McHenry County Blog

First it was Teresa Ferrier. She was the Fiscal Services Director at Huntley’s District 158 until she was hired by Cary Grade School District 26 in mid-June of this year. T. Ferrier (as she likes to be known) started July 1st. Her base salary is $98,000, plus Teachers Retirement System and insurance benefits.

Dave Jenkins is on far left of this Sept. 3rd board meeting video.

Now I am informed by Crystal Lake Grade School District 47 Chief Financial Officer Susan Shepard that Huntley’s Chief Operations Officer David Jenkins has been hired to be 47’s Director of Technology, the field from which he was came. His salary is also $98,000 a year. Jenkins was chosen by Huntley Superintendent John Burkey when Chief Operations Officer Glen Stewart unexpectedly resigned. There’s a board meeting on Thursday, but I can’t find anything about Jenkins’ leaving in the board packet’s personnel report…yet. And no one can blame Larry Snow for being the reason these two top administrators resigned, since he left the Huntley school board in May.

You might have had a teacher or two who told you to check your work before turning it in.

There are probably a few teachers in Huntley School District 158 who are either recoiling in dismay or laughing at how former teachers, now administrators in their district, have a different standard for themselves when they become administrators.

In this case, several parents, including Mrs. Sara DiFucci, seem far better at reading comprehension and mathematics than administrators who prepare and (are supposed to) read the documents given to the board and public.

In Thursday night’s board meeting, DiFucci pointed out a large error in special education material Supt. John Burkey submitted to the school board. It was in a document in which administrators added up their spending list for the Federal Stimulus ARRA IDEA funds.

There was a $295,576 addition error.

You can see the error on page 464 of 507 of the November board meeting packet.

If you scan and do a quick addition of the numbers on the first page of the report, say the first ten line items, you can see how they add up to much more than $800,000 (click to enlarge page 464).

Quick rounding is a way professionals and educators—even 5th graders in my son’s homework last year—look at numbers to see if there are any obvious errors.

Burkey’s board packet presented a spending total of $801,660.81 for 89 items in the initial request for Special Ed money from the Federal Stimulus Package.

The problem is that the first ten items on the two page list total more than $840,000.

A casual look of ten items lets you see there is an error.

Of course, Burkey probably doesn’t look at documents like this closely before they go to the board. That’s what staff are for.

Other administrators apparently didn’t bother either.

Later on in the meeting, board member Aileen Seedorf asked Controller Mark Altmayer if he knew of the large error.

Altmayer’s reply was interesting.

Without saying who was responsible, the Controller emphatically said it wasn’t his document, emphasizing he didn’t know about the error.

Sources within Huntley 158 have let it be known that multiple administrators knew of the error before Thursday night.

Is it possible, as top financial guy, Altmayer was left out of the loop and this wasn’t discussed at Burkey’s weekly cabinet meetings of which he’s part?

One might think that an expenditure as contentious as this would make that agenda.

To be fair to the new Special Ed (Special Services) Director Cheryl Kalkirtz, I have it on reasonably good authority the error was not of her making.

Interesting is no administrator was willing to raise his or her hand and say it was not Burkey’s mistake.

Burkey in the past has seemed proud of how he has a C.P.A. as Controller.

No comments about the C.P.A. test Altmayer passed Thursday night.

A fair question to ask is “What’s the point of having a C.P.A. as Controller if the district’s isn’t taking care that public documents with financial numbers in them are carefully reviewed?”

In any event, someone dropped the ball. In fact, the total for the proposed Special Education expenditures from the Federal Stimulus Package aren’t even in the ballpark.

In years past, Huntley’s board had Larry Snow and Tony Quagliano on it.

Both loved to review financial documents.

Snow, of course, lost to Mike Skala and Quagliano decided to retire.

There’s still a CPA on the board, Keven Gentry, but he apparently didn’t catch this mistake while reading the board packet. There are also a couple of M.B.A.’s on the board now. But, considering the District 158 administration dumped 507 pages into the board packet, there’s no reason they should have discovered the mistake.

