There’s not exactly a new sheriff in town, but there are a couple of new deputies.
Two of the new Carpentersville School District 300 school board members openly opposed the “Vote Yes! Vote Yes!” tax hiking referendum crowd last year.
And, they ran 1, 2.
That means issues will be debated in public that might not otherwise see the light of day.
All it takes is one member to make a motion and another to second it!
Both elected Republican precinct committeeman John Ryan, who lives in Algonquin, and insurance agent Monica Clark, a Hampshire resident, got enough votes to gain seats on the District 300 school board.
Both received assistance from Jack Roeser’s Family Taxpayers Network.
The other two with enough votes to gain a board seat were
- Joe Stevens, an appointed board member and former Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Rotary Club President and
- Chris Stanton.
“Thank you to the voters of District 300 for the confidence you have placed in me,” Ryan told McHenry County Blog.
“I an deeply humbled and grateful.
“I would also like to thank all those who helped to spread my message of the need to restore integrity and accountability to this Board. Rest assured, I will do my best to live up to your expectations.”
Leading the pack, Ryan received 4,412 votes, while Clark came in second with 4,389.
The race for Ryan was a head-to-head against District 300 School Board President Mary Fioretti.
Because of school board election laws for unit districts, only three board members may be elected from each township, if there are three or more townships. That’s to ensure that less densely populated townships are not completely overwhelmed by those with much more population.
Because two District 300 board members not up for election are from Algonquin Township, only one candidate from Algonquin Township could be elected.
That meant a face-off between Ryan and Fioretti, a GOP precinct committeeman appointed by Harvard resident Bill LeFew, the McHenry County Republican Central Committee chairman.
In Kane, Ryan beat Fioretti 3,074 to 2,895.
In McHenry Ryan beat her 1,338 to 1,009.
Ryan was attacked unmercifully by Advance 300—the name of the District 300 tax hike group—for refusing to answer its questionnaire. Its spokesman, Nancy Zettler, savaged him for his refusal to answer her group’s questionnaire on the Northwest Herald’s comment section, as well as his being a homeschooling Dad.
District 300, like Huntley’s District 158, overlaps into both McHenry and Kane Counties.
Here’s the vote in McHenry County:
John Ryan – 1,338
Monica Clark – 1,377
Mary Fioretti – 1,009
Chris Stanton – 1,004
Dave Alessio – 811
Joe Stevens – 808
Dennis Cleveland – 619
Al Douglas – 362
In Kane County, here’s how it went down:
Ryan – 3,074
Clark – 3,012
Fioretti – 2,895
Stanton – 2,833
Stevens –2,706
Alessio – 2,319
Cleveland – 2,027
Douglas – 1,037
And, the grand totals?
Ryan – 4,412
Clark – 4,389
Fioretti – 3,904
Stanton – 3,837
Stevens – 3,514
Alessio – 3,130
Cleveland – 2,646
Douglas-1,399
= = = = =
John Ryan can be seen in the top right photo. Mary Fioretti, the District 300 School Board President he beat is on the upper right. Appointed school board member Joe Stevens’ photograph is below.
Cal – I am not sure we have had a victory yet. Yes we elected candidates not supported by Advance300, but this outcome of this election is no more a mandate than last years referendum vote. It shows again how divided we are on how we want our schools run. It shows what happens when a marginal majority ignores its opposition. It indicates that running community input meetings that seem to ignore divergent opinion is not the way to go. It also says that holding discussions behind closed doors to avoid that disagreeing point of view will not be tolerated by the point of view being disregarded. The real challenge for new and existing board members will be to seek out a real understanding of how the whole district wants it’s schools run, not just the marginal majority – be that the marginal majority that elected these candidates or the marginal majority that voted “yes, yes” last year. The net challenge here will be to find compromise – a middle ground where we can build consensus. We all agree we want more and better resources at the classroom level – so why not start there? Maybe a focus on the classroom level – maximizing resources there, maximizing attention there, instead of at the administrative level as has been seen so much. But we need to start somewhere. The divisiveness of the past 18 months will get us nowhere.
Monelson6: I respectfully disagree with “The divisiveness of the past 18 months will get us nowhere.” It is divisiveness that has brought to light honest enrollment projections, the news that the Open Meetings act was breached, D300 spent almost $1 million on tax service and then was overbilled. If we did not have people both in and out of the district, asking divisive questions, we’d just have lemmings. Divisive does not mean dysfunction. I hope our new board members, and existing ones as well, go into their membership knowing that the public expects accountability and disclosure.