D228 Board President's Candidacy Still Up in the Air
District 228 Board of Education President Deb Stearns filed for candidacy for the April 9 election. Her petition to appear on the ballot is being challenged by Ron Szabo. The matter was continued to Jan. 23 during a hearing Jan. 11.
Bremen High School District 228 school board president Deb Stearns and the rest of the school district community will have to wait a little longer to find out if she will be on the April 9 ballot. Resident Ronald Szabo objected to her candidacy, and appeared before the district's Education Officers Electoral Board on Friday, Jan. 11.
During the special meeting of the electoral board, Stearns's lawyer, John Murphy, outlined a motion to dismiss Ron Szabo's objections to her candidacy. Murphy spent the majority of the nearly half-hour meeting explaining why the electoral board should dismiss the objections before answering questions from the board about his motion.
Murphy said there were several reasons to dismiss the challenge, the first being that Szabo did not "state the interest of the objector." Murphy said that without the statement, the objection itself was invalid.
"The statement of interest is missing, that is a fundamental flaw of which justifies dismissal of this petition," Murphy told the board.
Board members heard a majority of Murphy's motion before stopping the proceedings to ask if Szabo would like a few days to go over the motion and form a written response. Szabo, who is acting without legal council, took the opportunity and was given until Wednesday, Jan. 16, at 9 a.m. to file a written response.
Following Szabo's potential reply to Murphy's motion, the board will reconvene on Jan. 23, to make a final decision on Stearns' candidacy and if she can remain on the ballot.
Roger Norkus
5:56 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Why do we need a lawyer for every thing ,who is paying for this? How much has the District paid for lawyers in 2012? Why do we have a board? Don't they speak to each other? Soon our real estate taxes will be more than our houses are worth.
S
6:52 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
I don't think this has anything to do with the board speaking to each other since Mr. Szabo is not on the board. Don't know how much it costs, but definitely would have been cheaper if Mr. Szabo filed the work properly. The legal fees are probably on the district website somewhere, isn't it public record?
Elliot
1:10 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Bremen High School District 228 does not give out information just because its the public's business. I challenge you to try and find out what happened at any D228 board meeting by reading the minutes. I can only wonder why ? Why would a board full of public servants not want to convey to the public all they good deeds they are doing ? Just read last Saturdays Southtown were the lead story talks about secret a meeting of the Bremen Township Trustees to give the Treasurer a 13% raise (both boards have the same president Stearns). It says Orland Township got rid of their Township Treasurer and all it's staff. I've read they have saved millions from that move. If you check out Midlothian Park District website you'll find that you'll need to make a personal meeting with Mrs. Rybak, who is a D228 board meeting if you want to submit a FOIA request No they are not interested in open government.
My information tells me they spend a couple of hundred thousands a year on legal fees. Most of these seemed politically motivated to me. This too was a Southtown story last week. Vote these critters out on April 9th.
S
10:25 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I think they'd have to hire a transcriber to put down all the business. Most districts (I've looked at my elementary district's site) seem the same as that, only listing vague minutes. It doesn't seem malicious to me, just not time effective. Stearns isn't president of both boards at all, that's what this whole article is about. Not sure why you're thinking that unless someone is telling you to think that way. Mrs. Rybak is a D228 board meeting, I'm not sure what you mean by that? Is she the one in charge of publishing board meeting minutes? Can you explain? Doesn't matter who is elected in, most schools have lawyers on retainer that cost the same to deal with expulsions and any legal matter that is brought by parents, teachers, administrators, students, etc. That's not one person's fault.
TaxPayer
12:33 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013
They have a court reporter at all these meetings, they edit the minutes to the bare legal minimum and put them on the web. The minutes I look at list actual dialogue between members. Checkout Brementts.org and click on legal notices, they have a lot more info than D228. Debi Stearns certainly is President of BHSD228 and BTTS. Mrs. Rybak is the FOIA contact for Midlo Park Dist. and states one should make an appt. for audits, financial statements etc. A good government practice would be to respond to a simple Email. She does have to vote on the minutes, If it wasn't edited they wouldn't have to vote. They are all agreeing that "this is what we want to say " . Do most law firms have a partner who has a Mom on the board ? and do these lawyers work to change state law just for your district, like 228 did?
No it's all their fault, we should vote both Stearns and Gleason out.
S
11:34 am on Thursday, January 17, 2013
But what I don't understand is how Mrs. Rybak is involved in the 228 board with the meetings and FOIA requests. That's what I was asking about being explained. I don't see how one is connected to the other. Good to know about the court reporter. I looked at the BTTS website and it says Maggie Crotty is supervisor, so you're wrong about Stearns being Prez of both, that's not true. Each law firm at my elementary district bids for services, just like any other service places bids and the schools vote on which one is more cost effective. I'm not sure what state law you're referring to, so I can't answer your question on that.
TaxPayer
1:02 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
Bremen Township is independent of Bremen Township Trustees of Schools. You should read Kadners article in the Southtown from last Sat/Sun. Rybak /Gleason avoid any information from going to the public unless it is self-serving this goes for D228 and the park dist.. Bremen High School Dist.228 has not , does not, will not request bids for legal services. That is a FACT! just email Superintendent Kendall and ask him. They are very aggressive on contracts for paper though.
Sue1
10:28 pm on Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Have you attended a board meeting? There isn't a court reporter there.
S
4:18 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
I don't think the majority of the people who post on these websites attend any type of meeting to actually accomplish anything, they just post on this website and complain about people who actually do attend the meetings and put work into the community.
TaxPayer
11:45 pm on Saturday, February 23, 2013
What have you accomplished by attending your bored meeting??? Let's have a public debate on the issues of D228. Their meetings are scripted with much bad acting. I would like to see people using the web to debate specific issues. What can you tell me about their drastic changes in curriculum. I recently heard Bremen's class of 2013 will have an average ACT of 17, That bothers me. I want to change that. Any ideas ?