Illinois lawmakers are advancing a measure that would would allow certain bathrooms in the Land of Lincoln to be genderless.
State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, filed House Bill 1286. If passed, the bill would allow for any multiple-occupancy restroom to be identified as an all-gender multiple-occupancy restroom and designated for use by any person of any gender.
The measure follows a 2019 bill approved by Gov. J.B. Pritzker that made all single-occupancy bathrooms in Illinois into gender-neutral restrooms.
Stuart explained her measure on Wednesday in front of the House Human Services Committee, saying it is not a mandate.
“It creates the opportunity for places, businesses, universities, you name it, to create a multi-stall gender-neutral restroom,” Stuart said. “It lays out requirements for what is in that facility like locking mechanisms, privacy, disposal for menstrual products and all those types of things.”
Stuart said without the bill, places allowing gender-neutral multi-stall bathrooms are breaking the law and this measure would make it legal. The bill also would require any new single occupancy bathroom to be built a certain distance away from the gender-neutral bathroom.
Amazon is instructing corporate staffers to spend at least three days a week in the office, CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo on Friday.
It marks a shift from Amazon’s previous policy, which left it up to individual managers to decide how often their employees would be required to work from the office.
Jassy said he and the S-team, a tight-knit group of senior executives from almost all areas of Amazon’s business, decided at a meeting earlier this week that employees should be in the office “the majority of the time (at least three days per week).” They made the decision after determining that it would benefit the company’s culture and workers’ ability to learn from and collaborate with one another.
Amazon plans to implement the change on May 1. There will be some exceptions to the rule, Jassy said, such as customer support roles, which have the option of working remotely.
“It’s not simple to bring many thousands of employees back to our offices around the world, so we’re going to give the teams that need to do that work some time to develop a plan,” Jassy said. “We know that it won’t be perfect at first, but the office experience will steadily improve over the coming months (and years) as our real estate and facilities teams smooth out the wrinkles, and ultimately keep evolving how we want our offices to be set up to capture the new ways we want to work.”
Other companies have recently called their employees back to the office either full time or several days a week as the Covid-19 pandemic has eased. Google and Apple have required some of their employees to return to the office since last year, while Disney in January began requiring hybrid employees to be in the office four days a week.
Yesterday we reviewed some candidates running for seats on the District 220 Board of Education (BOE) April 4, 2023 elections. To summarize, we recommended residents not vote for Leah Collister-Lazzari and Barry Altshuler so far.
Five other candidates are asking voters to consider voting for them, and they are:
Leonard Munson: Munson is a United States Air Force veteran, and served as a Survival Resistance and Escape instructor for 20 years. He brought these experiences to the private sector running small businesses including training and operational support on the Global War on Terror. Munson has served on the LEADS board educating and mentoring a drug free District 220.
Munson was often found to be the voice of reason during public comment at BOE meetings, advocating for choice and parental rights when it came to masking the District 220 students. In addition, Munson recently gave public comment at a BOE meeting in favor of the District funding all day kindergarten, which Collister-Lazari would presumably not support given her interest in raising the cost to parents of kindergarten enrichment.
Katey Baldassano: Baldassano has a master’s degree in educational leadership with a bachelors in early childhood education. She’s been a teacher in Carpentersville and has provided educational support in the home setting.
Baldassano has spoken at BOE meetings during public comment urging the Board to ensure that parents retain their right to determine what books their children had access to when deciding on keeping books, such as Gender Queer, the book endorsed by Altshuler, in the school libraries. She also addressed the Board during the remote learning and masking debate, discussing the potential long term effects of denying young children the education they need, the need for human connection and relationships, and that true equity is about children getting what they need so they can learn.
Matt Sheriff: Sheriff has served many executive and c-level roles professionally with diverse business experience leading companies and negotiating contracts. Given the District’s contract with the Barrington Education Association is currently being negotiated, Sheriff’s experience negotiating with fortune 100 companies will be a great asset in the union negotiations, particularly in light of Hunt’s departure.
