McHenry County Blog

It started with the 22-month long contract negotiations between the Prairie Grove Elementary School Board and the Illinois Education Association affiliate called the Prairie Grove Teachers Association.

Word is that there were harsh words during the negotiations until at the end they were brought into the sunlight, so to speak, and the public was allowed to watch what was going on.

Then, a minor disagreement resulted in a strike.

That it was minor is evidenced by strike’s being only one-day.

It was over before I got a chance to go out and take a photo.

Then the IEA Prairie Grove Teachers Association decided to run a slate against the four incumbents.

The candidates backed by the teachers’ union,

• Laura Barker
• John Bowman
• Margaret Ponga
• Rick Salvo

beat the highest vote getter among the incumbents, Laura Domoto, by 38 votes.  All four were elected.

Take a look at the door-to-door campaign piece of the IEA Four:

Sorry for the fuzziness of the copy.  (If anyone sends me a clearer copy, I shall substitute the images.)

19th Century military theorist Carl von Clausewitz said, “War is the continuation of Politik by other means.”

The over six-hour meeting Tuesday night (ending shortly after one AM) certainly demonstrates that if one replaced the word “war” with “meetings” in von Clausewitz’ axiom, not much has changed since the 1800′s.

At the first meeting, the new ruling coalition voted themselves into all of the offices, which were vacated when the incumbents lost.

Elected Board President was Margaret Ponga.

She ran Tuesday night’s marathon meeting.

(Background to the meeting from the now-outsiders’ viewpoint can be found here.)

Read the agenda and you can see why it took over six hours.

Two of the agenda items demonstrate how the teachers’ union exercised its new power in District 46:

7. Approval of the termination of all business with Ottosen Britz Kelly Cooper Gilbert & DiNolfo, Ltd effective May 14, 2013.

8. Appoint Robbins Schwartz as interim counsel to conduct all legal business until such time new legal representation has been decided by the board of education.

But, ironically, the law firm that handled the teacher negotiations fired the Board before the new Board could terminate it.

Nevertheless, the new Board majority insisted on passing a motion to terminate the Ottosen law firm.

Another irony is that the old law firm charged $195 per hour, while the new, interim one charges $235 per hour.

There will be a search for new permanent legal representation.

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More tomorrow.

An email from former and just defeated Prairie Grove School District 46 Board  member Laura Domoto about the Tuesday, May 14th, Board meeting.

Dear Friends,

Your child’s education and programming at Prairie Grove Schools are being threatened.

The newly elected board wants to revisit many items that were studied and voted on previously by your board of education.

Things are definitely in jeopardy. If you want to save our school we need your HELP NOW.

Please show up and address the board on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 at 7pm. [See below for restrictive instructions.]

You cannot sit back and watch our school district spiral down in failure. It is time for you to take action now.

We know what has happened out our neighboring school in Cary and we cannot let that happen here at Prairie Grove.

Attached you will find the agenda for Tuesday, May 14, 2013 Board of Education Meeting.

PLEASE come. You have 3 minutes to speak, and no one can be denied the opportunity to do so. Please speak for the 3 minutes and say what you think. This is a very important day.

PLEASE forward to you friends and if you have questions please feel free to contact me or other current or past board members.

I am going to be frank and not beat around the bush, this agenda is ludicrous.

The newly elected board members have put on the agenda the following items which should be of concern for you:

Visitors in the Lunchroom

We all know that what has happened in our country and Sandy Hook. It is the schools priority to provide a safe place for the students and staff.

Yes, we would love to spend time with our kids at lunch, but the safety of our children is of utmost importance.

Last year the district worked with area police departments to make sure our students were safe while we had two lock downs.

There also were other incidents where administrators had to step in to insure children’s safety.

The administration and past BOE eliminated visitors at lunch to protect our students, but now the new board wants to throw away that decision and make the school an unsafe place for our children.

Their recommendation does include limiting where visitors go, but in order to do so, the district would need to hire additional staff to monitor these visitors. Is this what we should be paying for?

Master Schedule

This new JRHS master schedule has taken the administrative team a year of careful and meticulous research to make sure that the needs of our students are met as we change to ‘common core standards’ and while our enrollments are decreasing.

Many man hours were put into a well planned schedule for our students, and the administration has worked with teachers to set the staffing for next year.

A parent advisory group provided input, and there was a Board meeting that all district parents were invited to where the changes were discussed.

Teachers are working on next years plans, and in some cases have modified the topics they are covering this year to address the upcoming changes.

And now the newly elected board members are the education experts?

They feel that and a different approach should be taken, and that a new committee needs to be formed to address and evaluate this.

I guess if it isn’t the newly elected board members vision, it must be wrong.

