Gary: Good points again. I agree that I’d rather leave the kids out of it entirely, but unfortunately some of the accusations involve allegations that school board members pulled strings for their kids, including getting money for their activities. To date, no one’s accused the kids of doing anything wrong at all, but it’s a shame they have to be caught up in this.

The employment policy should be as you state, particularly for the school board members. I can see it being waived for family members, although it gets sticky. At the least, the school board member in question should recuse himself or herself from any and all discussions about jobs their spouses or family members pursue.

I understand that private schools are the right answer for some kids. I attending private schools for most of my time as a kid in Beloit. However, if a board member sends all of her kids to private schools, it raises questions about her commitment to the district. If she has a good answer for these questions, fine, but she shouldn’t be surprised when the questions are raised.

I do hope that whoever our new superintendent may be we wind up with a strong leader. I’m a bit appalled at the way the board is ramming that decision through before the new members can be seated though. I think the new superintendent deserves to work directly with the people who chose him, not those who succeed them within weeks of his hiring.

Either way, I’m glad the election will be over tonight, but these questions aren’t going to go away.

Gary: Good points again. I agree that I’d rather leave the kids out of it entirely, but unfortunately some of the accusations involve allegations that school board members pulled strings for their kids, including getting money for their activities. To date, no one’s accused the kids of doing anything wrong at all, but it’s a shame they have to be caught up in this.

The employment policy should be as you state, particularly for the school board members. I can see it being waived for family members, although it gets sticky. At the least, the school board member in question should recuse himself or herself from any and all discussions about jobs their spouses or family members pursue.

I understand that private schools are the right answer for some kids. I attending private schools for most of my time as a kid in Beloit. However, if a board member sends all of her kids to private schools, it raises questions about her commitment to the district. If she has a good answer for these questions, fine, but she shouldn’t be surprised when the questions are raised.

I do hope that whoever our new superintendent may be we wind up with a strong leader. I’m a bit appalled at the way the board is ramming that decision through before the new members can be seated though. I think the new superintendent deserves to work directly with the people who chose him, not those who succeed them within weeks of his hiring.

Either way, I’m glad the election will be over tonight, but these questions aren’t going to go away.

The advanced search option does work to find old articles, but it operates a little weirdly. (At least it seems counter intuitive to me.) First you define a date range and hit search on that date range. On the subsequent page you put in your key word terms in the box – keep them simple, basic and unique to what you seek, as IRC it’s not boolean.

The advanced search option does work to find old articles, but it operates a little weirdly. (At least it seems counter intuitive to me.) First you define a date range and hit search on that date range. On the subsequent page you put in your key word terms in the box – keep them simple, basic and unique to what you seek, as IRC it’s not boolean.

1) The Jazz Band Issue. Do we really have to dwell on this subject? Leave the kids out of it. If someone exerts undo influence, the Board should deal with it. If they don’t, shame on the entire Board.

2) Camps. My concern is not so much who went, why, etc. But where on earth did the District get money for a camp?? While on the Board, we had money for little, no summer school, no Tech Ed program at the mall, no security guards, no summer camps, no Wellness coordinator, all of which we have now. At times I and other past Board members are stunned to see so much money being spent over the past three years, and now has to be cut. Who went where, and how, pales in comparison to the issue of how the District magically had money, and how it so quickly evaporated.

3) Conferences. Again, bigger issues should be addressed here, versus who attended, did families go, or when and how they got reimbursed. Conferences in my mind are a total waste of time. I will stand by that until someone shows me one, just one, program or item that made a positive impact on this District due to them attending a conference. I’ll wait….

No, families should not go, in my mind it does not pass my smell test. Should Board members be reimbursed for lost wages? They know the issues and time involved, so why get paid on top of that? One gets a small monthly “salary” to be on the Board, use that. Quit going to useless conferences held in Florida, Las Vegas, California, etc., and if you need education, go buy a book and read it. If you need some, I will lend you some (purchased on my “dime”.)

3) Applying for jobs. Simple. Put a policy in place that states clearly that no Board member, or Board family member may apply for a job with the District, unless they have resigned their position on the Board. Only then can they apply.

One issue related to a Crystal Report writer position, for over $80,000 a year… Now trust me here. I used to be in software, still follow it, I know software. Crystal Reports won’t work on the School’s system (Skyward). Skyward uses a Progress Data Base, and Crystal won’t work over it. I personally gave my copy of Crystal to the District 5 years ago, told them to try it, it won’t work. Now Crystal is a fairly simple to use program. You don’t need or want high priced people generating reports. So the program does not work, you don’t need high priced people running it, and a Board member’s family should not apply. This was a bigger problem than just who applied. (A complicated issue, but not enough room here to explain in detail.) Oh, and just where did the District get money for a position like this??