Sheriff volunteers with the Lake County Sheriff’s auxiliary deputy unit, assisting Lake County’s local municipalities in times of emergencies and when additional manpower resources are required.
Diana Clopton: Clopton works in marketing for AbbVie Pharmaceuticals. Clopton did face a challenge to her candidacy for failure to properly file her statement of economic interest. She prevailed in that proceeding and her name will remain on the ballot. She piloted two children programs, Born Beautiful, a workshop for young women, and Gamechangers, which teaches kids about entrepreneurship.
We have not seen Clopton speak at any Board of Education meetings, but we know that self-proclaimed activist Jim McGrath, a serial speaker before the BOE, who advocates against the rights of parents to choose whether to vaccinate, mask, or determine appropriate reading material for their children has advocated on Clopton’s behalf on Twitter, referring to her as one of “our candidates,” along with Altshuler and Collister-Lazarri, each of whom has taken similar positions as McGrath on taking away these parental rights.
Nelda Munoz: Munoz has been outspoken during Board meetings over masking and indoctrination of students over the availability of the book Gender Queer. She was also a plaintiff in one of the pandemic related lawsuits brought against D220. Her grit and determination in the effort to raise awareness of issues to the current BOE has been commendable.
While we appreciate the passion of Munoz, in the wake of Superintendent Hunt’s departure, we think it important that the upcoming board have well-reasoned and thoughtful members to not only search for the next superintendent, but to figure out how to retain him or her for more than 18 months, and to control the madness of the current BOE President Ficke-Bradford.
Having considered all 7 candidates and weighing the pros and cons of each, we’re endorsing Leonard Munson, Katey Baldassano and Matt Sheriff for seats on the District 220 Board of Education.
In an era where the voices of the community have fallen on deaf ears, we believe they will bring a willingness to listen to all voices, integrity, common sense, fiscal responsibility, negotiating skills, and much needed balance to the District 220 Board of Education.
Angela Wilcox, Leah Collister-Lazzari and Barry Altshuler
Angela Wilcox, current and second longest serving 220 Board of Education member, recently withdrew from the race for another term on the board. This week, the district’s superintendent, Dr. Robert Hunt, announced his departure only eighteen (18) after his installment (as an aside, the BOE under former President Kazmier and then VP Ficke-Bradford spent nearly a year and Lord knows how much in taxpayer dollars searching for Hunt in 2020).
In light of these two recent events, we think it’s time to take a good look at the candidates running for 220 Board of Education in the upcoming April election.
Incumbent Barry Altshuler, a pediatrician who espouses on his professional website to believing in ‘holistic’ care, routinely advocated for vaccination of students, to keep students remote and masked. Altshuler voted to keep Gender Queer in the District’s libraries, saying, “kids need the book,” and he “wished that book was around when (he) was in middle school.” For reference, the book is recommended for ages 16 and up.
Altshuler was also heard violating the doctor/patient HIPPA confidentiality when he discussed his patient, Alex Strobl, publicly during BOE meetings surrounding the controversy of Strobl dropping from the 2021 BOE election.
Incumbent Leah Collister-Lazzari voted to keep students remote and masked. Collister-Lazzari also wrote emails micro-managing Dr. Hunt, such as asking him to tell BHS basketball coaches to make sure the kids were properly masked while playing sports.
In December, Collister-Lazzari voted remotely for an increase in the levy while on a purported ‘business meeting’ in New Zealand, yet also advocated in favor of the District increasing the parental cost of kindergarten enrichment and voted against keeping the fees at their current rate in favor of raising them.
During the D220 strategic planning meetings she brought a 3×5 card with Ficke-Bradford’s equity statement written on it and advocated to have the equity statement put into the D220 mission statement.