I must also say that none of the new board members are certified teachers, or have PhD, or Master’s degrees in education.

New Lawyer

One of the new Board members has been very vocal about her unhappiness with the District’s legal council during the teacher’s contract negotiations.

The lawyer was present, however, to protect the assets of the taxpayers.

The past board feels that there several occasions during negotiations where the law firm saved the district considerable money with their recommendations.

This board member stated that the money spent on legal fees should have instead been given to the teachers.

This board member has now decided that the firm that we had PRIOR to our current law firm, should be hired for a new ‘temporary’ appointment.

This is NOT in the best interest of our district, taxpayers, employees, or students.

We have a contract with the current law firm; they were chosen during a formal bid process.

With this firm our costs have been considerable lower FOR EACH OF THE PAST 4 YEARS than they were with that previous law firm (the one they are suggesting re-hiring!).

The proposal is to hire this law firm without going through a bidding process?

Have rates been determined?

AT WHAT COST TO THE TAXPAYERS?

Who negotiated those rates?

That SHOULD be the job of the Superintendent and Finance Director.

Superintendent

The agenda has a full page of directives for the Superintendent that have not been discussed in public with all the board members.

It is my belief that the new board members are trying to set up the Superintendent for failure, have no understanding that she has a job to do with the school, and are piling up numerous items at once, to make her fail.

The Superintendent has a contract that specifically lists her deliverables for the upcoming school year, so if she spends all her time on these new items, she will not be able to fulfill her contract.

Committee meetings

Several years ago the Board changed committee meetings to be open Committee of the Whole events in the evening where anyone with an interest could voice an opinion.

The Board now wishes to go back to ‘closed committee’ meetings, where the members are appointed by the board and attendance is limited to ‘a chosen few’ attendees.

Finally, at the meeting it will be interesting to notice whether or not the 4 new members come to the meeting already having made decisions related to all of these new items.

If so, how was that done?

Board discussions of district issues need to take place in an open meetings setting; if not, it is a violation of the OPEN MEETINGS ACT.

These board members have not even been on the new board for 1 week and they are making substantial changes that would negatively impact our district and students.

They have not taken any training or learned about our policy and procedures.

They don’t have the slightest understanding of governance or the role of a board member, and they do not understand how a board is supposed to work collaboratively with the administration.

Over the past 10 years while I was on the board, our school’s financial status improved WHOLE our test scores and the quality of our education also increased.

These are all decisions and actions that the new board will try to take on Tuesday that will detrimentally affect our students and our taxpayers.

Please attend the meeting to voice your concerns so that the new board doesn’t start tearing away at all of the decisions that have generated these successes.

Sincerely,

Laura Domoto
District 46 Board of Education Member 2003-2013

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The Board must want to discourage people from speaking in public comment, because it has the following rule listed at the bottom of its agenda:

“Any District resident may request time to speak to this Board by notifying Mary Sutfin, Recording Secretary of the Board of Education, prior to 4:00 P.M. on the Monday immediately preceding a regularly scheduled Board meeting or be heard by this Board at this time. The Board asks that comments are held to under 3 minutes and that no personnel names are mentioned and/or individuals by job title.”

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Here’s an article about the 2007 elections. Domnoto was Board President when she ran that year.

A teacher about to lose his job spoke to the new school board.

In 2009, the old Board renewed the Superintendent’s contract before the new Board was sworn in. Election results are shown.

Even though, no because the board majority will shift as a result of April 7th school board election results, the outgoing board decided to give District 46 School Board Superintendent Mary Fasbender a raise and a contract extension through mid-2011.

At least that’s what I think happened.

The school board majority wouldn’t go farther than the wording of the motion that was passed in explaining the effect of what the did.

The most important motion was to align the superintendent’s salary and benefits and not to exceed the tax cap rate.

Whatever that means.

When Northwest Herald reporter Crystal Lindell asked for a copy of the contract, board member Laura Domoto said it had not yet been approved or signed by either side.

If I could characterize the board majority’s attitude in one word, it would be

“manana”

In short, not a board that wanted the public to know what it had just done.

Lindell said she would file a Freedom of Information request.

This, you may remember, is the school board that ran me out of the last school board meeting I attended. They called “Officer Friendly.”

The reason?

I laughed too loud.

At least I think that was the reason. If you check the link above, you’ll see my taking pictures through the Venetian blinks really irritated some of those inside the secret meeting.

It led to the WANTED poster that Crystal Lake Heck of a Guy blogger Allan Showalter developed. I liked it so much, it’s the one you see to the bottom right or here.

The Northwest Herald had a Northwestern University intern covering the meeting, which led to an article headlined

But, back to last night.

