So let me get this straight....

A Rob Sherman update...

I recently blogged about Rob Sherman and his propensity to tell everyone how to do their job, offer suggestions and then not do anything.

Case in point --  Sherman has made numerous appearances at the Buffalo Grove Village Board meetings telling trustees and village clerk Jan Sirabian how to do their jobs.  He's such an expert (just ask him) that he is running for village clerk (see previous blogs).

Robbypoo is so concerned about the Village Board and, apparently the village as a whole, that he has not attended a Village Board meeting in months.

But, alas, he may have a good reason -- he's too busy attending other meetings.  For example, he'll be attending the District 128 -- that's in Libertyville -- School Board meeting tonight because of an issue about the teaching of creationism.

Amazing how he doesn't have time for the village he wants to serve, but when there's a media opportunity in another municipality, he manages to find time to attend a meeting.

I wonder if it will be reflected in the minutes?

Hey Rob, how about substance and not abuse??

If you are following the race for Buffalo Grove Village Clerk, you know that incumbent Jan Sirabian is being "challenged" by resident expert on everything and accomplisher of little, Rob Sherman.

Sherman continues to hammer away at Sirabian for her job performance.  What appears be the issue has little to do with Sirabian's performance, but rather Sherman's apparent sexist double standards and arrogance.

Sherman hammers away at what he thinks should be done with the village clerk's office, but has shown little effort, let alone interest, in what goes on in the village.  The campaign has proven to be yet another shaky soap box on which Sherman can stand on and brag and demonstrate boorish behavior.

As I have mentioned before, Sherman's claims to fame have been challenging the state-mandated moment of silent reflection in schools, having his car washed by Hooter's staff members, and attending the Naked Ladies Book Club.

Somewhere you would think he would be more attuned to the issues of the village.  When the Illinois EPA held its hearing in November, Sherman parked his massive Rob Sherman vehicle in front of Village Hall, smugly solicited nomination petitions -- and then  left.  He barely (no pun intended here), if at all, stayed for the hearing.  No matter how you feel about the L & L landfill, as a village official, or candidate, it seems to me that if you are genuinely concerned about the village, you would have stayed.

It's a case of actions speak louder than words.

Instead Sherman's campaign, if you want to call it that, is focused on ripping the minutes of Village Board minutes and addressing the fact that Sirabian  is a senior citizen.  She'll hit 70 on her next birthday.  News flash -- Sherman is also a senior citizen -- granted he's "only" 57, but he's eligible for an AARP card and before long, he'll reach the magic 62 when he'll get a discount at Dairy Queen.

But Robbypoo doesn't think like that -- his position seems to be that Sirabian keeps running because she's an egotist who wants the job for life.  His latest allegations stem from an article in the Countryside about the race.  In it Sirabian is quoted as saying she was going to she was going to keep the minutes of the Village Board meetings to a bare minimum, something which infuriated former trustee Lisa Stone.

If you check the minutes of most other public bodies, you'll find their minutes are similar to Buffalo Grove's.  Sherman likes to bully up to the Illinois Open Meetings Act by claiming a "summary of discussion," is needed. Summary, Robbypoo, not narrative.  It would be unreasonable and potentially biased for any village clerk to provide a narrative.

This election need to look at performance, dedication and character.  Sherman thinks it's acceptable to chastise  a public servant who has held the post for  32 years because the voters wanted her to.  Sirabian has hit potholes during her tenure, but any public official will.

Sherman's allegations that "..she is unworthy of re-election, regardless of what happens on April 5th, and that she has the maturity of an adolescent in middle school by throwing temper tantrums as her response to criticism..." are desperate and sophomoric and reflect the lack of respect Sherman has for someone who does not agree with him.

Sherman adds that  "since Jan cannot be relied upon to provide consistent quality and to not throw a temper tantrum whenever she feels like it, and since nobody else is willing to do the job, I'll take that job and do it right, every time, and not just when I feel like it, as our unprofessional incumbent does."

Unprofessional?  Let's see, I have yet to see pictures of Jan Sirabian with naked men or Chip 'N Dale dancers.  Nor have I seen stories about her attending underwear lectures.

What I see is the work she does on behalf of community charities and Veterans events.