Most egregiously, in the opinion of the Observer, in 2021 when three new members of the current Board were sworn in for their first BOE meeting, Altshuler and Collister-Lazzari colluded with Sandra Ficke-Bradford and Erin Chan Ding to oust Member Wilcox from any position as a Board Officer. Wilcox was 6 years into the position, to Altshuler’s and Collister-Lazzari’s 2, and had an exemplary record as the Treasurer of the Board in preceding years.
In addition, the public had made it clear to the BOE Board that Wilcox was preferred to succeed to the position of President surrounding controversial actions of Ficke-Bradford and Kazmierz and their treatment of Alex Strobl who withdrew as a candidate in the 2021 election following their strong-arm tactics.
For these reasons, and more to come, we urge voters NOT to vote for Barry Altshuler and Leah Collister-Lazzari. They do not deserve to continue on our 220 school board.
“Sounds like a nuisance.” – The Daily Herald’s description of District 220’s traffic plan. Officials are so confused they’ve misspelled traffic signs.
“As you are aware, the Lake County Department of Transportation is replacing the bridge over Flint Creek on Hart Road. The bridge replacement and road closure is scheduled through November. To help mitigate traffic impacts from the road closure, representatives and traffic engineers from the Lake County Department of Transportation, the Village of Barrington, and Barrington 220 have worked in collaboration to improve traffic flow on and around the Barrington High School Campus. Although these efforts will help alleviate congestion at arrival and dismissal time, improved traffic flow can only go so far toward mitigating congestion.
To that end, Barrington 220 and the Village of Barrington have been consulting with Barrington Transportation to help reduce congestion near BHS. We ask that all students and families consider walking, biking, or riding the bus if possible. In fact, students who consistently walk, bike, or ride the bus on and off of campus will be entered into a drawing to win BHS spirit wear, gift cards for Airpods, Apple Watches and more.
Other ways to reduce congestion could be to utilize these remote options:
1) Purchase a parking permit for one of 3 locations at a cost of $100:
The Barrington – 540 W Northwest HWY (125 spots available) (MAP)
The Barrington Metra Station – 201 South Spring Street (125 spots available) (MAP)
St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church – 720 Dundee Ave (100 spots available) (MAP)
2) Sign-up for dropping off students at a remote location (FREE)
The Barrington – 540 W Northwest HWY
The Barrington Metra Station – 201 South Spring Street
Both options include a shuttle bus from the location to BHS, leaving remote locations at 8AM and a shuttle bus from BHS to the remote locations at the end of the school day, arriving at the remote locations at approximately 3:50PM. Parking permit and remote drop-off is for August 22 to November 4.
Please note, the Barrington Police department will be patrolling the additional parking areas, and violators will be ticketed and potentially towed at the owner’s expense. In addition, please be aware that parking in the remote lots is at your own risk. In the case of vandalism or damage occurring to their vehicle, the owner of the vehicle is responsible for remediating through their personal auto insurance, or out of pocket.
Please note that during the school year the main entrance to BHS off of Main Street will only be accessible to staff, buses and Build 220 construction traffic. All students and parents must use the west parking lot (off Hart Road) to access the building. The west parking lot is reserved for senior parking only.”
District 220: “Families are highly encouraged to have their students ride the school bus or carpool”
“As many of you are aware, Hart Road is currently closed from US Route 14 (Northwest Highway) to Main Street (Lake Cook Road) until November.
In order to ease traffic in the area and make sure students arrive safely to school this fall, the district is working with the Village of Barrington, Barrington Police Department, and Barrington Transportation Company, in order to provide the option of shuttle buses and permitted parking spots for Barrington High School students at various locations throughout the village. BHS will send out more details to families next week.”
Earlier this week, the Daily Herald published:
“Gridlock alert
Barrington Hills drivers should expect delays on County Line Road between Haegers Bend Road/Elgin Road and Hart Road as crews resurface pavement and construct new sidewalk ramps. Work wraps up in early December.”