The only board member who gave an indication of caring about the large error was Aileen Seedorf, who has been the one bird dogging on Special Education matters.

The six-member board majority expressed no concern at the mistake.

I will note, however, when state officials wanted a legislator not to find something, they smothered them in so much paper the odds of finding something that might be amiss were minuscule.

Burying people in paper is a tried and proven way to keep people from finding something.

Supt. Burkey didn’t so much as offer a superficial apology for the mistake. He didn’t say a word.

A $295,576 error would seem to me to be worth a mention.

Teachers help our children learn how errors should be admitted to when made.

It’s not as if anyone was expecting a Tiger Woods-like “I regret those transgressions with all of my heart” type of apology or offer of repentance.

An insincere “We regret the inconvenience this error may have caused anyone” that you might associate with a utility, bank or cable provider would have been in the something – anything category.

The example to teachers in the audience was when you make a large error admit to nothing and don’t say a word.

Special Ed director Kalkirtz apparently reports to Associate Supt. Terry Awrey.

Awrey, like all other administrators, sat silent, not volunteering a word lest it be thought he was at fault.

Showing teachers that neither he nor any of his top administrators are willing to admit to an error can hardly be considered leading by example.

It certainly won’t win a “We Set Good Examples” shiny apple award.

My guess is that all sorts of people set better examples of accountability than those unwilling to admit or apologize for this $300,000 mistake in public.

Say,

• kindergarten teachers
• first grade teachers
• second grade teachers
• third grade teachers
• fourth grade teachers
• fifth grade teachers
• sixth grade teachers
• any special ed teachers
• any certified special ed support people

or, well, you get the idea.

Some administrator(s) apparently has (have) not learned to check work before turning it in. Or to take responsibility for mistakes.

Or proof read the reading assignment given to the board and public.

Educators (and President Barack Obama) talk of teachable moments.

The Special Education revelation could have been one of those.

Burkey could have apologized for his staff’s mistake.

He didn’t.

He could have asked his staff in public to be more careful in the future, to double check their work before turning it in.

It gives me something other administrators can use as “how-not-to” example.

Perhaps the school board and the public will allow the “whatever” approach to an almost $300,000 error.

Even my son has learned there are consequences to that approach.

My guess is that teachers have set higher standards for students in Huntley’s classrooms.

You need a quorum for a board meeting.

Right now the Huntley school board has only one board member as a carryover for its Finance Committee.

That would be Kevin Gentry.

Hard to have a quorum with one committee member.

Finance Committee members Tony Quagliano and Larry Snow are no longer on the board.

Replacement members to the Finance Committee have not yet been appointed and approved by the Board. Board approval is required by the board’s policy. Such a vote of approval can only occur at a scheduled board meeting and that hasn’t happened yet.

Will the new board members pretend it doesn’t matter if the new board follows board policy or the Open Meetings Act?

Board member Aileen Seedorf alerted the board to a similar situation at the last Committee of the Whole meeting.

She pointed out the Legislative Committee could not convene because Snow, the chairman, and Quagliano were no longer on that committee. The board agreed to not officially have the Legislative Committee that evening.

For those at home hoping to follow your school district’s finances, well, you can’t. At least not for now. Neither the Building nor Finance Committee board packets are posted online.

Shawn Green was elected Board President again, but he missed his first Committee of the Whole meeting.

Last night a contract negotiation meeting was held between Huntley’s teachers union and the negotiating committee for the Board. Absent was the administration. Apparently the Superintendent, Controller and Human Resources Director all had other more important things to do.

Board President Shawn Green was very vocal that the union should discuss their proposals in public.

Good for him!

Illinois should follow Florida’s example and conduct all union negotiations in public.

Apparently the union wants to bring its proposal for early retirement benefits to the board in secret session.

If the teachers union’s proposal has merit, then why wouldn’t the teachers want to present it in public?

Is the answer a bit obvious?

The agreement between the Board and union says that on consensus the proposal will be brought to the board.

Has there been a consensus?

The agreement also calls for consideration of an alternate salary schedule plan. (For information about past salary hikes, go here.)

With what they won after their strike, why would the Huntley Education Association want to change anything in the salary schedule?

