"You Must Report on Constituent Complaints"

It’s been almost a week since the last Huntley School District 158 story.

Here’s one even someone who doesn’t have libertarian tendencies should recoil at.

Whoever came up with this “brilliant” suggestion didn’t care to claim authorship.

Read it and I think you’ll see why.
It’s a proposed policy change to govern the behavior of Huntley school board members:

“Board members shall promptly report to the Superintendent suggestions, criticisms or complaints regarding the School District”

In other words, when school board members get a complaint or suggestion from a constituent, the school board member must report it to Superintendent John Burkey.

Surely, Burkey would not be so stupid as to suggest this.

And, I must be worked up or I wouldn’t use the word “stupid.” I admonish my son not to use the word, to be more creative in his selection of adjectives.

But, it is S-T-U-P-I-D.

Burkey knows who’s boss.

He knows who the employee is.

It’s him. Unlike former days in Crystal Lake, the superintendent does not pick the school board members…at least in Huntley.

Burkey knows that he is not the boss of his elected school board members.

I cannot believe he would not strongly object to this proposal.

It puts him in an untenable position.

Mandatory reporting.

That’s what DCFS does to teachers and doctors and others who might observe child abuse. They report or can face criminal penalties.

That reminds me. What is the penalty for non-compliance, if the policy passes?

The Department of Central Management Services’ rules said I had to write a report of every contact with a state legislator when I worked in the bowels of the bureaucracy during the mid-1980’s.

It was mandatory.

I finally told the director that I would write a report every time I talked about anything that involved CMS, but that what I said and what my friends said after hours was not going to be reported.

I didn’t tell the director, “It’s none of your business,” but he didn’t object.

Will the school keep a list of every parent who goes to a school board member to complain?

Will their kids get retribution in the classroom?

If a parent talks to a school board member, will the implication be

Your kid could get hurt…educationally.

Will school board members be so intimidated by this absurd, ah, a better word that “stupid,” suggestion that they will imitate Sergeant Schultz of “Hogan’s Heroes.”

“I know nothin’”

You can’t require a public official to tell one of his or her employees anything.

It’s called chain of command, something some members ought to know a bit about.

What next?

The Huntley trustees having to tell the police chief of every complaint about a policeman…even if they don’t want to?


Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *