FLAMM SIGNS ON DISTRICT 211 PROPERTY

Check out this flagrant violation of the Election Interference law, and the Ethics Act. To her credit, the District 211 Superintendent had the sign removed the day after I complained about it. The District 211 teachers union contributed $1,500 to Friends of Flamm, and apparently they tried to contribute advertising space.

SOME HIGHLIGHTS OF LAST NIGHT’S PUBLIC MEETING

Scott Thompson and Mike Adamczyk (Assistant Superintendent for Finance) came to our meeting last night and presented the District’s plan for capital projects in the event the bond referendum is approved by the voters on November 2. Mr. Thompson reiterated his position that the District should not issue more than $16 million in bonds, but acknowledged that if the referendum passes there will be nothing to stop the District from borrowing the entire $27 million within the next three years.

Mr. Thompson acknowledged that District 15 has never had a long term plan for improving and maintaining the District’s 20 school buildings. When asked about the District’s plan for maintaining buildings in the event the referendum fails, Mr. Thompson said that the District does not have a plan for taking care of capital projects. This is particularly galling in light of the fact that the District is sitting on a $55 million reserve ($14 million in excess of their targeted reserve of 30% of expenditures). But, Mr. Thompson says the District does not want to tap into its “rainy day” fund to repair and maintain buildings. An audience member asked Mr. Thompson what the reserves are there for, if not for making necessary repairs, and Mr. Thompson noted that the District plans to spend down its reserves (deficit spending) over the next 5 years until the reserves balance is projected to be $30 million. This equates to $25 million in deficit spending over the next 5 years. The reserves will be spent on operating expenses, including salaries and benefits.

And the District’s plan for balancing the budget, and stopping the deficit spending? They don’t have one. But they do have a plan for coming up with a long range plan for the District called “Navigate 15″. They will be seeking community input over the course of monthly public meetings beginning on November 16, from 7-9 pm at Winston Campus. The Navigate 15 sessions will consider and discuss every aspect of education in the District, including curriculum, finances, technology, facilities, and recommendations will be made to the Board next fall.

I think the Navigate 15 program is a great idea, if properly executed. But I don’t think that the District should put off creating a capital improvement plan for another year. One day the sky is falling and we need to replace 11 roofs immediately, the next we can afford to wait a year to create a plan for building repairs and maintenance. I appreciate Mr. Thompson taking the time to present the District’s plan, and to answer questions. Unfortunately the answers just raised more questions about the District’s spending priorities, and their commitment to putting the needs of our students first.

INTERIM SUPERINTENDENT WILL ATTEND FALCON PARK MEETING TONIGHT

Citizens for Accountability in D15 is having a public informational meeting tonight from 5:30-7:00 pm at Falcon Park Recreation Center at 2185 N. Hicks Road, Palatine. Interim Superintendent Scott Thompson will attend the early part of this meeting to present the District’s argument in favor of the bonds.

GETTING “CULVERIZED” WITH SCOTT THOMPSON

Interim Superintendent Scott Thompson’s custard-klatsch at Culver’s provided little in the way of new information regarding the District’s finances or its plans for pursuing the bond issue. Confusion and consternation are the words that come to mind when I think of the wild disparities between the 5 year financial forecast that was discussed at Culver’s and presented at the regular school board meeting tonight, and the previous 5 year forecast that was presented to the board in March 2010 when the board voted on the bonds. The new forecast shows the District engaging in deficit spending, but at a slower rate than had been previously forecasted. However, the forecast assumes zero percent base pay increase for teachers after their contract expires in 2012, and this could explain why the deficits are smaller. If past performance during contract negotiations is any indicator of future performance in our district, I would say it is highly unlikely that the teachers will experience a base pay freeze, and therefore these numbers are not reliable. These new numbers may warm the hearts of certain board members, but they do not inspire confidence in the District’s ability to make long range financial decisions about issues that will directly impact our students.

