generally speaking, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to view taxes as unfair, to say they are paying too much in taxes, and to see taxes as a poor value.
The poll found that few U.S. adults have a high level of confidence that the institutions that ultimately use their tax dollars — whether the federal government or local school districts — spend those taxes in the best interest of “people like them.” But people tend to trust governing bodies closer to home with their tax dollars slightly more: 16% are extremely or very confident in their local school district, compared to 6% for the federal government.
Adults who are 60 and older are more likely than younger adults to perceive taxes, generally, as fair.
Chris Berry, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy who was involved in the creation of the poll, said that, overall, public opinion about taxes and trust in government has declined. He sees the poll results as partly reflecting increased political polarization but says the public has long typically trusted local government more than the federal government.
“One of the things you’ll hear said is, ‘There’s no Democratic or Republican way to collect the trash or pave the streets,’” he said. “We tend to think of local government as less partisan.”
Among those who pay federal income taxes, half say they would prefer having fewer government services if it meant reducing their bill. One-third would keep their taxes the same in exchange for the same services, and 16% would opt to increase taxes for more services.
Danny Velasquez, 39, a business manager and Democrat in Boston who answered the poll, said he trusts local government to spend his tax dollars better than the federal government.
Asked how he would prefer his federal tax dollars be spent, Velasquez said the government “spends too much on war-making” and that he’d prefer “national healthcare and investment in education.”
Only about 1 in 4 taxpayers say they get a good value from paying either federal income tax, state sales tax or local property tax. About 1 in 3 in each case say it’s a poor value, and roughly 4 in 10 say the value is neither good nor bad.
According to the poll, most U.S. adults say they find either federal income tax or local property tax “unfair,” and about half say the same about state income tax, sales tax, and the federal Social Security tax.
Loretta Mwangi, 60, a Democrat who lives in Baltimore, sees taxes as fair and said she doesn’t have strong criticisms of how the government allocates tax dollars. Mwangi, who suffers from chronic pain after years of working in warehouses and as a security guard, currently lives on disability benefits.
“They’re going by how much you’re making and taking a percentage based on that,” she said. “There could be more support for education and for the homeless — there are a lot of people under the bridges still.”
Relatively few U.S. adults say they understand how the amount they owe is calculated. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults say they understand “extremely” or “very well” how amounts are determined for their local property tax. About one-quarter say they grasp the calculations for federal income tax. About 3 in 10 say they comprehend how state sales tax is calculated.
Yoany Mesa, 40, a computer engineer and Republican in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said he doesn’t view the tax system as “equitable or transparent.”
He and his wife, Grettel, 34, an auditor for a dental insurance company, said they perceive the federal tax code as full of loopholes, especially for the wealthy.
“There are a lot of things you hear people with money are able to claim — an inside club. I think if certain people have dependents, they should be able to get credits,” Grettel Mesa said. During the pandemic, the couple had received expanded child tax credits, for example, they said, but that policy ended in 2022.
Mesa said she had also previously trusted her local government more to spend their tax dollars, but that their area has recently been experiencing frequent flooding and sewage overflow, which makes her question that budgeting.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure spending that seems to be going by the wayside,” she said. “The money was supposed to go towards fixing the sewage systems — so where is that money going?”
___
The poll of 1,024 adults was conducted Dec. 14-18, 2023 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
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