Feb. 8th Candidate Meet & Greet in Spring Grove

The first indication that there is election activity for the voting on April 7th comes from the northeastern part of McHenry County.

A Meet & Greet has been arranged for Spring Grove Village Board candidate Steve Bishop and Diane Bishop, who is running the Nippersink Grade School District 2 Board of Education.

Spring Grove Meet + Greet 1-15 BishopsIt will be held from 2-3:30 on Sunday February 8th at 8401 Eagle Ridge, Spring Grove.

8401 Eagle Ridge, Spring Grove.

8401 Eagle Ridge, Spring Grove.


Comments

Feb. 8th Candidate Meet & Greet in Spring Grove — 7 Comments

  1. It is good to see quality candidates entering the field.

  2. Since Diane Bishop is not on the school board, she is a challenger, not an incumbent.

    Here is how you can go about learning about school districts, which are the largest portion of your property tax bill, and the largest unfunded pension liability in the state is the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) for teachers and administrators.

    Figure out who is on the board, read the board minutes, watch board meetings online, go to board meetings, research public databases, ISBE site has a lot of information, watch Champion News Online YouTube Channel (for those that want to reform school boards), and seek out those with knowledge in reforming school boards.

    Most but not all school boards have close ties to teacher unions, and ditto to a lesser extent many school district administrations.

    School districts are large monopoly bureaucracies, most with monopoly unions.

    Most school districts are the largest or one of the largest employers in the school districts.

    Most have tons of politics and different people with different agendas.

    The larger the school district, the more complicated all the above, in general.

    Small school districts, many times easier to figure out the political landscape.

    Current members of the Nippersink School District 2 school Board:

    Bert Irslinger, Board President
    Sharon Bianchini, Vice President
    Pierre Langlois, Secretary
    Dawn Heaney
    Matt Johnson
    Gary Kriz
    Mindy Ross

    http://www.nippersinkdistrict2.org > District Directory > Board of Education.

    The Board does have its minutes archived back to 2011, no reason why they can put their minutes online prior to that date also.

    The Board has a BoardBook application which contains individual attachments which is good, they should also have 1 huge attachment that can be downloaded for each meeting, instead of having to download all the individual attachments.

    The Board does not videotape its Board meetings.

    All Boards should videotape their board meetings and archive them on their website indefinitely.

    Here is the OpenTheBooks Transparency Report for Nippersink SD 2:
    http://www.openthebooks.com/file.aspx?AssetPath=ZC3qJRVoHAKKqfRvuR1E64DeD6vqVg18GDALGsi0AxUZ5VbgdOnfLijxseSAl0R74tIR9YaHzPVksdXqkg2AKvmokCmWoO35UsfhKTh0QNyFuSARX4gjgtEwEPJHvzSYZqtd3ndo%2b7n8AaEf82fpsg%3d%3d

    http://www.openthebooks.com > Snapshot Transparency Schools > scroll down and change 50 items per page to 500 items per page > click on page 2 > Nippersink School District 2.pdf

    Be sure to sign in / register first so you don’t lose your spot when navigating the website, at least that’s been my experience.

    OpenTheBooks also has salary data for Nippersink SD 2.

    http://www.OpenTheBooks.com > click Illinois on the map > Category: Employee Compensation > Employee Status: State/Local Employee Salaries > Area of Government:Public School Employees > Continue > Employer Name: Nippersink School District 2 > View Results > Scroll Down and change to 500 items per page.

    You probably need cookies enabled in your browser if they are not already.

    For pensions:

    http://www.OpenTheBooks.com > click Illinois on the map > Category: Employee Compensation > Employee Status: State/Local Employee Pension > Area of Government: Public School Teachers > Continue > Employer Name: Nippersink School District 2 > View Results.

    There are only 29 employees receiving a pension.

    That’s because effective Effective July 1, 2000, Spring Grove School District 11 and Richmond School District 13 consolidated to form Nippersink SD 2.

    That referendum passed March 21, 2000.

    “Shall Richmond #13 and Spring Grove #11 combine to form a new district?”

    So you can repeat the above process for Spring Grove SD 11 and Richmond CSD 13.

    Better Government Association also has salary and pension data.

    The Illinois State Board of Education also has salary data on the Teacher Service Record (TSR).

    http://www.isbe.net > Division & Program Areas > Data Analysis & Acocuntability > Teacher Service Record.