The teachers obviously want their retirement benefits sweetened, but they don’t seem to want to talk about the current really sweet deal they have on automatic salary increases.

The union is refusing to talk about changing salary schedule.

The current longevity step increase is 3 1/2%–quite high when compared to other schools. That means starting salaries for teachers might have to be lower than surrounding districts to compensate for the later huge automatic step increases.

Of course, starting salaries are easier for reporters to understand than step increases.

And how much sense does it make to pay extra money for double masters’ degrees?

That’s in the salary schedule.

Unless increased performance can be linked to a second master’s degree, does it make sense to pay extra for it?

Just asking.

= = = = =
The photo of the teachers in HEA shirts was taken the night they confronted the board.

Thursday night the Huntley District 158 School Board held an executive session.

Top secret. Hush, hush, don’t you know?

One of the topics discussed was current contract negotiations with the teachers union, the H.E.A., short for the Huntley Educational Association.

You thought those were over, didn’t you?

The strike came and went. After much delay, the HEA finally signed the contract its members overwhelmingly approved (before, it seems, understanding what it said).

The board is in current negotiations with the teachers union on modifying the just signed existing contract to include early retirement benefits, including expensive health insurance.

The union wants taxpayers to pay for extra early retirement benefits when a teacher has 15 total years in the teaching profession, not all necessarily in Huntley.

Incredibly, newly-victorious-over-Larry-Snow school board member Mike Skala was in on the secret meeting.

Perhaps he forgot what he put on the “Position” page of his campaign site (click to enlarge; what’s quoted is at the bottom of the page):

Teacher Salaries

It is important that District 158 be able to attract and retain quality teachers. However, since my wife is a teacher, I will not be participating in or voting on issues regarding teacher salaries.

Perhaps he forgot the following from the Daily Herald’s endorsement of him over Larry Snow:

“Skala’s critics, primarily led by Snow, note that Skala’s wife is a teacher and has been a union official in the district, questioning why Skala at one point voted on a teacher’s contract or was anywhere near negotiation sessions.

“It’s a valid concern and, when initially raised more than an election ago, he took steps to ensure he is not part of those tricky teacher contract negotiations.”

Well, the election is over.

Skala has two years to sit in on board meetings while items vital to his wife, a Huntley High School French teacher and former teacher union official, are discussed in closed session.

Can the taxpaying public reasonably expect husband and wife not to discuss topics of common interest?

Even if it would be a conflict of interest to do so?

After all, Skala did vote for the contract that gave his wife a 50% raise over its life.

Would it not be more prudent for Skala to absent himself from these meetings, whether or not he has the “legal” right to attend them?

(And what kind of law would let the spouse of school teacher have influence on or information about negotiations with her union?!)

Imagine the union outrage if their private strategy and how-they-make-decision sessions could be communicated directly back to the Board.

Board member Larry Snow was asked to comment on Skala’s including himself in talks on contract modifications:

“It’s a common sense conflict of interest, which Mr. Skala chooses to ignore. He’s done it for years; he did it Thursday night.

“It’s outrageous if you think about it. Let’s see if any reporters or newspaper editors publicly call him on it.”

Click to enlarge any image.

No, I’m not going to attempt that.

But I am going to encourage you to read the bottom of the following. It was posted over two years ago after a confrontation over ACT performance by Huntley High School students.

9/15/6 – Different people on different web sites read my Wednesday article on the ACT confrontation between Huntley School District 158 board member Larry Snow and Huntley High School principal Dave Johnson.

Bruno Behrend (Extreme Wisdom) read it on Illinois Review and decided to reply to someone identified as NW Suburbs. Below is the exchange so far:

NW Burbs

This is North West suburbs. Where are you?

Posted by: Truthful James | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 02:22 PM
= = = = =
I’m working, where are you Untruthful?
–
Cal, don’t let Bruno see this … it might shatter his carefully constructed house of canards when it comes to education.

This is democracy at work. Good for Mr. Snow. Give people facts (not distortions of facts) and let them decide — rather than some nebulous, ill-defined ‘charter management group’.