Sirabian is not perfect -- but she's honest and does not skirt the past, something  Sherman does. While he is quick to interpret legal opinions, he seemingly avoids his training.  Does he have law degree?  What is his interest in charity? How does he support the nation's veterans?

And what about his background?  He's upset about Sirabian repeating as village clerk.  Given Sherman's background if he repeats that could make him a repeat offender.

If character counts, Sherman needs to stop throwing rocks in glass houses.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum

Candidate forums are like funerals.  They're kind of a necessary evil that people attend and they hear the nice stuff.


Tuesday night's forum featuring the candidates for the District 125 School Board was no different for the most part.


Thanks to a stellar effort by Stevenson's Political Action Committee, the gang of seven presented themselves, responded to 10 questions developed by the PAC and even had a chance for brief rebuttals.


The students who moderated and provided questions kept responses to 60 seconds and challenges to 30 seconds.  This lead to a smooth forum without any interruptions (the Village Board could have used them last year).


What the students were not able to do was control the quality of the candidate answers.  Panelists included 125for125 --   Kathy Powell, Kim Brady and Charles Cardella and the United4Stevenson slate that includes incumbents Bruce Rubin, Merv Roberts, and Terry Moons along with newcomer David Weisberg.


The 125for125 maintained that its platform was centered on the tax rates and the need for fiscal prudence by the current board.  Powell, Brady and Cardella held fast that it was the opposition that was labeling them as right-wing extremists and that the 125for125 group just wants to be the taxpayers' friends and do what's best for kids.


In fact, in his response to a question about helping marginalized kids and groups fit in, Cardella said he supports all students and groups because they have "worth and we protect them."  His posture seemed to abhor any sense of bullying and discrimination.  In fact, Cardella said he and his fellow slate members have suffered discrimination and bullying.


Oh, come on, Charlie -- your memory must be fading.


Let's set the way-back machine, Sherman. 


More than a few times during the forum Cardella, Brady and Powell stated that they became interested in Board activities two years ago in an effort to ensure that there would be options for students -- especially if there was a book being read that might be ::gasp:: offensive.


Really?


How quickly they forget.


What brought them to the Board was an article -- oops -- articles in the once-proud school newspaper, The Statesman, about hooking up -- which is what kids do today when they are interested in doing things that teens have been doing for decades -- and I don't mean listen to Dick Clark.


The right to open and responsible venues of student expression was not among the topics discussed, which is probably a good thing for a couple of reasons.  First of all, it would have narrowed the focus of the forum to a specific topic.  Secondly, it would have been  a challenge to keep answers to 60 seconds.


For Charlie and his angels, it was a good thing because they would have had to explain the sudden lapse in memory.


I chatted for Charlie after the meeting (before I saw him at a nearby watering hole) to discuss open forums for student expression.  He was vague (do you think?) about student expression until I asked him about prior review of The Statesman. 


He first told me that "we don't have prior review anymore."  The first thing that struck me is that, yes, they do.  Cardella said it was up to the adviser to review The Statesman and that prior review was only needed in some cases.  Huh?  Either you have prior review or you don't. 


Cardella said in the case of the now infamous hooking up article, it was necessary because it was "poor journalism." Poor, he said, because it was once sided and merely told kids how to become sexual predators.  He told me he had a daughter who was a Stevenson senior at the time and he was offended by the article.  He did not say she was offended or upset by the article.


So he presumably started the crusade to place The Statesman under prior review which lead to an award-winning adviser resign and some outstanding scholastic journalists give up their passion.


What concerns me was his comment that "we" no longer have prior review.  Hello, Charlie, you're not on the board.  Does the use of "we' indicate that it was your organization, or its connection to the Illinois Family Institute, carry enough clout to mandate policy for District 125?  Is there a possibility that Cardella and his "slate" are already fostering connections inside the school?  Discussions of this nature need to be open, and not resolved by inside connections, which is why voters elect board members.


Oh, and by the way, there was another article that infuriated Cardella and his group -- the one about the GSA -- the Gay-Straight Alliance.  That article was clearly singled out at the March 2009 Board meeting and challenged by Cardella.


By whom?  The same folks who vowed to make sure all kids and groups fit in.


