McHenry County Blog

An email from Regional Superintendent of Schools Leslie Schermerhorn explaining how she is staffing her new office:

“There are two new people in the Regional Office of Education (ROE).

“Dr. Amy Weiss Narea has come on as a 100-day Assistant Superintendent. (She can only be employed 100 days as she is retired) Dr. Narea is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Northwestern University, M.ED, Chicago-Kent Law School, J.D. and DePaul University D.Ed.

“She served as principal in a Chicago Public School for 24 years and most recently coached new CPS Principals and student teachers at DePaul University.

“She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the office.

“She and I are working on

• grant writing,
• the truancy policy for the County and
• improving relations between the schools and the diverse populations in McHenry County.

“Dr. Narea is fluent in Spanish and French. We are currently working on the Drug Free Community Grant.

“In addition to the temporary appointment of Dr. Narea, Bob Diviacchi has come on board as the ROE truancy officer.

“A former police officer in Franklin Park, Bob is also fluent in Spanish and Italian.

“He is certainly a man on the go, visiting the schools where chronic truants have been referred to the ROE and knocking on the doors of the student’s homes to get the children back in school.

“The new law effective July 1, 2012 reduced the number of unexcused absences for a ‘chronic truant’ from 18 to 9.

“There is great urgency when a child is missing school to get him/her back in as soon as possible.

“As Dr. Narea has said, we either pay now to get these students in school or pay later when they are unemployed adults or in jail.”

Just not having enough processing time for the articles I want to write.

Today, let’s play catchup with the Monday McHenry County Republican Central Committee fund raiser at Port Edward in Algonquin.

I didn’t wonder around too much, but I did get a couple of photos of Republican activists.

Arriving early was McHenry County Sheriff’s candidate Jim Harrison and his wife Carolyn. They were sitting with Algonquin Township Trustee Lowell Cutsforth and Tony Cundiff.

Then along came another Sheriff’s candidate, Bill Prim, with his campaign manager Matt McNamara.

And, since the third aspirant to succeed Sheriff, Andy Zinke, was in attendance, too, this, let me show you the shot I got of him and Prim against the back wall of Port Edward.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi made the rounds greeting people.

All sorts of County Board candidates were in attendance. I am sure I can’t list them all, if you know someone not mentioned, put it in a comment and I’ll add him or her.  I saw Nick Provenzano.

The speaker for the evening was the Republican State Representative candidate for eastern Algonquin. [Algonquin was split into two districts by the Illinois Democrats. Mike Tryon will represent the western part.]

The Congressman who represents Algonquin Township, Peter Roskam, was not in attendance, but Randy Hultgren, the Republican Congressman who is running in the rest of McHenry County was.

One final long shot that I took before I left early. You may be able to pick out some of those in attendance.

The event ended at 8:30.

Let me add that there were plenty of Grafton Township candidates. Besides Supervisor Linda Moore, mentioned above in a cut line, there was Supervisor candidate Marty Waitzman. The only candidate not in attendance was Pam Fender. Road Commissioner candidate Tom Poznanski and Assessor candidate Al Zielinski helped the GOP raise money for the fall campaign.

Two potential contenders for the Republican nomination for Governor spoke to Party faithful at the McHenry County Country Club Wednesday.

During the cocktail time before dinner State Treasurer Dan Rutherford spoke after an effusive introduction by Party Chairman Mike Tryon.

Rutherford left before dinner.

After dinner State Senator Kirk Dillard was introduced as a potential candidate for Governor by Tryon.

But not before Tryon said,

“We’re fixing to have a right turn.”

The former DuPage County GOP Chairman, State Senator and Republican gubernatorial primary candidate who was barely edged out by Bill Brady spoke of the importance of McHenry County in statewide races and why Illinois needed a Republican Governor after Democrat Pat Quinn.

Although Republican Precinct Committeemen were told that Congressmen Peter Roskam and Randy Hultgren would be attending the event, they weren’t there after I arrived at about 4:20.

I was looking forward to chatting with them.

