Letter To the Editor

| February 3, 2013

School District 81 Election

Dear Editor:

There is a local election for members of the Schiller Park D81 School Board occurring in April, 2013.  I am a current Board Member up for re-election and I’d like to offer my thoughts on what is happening in this school district and how the outcome of the election will affect those who live in this School District…

First of all, there are 5 members of the Board who have been hand-picked by the Mayor of Schiller Park (as evidenced by legal disclosure documents filed with the State Montana D2, Committee ID 8883, http://www.elections.il.gov/CampaignDisclosure/CommitteeDetailCandidates.aspx?id=8883).  In both the last election (2011) and now in the current election (2013) the Mayor continues to spend money from her political war chest to elect the individuals she wants to the School Board.  (You will see this in the form of fancy campaign literature and yard signs that will be festooned throughout the community by her patronage army of Village and School District employees.) This action is, in the opinion of many, unethical as the Village and School resources are meant to be used to provide service to the community, not for political gain and greed.  Ultimately this behavior, if successful, will give more power and control to a single individual than they were meant to have by law.  The Mayor is supposed to manage only the business of the Village of Schiller Park, not the School Board, which has its own $16 million dollar budget to manage.

Secondly, the Board consists of seven elected members.  Of the five members who were financially supported by the Friends for Anna Montana party, 2 are finally retiring from the Board after having spent millions of our tax dollars through Board actions that they controlled at the behest of the (also hand-picked) former and current Superintendents.

The incumbent candidates include another ‘Friend of the Mayor’—who was appointed to the Board after losing her first election attempt— and me, an independent and fierce advocate of the taxpayers and school district families.  The Mayor’s School Board ticket includes three new hand picked candidates.  My ticket includes a professional accountant (to provide a sorely needed pair of eyes on the financial aspects of the District), and two long-time residents who have had their eyes opened to the mismanagement and chicanery that occurs rampantly in this School District.

Finally, I believe that you and your neighbors work very hard to pay your monthly bills and your taxes and many of us struggle to keep afloat in today’s bleak economy.  The biggest monthly expense we have, next to the rent or mortgage, is our PROPERTY TAX BILL, and the BIGGEST SPENDER of that property tax money is SCHOOL DISTRICT 81.

I have worked tirelessly on your behalf to expose (through the Freedom of Information Act) wrongful and imprudent spending by the District.  In some cases, the District responded by changing the improper spending (e.g., taxpayer-funded Christmas Parties, blatant ‘give aways’ of taxpayer-funded assets), but there remain many other practices that should be examined.  Having a vocal public voice at the meetings helps, but the current Board needs a change in membership and leadership…Please, learn how the money has  been funneled out of the classrooms and into the pockets of the few ‘chosen ones’ and say “NO MORE…!” at the polls in April!

Sincerely,

David C. Stachura, Board Member District 81, MSgt., Ret., U.S. Air Force, Schiller Park

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Category: Letters to the Editor, Opinions

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