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.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that blocks public colleges from using federal or state funding on diversity programs, addressing a concern of conservatives ahead of the Republican governor’s expected presidential candidacy.
The law, which DeSantis proposed earlier this year, comes as Republicans across the country target programs on diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education.
The signing builds on the governor’s larger push to shape Florida’s education system through regulating how schools deal with subjects such as race and gender, with DeSantis arguing that he is challenging inappropriate liberal ideology in the classroom.
DeSantis, who is expected to announce his presidential run in the coming weeks, has focused heavily on divisive cultural issues as he moves to win over the conservative voters who typically decide Republican primary elections.
Diversity, equity and inclusion offices in higher education often spearhead services tailored to students of various races, genders, sexual orientations, cultures and abilities. Some college administrators also consider so-called DEI factors when admitting students, providing scholarships or deciding which faculty to hire and promote.
The law blocks public universities from diverting state or federal funds toward programs or campus activities that advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion or promote political or social activism.
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.
A group of conservative challengers lost in the Barrington 220 school board race, which saw only a 17% voter turnout.
Katey Baldassano, one of the challengers, said the race decided the majority on the school board. Baldassano ran on a slate with Leonard Munson and Matt Sheriff, and they were hoping to tip the scales toward a conservative majority on the board.
“It was pretty consistently a 4-3 split on pretty much every issue,” Baldassano told Lake County Gazette. “But now it will be 5-2. So much more one way. If two of the people in my slate or a different challenger that was not on my seat had won, then there could have been a shift in the majority the other way.”
Baldassano said she thinks they “had a super strong core team and a super strong group of supporters.”
“It’s hard to imagine a group of candidates that did more to meet people and get our message out there than we did,” Baldassano said. “It would be really hard to imagine that. I guess at the end of the day, just the voter turnout was pretty abysmal across the state. And I guess based on the voters, the people who voted sent a message for what they want for our community and it wasn’t what we were pitching, even though we do think that more represent the community as a whole. But if the people don’t vote, then they can’t expect change. They are going to expect more of the same. Or things to get worse and that they’re going to get what they asked for.”
Baldassano’s slate is grateful to their supporters, and they hope “that people will keep speaking out for what they especially want for their own kids.”
“Because at the end of the day, the parents are the most important thing in raising their kids,” Baldassano said. “And if we aren’t happy, then we need to advocate for what’s best for our kids because they’re the ones that are the end user of the system and they deserve a really great education. I hope that people keep fighting for that.”
As this article confirms, the real winners in Tuesday’s 220 Board of Education elections were unions
Voters across the Chicago suburbs and around the state turned back attempts to pull local school boards to the right in Tuesday’s elections, though conservative candidates had pockets of success, winning enough seats to take control in some districts.
Typically low-cost, low-interest school board races have become nationalpolitical proxy fights following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Chicago suburbs have become a key battleground.
Efforts by conservative groups pushing national Republican talking points about “parental rights,” “gender ideology” and “critical race theory” were met in Illinois with an unprecedented pushback from the state Democratic Party, which pledged nearly $300,000 to oppose candidates it labeled “extremists.” Teachers unions also took a more active role in campaigning this spring.
While mail-in ballots are still arriving and being counted, Democrats and teachers unions this week weredeclaring victory, with the state party boasting a 72% success rate and the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, touting that nearly 90% of its recommended candidates won.
From Oswego to Barrington to Downers Grove to Lyons Township and beyond, organized slates of conservative candidates backed by right-wing groups such as Awake Illinois, Moms for Liberty and the national 1776 Project Political Action Committee saw defeat, according to unofficial election results.
At the same time, conservatives appeared poised to take control of school boards in places such as northwest suburban Huntley and in tiny Fairview School District 72 in Skokie.
Top from left, Barry Altshuler, Katey Baldassano, Diana L. Clopton and Leah Collister Lazzari and, bottom from left, Nelda Munoz, Leonard Munson and Matt Sheriff
Football season is behind us, but instant replay can be one of the more agonizing and frustrating moments during games. During that period of time, referees must watch plays in super slow motion to review every millisecond of movement to get the call correct. The announcers always state that the officials need “irrefutable video evidence” to overturn the original ruling.