It really was not surprising to see a disappearing board majority extend its influence.

What was most interesting to me was the woman who was shouting at minority board member Charlotte Kremer two years ago, now Board President Karen Bowman, was now aligned with her in opposition to giving Superintendent Fasbender the raise and contract extension.

I know that politics consists of a series of shifting alliances, but this shift surprised me. Really surprised me.

Bowman’s opposition was made known only by her negative vote.

Kremer was more outspoken:

“I do not agree with the salary.

“I think the salaries should be frozen for the coming year due to the economic situation.”

And, later,

“You are trying (to maintain) continuity with the extension of the contract.

“(But) it’s not on the agenda.

“(This is) in violation of the Open Meetings Act.”

“Our legal counsel has validated our agenda,” Domoto replied.

“I did not see any writing from a legal counsel,” Kremer countered.

Returning to her continuity theme, Kremer said,

“The community did not want continuity. You’re not representing the community if you vote on this today.”

After the meeting she said,

“It’s just absolutely the wrong move to make,”

Attempting to explain the near opaque compensation increase just approved, Kremer said that it involved averaging increases in the Cost of Living.

Since 2009 was a mere one-tenth of one percent, the board and superintendent must be counting on inflation for Fasbender to get much of a raise.

Before I arrived there was more irony.

Tom Bieschke. the junior high school’s technology teacher-coordinator who pleaded for his job two years ago has been elected to the school board, having soundly beaten (702-284) Manish Shah for the two year term, spoke to the board. Shah at least acquiesced in Bieschke’s not being given tenure.

Bieschke, of course, recognized the old board still had the authority to do things like raise the superintendent’s salary and extend her contract, but thought it was inappropriate, considering the way the balloting turned out.

Also speaking was newly-elected board member Mischelle Yantis.

She made the same points, but is on the side of the current board majority.

You can see from 4-year term results that newcomer Vicki Marconi ran first with 767 votes.

Minority member Charlotte Kremer ran second with 669 votes.

She was followed by now majority bloc member Dale Burnidge, who got 655 votes.

Mischelle Yantis received 641 and majority bloc member Sean Rathjen came in last with 615.

While all the outsiders won, the district is obviously pretty evenly split.

= = = = =
You see the full board on top after they came out of secret deliberations on District 46 Grade School Superintendent Mary Fasbender’s raise and contract extension. During most of the meetnig she was inside with the board members. She is seen waiting to be readmitted in the next photograph.

Officer Friendly is seen next by the finance guy, who left for Lake Bluff or some place nearby.

Board President Karen Bowman is below on the left. To her right, slightly lower in the story is Charlotte Kremer.

Laura Domoto is down a bit on the left hand side of the page.

The two men facing each other were opponents for the two-year term. Manish Shah is on the left, Tom Bieschke is on the right.

The smiling woman is Mischelle Yantis, being congratulated on her election to the board.

In the blue sweater is Dale Burnidge, re-elected to the board. The man looking over his glasses is Stephen Todd, who did not seek election. The gray haired gentleman is Sean Rathjen, who ran for a four-year board seat and placed last.

And seen in the photo credits is the elementary school motto, I guess. It says,

RESPECT
OTHERS

RESPECT
YOUR SCHOOL

The story was about the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office investigating the Prairie Grove School Board.

Supposedly, out of public view, the board approved an extension to Superintendent Mary Fasbender’s contract, not to expire until June, 2008. It could cost Prairie Grove taxpayers $450,000.

That’s a “Wow!” for such a tiny district, wouldn’t you say?

This is the district that just decided to fire well-liked technology teacher Tom Bieschke just before he would have achieved tenure.

Anyway, Nick Swedberg wrote the State’s Attorney’s Office

planned to review the minutes for possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.

I hope the State’s Attorney’s Office asks for the tape of the meeting as well.

Wouldn’t it be a hoot, if they were magically wiped clean like the 17 minutes of Watergate discussion disappeared during President Richard Nixon’s term?

But, that couldn’t happen in Prairie Grove, could it?

The headline above about yours truly appears on the back page of the NW Herald’s community section.

Besides the charges that I was taking pictures and laughing loudly at the totally out-of-control behavior and shouting of board member Karen Bowman, a nice lady, I suppose, when she is not behind closed doors very loudly chastising fellow board member Charlotte Kremer, Swedberg confirms that they thought I was “heckling” the board. (You can read my articles, complete with pictures here and here.)

And, get this:

they were concerned that Skinner might photograph documents that they wanted kept secret.

Now, I know they have a lot to hide.

Look at this picture of Bowman, taken through the type of glass that is reinforced with what looks like chicken fence wire.

