McHenry County Blog

Cal -

the real concern I have is that the retoric in the referendum seemed to be laid out even before it started. D300 through Connect 300 held supposedly open meeting to get community involvement in what kind of schools the community wanted. From the one we attended, it was anything but open. But it did give D300 the platform plank that said, we sought community input to resolve the problem.

It also let them identify the friendlies who they could appoint to the follow on comittees taht came up with the building and referendum plans.

D300 also hired a top gun, high profile Finance Commisar to explain it all to us and say there was only one way to fix it.

Advance 300 was staged to do what D300 was barred from by law.. run a mass appeal campaign to the voters. Funded by $200,000 raised by D300 employees ( yes Ken, you are an employee)from special interest groups. Advance 300 even had talking points about those bad "anti-refferendum" groups even before the bond issue was decided on by the Board.

Then the very well placed " vote Yes Yes or Consequences campaign". Playe dout in the schools themselves, over the intercoms and by the teachers.

All politics is local - right? And D300 localized this issue - your childeren will suffer ( D300 will make sure - they are not bluffing).

No, the politics of fear, intollerance, and greed. A powerfull weapon._
 

Monelson,

The technique you speak of where they conclude it is what the communities want is called the Delphi technique. The technique of threats is called the credible threat theory or game theory. One of the major problems is that parents and taxpayers refused to confront the board on the matter. I asked a number of residents to do this. They will always have the upper hand until people speak out. I disagree with Cal he said they had foot soliders I say they had the upper hand of using our children.
 

Or you can do what I did.

Vote with your feet.
 

Comment that wouldn’t take below “What a newspaper referendum is worth.”

The Peschkes have a good additional point with regard to why the tax hikers won.

I have never seen students as involved in a campaign as this one.

(There was involvement in a Crystal Lake District 155 referendum decades ago when the superintendent resigned, rather than be prosecuted for using students in a referendum.)

Nevertheless, that doesn't challenge my observation that the District 300 opponents did not have a voter identification and get out the vote campaign.

I await some Jacobs student's trying to use the same District 300 resources to support Judy Topinka or Rod Blagojevich.

Anyone who would like to start a Teen Age Republican Club is welcome to my slightly moldy cache of almost 50-year old "TAR" buttons.

And, I'll bet I can find an advisor.

Seriously, if any students would like to start a TAR Club, give me a call. It's the second number in the phone book.
 

I am the Jacobs student who had gotten all the students organized.
I have made sure that no matter what we students did was all legal, both in and out of school.

You want to complain, then go right ahead, but not about students or their involvement.
We students, the ones who are directly effected on either which way of the referendum outcome, were the ones that really pulled through.

WE WERE NOT BEING USED!!

I was given the FACTS, something that lacked on the opposing side, and made my decision. Why can't students get involved in something that is directly related to their future? The answer is, it may shock you, there is nothing that says we can't.

Everyone complains about how they might not have enough money to pay the small, additional and very useful tax increases. Well, my dad has offered to help those who need and want it. That is not my point though. My point is that you can't use nothing to buy something. We are in a deficit, one that the BOE is working really hard at decreasing, and I give them a lot of credit for doing so.

You can't keep sports, music, clubs and other extras if you don't have any money. It doesn't matter if it was 1% or 100% of the budget, they didn't have the money.
Since all of you are complaining about the fact that you might not have enough money to pay for the increase, then you know that you can't buy something with nothing.

As I said, my dad as well as myself are working hard to try and help those who need it.

We won, and it was because we students fought for our future.

I know why most of you are mad, students who you thought were getting a bad education and were actually getting a fantastic one, beat you. I am proud to say that being the leader of the students of Jacobs, the leader of such a great student support group, it was amazing to see our hard, honest work paid off.

Students have control because that is what this whole ordeal was about. You may not agree, but that is because you want a reason to not feel guilty for voting no, voting against all of us, the 18,500+ students of D300.

Have a GREAT day!
 

Peschke's,

Good to see that you finally recognize kids as being part of the equation. And to think they did it all without fabricating teacher's salary information. Amazing.

Dave Bishop
West Dundee
 

I’m probably talking to a wall, but a young mind is always worth going out on a limb for…………..

Student Bishop -

Re: "Everyone complains about how they might not have enough money to pay the small, additional and very useful tax increases."

Yes, I suppose a student - who doesn't understand the cost of just one monthly prescription can equal (ex.) a paycheck - would consider $300 - $700 or more per year "small". That money also equates to a one month heating bill. A very stretched food budget. Money toward car insurance. Or a parent's "subsidy" to his/her struggling college student.


Re: WE WERE NOT BEING USED!!"

Yes, you were being used. Stomp, throw erasers, etc. the fact remains that students, no matter how smart or well-intentioned, do not truly understand unions, public relations tactics, business decisions that are guaranteed to bankrupt a district, hardball politics, etc. (Before you attack me with a clippy mouth - I applaud your right to freedom of speech .....fought for by the very people who often don't have the money to pay for your vast selection of extracurriculars or salaries and benefits the average American can't even dream about) and I understand that you think the sweat and time you put into this campaign deserves recognition. I also think you should be more respectful of the people who work 40 to 80 hours a week every year to attain basics. This recent activist part of your life is quite small compared to the daily grind of people who aren't as well off as you are.