Posted by: NW burbs | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 03:15 PM
= = = = =
PS – by definition and by law, all the members of every school board are taxpayers (citizens, residents, constituents) of that very school district.

Under Bruno’s plans, that would no longer necessarily hold true.

Posted by: NW burbs | Wednesday, September 13, 2006 at 03:26 PM
= = = = =
NW,

Of course, most reading Cal’s post realize that the saga of Mr. Snow proves my point elegantly.

1. His acendency to the board did nothing to prevent the other 6 rubber-stamp board members from showering their unemployed collegue with a $101,000/yr district pork position.

2. In exchange for his efforts at reform, he has been attacked and ridiculed.

3. His focus on curriculum, though laudable, will amount to exactly nothing, as the impervious education industry will continue to foist some substandard contentless drivel on the district.

4. When re-election time rolls around, Mr. Snow will be forced to decide whether he wants to engage in a grueling battle with a well-funded Industry drone in the hopes that he can spend another 4 years of 6-1 or 5-2 votes against an ossified and corrupt cadre of tax-eating pigs.

5. In the unlikely event that Mr. Snow could recruit 3 more like him, and in the even more unlikely event that they could all get elected, the new “reform board” would find that the “education industry” is well-prepared to prevent any real reform or spending restraint, based upon the massive weight of teacher’s union contracts, State mandates, and the eventual community pressure (sobbing soccer moms).

It wouldn’t take long for one of the board to capitulate, join forces with the corrupt industry (possibly sweetened by the chance to eat at the $101,000/yr. pig trough).
____
Not having met Mr. Snow, but knowing of him through acquaintences, I’m guessing he may take a dim view of my scenario above.

The fact remains that I’ve spoken with 5 separate IL “conservatives” who have sat on (or are sitting on) boards in attempts to improve schools.

I’ve considered running for boards myself, and determined that it is a waste of time and effort. The system is corrupt beyond repair, and the fake “district” model is specifically designed to create the appearance and pretense of control.

I have the utmost respect for Mr. Snow. But the corrupt system will likely chew him up and spit him out in due course, and the bureaucracy will remain in the over-funded, under-performing state that it fight so hard to remain in.
____
Under my plan, we would fund children, not corrupt bureaucracies. This puts fear into the heart of people who feed off this system, leading them to disparage any idea that would lead to real reform.

How does it feel to be standing next to George Wallace (circa 1950s) doing his work for him, NW? Is it worth the money?

Posted by: Bruno | Friday, September 15, 2006 at 09:08 AM

The Huntley School District 158 has a new controller and he is a CPA.

That’s short for Certified Public Accountant.

His name is Mark Altmayer.

It probably didn’t hurt that two members of the current board— Tony Quagliano and Kevin Gentry—are also CPA’s.

It’s my experience that people doing the hiring feel most comfortable with employees with similar educations or job experience.

But, having prepared budgets for the United States Bureau of the Budget under the Lyndon Johnson administration, and served on the Legislative Audit Commission and Illinois House Appropriations Committees, I’ve a little experience in that field myself.

I know padding when I see and it surely looks like Larry Snow has found some that is hard to explain.

In last year’s budget there was $30,000 for consulting services for the Fiscal Office. Last year District 158 seemed to have revolving chief fiscal officers. Money was needed to pay these folks.

It isn’t needed now that Altmayer is on the payroll.

But, it’s still there and Larry Snow, not taking a defeated candidates typical “slacking off while on the way out of office” attitude, found the blatant padding of Altmayer’s budget.

Superintendent John Burkey, who is ultimately responsible for the budget presented, didn’t catch it either.

So, not only was the second version of the budget fatally incomplete because it had no ending balance or deficit, as the case might be, it was padded in places that Snow found.

Burkey characterized the budget as “tight.”

Anyone could have predicted such tightness after the huge salary increases (over 18% over three years) granted teachers. Huge in comparison to the one-tenth of one percent increase in the Cost of Living this past year.

So, with a “tight” budget, wouldn’t you think the budget guy and those reviewing his work would put those green eyes hades and search for unneeded expenditures?