How could anyone in their right mind suggest that words on a piece of paper could be photographed through such a barrier?

Especially from the middle of and on the other side of the hall.

I guess they were worried about the minutes of the secret meeting that Kremer got admonished not to read at the public meeting. They were typed on purple paper, yet. Pretty hard to even see black print on purple paper.

The article points out that there I received no warning before administrator Michael Tanner was sent on the mission to summon the Prairie Grove police.

Sounds pretty much like the bum’s rush that District 300 parent and citizen watchdog Stan Gladbach got after he objected to District 300 officials refusing to provide him information on a disk, instead of on paper, for which he would have to pay more.

I am sure that Swedberg will have fertile ground to plow in Prairie Grove this spring.

I’d just suggest not being a camera and not laugh while standing outside one of the school board’s top secret, hush, hush meetings.

= = = = =
That really crisp picture is of Karen Bowman. This in no way shows her at her worst.

The story was about the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office investigating the Prairie Grove School Board.

Supposedly, out of public view, the board approved an extension to Superintendent Mary Fasbender’s contract, not to expire until June, 2008. It could cost Prairie Grove taxpayers $450,000.

That’s a “Wow!” for such a tiny district, wouldn’t you say?

This is the district that just decided to fire well-liked technology teacher Tom Bieschke just before he would have achieved tenure.

Anyway, Nick Swedberg wrote the State’s Attorney’s Office

planned to review the minutes for possible violation of the Open Meetings Act.

I hope the State’s Attorney’s Office asks for the tape of the meeting as well.

Wouldn’t it be a hoot, if they were magically wiped clean like the 17 minutes of Watergate discussion disappeared during President Richard Nixon’s term?

But, that couldn’t happen in Prairie Grove, could it?

The headline above about yours truly appears on the back page of the NW Herald’s community section.

Besides the charges that I was taking pictures and laughing loudly at the totally out-of-control behavior and shouting of board member Karen Bowman, a nice lady, I suppose, when she is not behind closed doors very loudly chastising fellow board member Charlotte Kremer, Swedberg confirms that they thought I was “heckling” the board. (You can read my articles, complete with pictures here and here.)

And, get this:

they were concerned that Skinner might photograph documents that they wanted kept secret.

Now, I know they have a lot to hide.

Look at this picture of Bowman, taken through the type of glass that is reinforced with what looks like chicken fence wire.

How could anyone in their right mind suggest that words on a piece of paper could be photographed through such a barrier?

Especially from the middle of and on the other side of the hall.

I guess they were worried about the minutes of the secret meeting that Kremer got admonished not to read at the public meeting. They were typed on purple paper, yet. Pretty hard to even see black print on purple paper.

The article points out that there I received no warning before administrator Michael Tanner was sent on the mission to summon the Prairie Grove police.

Sounds pretty much like the bum’s rush that District 300 parent and citizen watchdog Stan Gladbach got after he objected to District 300 officials refusing to provide him information on a disk, instead of on paper, for which he would have to pay more.

I am sure that Swedberg will have fertile ground to plow in Prairie Grove this spring.

I’d just suggest not being a camera and not laugh while standing outside one of the school board’s top secret, hush, hush meetings.

= = = = =
That really crisp picture is of Karen Bowman. This in no way shows her at her worst.

Those who attended the contentious Prairie Grove District 46 School Board meeting Tuesday were privileged to hear a heartfelt plea from the junior high school’s technology teacher-coordinator, Tom Bieschke.

After three years of teaching at Prairie Grove he had been sacked after three years at the school and could not understand why.

His performance evaluations had not indicated any “remediation,” that is, specific improvements in his performance, was needed.

All of a sudden, he was just let go.

Mr. Bieschke seemed to me of an age when he might have had entered teaching as a second profession.

For me, this capsulated his dedication to his students:

He talked of Club PGN. I think I have figured out that this is the student newspaper.

He said the club went from 2 to 80 students.

“Last year there were 4 newspapers,” he said.

There were over 20 this year, he revealed.

That sounds like a labor of love to me.

Using a quite understated manner, he introduced himself to the board during the public speaking time.

“I’ve been kind of taken back in the news that the administration does not want to rehire me,” he explained.

“I don’t understand why.”

He explained that his “evaluation in December seemed very good. No problems.”

He went on to say that when he had received what I think was a subsequent evaluation, “…there were some things in there I had no idea about.

“Evaluations should be tools of growth,” he continued.

“This past year I took 15 hours of classes.

“Each year I’ve taught here I’ve redesigned the curriculum to keep up with the new technology.”

Then he told about the student participation growth for the student newspaper.

Apparently, Bieschke’s job includes helping other teachers cope with computers.

