The District 220 Board of Education meets this evening at 7:00 PM at the District Administration Center, 515 W. Main Street. Topics on their agenda include:
Consideration for the Board of Education to authorize the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services/CSBO to approve contracts for the procurement of natural gas and electricity and to elect and designate the price terms of such contracts. The price terms of such contracts shall not exceed the rate of forty-four cents ($0.4400) per therm for natural gas and 6.9 cents ($0.069) per kilowatt hour for electricity, and for periods not to exceed 36 months.
Consideration to Approve BHS Trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario
A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. The meeting will be livestreamed on the district YouTube channel.
On the recommendation of current BOE member, Erin Chan Ding, Rouse reached out via his Barrington220 issued email address to recruit Clopton to run for BOE: “As you are aware we’ve got some political craziness going on and we are anticipating some strong opposition to equity work moving forward in the district without the support of a sound board of education.”
In order to facilitate Clopton’s placement on the BOE, Rouse offered to put Clopton in contact with “people that are very interested in getting behind/supporting good candidates and putting them in contact with the right people.”
It is no secret that Rouse works closely with Jessica Green, founder of Courageous Community, an organization listed as a Community Partner on Rouse’s Equity220 website. Green hosted a “Meet the Candidate” fundraiser, exclusive to candidates Clopton, Altschuler, and Collister-Lazzari, 3 of the 7 running for BOE in the recent election. Green is also a member of the Equity Committee run by Rouse, but closed to the D220 community, as only “those who support the mission” are allowed to participate. So much for Rouse’s DEI initiative “We Belong to Each Other” ~ it clearly should come with a disclaimer: We Belong to Each Other… but only if you’re the ‘right people.’
Rouse took his support of Clopton running for BOE even further by connecting her with Melissa Atteberry. Atteberry is the current President of the Barrington Education Association (BEA), the D220 teacher’s union. Atteberry was very eager to meet with Clopton, “I would love to meet with you and learn more about your motivations, as well as goals for the district.”
Clopton will be called upon to vote on the BEA Union contract. What influence does Atteberry hold over her in that regard. We know that Chan Ding took political donations from, as well as the endorsement of, the BEA two years ago when she ran for BOE. This subjected her to much criticism. It appears from this election cycle that the BEA has found other ways to influence the BOE elections other than by making public endorsements and donations.
Rouse also took time away from his DEI work to meet Clopton for an extended lunch in Deer Park, where they apparently discussed her ability to combat the “political craziness” going on and the “strong opposition” to the equity work no one other than those deemed privileged enough by Rouse to serve on his private DEI Equity Committee Team know anything about.
Each of the meetings Rouse scheduled with Clopton were conducted on D220 time, on D220 email, and many on D220’s Zoom platform. As seen above, Rouse further orchestrated and participated in meetings between Clopton and BOE incumbent candidate Collister-Lazzari.
Collister-Lazarri and Superintendent Hunt made it very clear at the BOE meeting of September 20, 2022, that only people who “support the mission” would be welcome to participate on Rouses’s DEI Equity Team. The first Equity Committee meeting was reported on at this BOE meeting starting at 48:55, wherein Collister-Lazzari advised the meetings are “not open to the public” because, similar to the Safety & Security Committee, “there’s things that maybe the whole public shouldn’t be aware of.” When pushed as to how one might get involved, Chan Ding advised that administrators (i.e. Rouse) ask parents to be involved based on the ‘fit’ for that specific committee, to which Hunt reiterated, “you want people who support the mission of the work, obviously…” Those people are:
It is clear from these communications that we have a D220 Administrator actively seeking candidates for BOE that support his taxpayer paid position. A position that is closed off from public scrutiny and only available for his “District Equity Team” to be part of. He then puts said candidate in contact with the head of the BEA Teacher’s Union, on whose contract said candidate will soon be voting, as the BOE is currently involved in contract negotiations with the BEA. He then takes it one step further by offering to put said candidate in contact with community members that directly support his paid, closed to the public, District position.
Now, this may all be well and fine if Rouse and BEA President Atteberry offered to meet with all candidates running for BOE so they could share their goals for the District and what constitutes a “sound” BOE. However, Rouse was directly contacted by another candidate prior to the recent election, Leonard Munson, who requested a meeting with Rouse to learn more from him about the DEI programs and initiatives. Rouse refused to meet with Munson, stating his “admin team” has been advised to let D220 Superintendent Hunt know if any requests to meet are made from candidates and to refer requests to Hunt’s office as it was Hunt’s job to meet with candidates to discuss the District’s programs, “including our equity work.”
This should come as no surprise as Rouse has already decided that there are parents who are and who are not on the D220 “District Equity Team” and he has said so publicly, in BOE meetings and on his Twitter feed. Rouse clearly does not believe Munson “supports the mission” as he was denied any meeting with Rouse. Yet, the District emails indicate Rouse not only recruited Clopton, but met with her multiple times on the taxpayer’s dime. Is this Rouse’s idea of “equity”? The BOE candidates, parents and taxpayers of D220 deserve better.
Barrington School District 220 hired longtime school administrator Nathaniel Rouse as the district’s first-ever director of equity, race and cultural diversity initiatives in August of 2020. Apparently, Rouse recruits Board of Education candidates HE (and presumably his union) deems to be “sound” during school hours.
Posted Tuesday by CUSD 220:
“At the May 2 Barrington 220 Board of Education meeting, the new Board was sworn into office. New Board member Diana Clopton, along with re-elected Board members Barry Altshuler and Leah Collister-Lazzari, will all serve four-year terms on the Board.
Clopton and her husband moved to the Barrington area in 2011. They have two children who attend Prairie Campus and Station Campus. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign and a MBA from Northwestern University. Clopton currently works as an Associate Marketing Director at a bio-pharmaceutical company.”