But that was probably less than two years ago.


Selective campaigning is deceitful.  Selective campaigning in a school board race not only deceits the voters -- but the students as well.


And that's more annoying than high taxes.

Morals vs. numbers?

Statistics can be squirrely things.

Consider this – there are 10 women in a room of which one is pregnant while the other nine are virgins.  Statistically, every woman in that room is 10 percent pregnant and 90 percent a virgin.

People can play with numbers to get them to come out in any way shape or form.  This has become especially true in education as school districts everywhere try to flaunt ACT score and number of students in AP classes.

And now the fracas has entered the District 125 School Board election.  What we have here folks are two slates going in two different directions.  Duh.  The United4Stevenson group includes incumbents Bruce Rubin, Merv Roberts, and Terry Moons along with newcomer David Weisberg while the slate taking on the evil empire includes Kathy Powell, Kim Brady and Charles Cardella.  They market themselves as the 125for125, simply because of their position on the ballot.

The 125ers hide behind statistics:  The incumbents have been on too long, they spend too much, and they’ve raised the tax levy.  The bottom line is the Board, while not perfect, has handled a lot of what’s happened in the district well. 

For the record, I have taken issue with several Board actions – a referendum for capital improvements that was, in my mind, unwarranted and its seemingly spineless handling of the censorship and prior review of the once-proud Stevenson High School newspaper, The Statesman.

But that’s where the 125for125 folks come in.  They hate free and responsible student expression.  They were upset with the "dastardly" story about hooking up – which was a local version of a New York Times story.  They did not want their children exposed to that sort of thing.  Right.  Do you want to bet their kids are on Facebook?  Do you want to bet they watch TV?  Kids are kids and the things they do haven’t changed. 

The reality is that parents today “hooked up” when they were younger – there was just another name for it. 

Beyond the dreaded hooking up article, at the March 2009 School Board meeting, it came out that there was another article that offended opponents to The Statesman -- it was on a dance being sponsored by the Gay-Straight Alliance – GSA.

That outraged the opponents so much that one of them, and I believe it may have been Cardella, held up a copy of The Statesman and proclaimed that “this is pornography.”

Putting aside First Amendment issues – the question is this – do you want a person, or persons, who belittles student work by calling it “pornography” on any school board, let along one that runs a school with the academic excellence of Stevenson?

The apparent phobia over gay and lesbian students – and faculty members  -- is reflective of the posturing by the Illinois Family Institute which makes it clear that homosexuality has no place in society.

It’s the IFI’s opinion and it is entitled to that position.

School board elections and the running of any public school is not a forum for moral issues.

The 125for125 makes it clear that parents should make curriculum decisions.  In an email sent to supporters, they claim that :

Parents should be intimately involved in the curriculum of their children, too often we have heard from our own children about a movie that was going to be shown or a book that was going to be required to be read that went beyond the bounds of decency or taste.  Parents have the right (in fact, the responsibility) to exclude their children from programs that are contrary to their standards for raising their children.  Teachers are aware of these boundaries, but need to have the support of the board in notifying parents of their options, rather than fearing that by so doing they will not be supported by their board.

This seemingly mirrors the IFI position. In a blog post, it states school board elections are important because:  

Our public schools are under assault by activist ideologues both in administrations and on faculties. This activism is quickly invading even our elementary schools. Teachers and administrators are exploiting legitimate anti-bullying sentiment to introduce homosexuality normalizing resources to all children using public money.  They are exploiting legitimate concerns for the less fortunate to promote controversial "critical race theory" and "critical pedagogy" by euphemistically calling it "teaching for social justice."  They are exposing students to ever more profane and obscene resources by calling parents who object "book banners" and "censors," all the while hoping no one will notice their astonishing censorship of conservative resources. 

So this is what they are accusing the Stevenson Board of doing?  The reality is that the current Board has been too complacent in many ways and allowing the inmates to run the asylum.  Stories of teachers and staff seemingly aligned with the 125for125 candidates and the IFI have surfaced.  Test scores and AP are not the only true measures of am successful school. 

Preparing our students for college and life in general is essential.  Sheltering them from the realities of life is not the way to do prepare them.  Imposing an individual’s or organization’s moral beliefs is not the way to prepare them.