“In any instance when a teacher needs assistance, I immediate give it,” he explained.

“When it’s abruptly thrown upon me I ask (unfortunately, I did not get the rest of his sentence).

“Please provide me with another year of teaching,” he concluded humbly.

One member of the audience, Pat Greenwald, spoke after the tech teacher.

“I come from a family of teachers. I know exactly what this man has gone through,” she said.

Although I did not catch her exact words of disapproval, they ended with “without giving him a chance.”

“We, as taxpayers also haven’t been given a fair chance,” she continued.

“I now know what the teachers go through.

“Pontius Pilot did that and that’s not cool.”

I thought, “Whoa”, that’s a heavy charge.

“He will find a much better place…unfortunately, it won’t be with our kids.

“We’re fighting for our children for the best.

“He’s begging you for his job.

“That sucks!

“You better look in the mirror.

“You have learned how this man has mastered the attention of (the students).

“Maybe you guys should be seeking another job, not this gentleman.”

No one on the board made any comment.

= = = = =
You can enlarge any picture by clicking on it. Board members shown in the group shot are left to right, Stephen Todd, Dale Burnidge, Karen Bowman and Charlotte Kremer. Bea Greenwald is the woman under the group shot. Head shots show Laura Domoto on the left and Heidi Jessup on the right. None were taken while Bieschke was addressing the board.

Those who attended the contentious Prairie Grove District 46 School Board meeting Tuesday were privileged to hear a heartfelt plea from the junior high school’s technology teacher-coordinator, Tom Bieschke.

After three years of teaching at Prairie Grove he had been sacked after three years at the school and could not understand why.

His performance evaluations had not indicated any “remediation,” that is, specific improvements in his performance, was needed.

All of a sudden, he was just let go.

Mr. Bieschke seemed to me of an age when he might have had entered teaching as a second profession.

For me, this capsulated his dedication to his students:

He talked of Club PGN. I think I have figured out that this is the student newspaper.

He said the club went from 2 to 80 students.

“Last year there were 4 newspapers,” he said.

There were over 20 this year, he revealed.

That sounds like a labor of love to me.

Using a quite understated manner, he introduced himself to the board during the public speaking time.

“I’ve been kind of taken back in the news that the administration does not want to rehire me,” he explained.

“I don’t understand why.”

He explained that his “evaluation in December seemed very good. No problems.”

He went on to say that when he had received what I think was a subsequent evaluation, “…there were some things in there I had no idea about.

“Evaluations should be tools of growth,” he continued.

“This past year I took 15 hours of classes.

“Each year I’ve taught here I’ve redesigned the curriculum to keep up with the new technology.”

Then he told about the student participation growth for the student newspaper.

Apparently, Bieschke’s job includes helping other teachers cope with computers.

“In any instance when a teacher needs assistance, I immediate give it,” he explained.

“When it’s abruptly thrown upon me I ask (unfortunately, I did not get the rest of his sentence).

“Please provide me with another year of teaching,” he concluded humbly.

One member of the audience, Pat Greenwald, spoke after the tech teacher.

“I come from a family of teachers. I know exactly what this man has gone through,” she said.

Although I did not catch her exact words of disapproval, they ended with “without giving him a chance.”

“We, as taxpayers also haven’t been given a fair chance,” she continued.

“I now know what the teachers go through.

“Pontius Pilot did that and that’s not cool.”

I thought, “Whoa”, that’s a heavy charge.

“He will find a much better place…unfortunately, it won’t be with our kids.

“We’re fighting for our children for the best.

“He’s begging you for his job.

“That sucks!

“You better look in the mirror.

“You have learned how this man has mastered the attention of (the students).

“Maybe you guys should be seeking another job, not this gentleman.”

No one on the board made any comment.

= = = = =
You can enlarge any picture by clicking on it. Board members shown in the group shot are left to right, Stephen Todd, Dale Burnidge, Karen Bowman and Charlotte Kremer. Bea Greenwald is the woman under the group shot. Head shots show Laura Domoto on the left and Heidi Jessup on the right. None were taken while Bieschke was addressing the board.

First I get a parking ticket for dropping my son off at school.

Now, a Prairie Grove policeman has threatened to arrest me to trespassing in a public hall waiting for the not-so-quiet, but top secret, hush, hush District 46 school board members to come out of its executive session. I talked a bit about this yesterday.

I have never been threatened with arrest before.

Let me lay out the background.

It is obvious from Northwest Herald reporter Nick Swedberg’s stories (1 and 2) that District 46 has a lot of strange things going on.

So, at the urging of a district resident I have know for a long time, I decided to attend the meeting held on election eve.

I arrived late and, as usual, took photos of the public officials.

