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.

The third time is not the charm

You gotta love election campaigns.

That's when you get the best, the worse, and the questionable insights into the candidates.  Forget about Rahm, Chico and Carol.

Let's talk about Rob, as in Rob Sherman.  It seems like the village's best know atheist wants the world to know him as Captain America fighting for what's wrong and trying to correct a world where evil brings virtue and justice none at all.

So as he peruses the suburbs in his Rob Sherman news vehicle, which is about the size of Delaware, he wants the world to know that Buffalo Grove voters should elect him the next Village Clerk and not incumbent Jan Sirabian.

Sherman has tossed about a few ideas, but nothing concrete.  His latest tirade comes from a closed-door endorsement meeting with the Daily Herald in which he claims Sirabian said Buffalo Grove residents are lazy.  Obviously, in a closed meeting there's no documentation, so we need to take Sherman at his word.

So he denies Buffalo Grove residents are lazy and is probably taking something out of context to boost his own image -- and a sorry one at that.

Consider this -- if Sherman is so concerned about the village, why doesn't he attend Village Board meetings?  Odds are he probably figures there are not enough people there to be an audience for him, so what the hell, why go.

This is the same Rob Sherman who showed up at the EPA hearing on L & L in his Sherman mobile to collect signatures for his petition -- but did not stay for the hearing.  Nice commitment, huh?

So where is Robbie?

As noted here before, he spends some of his free time attending various events.  As noted here, one was the car wash in Bloomington, or maybe it was attending a lecture on women's underwear -- or maybe it was attending a book club.

Now we're not talking a book club at a local library -- after all, why spend time with residents -- instead Sherman spent time with a group of female literary fans -- as in the "Naked Girls Reading Event."

Yes, our village clerk wanna-be just had to attend the event in July 2009 and decided to blog about it -- complete with a picture of he and some of the participants.  While Sherman is clothed, the participants are not -- they are, however, covering every nook and kindle with a book or bookmark.  Seriously. This is on his blog that carries the tag line -- Serious Journalism, Professionally Written. Serious about what?

Sherman defends his attendance by writing "...By removing their clothes, the girls stripped themselves of the artificial symbolism of importance that clothes attempt to suggest.  It was just like being upstairs, at home with my wife, Celeste, where we go about our personal tasks at the beginning and end of the day without regard to whether we are wearing any clothes...."

Yeah, right.

If this was the first time Robby wrote about young females, we could, possibly, roll our eyes and wonder what he was thinking about.  It is, however, the third such entry.

His flaunting young bikini clad coeds washing his car, or young naked women reading books, Sherman is doing little more than degrade women.  You could say that his attacks on Sirabian are not politically motivated, but yet another attempt to boost what appears to be a sexist ego.

Sirabian is not perfect -- not public servant or public figure is -- but she works hard as village clerk and when she's not attending to her village duties, she's working hard in the community for various charities.

As for Sherman?  Aside from continued self-promotion I haven't seen much on Sherman's blog about any charity work.

I guess a clothing drive wouldn't interest him.

There's no business like snow business....

For the most part, folks around these parts don't get too concerned about things unless it really hits home.

When I was president of my condo association before becoming a single-family home owner in 'burbs, I quickly learned that the things that ticked off residents the most were:

1. Doggie defecations
2. Parking
3. When the pool was open
4.  Snow removal.

And not necessarily in that order.

Things don't seem to change with folks when they move into their own little acre of the world.  Residents who have issues with the village do, for the most part, focus on parking, fence height, fire works and, oh yes, snow removal.

Been there, done that.  Some readers think I started blogging because I was friends with the Board and was out to get she-who-shall-not-be-named.  In actuality, my contact with the folks on Raupp began after a couple of snow storms when the snow plow operator saw fit to use my driveway as a place to pile snow.

Rather than wait until the next business day, I called Elliott Hartstein at home.  I am not sure what he was going to do, but removing mounds of snow from my driveway was not my idea of a good time.

For the record, Hartstein called me back, as did then Village Manager Bill Brimm and whoever it is/was/maybe who handles snow removal.