Snow pointed out some interesting discrepancies that needed correcting.

Among the most “flagrant foul” (to borrow a basketball term) items was budgeting (page 21) for $30,000 for consulting services for the Fiscal Office.

Snow had questioned this item among others by email prior to last Thursday’s meeting. Neither Burkey nor Altmayer responded to Snow’s question on this one, so he asked about it at the public meeting.

Snow’s instincts were right.

This was money budgeted in the prior fiscal year to pay for an Interim Chief Financial Officer and the new controller carried it over. Maybe he was trying to pad his own budget. He surely should have known that his payroll check took the place of that.

Burkey admitted at the meeting that’s what the money was for and shouldn’t be in next year’s budget. It will be interesting to see if it is taken out or left in.

This discovery also should lead an oversight group like the school board to look for other padding in the administrative budget.

But, considering their disdain of Snow, I somehow doubt it will.

While he probably should have been campaigning, Snow questioned other items.

Both ahead of time and at the meeting he couldn’t get answers.

Administrators budgeted less money for reading specialists at two schools, but couldn’t tell Snow what their personnel plans were that reflected the reductions.

Snow asked for clarification to an emailed reply he said he didn’t understand. Burkey said he didn’t understand the answer either.

No one had an answer.

Which leads to an obvious question:

Who is inserting the numbers into Huntley’s line item budget?

Snow pointed out how District telephone expense is once again being over-budgeted.

Padding the budget in this account is apparently an annual event for district administrators.

Snow got “carefully review” into board policy concerning the documents submitted to the board. That change was stimulated when former finance guy Stan Hall submitted budgets whose numbers went up and down like a yo-yo.

And, guess what else is missing from the budget.

Salary hikes for administrators.

Maybe that was why the budget padding Snow discovered – and maybe other unnecessary planned expenditures – were included in the budget.

Better late than never, I guess.

The Northwest Herald did not endorse anyone in the Huntley School District 158 school board race between Mike Skala and Larry Snow.

After one of the dirtiest campaigns I have seen the two that led to my unseating in 2000, Snow lost over 70%-30%.

One could easily argue that an endorsement would have made no difference.

But is is nice (that’s about the strongest word I can come up with) for the NW Herald editorial writers to notice that Snow has made a difference in the way District 158 operates.

He failed in his efforts to keep unemployed board majority member Glen Stewart from getting the $101,000 Chief Operating Officer post when Skala was board president and Stewart, elected when Snow was, still served on the board.

That was the position for which a professional from the Cincinnati school district paid his own air fare to be interviewed, but withdrew his name from consideration when he saw the fix was in for Stewart. That’s Stewart shaking hands to express appreciation with a very surprised Skala after the board meeting where he got the good job, but before Stewart resigned from the board.

It appears Snow’s evaluation of Stewart was on the mark, because Stewart mysteriously left his post last spring. No reason was ever made public.

The open warfare on the board mysteriously ended after Stewart and 2007 board winner Jim Carlin left the scene. The board even allowed Snow to be chief negotiator with the school teachers.

Skala’s wife was a union official of the Huntley Education Association. Skala voted for the contract in 2002 and continued to attend secret strategy union negotiation meetings in 2006 and 2008, even though he announced that he would not vote on the final deal.

Maybe that was a set-up for the election fall he took last week.

Snow was more successful in preventing another friend of the board majority from getting the pretty important post of curriculum director.

(If you want to see how far behind Huntley High School is from where the much more profession Crystal Lake High School District 155 is, read this explanation of how a teacher of any of the four high schools can go on the internet to find out what she or he is supposed to be teaching in a class.)

And the NW Herald does not even mention Snow’s fight against cronyism in is editorial, which hopes

Fat chance of independent thought and honest discussion with the board majority now having 6-1 control. The only one left who asks questions will be Snow ally Aileen Seedorf.

One person, of course, can’t even get a subject discussed if the board majority doesn’t want it to be exposed to the light of day.

Under Skala’s leadership, as the editorial points out,

“…voters were told that the rate increase would be less than half of what the district actually could access. The district soon would deal with revelations of financial missteps and revolving administrators.”