The District 220 Board of Education meets tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM at the District Administration Center, 515 W. Main Street. Items on their agenda include:
Approve Settlement (Abeyance) Agreement with Student A
Consideration to Approve Middle School SRO Contract
Consideration to Approve 5th Amendment to the BHS SRO Contract, and
Consideration to Approve Canvassing Completed by Cook County as a result of the April 4, 2023, School Board Election
A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. The meeting will be livestreamed on the district YouTube channel.
The District 220 Board of Education meets this evening at 7:00 PM at the District Administration Center, 515 W. Main Street. Topics on their agenda include:
Consideration to Approve a Resolution Authorizing the Honorable Dismissal due to Reduction in Force of Part-Time or Full-Time Educational Support Staff
Consideration to Approve Sodexo Contract Renewal
Consideration to Approve Student Breakfast and Lunch Prices
Consideration to Approve Minibus Lease Extension, and
Appeal of Student Suspension (Student #505009)
A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. The meeting will be livestreamed on the district YouTube channel.
Michelle Rahilly and daughter Anastasia were among the supporters of the conservative slate of Leonard Munson, Katey Baldassano and Matt Sheriff that ultimately fell short in last week’s election for the Barrington Community Unit District 220 board. (Steve Zalusky | Staff Photographer)
With few exceptions, candidate slates that pushed for “parental rights” and leaned into culture war issues failed to make waves Tuesday in politically charged races for suburban school boards.
In Barrington Community Unit District 220, the New York-based 1776 Project Political Action Committee dumped money into mailers for a losing slate of three challengers who also were endorsed by the group Moms for Liberty.
As outside conservative groups put more emphasis on local elections, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s nearly entirely self-funded campaign committee made a $500,000 donation to the Democratic Party of Illinois in late February to combat what party officials called “really extreme” school and library board candidates across the state.
In Barrington, Katey Baldassano, Leonard Munson and Matt Sheriff unsuccessfully ran on a slate vowing to “respect the voice and rights of parents.” They objected to “sexually explicit” school library books and called on the board to put “age filters on content” during a conservative radio station interview last month.
“You couldn’t walk down the street and show that to a 15-year-old kid on the street without someone calling the cops,” Munson said at the time about “Flamer,” a graphic novel about a boy grappling with his sexual identity.
Baldassano told the Daily Herald the trio were unfairly characterized in campaign literature by Democrats. She also said Moms for Liberty used their names for an endorsement of which they were unaware.
“What was a single piece of a proposal or a program or an actionable item that we were proposing that was extreme? There was none,” Baldassano said. “But it was characterized that way or attempted to be by associating us with groups that maybe others perceive as extreme. There was nothing extreme about anything we said.”
Congratulations go to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Barrington Education Association – the ultimate winners in the 2023 CUSD 220 Board of Education elections.
The Northwest Herald sent a questionnaire out to all suburban candidates seeking election in the upcoming 2023 Consolidated Elections. The only Trustee candidate who deemed Barrington Hills residents worthy of a response was Jessica Hoffmann.
When asked why she was running, Jessica wrote:
“I am committed to preserving the integrity of Barrington Hills for generations to come. Maintaining our community’s traditions and quality of life for our residents, taking special care of our village’s beautiful landscape and our pristine financial record, would be of top priority for me while serving as a Barrington Hills Trustee.”
To learn more of what Jessica had to say about her reasons for running, click here.
The two other candidates running for Village Board of Trustee seats are Darby Hills and John Carpenter Clarke, who apparently saw no need for residents to learn about or vote for them. Their presumptive election by default apparently speaks for itself but speaks volumes to this publication.
We’re very pleased to endorse Jessica Hoffmann for election to the Barrington Hills Board of Trustees, and we’re grateful to have learned a bit about her.
As for the other two candidates, we encourage residents to devote as much time to checking their names off on the ballot as they did in completing the information on the questionnaire. In other words, leave it blank.
It’s beyond time for Community Unit School District 220 to get back to the business of providing the best education possible for the vast majority of students. We believe Leonard Munson, Katey Baldassano and Matt Sheriff are the best qualified to set 220 back on that course.
In their own words, here is why they are running for seats on the CUSD 220 Board of Education:
Leonard Munson: “I love the Barrington Community and the District 220 school system. I’m here to support all the teachers and students, and I’ve been doing that since 2005 by coaching and talking with hundreds of parents. Unfortunately, most of them are not feeling confident with the current school board direction and the candidates up for Reelection. In my opinion, the board isn’t functioning properly or fulfilling the needs of the students, community, district administration or teachers. So, I want to restore balance to the board and make sure every student from kindergarten to grade 12 gets the attention and respect they deserve. Plus, I want to bring back excellence in education, listen to parents and be a responsible caretaker of taxpayers’ money.”
Katey Baldassano: “I am running for school board in District 220 to bring more voices into the conversation. The last several years has left many parents feeling like their voice and feedback has been disregarded and that has only divided our community more. A career educator, I love schools, I love teachers and I love seeing students learn. I am running to ensure that the Barrington School Board can work to serve all students, rather than make decisions based on individual board members’ personal agendas.”
Matt Sheriff: “I am running to be the voice of our community. I have witnessed extremely poor leadership and seemingly lack of common sense from some board members over the last few years. They push personal agendas and ignore the wants and needs of the community. I am motivated by a sense of community and a desire to represent the voice of our children and taxpayers.”
We wholeheartedly support these candidates in their desire to restore the CUSD 220 Board of Education set on one goal of always seeking the best for students, educators and parents.
We encourage you to learn more about Leonard, Katey and Matt here, and ask you to support them with your vote.
Congratulations go to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the 
