From a Friend of McHenry County Blog comes this explanation:

So you wanna run for Barrington CUSD 220 Board? 

Did you know you need to be approved by a school board’s candidate steering committee?  

You didn’t?  

Neither did former Marine, Masters Degree educated teaching  professional Alex Strobl. 

He learned this very quickly when he decided to run for Barrington District 220 School Board last December.  

To be fair, there isn’t an actual steering committee, just a bunch of local partisan, woke “agendists”, pulling strings behind the scenes, making sure that anyone who runs for the Board shares their leftist ideals and philosophies.  

Alex Strobl surely wasn’t aware of this when he accepted an invitation from what he thought was a group of interested parents who might get behind his candidacy.  

He thought the Zoom call he was invited to would be informal, cordial, informative and helpful in assessing his chances to win election to the school board.  

He was surprised that there were about 30 people on the call, including:

- Penny Kazmier - current D220 Board President
- Sandra Bradford-Fike - incumbent Board Member running for re-election
- Maria Peterson - former Democratic candidate for Lake County Board
- Members of the Illinois Education Association, 
- local Barrington teachers’ union and 
 -other official and non-official local organizations

(It should be noted that the two D220 Board members, Kazmier and Fike-Bradford, never notified the other five D220 school board members about this meeting, and thus, they possibly broke several Open Meetings Act laws, not to mention violated ethics policies and standards of practice for any public board member.)

As you will read from Mr. Strobl himself, this was not a “get to know you ...how can we help you” call.  

This was a full interview and a formal vetting.  

And it was evident from the start, if the candidate didn’t share the “woke” agenda of the panel, he was not welcome.  

By the end of the interview, Alex was confused and disappointed in the questions and responses from the unofficial tribunal. 

He decided that this was NOT for him and this whole vetting process did not make sense.  

Who were these people? 

Who gave them authority? 

How could his candidacy succeed after this inquisition.  

He withdrew from the ballot shortly thereafter.

He decided to chalk it up to experience, and put the whole incident behind him until an article showed up on March 27th https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20210326/league-of-women-voters-decries-party-politics-in-barrington-local-elections in the Daily Herald from Elena Ferrarin and then another https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20210330/party-support-appearing-in-district-211-other-local-races?cid=search by Eric Petersen on March 30th.

In the articles, co-President of the League of Women Voters (LWV) of the Palatine Area, Vicki Martin and others criticized a group of local Barrington moms who had assembled to run for the D220 school board and other offices, accusing them of infusing party politics into non-partisan local elections. 

The LWV claims of partisan organization were unfounded and frankly stung Alex as quite ironic, based on his experience.  

This is what prompted him to submit his letter attached:
OK

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From Alex Stroble, who was a candidate for the Barrington Unit District 220 School Board:

It is with heavy heart that I write this but I could not remain silent. 

My name is Alex Strobl. 

I am a resident of Lake Barrington, a parent of three elementary aged students, and a former teacher and coach at Barrington High School (2005-2015). 

Recently I was a candidate running for the Barrington Area Unit School District 220. 

I am writing to share my experience in running for the school board and why I ultimately dropped my candidacy due to the partisan nature of some of the members on the school board.

I write now in response to (and to further expand on) a Daily Herald article titled “League of Women Voters decries party politics in Barrington local elections.” 

This article struck a chord with me as I agree that transparency is key. 

My purpose is to inform my community members and to shed additional light on the process as I experienced it. 

Specifically to inform you that currently two members of the school board are working hand in hand with partisan groups to select, vet, and sponsor candidates of their choosing. 

While I believe in robust political engagement of citizens across the spectrum, I believe it is a conflict of interest for school board members - who are in non-partisan positions - to actively be working with groups who select and vet candidates along partisan/ideological lines.

In December I was contacted by a current board member to run. 

I had previously expressed interest in running for a school board position to that board member and appreciated them reaching out. 

I am passionate about education, well versed on how things operate within the district, and I thought I could make a positive impact. 

Like many others, I want what is best for the children of Barrington.

I was told that I would be put in touch with a group that was initially described to me as a “group of community parents that could help get out the vote” and one that has helped to “elect other candidates.” 

Days later, someone else reached out to me to set up a meeting. 

The next day I signed into a Zoom call with about thirty members of the community. 

On the call were two current school board members: 

- Penny Kazmier (current president) and 
- Sandra Ficke-Bradford. 

I was told at the time that the group was a sort of steering committee and that the group was looking to diversify the school board in Barrington. 

The discussion we had and the questions that were asked seemed to be at one end of the spectrum. 

I mentioned to the group that I was not only a social studies teacher but was also an executive coach and a former Marine.

In each instance, when I responded, my answers were analyzed and a member of the committee would “encourage” me to fine-tune it or at times to reframe it in another way. 

It was not at all what I expected. 

I had expected more of a dialogue in my first interaction. 

More importantly, I was taken aback that I was speaking to a group which I felt represented the school board and was left feeling that I did not fit their desired mold. 

Again, citizen groups can align to whomever they choose. 

The difficulty comes with the addition of school board members and the feeling that I needed to change to be welcomed on the board. 

I felt this interaction represented the board at large because I had been put in touch with the group by a current member coupled with the visible presence and participation of another two board members on the call. 

In short, in the weeks after the call I was disheartened by what I perceived to be the partisan nature of the group and a directive around what could and could not be said. 

It is ultimately why I withdrew from the race.

I have genuine desire to help unite this community and serve the students in another capacity. 

Perhaps I was a little naïve in believing that a non-partisan position such as the school board could ultimately be non-partisan. 

That said, I feel compelled to surface the hypocrisy of groups and articles pointing to “party politics” while other groups are quietly doing it themselves. 

I want to ensure that my friends, neighbors, and fellow community members know the machinery behind the scenes of the school board election.

Alex Strobl