State Senator Pam Althoff enjoyed my comparison of her happy dance to that of Snoopy.

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay was in attendance making post State Senate primary connections.

Also speaking to the group after dinner was GOP State Rep. candidate David McSweeney.

Rumors that Independent opponent Dee Beaubien might attend the event were found to be incorrect.

McSweeney has developed a good “stump speech” which takes first aim at replacing Democrat Mike Madigan as Illinois House Speaker.

I continue to bemoan the fact that besides electing McSweeney, a sure vote for Madigan’s opponent Tom Cross, with no opposition being fielded against Democrat State Rep. Jack Franks, the only thing McHenry County residents for major chance in Springfield can do is help Mike Tryon put together the $10,000 he is assessed annually for GOP House races elsewhere and the $20,000 that Pam Althoff has to provide for State Senate races where a Democrat might be taken out.

There were a number of McHenry County Board members at the event.

With the possibility of having missed some County Board members and candidates, here are the ones I saw or heard introduced:

• Mary Donner
• John Hammerand
• Tina Hill
• John Jung
• Ken Koehler
• Donna Kurtz
• Mary McCann
• Anna May Miller
• Nick Provenzano
• Ersel Schuster
• Michael Rein

Most countywide officers and candidates were present, too:

• Katherine Keefe
• Dr. Anne Majewski
• Pam Palmer
• Kathie Schultz
• Phyllis Walters

Missing were the two men:

• Lou Bianchi
• Keith Nygren

Leslie Schermerhorn, the newly-appointed Regional Superintendent of Schools was in Springfield meeting with Illinois State Superintendent of Education Christopher Koch and attending Health/Life/Safety inspection training, she told me.

The winner of the main door prize was newly-elected Republican Precinct Committeeman from Fox River Grove Andrew Gasser.  It was a Jack Daniels barbeque kit, complete with a pint of the real stuff.

The 50-50 raffle was won by Woodstock’s John Cole.  He took home $445.

GOP Executive Director thanked Crystal Lake Committeeman Jim Thompson for making the calls to make the event the best in the last six years.

I’ve written previously that McHenry County Board member Donna Kurtz was appointed March 29th as a precinct committeeman in Algonquin Township Precinct 20. (She lives in Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley’s precinct. Algonquin 10.)

That was before Central Committee Chairman Mike Tryon won re-election to the post.

On May 15th, after Kurtz was the main speaker at the candidacy kick-off for Independent State Rep. candidate Dee Beaubien, she was removed from the appointed committeeman post. No replacement was named for the precinct whose houses are roughly between the Crystal Lake Plaza and Crystal Lake Central.

Today I noticed some similar activity in Dorr Township.

When I last dipped into the condition of its Central Committee, I noted that there were four precinct committeemen from McHenry County Board member Tina Hill’s address.

That struck me as a sign of weakness in the GOP in the Woodstock area.

Bjorn GE Mattson has replaced Casey Hill in Dorr 4.

And, Alan Hill has been replaced by newly-appointed Regional Superintendent of Education Leslie Schermerhorn in Dorr 6.

One almost needs a score card to keep track of the substitutions.

Dorr 3 is still vacant, so there’s still a place for a volunteer.

And, I’m sure the other precinct committeemen would welcome help.

The guest speaker for McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler’s Koehlerfest was State Treasurer Dan Rutherford.

Meeting at Lakeside Center’s dining room, Koehler introduced him as “a good friend of McHenry County.”

The gathering of Koehler supporters was also “Chainsaw Jack” Franks’ prospective opponent Tonya Franklin’s “coming out party.”

Introduced to Koehler as the woman who was going to keep Jack Franks off his back, Franklin received nothing but encouragement.

He said he would be at the Special Meeting of the County Central Committee at 9 AM at D’Andrea’s in Crystal Lake on this Saturday morning.

Koehler noted that he is the only Republican elected official to take Franks on.