Regarding the bond issue, it is clear that the District still does not have a plan for how it would prioritize the many projects on its wish list. Interim Superintendent Thompson indicated that they were waiting to hire an architect to oversee the project, which architect would make these recommendations. Assuming the district wins its referendum, I have a hard time believing that they will be able to do all of the work necessary to get Build America Bonds issued by December 31, if they don’t even have an architect on board yet.

When asked how he could guarantee that the District would not borrow any more than the $16 million Thompson says is needed to make necessary repairs to District buildings, Thompson acknowledged that there was no way he could guarantee the remaining $11 million would not be borrowed for any purpose, but that he would be terribly disappointed if that happened.

In response to the question “What is the District’s plan if the referendum is defeated?”, Mr. Thompson replied that he planned on opening up a dialogue with the community to seek input on what the community’s goals are, and how they would like to proceed. In other words, he would do what the District had failed to do back in March, when it put the cart before the horse and raced out of the barn.

In my opinion it all comes down to a matter of trust. Can we trust these people to leave money on the table, and not borrow the entire $27 million over the next 3 years? Can we trust them to come up with a 5 year financial forecast that is based upon realistic assumptions, which we can use as a guide for making sound financial decisions for the District, and our children?

Sadly, the answer to these questions is clearly “NO”, and that will be my vote on November 2.

SUPER’S CHAT AT PLUM GROVE WEDNESDAY 10-13 MOVED TO NEW LOCATION

Interim Superintendent Scott Thompson’s presentation regarding the $27 million cash bond issue to the Plum Grove PTSA has been moved to a new location. It will take place tomorrow, October 13, at the Culver’s at the Northeast corner of Meacham and Algonquin. The time remains the same – 1 pm. Hope to see you there!

COULD THIS BE THE REAL REASON THAT LUKICH LEFT DISTRICT 15?

District 15 has finally released an email that it had previously omitted from its response to a Freedom of Information Act request for all District and Board member emails regarding the $27 million bond issue. Better late than never, I suppose.

The email in question may shed light on differences that arose between Dr. Lukich and the board majority, which may have helped to accelerate his departure from District 15.

On March 26 Board President Chapman sent Lukich an email asking why the list of capital projects had not been posted on the District’s website yet. Lukich responded:

“Following your phone discussion this am Friday, I sent the attached
email to Merilee, Jim and Craig to agree and finalize the list we
reviewed and revised Monday of this week at cabinet and by phone with
Merilee. Once done it will be placed on the website as you requested.
All agreed it needed some changes before it went to board and public.
Craig produced the draft from a combination of documents including
health life safety unaddressed projects. The list needed refined and
agreement since it addressed all buildings in district. I am not sure
it will pass board scrutiny before being placed public. I will copy
board with this communication and the attached earlier communication
before Monday’s cabinet review. That is the reason the list is not on
the website as we discussed.

Dan L”

Perhaps Chapman was not happy with Lukich’s comment that he was not sure the list of capital projects would pass muster with the board. It certainly did not pass muster with the public when it was finally posted on April 1.

SUPERINTENDENT PLANS BOND TALK AT PLUM GROVE JR. HIGH

Interim Superintendent Scott Thompson and Mike Adamczyk, Assistant Super for Business services, are planning to discuss the bond issue at 1 pm at Plum Grove Junior High on Wednesday, October 13. I have warned Mr. Thompson about the potential legal dangers of advocating for the bond referendum on District property, during District school hours, but he seems convinced that he will not be violating any laws. However, I believe that what he and Mr. Adamczyk are proposing may be a clear violation of both the Election Interference Act (“No public funds shall be used to urge any elector to vote for or against any candidate or proposition”) and the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act, which also prohibits the use of public resources to support passage of a ballot proposition.

Mr. Thompson and the board members who support the proposed $27 million working cash bond issue are free to campaign, canvass, urge and cajole the voters or Palatine Township to their hearts content, but NOT ON DISTRICT PROPERTY AND NOT WHILE THEY ARE ON THE DISTRICT CLOCK. If they really want to reach out to the voters they should choose a non-District venue, either before or after school hours.