After review of Tuesday’s unofficial District 220 Board of Education (BOE) election results, we find ourselves in replay mode looking at myriad data points to assess the political science.
This year’s BOE election included two incumbents, Barry Altschuler and Leah Collister-Lazzari, as well as five first time candidates: Katey Baldassano, Leonard Munson, Matt Sheriff (collectively running on the Action PAC slate), Nelda Munoz and Diana Clopton.
Early voting was available from March 20th – April 3rd with election day voting taking place on Tuesday, April 4th. The unofficial Lake County election night results showed a striking disparity between those who chose to vote in person (either through early voting or on election day) compared to those who voted by mail.
The Action PAC candidates and Nelda Munoz all performed far better with those who voted in person while the two incumbents and Diana Clopton performed remarkably better with mail in ballots. The top three vote getters amongst those who voted in person in Lake County were the three Action PAC candidates. The top 3 vote by mail getters, as a percentage of their overall total number of votes, were the two incumbents and Diana Clopton. The data breakdown is seen here:
So what does this mean? Clearly, a considerable effort was made by Clopton, Altshuler and Lazzari to execute on mail in ballots. We also know that both Lake County and Cook County offer the option for voters to permanently vote by mail (since the 2020 general election).
We also know that Governor Pritzker promised to allocate $500,000 and other Democratic Party resources to school board races during this election cycle. We also know that Clopton, Altshuler and Lazzari claimed they were not part of a slate and instead self-identified as “independent” candidates.
Is it just coincidence that Clopton, Altshuler and Lazzari had nearly identical percentages of their vote tally to come from mail in ballots? Is it possible the Democratic Party of Illinois harvested the necessary number of ballots supporting Clopton, Altshuler and Lazzari to overtake the Action PAC candidates despite their claim of independence? Should the mail in ballots themselves be subject to a legal challenge flag?
The answer is we do not know and do not have irrefutable evidence to say otherwise. What we can unequivocally state is that we are an evenly ideologically divided town when it comes to overseeing our schools.
The so called “independent” candidates – and let’s be honest, they are the left leaning candidates – gathered 6,507 (50.35%) votes in Lake County as of election night and the center/right leaning candidates collected 6,415 (49.64%) votes. We don’t see a mandate in those numbers, and it would behoove the new BOE to recognize this chasm and respect the wide range of community perspectives. After all, the next football season is just a few months away.
The real winners in Tuesday’s 220 Board of Education elections outcome.
In a contentious race that hit upon many of the culture war issues being debated across the country and drew the attention of national conservative groups and the state Democratic party, it was the candidate preaching unity who claimed the most votes Tuesday.
With provisional and late-arriving mail ballots left to be counted, Diana L. Clopton was the top vote-getter in the race for three seats on the Barrington Area Community Unit District 220 board, according to unofficial results.
Clopton received 4,100 votes, and incumbents Barry Altshuler and Leah Collister-Lazzari were in second and third, with 4,085 and 4,057 votes, respectively.
The race renewed heated debates in District 220 over COVID-19 mitigations and the placement of the controversial memoir “Gender Queer” on the shelves of the Barrington High School library.
The slate of Baldassano, Munson and Sheriff received support from the conservative 1776 Project PAC, which touts its opposition to critical race theory and anti-racism, and an endorsement from the national organization Moms for Liberty.
On the other side, the Democratic Party of Illinois — boosted by a $500,000 donation from Gov. J.B. Pritzker — supported Altshuler and Collister-Lazzari while accusing Baldassano, Munson and Sheriff of “pursuing an extremist agenda.”
Baldassano said Wednesday it was unfortunate that the campaign became swept up in the culture wars. She said she would have preferred the focus stay on students and their learning.
Congratulations go to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Barrington Education Association – the ultimate winners in the 2023 CUSD 220 Board of Education elections.
Congratulations go to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the 