Elected folks probably don’t know how many pictures it takes to get a decent one. One candidate emailed me during the campaign asking if I had put up the worst picture I had taken of him.

I told him it was the best I had obtained.

I’ll write other stories about what happened in the meeting, but, when I entered a woman, who turned out to be a McHenry Marlin Swim Team Mom and who serves on the board, was being talked down to by her colleagues.

Her name is Charlotte Kremer.

She reminds me of Huntley School District 158’s Larry Snow when he first got elected.

All alone against a hostile ruling majority.

This is a small district, but the seats for the audience in the school library were filled.

Kremer was trying to get some items taken off the consent agenda.

And, the board members were hassling her.

I wonder what part of the word “consent” they don’t understand.

Then, a board member named Karen Bowman made conciliatory sounds.

Boy, did she fool me. She seemed reasonable while there was an audience.

I’m sure that’s the public persona she wants to project.

The other members of her clique quickly fell into line with Bowman and Kremer got her discussion, but behind closed doors.

When this open part of the meeting was concluded, the audience cleared out and the board members had a little break. Then, the doors were closed and the real meeting began.

Everyone waiting outside figured it was about the really generous three-year extension on Supt. Fasbender’s contract, plus whatever Kremer wanted to discuss.

First I got some name spellings from the PTO vice president and the lady from Oakwood Hills who told the board that she though Fasbender was the board president because she seemed to be running the meeting. Then, I talked with two of the candidates challenging the incumbent school board members–David Etling and Sharon Rogowski.

I met the Northwest Herald reporter, an intern from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

As I do with virtually all executive sessions, I took some pictures of the wall and door. The Venetian blinds were down, but open, as you can see in the top picture.

Next, I noticed that one could see in through the vertical windows of the two doors.

Superintendent Fasbender was nicely centered in one, so I tried to take her photo. She ducked right, then, left to avoid the camera lens. You can see I got her picture. I can’t figure out why she didn’t want her picture taken.

Bowman, by this time, was browbeating Kremer.

She was vigorously gesturing.

Then, she was shouting at the top of her lungs.

“You’re going to hear from me!” she screamed.

It really startled me until I figured that this 12-year school board member had just completely lost control of herself.

At one point, someone got up to close the Venetian blinds. So, I took a picture of that.

And, then, I noticed there was about a foot of unblocked window between the bottom of the blinds and what I think was a fairly wide chair rail.

The Bowman tirade continued.

That’s when I got this picture I published much too early Wednesday morning.

Bowman saw me tying to take her picture and lunged to the Venetian blind, which was behind an easel. She jerked on one end. The blind collapsed, as you can see in the next photograph.

At some point I started laughing.

Lowering a blind didn’t stop her voice from getting through the window.

The more I heard and saw of this totally unacceptable behavior, the funnier it stuck me.

As I mentioned yesterday, my laugh is pretty piercing.

They probably heard my reaction to the outrageous way Bowman was acting toward her fellow board member.

I have never seen a school or village board meeting so out of control, except maybe in the late 1960’s, when Algonquin Township Supervisor George Starr rapped his gavel so hard so many times that I thought he would break it. (A local Richardson Publications Mike Royko, code named Phoenix, wrote a column filled with variations of “Bam, bam, bam.” It was a long column.)

But Bowman’s completely out-of-control rant certainly takes the cake for the last three decades.

Some administrator, whom I figured was the business manager from the report he gave, walked out of the room across the hall into the gym. He didn’t say a word.

After the previous admonitions about paper use, apparently for at least the second year, from board member Manish Shah, I figured they couldn’t find any paper in the library to cover up the vertical door windows and he has been sent to find some and, maybe some Scotch Tape.

Things quieted down inside and some of those left waiting for the doors to be opened were talking for, I don’t know, 5, 10, 15 minutes.

Then from the other direction, down the hall walks the finance guy, followed by a policeman.

“If he doesn’t agree to leave, then, I’ll have to arrest him for trespass,” the Prairie Grove policeman said.

I can’t remember the order of who said what, but the business type, a guy named Tanner, said, “He was heckling.”

Not true. But my laughter must have been less obnoxious than Bowman’s hectoring of Kremer.

He asked me if I was going to leave.

“I haven’t been asked,” I replied.

The Tanner guy then said, “I’m asking you to leave.”

The policeman asked, “Are you going to leave?” as I was trying to take notes.

I said, “Sure.”

Then, I asked the policeman’s name.

He said he’d tell me when we got outside.

I said, “Let’s go” and started down the hall toward the door I had entered.

“You don’t give the orders,” he said sharply.

When we got outside with the business guy, the officer said his name was “Sechho-something-or-other.” He gave me a number: “8210.” I got that.