4) Private Schools. I will admit that when I was on the Board, I sent some of my kids to private schools (just one of three). Plain and simple, the public schools could not or would not meet their needs. I learned to public schools don’t listen at times, even if you are a Board member. We can all say that we need to change that. All well and good, but a kid does not have 5 years for a District to implement a plan, when they need help, they need it now. Oh, and going to a private school shows you that curriculums don’t have to change every two years, that text books can be cheaper, and that their are better ways to do things. So the Private Schools can teach the public schools a lot, don’t ignore them…. That, and let’s keep the kids out of a public discussion. Bad form, no matter how we discuss it…

Again, a good Board can overcome a poor Superintendent. A good Superintendent can overcome a bad Board. But when you have a poor Superintendent and a poor Board, you can expect all sorts of problems. My question is where was the entire School Board when these issues came up? Why did they let the Superintendent stay in his position for so long?

Also, where did the Board get all of this “new found” money for all these new programs (I am still stunned that we had money for a summer camp)? And then why did it disappear so quickly? If we don’t know the answers to that question, this District will continually get whipsawed around with additions and cuts…..

1) The Jazz Band Issue. Do we really have to dwell on this subject? Leave the kids out of it. If someone exerts undo influence, the Board should deal with it. If they don’t, shame on the entire Board.

2) Camps. My concern is not so much who went, why, etc. But where on earth did the District get money for a camp?? While on the Board, we had money for little, no summer school, no Tech Ed program at the mall, no security guards, no summer camps, no Wellness coordinator, all of which we have now. At times I and other past Board members are stunned to see so much money being spent over the past three years, and now has to be cut. Who went where, and how, pales in comparison to the issue of how the District magically had money, and how it so quickly evaporated.

3) Conferences. Again, bigger issues should be addressed here, versus who attended, did families go, or when and how they got reimbursed. Conferences in my mind are a total waste of time. I will stand by that until someone shows me one, just one, program or item that made a positive impact on this District due to them attending a conference. I’ll wait….

No, families should not go, in my mind it does not pass my smell test. Should Board members be reimbursed for lost wages? They know the issues and time involved, so why get paid on top of that? One gets a small monthly “salary” to be on the Board, use that. Quit going to useless conferences held in Florida, Las Vegas, California, etc., and if you need education, go buy a book and read it. If you need some, I will lend you some (purchased on my “dime”.)

3) Applying for jobs. Simple. Put a policy in place that states clearly that no Board member, or Board family member may apply for a job with the District, unless they have resigned their position on the Board. Only then can they apply.

One issue related to a Crystal Report writer position, for over $80,000 a year… Now trust me here. I used to be in software, still follow it, I know software. Crystal Reports won’t work on the School’s system (Skyward). Skyward uses a Progress Data Base, and Crystal won’t work over it. I personally gave my copy of Crystal to the District 5 years ago, told them to try it, it won’t work. Now Crystal is a fairly simple to use program. You don’t need or want high priced people generating reports. So the program does not work, you don’t need high priced people running it, and a Board member’s family should not apply. This was a bigger problem than just who applied. (A complicated issue, but not enough room here to explain in detail.) Oh, and just where did the District get money for a position like this??

4) Private Schools. I will admit that when I was on the Board, I sent some of my kids to private schools (just one of three). Plain and simple, the public schools could not or would not meet their needs. I learned to public schools don’t listen at times, even if you are a Board member. We can all say that we need to change that. All well and good, but a kid does not have 5 years for a District to implement a plan, when they need help, they need it now. Oh, and going to a private school shows you that curriculums don’t have to change every two years, that text books can be cheaper, and that their are better ways to do things. So the Private Schools can teach the public schools a lot, don’t ignore them…. That, and let’s keep the kids out of a public discussion. Bad form, no matter how we discuss it…

Again, a good Board can overcome a poor Superintendent. A good Superintendent can overcome a bad Board. But when you have a poor Superintendent and a poor Board, you can expect all sorts of problems. My question is where was the entire School Board when these issues came up? Why did they let the Superintendent stay in his position for so long?

Also, where did the Board get all of this “new found” money for all these new programs (I am still stunned that we had money for a summer camp)? And then why did it disappear so quickly? If we don’t know the answers to that question, this District will continually get whipsawed around with additions and cuts…..

Again, though, if the Daily News was doing its job, it would have investigated these rumors well ahead of time and given the candidates the chance to defend themselves for free. If these issues had appeared in the paper, I don’t think the BEA would have felt it needed to run such an ad. I honestly wish they hadn’t felt compelled to do so, but if the local news doesn’t cover such issues, how else can we expect people to hear about them?

For Amy Oselio’s campaign, I served as treasurer, and we spent as little money as we felt we could. That may hurt us at the polls today, but that’s the choice we made.