Having the best teachers possible is essential and open-minded support and collaboration is the best way.  The current Stevenson board has fallen short in areas of curriculum development and student expression.

It has not, however, imposed its moral ideas on the students.  That may be the “good news” – the “bad news” is when there has been outside influence Board Members have not risen to the challenge.  Bashing student achievement, putting pressure on teachers because of their sexual orientation is not the way to foster a quality education environment.

However, despite this, can we afford to have our schools directed by right-wing fundamentalists that want books banned and curriculum altered?

Who else do they hate because they’re not “like them” – African Americans, Asian Americans, Jewish Americans, Islamic Americans, Hispanic Americans?

A diverse student body, faculty and administration are essential for successful schools and the future of our students.

The classroom is not a soapbox or pulpit for personal or organizational morals.   It’s for free and responsible education.

So here’s a way to reintroduce the statistics from the start of this blog – one way that might shake up some of the candidates – let’s say there are 10 people in a room of which one is gay  while the other nine are straight.  Statistically, every person in that room is 10 percent gay and 90 percent straight.

Diversity and acceptance—don’t leave home without it.

A tale of two elections

Someone recently nudged me and asked where the blog has been and things must be quiet since I have not written much.

Quiet?  Surely you can't be serious.  I know, I am serious and don't call me Shirley.

But the village is a proverbial hotbed of political activity as we steam toward the April 5 election.

The village has two contested election -- one for a two-year term that features Andrew Stein and Denice (yes, Denice with a C)  Bocek.  Aside from a few signs, that campaign has been as intriguing as oatmeal -- with all respect to Quaker Oats.

But that's probably, not that is, a good thing because at least we are seeing some civility.  The other contested race is between Village Clerk Jan Sirabian and Rob Sherman.  Aside from Sherman's sexist and caustic remarks about Sirabian, this too has been a low keyed campaign.

The Daily Herald begrudgingly endorsed Sirabian.  Its endorsement addressed two main issues -- the minutes and the now infamous missing tape of an executive session.  While the missing tape is truly an unusual situation, the minutes are not.  The Daily Herald seems to drudging up old news.  If the minutes are so bad (which they are not if you check with other municipalities) why doesn't the Herald cite examples?

The Herald's focus on the minutes and tape, while somewhat valid, does take into consideration her years of service to the village, a fact brought out by former village manager Bill Brimm  in a letter to the Herald in support of Sirabian. Brimm notes that "She advocates for what is best for Buffalo Grove, its residents and businesses."  Whether you support Sirabian or not, Brimm's point is well taken -- public officials need to advocate for the residents.  Sirabian, although not perfect, has done that for three decades.

On the other hand, Sherman, the Herald says, is  "...a local gadfly whose biggest claims to fame have been his self-styled spokesmanship of American Atheists and being taken to court on charges of abusing his son."  It also says "We’ve read Sherman’s account of Sirabian’s remarks in their meeting with our editorial board, and it makes us wonder: If he misrepresents that discussion, would we be able to trust the accuracy of his village board minutes?"

Both are good points.

The situation involving his son is, I would assume, a chapter Sherman would want to forget.  Sherman has some interesting events in his past, as previously noted here, so a voter would have to wonder about his character.  It's the trust factor residents need to consider, a fact the  Herald raises in its endorsement of Sirabian.  After the recent tumultuous times in the village, trust is important and hopefully both village officials and residents see the value of that.

The other election

Yes, Virginia, there is another election.  For the folks north of Lake-Cook Road, the most interesting race is for the District 125 School Board.  This one pits the "United 4 Stevenson" slate of Bruce Lubin, Merv Roberts, David Weisberg and Terry Moons against the "125 for 125" team of Kathy Powell, Kim Brady and Charles Cardella, a group which rips the other four for serving too long, but yet in its campaign material does not propose any solutions.

What the 125for125 gang does not tell you is what their public positions have been on things at Stevenson High School -- such as freedom of the press and diversity.

And that, my friends, will be the subject of my next blog.  It is, however, important to remember two things:  1.  All that glitters is not gold, and  2. As the old bumper sticker says -- the moral majority is neither.