As I was walking across the parking lot he said, “Don’t come back.”

“Not tonight,” I replied and drove home to type election stories until 4 AM.

And, here is a parting quote from a commenter:

The District 46 School board has lost control. Their own Board Member (Manish Shah) has summed it up best in an interview with the NW Herald reporter Telma Guzman after the public was allowed back into the meeting:

“We act like buffoons in front of the community. We need to work together.”

First I get a parking ticket for dropping my son off at school.

Now, a Prairie Grove policeman has threatened to arrest me to trespassing in a public hall waiting for the not-so-quiet, but top secret, hush, hush District 46 school board members to come out of its executive session. I talked a bit about this yesterday.

I have never been threatened with arrest before.

Let me lay out the background.

It is obvious from Northwest Herald reporter Nick Swedberg’s stories (1 and 2) that District 46 has a lot of strange things going on.

So, at the urging of a district resident I have know for a long time, I decided to attend the meeting held on election eve.

I arrived late and, as usual, took photos of the public officials.

Elected folks probably don’t know how many pictures it takes to get a decent one. One candidate emailed me during the campaign asking if I had put up the worst picture I had taken of him.

I told him it was the best I had obtained.

I’ll write other stories about what happened in the meeting, but, when I entered a woman, who turned out to be a McHenry Marlin Swim Team Mom and who serves on the board, was being talked down to by her colleagues.

Her name is Charlotte Kremer.

She reminds me of Huntley School District 158’s Larry Snow when he first got elected.

All alone against a hostile ruling majority.

This is a small district, but the seats for the audience in the school library were filled.

Kremer was trying to get some items taken off the consent agenda.

And, the board members were hassling her.

I wonder what part of the word “consent” they don’t understand.

Then, a board member named Karen Bowman made conciliatory sounds.

Boy, did she fool me. She seemed reasonable while there was an audience.

I’m sure that’s the public persona she wants to project.

The other members of her clique quickly fell into line with Bowman and Kremer got her discussion, but behind closed doors.

When this open part of the meeting was concluded, the audience cleared out and the board members had a little break. Then, the doors were closed and the real meeting began.

Everyone waiting outside figured it was about the really generous three-year extension on Supt. Fasbender’s contract, plus whatever Kremer wanted to discuss.

First I got some name spellings from the PTO vice president and the lady from Oakwood Hills who told the board that she though Fasbender was the board president because she seemed to be running the meeting. Then, I talked with two of the candidates challenging the incumbent school board members–David Etling and Sharon Rogowski.

I met the Northwest Herald reporter, an intern from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

As I do with virtually all executive sessions, I took some pictures of the wall and door. The Venetian blinds were down, but open, as you can see in the top picture.

Next, I noticed that one could see in through the vertical windows of the two doors.

Superintendent Fasbender was nicely centered in one, so I tried to take her photo. She ducked right, then, left to avoid the camera lens. You can see I got her picture. I can’t figure out why she didn’t want her picture taken.

Bowman, by this time, was browbeating Kremer.

She was vigorously gesturing.

Then, she was shouting at the top of her lungs.

“You’re going to hear from me!” she screamed.

It really startled me until I figured that this 12-year school board member had just completely lost control of herself.

At one point, someone got up to close the Venetian blinds. So, I took a picture of that.

And, then, I noticed there was about a foot of unblocked window between the bottom of the blinds and what I think was a fairly wide chair rail.

The Bowman tirade continued.

That’s when I got this picture I published much too early Wednesday morning.

Bowman saw me tying to take her picture and lunged to the Venetian blind, which was behind an easel. She jerked on one end. The blind collapsed, as you can see in the next photograph.

At some point I started laughing.

Lowering a blind didn’t stop her voice from getting through the window.

The more I heard and saw of this totally unacceptable behavior, the funnier it stuck me.

As I mentioned yesterday, my laugh is pretty piercing.

They probably heard my reaction to the outrageous way Bowman was acting toward her fellow board member.

I have never seen a school or village board meeting so out of control, except maybe in the late 1960’s, when Algonquin Township Supervisor George Starr rapped his gavel so hard so many times that I thought he would break it. (A local Richardson Publications Mike Royko, code named Phoenix, wrote a column filled with variations of “Bam, bam, bam.” It was a long column.)

But Bowman’s completely out-of-control rant certainly takes the cake for the last three decades.

Some administrator, whom I figured was the business manager from the report he gave, walked out of the room across the hall into the gym. He didn’t say a word.

After the previous admonitions about paper use, apparently for at least the second year, from board member Manish Shah, I figured they couldn’t find any paper in the library to cover up the vertical door windows and he has been sent to find some and, maybe some Scotch Tape.