    Don’t bother with FY 2014 (2013-2014) or FY 2013 (2012-2013) because the salary data is only base salary data and not pensionable income, so you can’t compare that salary data to previous years.

    Pensionable income includes stipends, board paid trs aka pension pickup (which typically increases pensionable income and gross pay) and more.

    OpenTheBooks.com has pensionable income.

    Better Government Association has pensionable income but their “Data Year” is the year BGA received the data, not the FY (fiscal year).

    For the teachers collective bargaining agreement:

    http://www.nippersinkdistrict2.org > Board of Education > D2 Financial Information > Current Fiscal Year > D2 Board of Education/RSGEA Collective Bargaining Agreement FY 15-19

    The 2007 – 2010 collective bargaining agreement is archived on the website, but the 2010 – 2015 agreement is not, it can be obtained via a FOIA request to the school district, and the district should put it on the district website.

    Christ Jenner and Lennie Jarratt are good resources for those who want to reform school boards.

    The Champion News YouTube site has a lot of archived videos including some on school districts.

    http://www.youtube.com/user/ChampionNewsOnline

  3. People running for School Board should request a copy of the latest Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.

    This report is the only report which will contain ALL the financial numbers for the District but NOT the results of student testing.

    Very few districts post either CARFs or test results on their website and those which do post them in a place not real easy to find.

    Here are some numbers extracted from school reports:

    Prop. Tax Incr. 2005 – 2014 55.21%

    TOTAL Revenue Incr. 2005 – 2014 21.45%

    Spring Grove Elementary School Rank out of 1,913 = 482
    Richmond Grade School Rank out of 1,913 = 558
    Nippersink Middle School Rank out of 1,279 = 197

    District Cost / pupil Instruction 2007 $4,037
    District Cost / pupil Instruction 2014 $5,700

    Class Size 2007 = 24
    Class Size 2014 = 21

    Low Income Students 2007 = 6.20%
    Low Income Students 2014 = 25 %

    * Rankings info from: http://www.schooldigger.com/go/IL/schoolrank.aspx

  4. Not all school districts have CAFR’s.

    Usually if they have a CAFR they post it on their website.

    So if you can’t find the CAFR on the district website, ask if they have one.

    But all school districts have Annual Financial Reports (AFR) and Annual Statements of Affairs (ASA).

    If you can’t find the Annual Financial Report on the district website, visit the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) website.

    http://www.isbe.net > Programs > School Business Services.

    The text on that site has hidden hyperlinks, just scroll through the text.

    There is a mountain of data, here’s one with a lot of information.

    http://www.isbe.net > Programs > School Business Services > Historical > School District Financial Profile.

    If you can’t find something call ISBE, they are helpful.

  5. It is imperative that we as a community understand our candidates.

    Given that Joe Walsh is hosting this event provides insight.

    Affiliation with Joe Walsh indicates strong right wing views which include potentially prejudiced opinions toward certain ethnic and religious groups.

    Joe Walsh was recently quoted using profane language to express his negative opinions about an ethnic minority.

    This should raise concern in our community and should be well understood when considering who we give authority in our local community and school board to drive policy.

  6. What are you talking about, ‘Concerned”?

    What ethnic and religious groups?

    Walsh Freedom has supported minorities in the campaign of local races all throughout Illinois!

    If you’re going to spout nonsense like that, at least provide details and facts.

    I think you should be ‘concerned’ about your mental health!

  7. Concerned: My wife and I are hosting the Meet The Candidates event at our home to provide anyone and everyone from our community the opportunity to meet us and openly discuss the issues.

    I’m sure from your comments we have not met.

    If we had meet you would see how far off base you are with your presumptions.

    I hope you will come to the event and learn more about us before you feel compelled to post negative comments so far from the truth.

    Joe Walsh is passionate in his love for this country and all of the individuals that call this great nation their home, without regard for their skin color or heritage.

    He may say things you find controversial because of your personal prejudices, but most people with an open mind realize he is fighting for Constitutional law and the equal application of that law to all.

    I respectfully disagree with your interpretation of his comments.

    If elected I will support the village, the Village Board, and President Mark Eisenberg with the same passion I’ve shown throughout my life.

    Yes I am proudly conservative in my politics, and I believe my political positions reflect the ethics and morality of the majority of the residents of Spring Grove.

    Respectfully,
    Steven Bishop
    Candidate For Village Trustee

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