Snow blew the whistle at his own expense before the referendum passed and was called a liar and vilified for doing so.

The editorial mentions Skala and his board majority’s attempted to intimidate Snow from talking to the press.

Snow, of course, had read the First Amendment.

The board did something when Snow was on the board that I have seen no other school board do.

It made public its salary proposal and the union demands. The Northwest Herald did not mention that in its editorial.

I will give odds this will never happen again in Huntley as long as this union-dominated school board majority is in control. I’ll be surprised to see it happen anywhere else either.

When Skala was in control, the public did not see the contract until after it was ratified and, even then, it was changed from what the teachers voted upon…to the teachers’ benefit.

“Upcoming meetings might be more cordial,” the editorial concludes.

“But the District 158 board cannot slip back into the nearly hypnotic state that led to the messes of 2004.”

One thing is certain. All the major decisions will be made before the meeting and honest discussion will be inhibited.

As I said in my analysis of the election,

“I wonder when the next tax hike referendum will be held.”

If you manage a part of a business or help run a business then you know what a budget is.

Most adults have a concept of a household or personal spending budget.

So imagine being able to budget only those parts of a budget that are positive and not showing the parts that result in large deficit spending or the “bad” part.

If you were newly-sworn-in Governor Pat Quinn, you could ignore the two-year deficit that has increased $1 billion a year for every year the Democrats controlled the Governor’s Mansion.

That’s exactly the type of incomplete budget that was given to the Finance Committee and Huntley Board of Education at Thursday night’s public meeting.

What was missing?

The deficit producing part.

You see Huntley District 158 school administrators are running a large deficit this year.

Even though the board said in May the district would not:

“The Board reiterated to the HEA that the Board is committed to an agreement that does not require deficit spending.”

Even though the teachers said there wouldn’t be one. Here’s what the Huntley Teachers Association said about their July 14th proposal:

“(It) will not result in deficit spending. It will not require a tax increase or budget cuts. Budget surpluses will continue.”

What Superintendent John Burkey and his fiscal office didn’t tell the entire board negotiating committee was how the district didn’t have the money to pay for the bond and interest payments this year.

Deficit spending was required in January to prevent the district from defaulting. $1.5 million had to be transferred from the Working Cash Fund to the Education Fund to make the payments.

Any similarly planned transfer is not shown for next year’s budget either.

Just pretend the bond and interest fund doesn’t exist.

That’s like pretending the billions being borrowed by the Federal government don’t have to be paid off.

But at least the Federal government, for whose budget office I used to work, puts that element in its budget.

Not so District 158. At least not yet.

Remember that the school board has two C.P.A.’s .

When outgoing board member Larry Snow pointed out the proposed budget was incomplete, Certified Public Accountant board members Kevin Gentry and Tony Quagliano offered no comment.

The week before the election Snow had asked that

“Administration’s projected deficit/surplus for this fiscal year”

be placed on the Finance Committee agenda as a separate item.

It wasn’t.

So, at the Thursday meeting, Snow asked the new Controller, Mark Altmayer, for his deficit (or surplus) projection for this year, which ends in less than three months on June 30th.

Altmayer replied he wasn’t able to come up with a projection.

He’s been on the job three months as the top financial guy.

How many C.E.O.’s of a $70 million private business would be happy learning their top financial guy—in the 10th month of a fiscal year–has no idea how large the deficit will be?

Really, strange, but Larry Snow won’t be there to point out the obvious when the end of year balance is revealed.

And, by then School Superintendent John Burkey will probably have received a healthy raise that he didn’t want considered in October.

The numbers are telling.

And tell the difference in the Huntley School District 158 board election.

Two years ago Easter was before election day.

This year Easter is late and Mike Skala probably caught a huge break in his race against Larry Snow for Huntley school board.

You see, many Sun City residents don’t return North until after Easter.

In the Kane county part of Sun City, two years ago there were 1260 ballots cast in the school board election. This time around only 779. That’s almost a 500 vote difference.

The McHenry County side of Sun City probably experienced a similar drop off. Overall probably about a 900 vote difference.