Things quieted down inside and some of those left waiting for the doors to be opened were talking for, I don’t know, 5, 10, 15 minutes.

Then from the other direction, down the hall walks the finance guy, followed by a policeman.

“If he doesn’t agree to leave, then, I’ll have to arrest him for trespass,” the Prairie Grove policeman said.

I can’t remember the order of who said what, but the business type, a guy named Tanner, said, “He was heckling.”

Not true. But my laughter must have been less obnoxious than Bowman’s hectoring of Kremer.

He asked me if I was going to leave.

“I haven’t been asked,” I replied.

The Tanner guy then said, “I’m asking you to leave.”

The policeman asked, “Are you going to leave?” as I was trying to take notes.

I said, “Sure.”

Then, I asked the policeman’s name.

He said he’d tell me when we got outside.

I said, “Let’s go” and started down the hall toward the door I had entered.

“You don’t give the orders,” he said sharply.

When we got outside with the business guy, the officer said his name was “Sechho-something-or-other.” He gave me a number: “8210.” I got that.

As I was walking across the parking lot he said, “Don’t come back.”

“Not tonight,” I replied and drove home to type election stories until 4 AM.

And, here is a parting quote from a commenter:

The District 46 School board has lost control. Their own Board Member (Manish Shah) has summed it up best in an interview with the NW Herald reporter Telma Guzman after the public was allowed back into the meeting:

“We act like buffoons in front of the community. We need to work together.”

There was tension in the Prairie Grove School District 46 library Tuesday as audience members and a lone board member fought awarding of a multi-year contract prior the swearing in of new board members.

And, audience interest was piqued when Superintendent Mary Fasbender announced that the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office has filed a Freedom of Information request.

But come to find out, the timing of the contract renewal didn’t make any difference. That’s because three in the ruling six-member clique won re-election.

Running handily ahead in the small school district were Board President Laura Domoto and her running mates Karen Bowman and Linda Rokosik.

Two of their challengers—Sharon Rogowski and David Etling—were in the audience.

Both incumbents and challengers were awaiting the election returns when I left.

Here’s what the final returns looked like when they came in:

Karen Bowman – 613
Linda Rokosik – 610
Laura Domoto – 599
Sharon Rogowski – 467
David Etling – 446
Tara Rand – 367

It was an exciting meeting.

More on that after I get some sleep, including how the board members instructed a principal to call the Prairie Grove Police because I was supposedly “heckling” the board members while they were behind closed doors.

Laughing in the hall outside the secret session as one board member was completely losing her cool, yes.

Even laughing loudly.

Taking pictures through the windows, yes.

Heckling, no.

You won’t believe what happened after the public was excluded from the meeting.

You won’t believe the brow beating that lone minority member Charlotte Kremer took. If she wasn’t physically cringing, I’d be surprised.

Or what 12-year board member Karen Bowman shouted so loud it could be heard in the hall.

These folks make every other public meeting I have ever attended look civil.

Well, maybe it wasn’t as bad as the closing night of Illinois House of Representatives when State Representative Doug Kane tore up his rulebook. Then, Democrat Kane threw the remains at not-yet-Speaker Mike Madigan, who was in the chair for Speaker Bill Redmond. That was right before the very hefty State Representatives Jimmy Taylor and Taylor Pouncey each grabbed one of Madigan’s arms and physically carried him off the podium to the protection of a back room. That was after Madigan gaveling the adjournment of the spring session through without a vote.

Maybe that was worse than what I and other saw Tuesday night.

But, considering the level of decibels coming out of Bowman’s throat and her gestures, I assure you she was not being ladylike.

Not exactly the image she portrays to her constituents, I would imagine.

Here is what Northwest Herald reporter Telma Guzman wrote about the meeting.

OK. I’ll relent.

Here’s a picture of the not-so-gentlewoman Karen Bowman right before she began shouting at the top of her lungs at minority board member Charlotte Kremer.

I wish I had had had a video camera.

Bowman’s completely out-of-control performance would have been at least a local hit on You Tube and could be shown at school board association meetings as how not to act at a public or even a secret meeting.

= = = = =
Top right is Prairie Grove School Superintendent Mary Fasbender, who got the three-year extension on her contract, worth $450,000, according to the NW Herald. Top right is a picture of Karen Bowman in the open meeting. To her left, below Fasbender is a picture of board President Laura Domoto. The board member who is reading a letter from Prairie Grove Village President Michael Breseman complaining about a fact-challenged, last-minute campaign written by Domoto is Charlotte Kremer.

And, at the bottom, is one of the pictures I took of Karen Bowman right before she started shouting loud enough to be heard on the other side of the hall outside the library.