As Tonya worked the room, those trying to suppress turnout sufficiently so there will not be a quorum on Saturday morning were seen talking to Precinct Committeemen with whom she had talked.

While they were doing their thing, I was trying to find people to fill empty precincts.

One Koehler contributor seemed quite interested so I passed his name onto Tom McDermott, who heads the Algonquin Township Committee looking for people willing to work in the fall election.

I ran into former McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Jack Schaffer, who was State Senator in the 1970′s (and beyond), and introduced him to Tonya.

“Go get them,” he said encouragingly.

Other candidates were in attendance.

Working the room most systematically was GOP State Rep. candidate David McSweeney.

He is still unopposed, although Dee Beaubien is circulating petitions to gain ballot access as an Independent.

To be a candidate, Beaubien has to file petition signatures in Springfield the same as Tonya Franklin.

The woman slated to run for McHenry County Superintendent of Schools by the Central Committee, Leslie Schermerhorn, was in attendance with a number of family members.

McHenry County State’s attorney was in attendance.  He greeted Tonya Franklin warmly.

I also saw County Board candidates Yvonne Barnes, from Cary and running in District 1, and District 2 candidate Carolyn Schofield, currently serving on the Crystal Lake City Council.

District 5 candidate John Jung, who lives in Bull Valley and is the Republican Precinct Committeeman in the only Jack Franks precinct containing part of Crystal Lake, was at the event with his wife and newly-appointed Dorr Township Precinct Committeeman Josie.

= = = = =
If I missed a candidate, please let me know in a comment so I can complete the story.

An astute political observer noted that Republican Precinct Committee have more power being thrust in their hands at Saturday’s 9 AM meeting of the GOP Central Committee than they have ever had before.

Indeed, in times past, Precinct Committee have been asked to and have endorsed candidates for statewide public office, but the endorsements, but those endorsements had as much influence as all the elected officials who individually endorsed appointed State Rep. Kent Gaffney in the spring primary election.

There have been times when Central Committee members have nominated fall candidates for McHenry County Regional Superintendent of Schools.

This happened with Leslie Schermerhorn last month.

But she was the only candidate who met the qualifications.

I remember its happening once before with the same office.

There were actually two qualified candidates desiring the nomination, but the Establishment candidate easily won.

Saturday, Precinct Committeemen will have the chance to select two “63rd District Representative Committeemen,” who, if the Committeemen who called the meeting have their way, will then nominate Tonya Franklin to run for State Representative against “Chainsaw Jack” Franks, a Democrat who has had no GOP opposition for two out of the last three elections.

Getting the nomination, however, is not enough to get Franklin on the ballot.

She and supporters will have to get 500 “good” signatures in less than two days, because the signatures and other paperwork have to be delivered in Springfield by Monday afternoon.

So, it’s a long shot, but, if she doesn’t succeed, McHenry County Republican Party Chairman Bill LeFew in 2006 and Mike Tryon in 2008 and 2012 will have managed to leave the office vacant on the ballot three out of four election cycles.

No candidate recruited.  (In 2010, McHenry Grade School and Library Board member John O’Neill pretty much decided to run on his own.  There wasn’t an overwhelming amount of support for his candidacy.)

There could just be another empowering meeting for GOP Committeemen this summer.

Sheriff Keith Nygren could still decide to retire.

If he does so by some day I can’t remember in July, the Central Committee would be tasked with slating a candidate in the fall election.

See

Backdooring Nygren’s Replacement – Part 3

County political party committees held organization meetings all over Illinois Wednesday night.

At the McHenry County Republican Party Central Committee meeting, State Rep. Mike Tryon was re-elected Chairman.

Nunda Township’s Mark Daniel was selected as Vice Chairman. He will replace Kathy Kuchta of McHenry Township.

The Secretary and Treasurer will remain the same, Glenda Miller and Fred Wickham.

In other action, the Precinct Committeemen voted to put Leslie Schermerhorn on the ballot for Regional Superintendent of Education.

She was appointed to the post on Tuesday night by the McHenry County Board.