Re: "We students, the ones who are directly effected"

Everyone is and was affected. At a certain point in my life, I was horrified to learn the sun did not rise and set because of my self-importance. Sometimes it's hard for a person to understand the difference between a healthy ego and an inflated one. Babies are not fair. Adults should be. Wherever you are at this point in time, please strive to be closer to the latter.


Re: "were the ones that really pulled through."

Again, yes you/students were involved. Realistically though, $200,000 was the successful weapon of choice. Reporters and Sportswriters were probably second as to power or tied with the union. Embrace your efforts but share the floor.


Re: "there is nothing that says we can't."

This sounds like "nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah". You're brighter and better than that. People don't have to like the way you were used/involved (you believe what you want). I'm trying to remember anyone saying you didn't have the right. There are rules about not using students in politics. Separating "using" from "inspiring" is a political/legal word game.


Re: "I know why most of you are mad, students who you thought were getting a bad education and were actually getting a fantastic one, beat you." and "Students have control because that is what this whole ordeal was about."

Simply put, you're wrong. Said gently but in the words of a person more in your age range -
"Get over yourself dude." I think you have great potential. First though, do no harm. Second - repeat the first.
 

Matt -

Congradulations on the success of your effort. I voted against the ed fund referendum, which I am sure your Dad would have told you. Getting involved and taking a stand is a great life lesson and hopefully a start on a lifetime of involvement in your community.

That said, I would disagree with whether you were used or not. The facts you were given were the same ones we all were given. They were flawed. They low balled revenue estimates, etc. The district has even ackowledged that.

Did they tell you that because of the tax cap law, more of the 55 cents in the referendum will leave the district than stay here? Does that sound like good judgement.

Did they tell you that in the midst of this deficit crisis, they gave they teachers an 11% raise over three years? Did they tell you how much that contributed to the deficit?

I am sure you have the chart showing our teachers are paid slightly below the average during thier early carrers and higher than average later. They said that we should raise those salaries right? Why? So we can get better teachers? If we raise the salaries for teachers, it will go mostly to the existing teachers. We cannot by thier union agreement replace tenured teachers. So what does raising teacher salaries do for you? It certainly will not improve your teachers until after they retire.

Would you have gotten this involved if D300 admin had not threatened to eliminate extracirricular activities?

Would you have gotten involved if your teachers had not openly discussed how bad it would be if this did not pass?

Did you meet with D300 personell on school property, during normal school hours, to discuss supporting a YES YES vote on the referendum? Did anyone with anyother facts or opinions speak at those meetings?

Did anyone use the announcements at the beginning of the day supporting the referendum? Did anyone let any opposing view be heard over that same media?

You were manipulated if you answer yes to any of those questions. If D300 personell discussed how to get the refferendum passed with you on school time, they may or may not have been doing something illegal (it is illegal for a school employee to campaign for anything while on school time), and it certainly was unethical.

As for the deficit, remeber what Dr. Crates said caused it? Tax Cap not letting us get revenue from rising home values, no impact fees on new homes, delay between when a new house is occupied and the taxes are paid (6-18 months). Did anyone tell you the laws that cause those problems are all more than 10 years old. You have noticed all your life the rapid building pace in our community. It has been going on for as long as I have been here (ten years). All of these causes were known before the problem ocurred. And D300 Admin did nothing to mitigate them. Thats not good stewardship.

I have challanged other proponents of the refferendum to tell me one thing that will improve from this year to next for any student at an existing D300 school. Remeber, not better than what it would have been if it did not pass. If the referendum does not make such an improvement, what benefit is it? The only benefit is that D300 admin gets to pay off the money it spent that it did not have. Thats bad management. But nobody told you that.

This was a well planned. well articulated and highly selective set of facts you were given. If you were used, it was because they knew you did not have the experience or knowledge to know that they were doing it. Don't feel bad though, it happens to all of us as Jill Gung said when she resigned her seat on the BOE: "It has been difficult sitting on this board, dealing with half truths, deceit, manipulation, and even cover-ups.(M)uch of this information was provided by unqualified people. Administrators have failed to provide necessary information on some issues and at times misrepresented information ‘to make the situations appear better or worse than they really are."

All that said, congrats on getting involved. My only advice is that next time, get information from more than one source before you make a decision....
 

Despite young Mr. Bishop's affirmation that the students were not being used; I doubt that they would have displayed the same amount of enthusiasm in support of the referendum if the board had not dangled the threat of taking away the majority of extracurriculer activites. Even if not directly using students to promote the referendum, they manipulated their response by the programs they threatened to cut. Obviously the campaign worked tremendously well, as there would not have been such a community response had not they taken this approach.
Maybe the tax increase was necessary for the short term - mostly because of lack of adequate fiscal vision and prepartion - but for the long term, the school district must make sure that the developers who are building thousands of new homes in the district will pay for all the new schools, staff, and costs of educating the students who will be added to the district by their exapnsive developments.
 