Controversy continues to swirl in Barrington Community Unit District 220 over the book “Gender Queer,” as parents who object to its presence in the Barrington High School library and those who support it spoke out again Tuesday before the board of education.
Meanwhile, district officials say they are proceeding with a formal review of the memoir to determine whether it belongs on the library shelves.
Delivering an update at Tuesday’s board meeting, Superintendent Robert Hunt said the district is following its procedures for evaluating the book, which is not part of the district’s curriculum, isn’t used in any instructional material and isn’t available in middle school libraries.
Board member Katie Karam said the big issue involves a discussion on how the district curates books for school libraries and what should be considered sexually explicit material.
The meeting Tuesday was highly charged, with prolonged and often emotional public comment from those who view the book as pornographic, those advocating for the freedom to read and those who support LGBTQ+ students. Many carried signs with slogans such as “Our children need to be taught how to think not what to think.”
Jenna Shields, a parent in the district, said a petition being circulated expressing the need to “filter obscene and pornographic content across all media and resources” already has received more than 1,300 signatures.
“That content has been promoted by the teachers and is available to our students,” she said. “The idea of parents having to filter for this or routinely opt out is unacceptable. While many policies exist to address obscene or pornographic content, the school library policy still needs to be updated.”
Our gratitude goes to those who’ve followed our four-part journey thus far. Hopefully, it may lead you to the same conclusions we now share.
Obvious to all, there is no way that the current Board of Trustees (BOT), especially President Cecola, would ever consider seating Robin VanCastle next to them in the MacArthur Room. She has shown the unwavering honesty that causes many to avert their eyes, for fear that eye contact would reveal truths some, such as President Cecola, cannot hide.
No one will ever know if Trustee Buettner contemplated this in her discussions with Pro-Tem Konicek. The question is, do we owe her a debt of gratitude for setting the bar so high as to cause the BOT themselves to raise theirs? Only time will tell.
As we’ve stated, our Village President nominates appointees of his (or is it his household’s) choosing. At the very least he should have reached out to Ms. VanCastle as he did to other prospective nominees to express Trustee Buettner’s desires. That is just common courtesy, which apparently he and most trustees have forgotten. It’s that change which can lead to moral turpitude that prompted this series.
The Observer was founded over twelve years ago, since many residents at the time recognized the ethical erosion in our Village government, not only at the Board level, but Commission levels as well. We like to think our communications had some influence in correcting that situation beginning in 2013.
Unfortunately, last year we witnessed our Village government heading in a downward path, and the speed at which it is continuing has us concerned.
Last year we elected four people to our BOT, one being an incumbent Trustee escalated to Village President. For six years, then Trustee Brian Cecola relied almost exclusively on the guidance provided by former Village President Marty McLaughlin and Trustee Colleen Konicek Hannigan. Their education, experience and long hours studying the many issues facing our Village proved immensely beneficial to Cecola and were arguably the reason for his election to President.
Sadly, President Cecola did not retain enough of what he should have learned from his previous mentors to be effective in his new responsibilities, which has become glaringly evident to residents. And it appears that the three newer Trustees are following Cecola’s lead, but the question is, who is setting his leadership path? From our observations, not him, and in fairness, we need to explain why.
President Cecola is a hard worker when it comes to performing tasks he derives income from. However, in his volunteer roles he seems to prefer to relegate research and decision making to others in his duties at Village Hall.
He appears to lean heavily (some say exclusively) on the former Building Permit Coordinator and the current (inexperienced) Village Administrator for guidance (and decisions). The has led to the three new Trustees relying on often biased counsel from non-elected sources.
Examples include the former Permit Coordinator’s well documented advocating for aboveground swimming pools for a neighbor, now permitted for the first time in our Village of estate properties’ history. This in Cecola’s first month in office, dutifully approved to his wife’s delight.