Was the problem resolved?  The next time we had snow, I was outside cleaning my driveway when the plow started down the street.  Much to my amazement, the driver stopped, got out and asked "Are you Mr. Zoller?"

We discussed a way to pile the snow away from my driveway and some other options and since then, there has not been an issue -- problem solved.  I'm not saying it's always perfect, but it's an example of how the village, to steal a phrase from Chicago, is a village that works.

A simple path and clean-up job is all
the Fire Department needs for
snow-covered hydrants

So as we dig out from "The Blizzard of 2011" here a couple things to take into consideration:

*  Snow removal is a thankless job.  Been there, done that.
*  There are folks who habitually  screw it up -- like a neighbor's snow plow service that leaves stuff all over the street.
*  Record snows take time to remove.  The village went into the storm with a plan, one which was distributed by Lake County and is available at the village's web site (www.vbg.org).
*  Yes, the end of your driveway will get blocked when the plows go by -- believe me, I know.

So cope with it -- and by the way, while you're digging out, take a minute to dig out a fire hydrant.  The fire department has a "Pluggie Pal' program meant for kids -- but if kids don't want to do it -- step up.

It's only a snow storm.  The village has been faced with a lot of snow jobs recently --- this one we can deal with.

He sees London, he sees France?

It was, by all accounts, a simple glance through the paper.  Aside from coverage about the Packers taking on the Bears, there wasn't much to read.

For whatever reason the words "Buffalo Grove" caught my eye in an article about, of all things, women's underwear.  Seriously.  Seeing as inquiring minds want to know I took a glance at the coverage.

Seems as though the Lake Villa District Library held a program about, of all things, women's underwear.  You'd think they'd focus on reading, but what the heck, if this is a way to get people to come to a library, why not.

What amazed, or should that be amused, me the most, was the fact that the Library apparently thought this should be for women only.  While I am surprised that any public organization would bar anyone from a presentation, if this is what the folks up in Lake Villa want to do, fine.

So how does this impact Buffalo Grove?  Is it likely that the Village Board will discuss underwear?  Is womens underwear a topic to be placed on the must read list at either the Vernon Area Library or Indian Trails Library?

Probably not.

Our local connection here is that Buffalo Grove's own Rob Sherman was one of two men who attended, and, to no surprise, made a public campaign about it.

If Sherman gets his jollies researching women's underwear, that is certainly his prerogative.  However, Sherman is running for public office in Buffalo Grove, challenging incumbent Jan Sirabian for the village clerk's post, so you would think he would take an interest in what's happening on the home front.

It doesn't seem that way.  Sherman was not at the last Village Board meeting, and when he does, his comments are laced with acrid comments about the minutes.  That seems to be his campaign -- the minutes need to be a narrative of Village Board meetings, and not just a recording of Board actions.


So instead of spending time on the home front, Sherman is scooting around from town to town dropping his name for any cause.

But really, women's underwear?  There seems to be a theme here. As mentioned in a recent blog, one of the things that Sherman dedicates a good portion of his web site to is a graphic posting of his car being washed by bikini-clad Hooters girls.  Sherman also flaunts his visit to Lake Villa on his web site.

Let's see, women's underwear, bikini-clad coeds.....please don't tell me it's in the name of constitutional rights or equal rights for men.

There seems to be a somewhat unusual trend here -- and for the record, it's not one that reflects well for a public official wannabe.

Just how much does character count?

More than a few years ago I covered the desolate territory known as Vernon Township.  Lake-Cook ended at Milwaukee Avenue, Chicagoland Airport still existed, and Milwaukee Avenue was dotted with the Cheetah II and other assorted places of entertainment.

Gas was about 50 cents a gallon and, for the most part, village board meetings dealt with few items of substance -- except for future development.

But small town, and that's what they were politics always seem to have a surprise.  In one area community, there was a rumor that one of its village trustees saw fit to pose for a calendar.  Think about it for a moment. Yes, the trustee allegedly poses sans an ordinance or legal briefs -- of for that matter any briefs.  Back then the Internet was nonexistent, as was sitting down and clicking.  Village officials took advantage of local media to dig up any kind of information. I had heard to the rumor, but before I could find anything, the trustee had decided not to run.  A good idea on his -- yes his -- part.

