An "old boy" calls it a day...

Now that the dust of the April 5 election has settled and the next administration is getting ready to make its mark on things, it seems as though a few things may have been overlooked.

When the new board begins its tenure on May 2, it will welcome Andy Stein and Mike Terson to the dais and Jeff Braiman will move to center stage as Elliott Hartstein bids adieu to his Village Board career.

DeAnn Glover

But there will be one more farewell to be said, that to another one of the "old boy network."  After 16 year on the Village Board, DeAnn Glover is leaving her spot on the dais.

It strikes me odd how cynics like to hang the OBN tag on the Board, and overlook the work women have done on the Village Board.  Let's not call Glover a "boy" and certainly don't call her "old".  She rolled up sleeves just like most Board members do and worked on an array of projects.  She was liaison to the Cable Committee, the Library Committee and The Buffalo Grove Days Committee, to name a few.

Old boy?  How about dedicated resident?  Being surrounded by a myriad of attorneys never seemed to intimidate Glover -- her passions have always been the budget, Buffalo Grove Days and the "Pink Heals" campaign.

A broker and manager for a real estate firm, she brought her corporate tenacity to the Board -- along with a strong, but well thought-out opinion.

There is an exceptional pride that radiates from Glover as well.  No doubt, a pride in the village and what various departments and volunteers have done.  There's also a sense of pride that beams from her when she discussed her family.

A native of Nebraska, Glover plans to spend more time with her children and grandchildren, especially those now living in Kansas,  during retirement.  In fact, it's likely that Glover will move to Kansas to be  closer to her son and daughter-in-law and their kids.

Will she miss her work on the Village Board?  Odds are she will -- you just don't walk away from 16 years of community service with a twinge of fondness.

As for moving to Kansas -- there's no doubt she'll enjoy the time with family. But if you're expecting her to become Auntie Em -- think again.  She's been through more twisters than Auntie Em -- and came through them all.

Even with the "old boys".

A lesson from center ice

I love sports.

I've played, watched, coached, covered everything from NFL training camps to women's ice hockey.

I've had the chance to meet the classiest of the classiest (Ray Meyer) and up and comers whose names I can't remember.

Through it all, one of the coolest things in sports is the meeting at center ice at the end of a playoff series in the National Hockey League when both teams line up at center ice to shake hands, a gesture that ends the competition.  Sure, there are times when it's terse, but at least both sides have the decency to end it on a generally friendly note.

Maybe it's time to do that for municipal elections.

Maybe it's time to tell Rob Sherman to grow up and show some class.

To say Sherman lost in his bid to become Village Clerk is an understatement. Jan Sirabian destroyed Sherman at the polls by gathering  90.05 percent of the vote in the Cook County side of the village.  He mustered 109 votes -- I have more Facebook friends than that.

In Lake County, Robbypoo picked up 21.10 percent of the vote to Sirabian's 78.90 percent.  Sherman received  687 votes, which is smaller than the graduating class at Stevenson High School.  Most people would have been gracious in defeat.  The keyword here is most.

But not Rob Sherman.  Instead, he continued his classless barrage of arrogant and sexist remarks as he continued to rip Sirabian.  Media reports, most written by folks considered to be "ace reporters", so we know they must be true, reported that Sherman saw his defeat as an mandate that people want Sirabian out.

Let's work this out.  Siabian gets 3,556 and Sherman gets  796.  Mandate? Where?  Sirabian receive more votes in Cook County (987) than Sherman's total.

So where's the mandate?  In Sherman's cranial cavity.

To no surprise, it's all about Sherman and his boorish ego.  It always was.  Sherman never had any interest in the Village Clerk's post, he just wanted to further boost his ego at the expense of a dedicated public servant and, more annoyingly, at taxpayer's expense.

To give you a classic example of Sherman's hypocrisy, he  told the Daily Herald that, if nothing else, “At least, I had the opportunity to put the fear of God into her.”


Huh?  Sherman -- I thought you were an atheist, or is that just another one of your PR ploys. This coming from a guy who allegedly sits down during the pledge of allegiance when it comes to "under God".   I guess when there's a media opp, all bets are off.


Sherman has also told media outlets that he now plans to move to the Cayman Islands once his daughter graduates high school this spring. 


You know the Cayman Islands, where the largest island, Grand Cayman, has a section called Hell.


Let's see, Rob Sherman and Hell.  It seems like a likely match.


But before sails off to paradise, he may want to watch the upcoming NHL Playoffs.


He may learn something about sportsmanship.

And now, the end is near...

As of this writing (late Sunday afternoon following the Cubs loss), election day is a little more than a day away.

Fortunately.

The April 5 election has, as we all know by now, its share of elections that have, to say the least, had some interesting campaigns.

• Indian Trails Library Referendum.  The library grew out of its humble beginnings in a house in Wheeling to its facility on Schoenbeck Road.   Despite the fact that more and more people think they can get by with Wikipedia, a Nook or  Kindle, a library, make that a good library, offers more than books and CDs.  Resources and programming are at the foundation of any library and residents in the district are fortunate to have a facility as comprehensive as the Indian Trails Public Library.  Of course, if you wave a checkbook around and yell movie in a crowded firehouse, you may think the referendum was robbing you blind.   For example, Rob Sherman, Buffalo Grove's answer to Lar "America First" Daly, thinks it's yet another conspiracy.  Maybe Robbypoo forgot that he spent a lot of time in libraries soaking up knowledge as a young annoyance.  Or maybe he did not need a library since he thought he knew everything anyway.  A forefront of any community is the strength of its ability to provide education -- schools and libraries are front and center and both need community support.  Sherman, as usual, is quick with ridicule and ideas -- but short, very short, on a record of action.

• The District 125 School Board Election.  While the current board has made some poor decisions, it's made up of people who can separate church and state.  Literally.   The 125for125 claim they're concerned about giving students choices and finances.  The reality is their platform is predicated on moral issues and imparting those on an entire student body.  This was the case in 2009 when members of the now slate called the school newspapers "pornography".  This in response to articles on "Hooking Up" (based on a New York Times report) and the Gay-Straight Alliance dance.  Staff members, one of whom is allegedly Gay, approved both articles.  That does not and should not impact the quality of education being delivered.  The slate has avoided issues of student expression, book banning and curriculum alteration based on its moral beliefs.  The bottom line is this -- the moral majority is neither.  Stevenson has a long tradition of academic excellence; and while the current board has thrown speed bumps and detours along the road, a board that puts its own morality about quality quality education would close the road.

And finally,

•   The Village Board races.  The race between Andrew Stein and Denice Bocek has all the excitement and interest of shopping for oatmeal.  They're both dedicated residents and they both want to serve for two years.  On the other hand, there's the race for Village Clerk, pitting incumbent Jan Sirabian against resident egomaniac and atheist Rob Sherman.  Sherman's platform is riddled with disrespect toward public officials, women, and the office in general.  Sherman is full of "ideas" that he thinks will improve things in the village -- yet he has yet to step up and do anything for the village.  Sirabian, like any public official, has had her ups and downs -- but she has done as stellar job of not stooping to Sherman's arrogance and boorish campaign tactics.  Sherman takes pride in exploiting women in a manner that's unbecoming a public official.  His latest allegation has been to tag Sirabian as "Dirty Tricks Jan."  Really?  Maybe Sherman needs to look in the mirror and take a look in the mirror.  What he may see is a series of blemishes in character, a record of non public service, and a history of publicity stunts to do little more than call attention to him.  Public service is not a "me first" proposition -- it's for the good of the whole.  Hopefully voters realize that and vote for the good of the entire village.

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.