There are other examples of Cecola’s self-interest voting that have occurred, not the least of which is convincing the BOT to terminate a longstanding snow plowing and salting relationship with Cuba Township in favor of awarding business to a private landscaping company he socializes with. Without providing a reason when asked, Cecola conveniently abstained on voting on that one.
Before our newer Trustees continue in this trend, governed by two non-elected people planning Cecola’s course in our Village, we implore them to pause and take stock of where they’re at now and how they’re perceived in the community.
President Cecola is no longer credible and has lost the support of many former supporters, apparently including President McLaughlin, who now can be heard opining that Cecola is not the same today as the person he and others supported and voted for last April.
If Cecola continues to be disinterested, we sincerely ask Trustees Ekstrom, Riff, Strauss and now Hills, to pay much closer attention to what is happening in our community and to the management of our Village.
Our Village Board of Trustees meets this evening at 6:30 PM. Some of the topics on their agenda include:
[Vote] An Ordinance for the Levy and Assessment of Taxes for the Fiscal Year Beginning January 1, 2021 and Ending December 31, 2021 Ordinance 21 –
[Vote] An Ordinance Amending Driveway Permit and Design Regulations as set Forth in Title 10 of the Village’s Municipal Code Ordinance 21 –
[Vote] An Ordinance Amending Sections 5-2-1, 5-3-9, 5-3-13, 5-5-2 and 5-5-11 of the Village’s Zoning Regulations Ordinance 21 –
[Vote] An Ordinance Granting an Amendment to an Existing Special Use Permit to Allow an Addition to Countryside Elementary School, 205 W. County Line Road Ordinance 21 – (72 Hours after the ZBA approved it)
[Vote] An Ordinance Adding Requirements for Road Access Permits Amending Title 4, Building Regulations of the Village’s Municipal Code Ordinance 21 –
[Vote] An Ordinance Approving a Final Plat of Re-subdivision: Shah Consolidation: 41 & 45 Hawthorne Lane Ordinance 21- (48 Hours after the PC approved it)
[Vote] A Resolution Approving the Execution of an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) for Maintenance with Cuba Township Road District
Resolution 21 –
It bears mentioning that two of the items the BOT may be voting on tonight were approved just this week by the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Plan Commission. Since audio recordings and minutes are not yet available from these two meetings, the board members will not have the support of that documentation if votes occur.
The complete 179-page agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.
Barrington 220 Superintendent Robert Hunt, his second grade daughter Emmie Hunt, 7, center, and their neighbor, Hadley Crowley, 8, put on masks as they walk to school on the first day of school at Grove Avenue Elementary School, Aug. 20, 2021, in Barrington. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
As Illinois schools welcome students back to fully reopened classrooms this month amid another coronavirus surge, educators face a thorny question: How do you teach students who are quarantined by COVID-19?
The dismantling of pandemic-era remote and hybrid instruction programs across the U.S. this fall arrives by state proclamation and on the urging of U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, who earlier this summer said, “Schools have shown that they can — and should — be offering in-person learning opportunities five days a week to every student.”
Remote instruction can be offered to students while they are under quarantine, Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Carmen Ayala said earlier this summer. But despite pleas from some parents who want a full-time e-learning option to continue, districts including Chicago Public Schools are reserving their virtual programs for students who qualify as medically fragile and have documented health conditions.
Some teachers and parents are applauding the full return to in-person learning. But the abrupt halting of remote instruction — which last year allowed in-person students who tested positive for the virus to pivot swiftly to online classes — is forcing school districts to get creative this fall when it comes to teaching kids who need to quarantine.
Students at Barrington School District 220 will have the option to participate in the district’s Test to Stay Strategy. It will rely on a slate of authorized PCR or rapid antigen screenings from the date of an exposure to COVID-19, with close contacts permitted to remain in the classroom as long as the results are negative, according to the District 220 website.
The strategy can only be used when “both the COVID-19-confirmed case and close contact were engaged in consistent and correct use of well-fitting masks, regardless of vaccination status,” officials warned.