Granted, Snow would not sweep every vote, but what did Skala win by? About 1000 votes

There were almost 600 more registered voters in this part of Kane County, District 158 than two years ago (today 4761 versus 4163). In the Kane County half of Sun City, 600 more potential registered voters and 500 fewer votes cast. Skala did get 16 more votes in Kane County this time around (317 versus 301).

In McHenry County, Skala got more teachers and their families to get out and vote while likely Sun City voting was down significantly.

While a small fortune in election signs might mask what really happened, it appears

Bingo, that’s the election.

You can read my first take on the election here:

The margin was overwhelming on election day.

65% to 35%.

Before adding in absentee and early votes, Skala led the two-county school district by about 3,700 to 1,300.

Almost 2-1.

A landslide.

Mike Skala, who lost a campaign two years ago while Huntley School District 158 Board President to Aileen Seedorf, Kevin Gentry and Jim Carlin, trounced elected incumbent Larry Snow.

Skala can again refer to himself as an “elected school board member,” rather than an “appointed school board member.”

Skala’s was a well-run campaign.

Snow’s was handicapped by an automobile accident that left him incapable of mounting a door-to-door campaign.

Skala’s campaign consisted of at least three mailings, including a post card of endorsement from State Representative and McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Mike Tryon, one of the recipients of a generous Skala company contribution, and Pam Althoff, similarly, a recipient of a generous contribution.

He had two at least other mailings, neither of which I got a copy of.

There was a phone call the last weekend and plenty of signs, none of which could I find a mere one hour after the polls closed. Skala’s efficient organization had taken them all down. Virtually all seem to have been illegally put on the public right of way.

I especially like the homemade-looking ones (maybe they were homemade) saying, “Vote Today.”

That’s an innovation worth copying.

My guess is that Skala’s was a classic voter identification and get out the vote campaign built upon the base of approximately 1,000 teachers and family members who live within the District 158 boundaries.

More than teachers and their families voted for Skala, of course.

He got almost 2,000 votes in McHenry County and 317 in the Kane County part of Sun City. Still incomplete, but let’s say 2,300-plus.

Two years ago, in his close loss, Skala received 1,570 votes in McHenry County and 301 in Kane County. That’s almost 1,900.

Four years ago, Snow got 1,877 in McHenry County and 1,191 in Kane County for 2,978, more than Skala received this time around.

Snow got 833 in McHenry this year and 462 in Kane, totally about 1,300. A 1,600 vote drop off.

So Skala’s vote increased 400 from two years ago and Snow’s decreased 1,600 from four years ago.

Of course, people aren’t as angry today about the deceptive tax hike Skala spoke for way back then. Political memories are short.

Politicians who hike taxes count on that.

And, lots of the Sun City folks probably have not yet returned from their snowbird homes, since Easter is next weekend.

It is interesting to note that most of Snow’s supporters did not vote for the four unopposed candidates for the four-year seats. Those spots will be filled by incumbents Shawn Green and Kim Skaja, plus newcomers Paul Troy and Donald Drzal.

Typically, lots of people are turned off by the type of smear campaign mounted by Skala’s allies.

Voters decide just not to participate.

That is exactly the reaction that those mounting the smear campaign usually hope for.

I wonder if this was a deliberately thought out strategy by the Skala campaign manager.

In any event, Skala’s campaign was obviously professionally managed and adequately financed.

I can hear the cheers of the teachers for the husband of their former co-president.

No more pesky questions on behalf of the taxpayers from Larry Snow.

No more forensic audits being pushed to look at illegally approved payments to administrators, which were never recovered by the board majority.

No more questions from Snow about why sexual harassment settlements are not discussed at public board meetings.

No more from Snow questions about why cronies are being pushed for high paid district positions for which they are unqualified.

And, most importantly, no more Larry Snow as chief salary negotiator.

The question remains whether this “lesson” will keep future taxpayer-oriented citizens from daring to invade the teacher-controlled school board majority citadel.

Back to the old way of doing things.

I wonder when the next tax hike referendum will be held.