Some things never change.  Thirty five years later rumors still circulate around village officials and what they do in their private life.  I'm not interested in rumors.  If I blogged about all of the rumors I heard, I would be blogging every day.

However, when a candidate decides to brag about his escapades, it's a different story.  

Rob Sherman is running for Village Clerk in Buffalo Grove.  His web site, "Rob Sherman News", contains a collection of Sherman's thoughts on everything from being an atheist to his opponent, Jan Sirabian, and who know what else.  That's fine. 

It is interesting, however, how one of Sherman's biggest accomplishments is having his car washed by a series of Hooters Girls.  Really.  

I have nothing against Hooters, in fact, like Rob, I have a picture with a Hooters staff member.  For the record, she worked at Hooters in Norfolk, Virginia and was from Green Bay, Wisconsin.  We Packer fans find any reason to connect.  

But the staff member I met was working and I was not beaming with pride about having her put her arm on my shoulder.

Sherman's car wash as noted on his web site

Sherman does.  As noted by the picture, he was having a good time.  

In fact, he joyfully wrote about it -- the entire episode can be found at http://www.robsherman.com/news/2010/07/27.htm.

Sherman details his escapades, including the fact that "They were really careful not to get me wet, um, with water from their bucket or hose."

Again, if Sherman wants to be surrounded by bikini-clad Hooters employees, that's fine.  If he wants to make questionable remarks about their handling a hose, that's fine too.

However, the question is this -- Is this behavior appropriate for someone who considers himself a public figure and wants to be a public official?

His comments about Jan Sirabian are degrading to women and, with all due respect, senior citizens.  To some people, his flaunting of young women in bikinis is degrading to women.

Sherman is not the first public figure to do something questionable.  Last election night proved that -- but at least Elliott Hartstein had the dignity to realize his mistake and apologize to then trustee Lisa Stone and the community for his behavior. 

Sherman, however, does nothing but flaunt his sexist and degrading escapade.

Truth is,  the Hooter girls who washed his car are lucky that he wasn't driving his massive "Rob Sherman news van".

I guess they can thank G-d for that.  Oh wait, I guess they can't.  If they do, Sherman won't let them wash his car again.

A crowded ballot?

 As I pulled into the Village Hall for the Jan. 3 meeting, I could not help but notice the number of cars in the lot.

My first thought was that there must be some big issue brewing and the masses were getting ready to voice their malcontent with the Village Board.

What I found were members of Cub Scout Troop 36 from School Dist. 102 and not a lot more.  What I heard following the pledge (nice job guys..) was a lot of discussion about the height of fences from 5 to 6 feet.

I was a surprised, albeit a bit, because I had heard at previous meetings about the amount of displeasure with the Village Board by residents.  With this much dissension, surely there would be a heated election this come May.

There isn’t.  Only one race for village trustee, that for a two-year term, is contested with Andrew  Stein facing Denise Bocek. The other contested race is that for Village Clerk where incumbent Jan Sirabian is being challenged by Rob Sherman.  Jeff Braiman is unopposed in his bid to be village president.

That’s it. Eight candidates for six spots

So if there is that much upheaval among the residents, why aren’t more running?

Like ‘em or not, the residents who serve on the Village Board do so out of dedication.  As I’ve said before, they’re not perfect – nothing is – but it is a thankless task.  As noted before, the village staff has been excellent and responsive to the needs of residents and business owners.  Again, nothing is perfect.

While we heard about the numbers of residents who are dissatisfied we haven’t see an outpouring of people who want to storm the Bastille because the village was going to Hell in a handbag.   We’ve seen special interests represented, but everyone has their specific bug or bias.

But when push comes to shove, so to speak, there was very little of either.  A village of  more than nearly 50,000  residents and there are eight candidates.

It’s either a case of everyone being content, or no one caring -- with the exception of eight people.

So with the dust seemingly settled and the focus on village business and not special interest being discussed, it appears that when all is said and done – things in Big Animal Grove are just fine – not perfect – but a long way from the brink of disaster.