4Piggybanks,

Once again, very well said. Thank you greatly for your comments regarding those who cannot afford it and the enlightening of the younger Bishop son.
 

Do you think Dave and his cronies understand what alot of people have to give up to pay this increase? Do you think they ever considered what most of us get for what we have to give up? mmm..... let's say it's $500 per year...

For some one with a fixed income, it may have to be that $40 dollar a month co-payment on a medication. What do they get as a benefit - nothing.

For theat family just making ends meet, they can just cut $40 a month out of the food budget. Let's see, just don't have dinner on Sunday's. Heck we can all stand to loose wieght right ? Heck there's a benefit to them.

For the parent who works two shifts to meet the mortgage payment and put food on the table, they can maybe just not go to the movies once a month? Oh gosh, I forgot they don't do that, they give the money to thier child so they can be in soccer and little league. Oh well you can get hurt in those , so the kid can just give them up.

Yeah, I can see how the proponents would not worry about the impact. Seems simple enough (or at least to the proponents). These should have been easy choices, right?

I wonder what Comrade Arndt will give up to pay his tax bill? Oh yeah, he will probably get a bonus fo rgetting the referendum passed, and be able to easily pay his increase....
 

You don't know me or my son Matt well enough to make your statements. Matt busted his butt helping with the referendum for all the right reasons because he knew it was the right thing to do. With all due respect, maybe a thank you for what he did is more suitable.

Dave Bishop
West Dundee
 

Dave -

First, I can see that you love and protect your son. If you read closely, I have alsways spoken to him directly with respect. Read my comments. At the begining and the end I congratulate him for his efforts and that" Getting involved and taking a stand is a great life lesson and hopefully a start on a lifetime of involvement in your community." I continue to take great pains in my further discussion in that post to be courteous when I disagree with his ascertions.

We do owe Matt respect for participating. But you must realize that when Matt chose to enter the arena of community debate over this refferendum, he entered it as an adult. His arguments and logic are no longer protected by being a child. You can no longer expect people to not challange him when they disagree with him in that arena. It's not reasonable, you and he must choose whether he is participating as a child or an adult. Based on that choice, he should be treated as such. If he chooses to participate in an adult activity like supporting the referendum, your expectations should be that he will be treated like any other adult. He will be getting no more slack than you give any of us get.
 

monelson,

You just reminded me of why I came to this blog in the first place. I came here because I was told about the first post sponsored by Cal when Matt was trying to rally students at school.

A big deal was made of it by adults who were so quick to jump to conclusions without knowing the facts. Their facts were wrong.

Matt has taken a beating from adults who don't respect that he is still a 16 year old boy. Although I disagree with Jack Roeser on many issues, I do have to admit that he always treated Matt as a student with an opinion. All of the Advance300 people treated him with respect as a student. The school board members and district administration treated him with respect.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for other adults.

Would you like to know what Matt was told at an anti-referendum meeting by someone trying to make their point to a 16-year old boy who has a sister he loves?

The person gave a lewd analogy to how they believed the school district was holding the community hostage by promising to cut the programs. I also consider it a threat since it took place at an anti-referendum meeting setting.

Here is what was said but you'll have to fill in the blanks because I will not use the exact words:

Matt was asked if he had a sibling.
Matt replied that he had a sister.

The person said, "What would you do if a r--ist was holding a k--fe to your sister's thr--t and threatened to c-t her if you moved?"

So, when you tell me that it's OK to treat a kid like an adult just because they are giving their opinion or taking a stand on adult issues - that scares me and it should scare other parents as well. Even our legal system recognizes that distinction between adults and minors.

It is up to us as adults to assess a situation and make an adult decision as to how they respond to minors. Teachers make that critical decision every single day. If a teacher would have said that to a kid, they would have been fired and certainly a formal complaint would have been filed as well.

In all honesty, I do have to admit, it's also up to me as a parent to make decisions for my minor son regarding who he is allowed to mingle with. I made the mistake of thinking that he would be treated like a 16-year old amoung people who seemed to know the difference between right and wrong. But apparently I was grossly mistaken.

I should have stuck to one of the first rules that we explained to our kids growing up. Never talk to "strangers". We just aren't used to being around those sort of people.

There is a difference between a "reason" and an "excuse". People may have had reasons to treat Matt as an adult because of his views, but there was obviously no "excuse" for acting on those reasons.

You can all have the last words. This will be my last visit to this blog and it will be the last post from any members of the Bishop family, minor or adult.

Dave Bishop
West Dundee
 

Dave

I just saw this and want to reiterate that we all need to treat each other with respect. If that comment included vulgar language, it was out of place in any situation. We all should treat each other with respect.

But I have seen you time and again take to task individuals that suggested your son was being manipulated, that he had his facts and conlusions wrong, etc. Thats what I was talking about.