As for only people with plenty of money and time to spend on a campaign being able to run, I think we were already there, which may be another reason for the fundraising escalation. From what I know, Pam does not have a full-time job outside of the home, so she has the extra time to spend on both the campaign and the school board. She also has more signs on lawns in our city than anyone else. Some of these were left over from her last campaign, so she may not have had to pay much additional for them this year, but she clearly spent far more than $500 on them at some point. (I priced these out for Amy and Missy, so I know.)

Also, she doesn’t seem shy of paying for things herself when necessary. If you check out Pam’s rebuttal ad, for instance, the authorization line at the bottom reads, “Authorized and paid for by Pam Charles.” No mention of a campaign committee or treasurer is made, which suggests she ponied up the $1,000 or so for this out of her own pocket.

If anyone else had paid for it directly, that would have been a campaign financing violation, as the cost of the ad is far greater than the limit on individual donations to a campaign. You’re allowed to spend as much as you like on your own campaign, though, as long as it’s your money to begin with.

I don’t mean it to sound like I back the BEA entirely though. I think they’ve made a number of mistakes here too. However, I’m glad that someone finally brought these issues to light.

Again, though, if the Daily News was doing its job, it would have investigated these rumors well ahead of time and given the candidates the chance to defend themselves for free. If these issues had appeared in the paper, I don’t think the BEA would have felt it needed to run such an ad. I honestly wish they hadn’t felt compelled to do so, but if the local news doesn’t cover such issues, how else can we expect people to hear about them?

For Amy Oselio’s campaign, I served as treasurer, and we spent as little money as we felt we could. That may hurt us at the polls today, but that’s the choice we made.

As for only people with plenty of money and time to spend on a campaign being able to run, I think we were already there, which may be another reason for the fundraising escalation. From what I know, Pam does not have a full-time job outside of the home, so she has the extra time to spend on both the campaign and the school board. She also has more signs on lawns in our city than anyone else. Some of these were left over from her last campaign, so she may not have had to pay much additional for them this year, but she clearly spent far more than $500 on them at some point. (I priced these out for Amy and Missy, so I know.)

Also, she doesn’t seem shy of paying for things herself when necessary. If you check out Pam’s rebuttal ad, for instance, the authorization line at the bottom reads, “Authorized and paid for by Pam Charles.” No mention of a campaign committee or treasurer is made, which suggests she ponied up the $1,000 or so for this out of her own pocket.

If anyone else had paid for it directly, that would have been a campaign financing violation, as the cost of the ad is far greater than the limit on individual donations to a campaign. You’re allowed to spend as much as you like on your own campaign, though, as long as it’s your money to begin with.

I don’t mean it to sound like I back the BEA entirely though. I think they’ve made a number of mistakes here too. However, I’m glad that someone finally brought these issues to light.

My biggest concern is that we are now having a battle of newspaper ads, all of which are one sided and intended to give just one side with no discussion. If these are true issues, and they appear to be at least “half truth”, and the BEA was concerned, why bring them up all at once in an ad? If you want change, you don’t save up your issues and lay them out every three years. If employers and parents did this, it would result in chaos.

Ads like this cost money, and now it seems to me that the cost of running a campaign has escalated. Does a School Board member now have to wonder if their actions will result in full page ads, and a consequent rebutal?

To put this in perspective, School Board campaigns used to cost around $500, the cost for signs. Now they require signs, ads, campaign managers, etc., and this all costs at least $3,000 to $5,000 and a lot of time. Are we now making it so that only those who can afford it, or those who don’t work can run? When we make it expensive to run and get elected, we can expect special interest groups to get elected. Few, except those with an ax to grind, are willing to cough up $100 for a School Board campaign, and they will want to have a voice.

So not only did the ad by the BEA come out as somewhat mean spirited, it also changed the complexion of future races, and not for the better I am afraid. Always be careful what you wish for.

My biggest concern is that we are now having a battle of newspaper ads, all of which are one sided and intended to give just one side with no discussion. If these are true issues, and they appear to be at least “half truth”, and the BEA was concerned, why bring them up all at once in an ad? If you want change, you don’t save up your issues and lay them out every three years. If employers and parents did this, it would result in chaos.

Ads like this cost money, and now it seems to me that the cost of running a campaign has escalated. Does a School Board member now have to wonder if their actions will result in full page ads, and a consequent rebutal?

To put this in perspective, School Board campaigns used to cost around $500, the cost for signs. Now they require signs, ads, campaign managers, etc., and this all costs at least $3,000 to $5,000 and a lot of time. Are we now making it so that only those who can afford it, or those who don’t work can run? When we make it expensive to run and get elected, we can expect special interest groups to get elected. Few, except those with an ax to grind, are willing to cough up $100 for a School Board campaign, and they will want to have a voice.

So not only did the ad by the BEA come out as somewhat mean spirited, it also changed the complexion of future races, and not for the better I am afraid. Always be careful what you wish for.