After the meeting the new and old Precinct Committeemen got to know each other.

The Daily Herald actually sent a reporter.

Among topics

Leslie Schermerhorn introduced herself to the Public Health and Human Services Committee this morning.

As McHenry County Blog readers learned exclusively nine days ago, Leslie Schermerhorn qualifies under the stringent educational and professional requirements set by law.

The previous person proposed for the position had the technical and party qualifications, but was found to have a criminal record.

After presenting her qualifications and goals for the office, Schermerhorn was asked by Public Health and Human Services Committee member Donna Kurtz if she had a criminal record.

Schermerhorn reported she had had such a background check last year and had passed.

The attorney added,

“I can assure you I’ve never been arrested,” then pausing, showed her sense of h humor by saying, “other than the three husbands I have buried in my backyard.”

Schermerhorn lives in Bull Valley.

The daughter of retired Republican Judge Thomas Schermerhorn, Leslie Schermerhorn has a recent record of voting Republican, which is also a legal requirement, since she will be replacing Joe Williams, who was elected on the Republican Party ticket in 2010.

Among topics brought up by Schermerhorn were the growing diversity of the school age population, for which she pointed out her experience in her Chicago school had prepared her.

She also used the “consolidation” word, pointing to school districts with just one school. [Riley, Wonder Lake and Fox River Grove came to my mind.]

Schermerhorn’s candidacy was approved unanimously and will go before the McHenry County Board next Tuesday night.

She said she could start May 1st, but “I’m not leaving my school in the lurch,” she assured the committee members.

Friday, April 13, the McHenry County Public Health and Human Services Committee will be interviewing the
Leslie A. Schermerhorn of Woodstock for the post of Regional Superintendent of Schools.

The candidate, who would be appointed by the County Board to fill slot that went unfilled after the 2010 election winner Joe Williams decided not to take the office, is Assistant Elementary Principal at Chicago’s LaSalle Elem Language Academy.

In her letter of application to McHenry County Board Chairman Ken Koehler, Schermerhorn wrote,

“I am uniquely qualified for this position given my 13+ years as an educator in a highly successful racially and economically diverse school.  Additionally, I being the expertise of having a degree in law.  From all the research I have done on the Regional Superintendent position, in additional to certifying teachers, truancy enforcement and school safety inspections, the Regional Superintendent assists McHenry County schools with school law.”

Schermerhorn the increasing diversity of McHenry County’s population in a communication to Koehler:

“We need to address the needs posed by this new population. ESL ]English as a Second Language] is not enough, nor very effective. We need to reach not only the students, but their families.”

She goes on to note that referendums are not being looked upon favorably by taxpayers and suggests she can assist in finding other sources of revenue, e.g.,

• “doggedly searching for applicable grants and writing grant applications
• “maintaining constant communication and a collaborative relationship with state and federal politicians to ensure monies allocated for McHenry County
• “examination of the use of Title I in each school district to ensure they are specifically targeting the students who require interventions in order to meet the State benchmarks and to increase high school graduation rates and college enrollment.”

The State Board of Education issued a k-12 administrative certificate on August 7, 2007. She holds a 1999 Master of Eduction degree with grades just one A-minus away from a straight 4 point average, plus a 1985 Juris Doctor degree from DePaul University.

To serve the final two years of the term, Schermerhorn would have to be nominated to be on the fall ballot by the McHenry County Republican Central Committee, and, then be elected. So far, there is no indication that Democrats will field a candidate.

While expecting to be hired on the “merits” of her” experience and qualifications,” Schermerhorn explains that her last name has some name identification.

Speaking to her electability, she points out that her father ran successfully for judge in 1996, that she has “many strong ties to the educational community in McHenry County and a name that will be recognizable to many.”

The salary for the Regional Superintendent is about $104,000, a source at the Courthouse believes, although the money comes from state, rather than county coffers.

Schermerhorn’s background follows:

According to the Family Taxpayers Network, she was paid $110,671 in 2011, has 14 years in the Teachers Retirement Fund.