I am not sure whether these public bodies are mismanaged (your word) or that you’re never satisfied. Like you I like referendums for significant projects (like this d207 one) or projects that are less significant but that have a long-term effect on the community (creation of Shibley Oaks park).

Now d207 is going to a November referendum but you are critical. What do you want?

EDITOR’S NOTE: What we want is what we’ve always wanted: H.I.T.A.

We’re now sitting here months after the May “scientific phone poll of likely voters” (as it’s described on the D-207 website) and we now hear that “58% of respondents indicated that they would support the $195 million ballot measure” – without any publication of the actual call sheets, or even how many actual “respondents” there were.

And, not surprisingly, that same poll supposedly showed that “61% of respondents gave District 207 an A or B rating on five-point scale” – again without any publication of the actual call sheets or how many respondents there were.

THAT’S neither honest nor transparent, but it does reveal a lack of integrity that clearly is intended to avoid accountability. Hence, no H.I.T.A.

To your point, these high schools have been neglected for all of Wallace’s (and Sullivan’s) years as supt. (and on the board), and for another decade before that by school board members whose names we don’t even remember anymore. Why? Because it enabled those administrators and those board members to keep giving more money to teachers and administrators without raising taxes as high as needed to cover all those costs.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Exactly!

Simply astounding that this board would ask the taxpayers to reward fiscal mismanagement with more fiscal mismanagement. And to focus the propaganda around the need for safe and secure entrances is insulting. D207 teachers have always been handsomely paid and are currently the second highest paid teachers in Illinois at an average salary of over $111,000 per year.

Enough is enough. Take the time to read the marketing propaganda on the district’s website. Lots of marketing BS but very little real data.

This is an easy NO vote-whether it’s $195 million or $135 million.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This superintendent and this Board (like past boards) are all about the sizzle because the steak is closer to a T-bone from Ponderosa than from Gibson’s.

IF this referendum passes, my understanding is that the real estate property tax increase will be split between Niles, Des Plaines, and Park Ridge. Park Ridge having higher property values will pay more of the cost of this referendum.

So if every voter in Park Ridge voted no and every voter in Niles and Des Plaines voted yes, it would still pass correct?!?

I don’t know how much per $100,000 real estate valuation it will be, but I am thinking it might be $125 in increased tax per $100k, maybe it is only $50 per $100k, I don’t know.

Either way, this could be a significant hike to property owners in Park Ridge that could be impacted by Niles and Des Plaines voters. That is what I really don’t like about the whole situation.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Also Harwood Heights, a bit of Glenview and some unincorporated areas.

The D207 website provides guidance on how to quickly figure the impact to your property taxes-an addition on top of normal year to year increases. “Simply” take your 2017 D207 tax amount and multiply by 12.96 percent. This is the estimated referendum tax increase. And yes a higher burden to those with higher property values. Yet per D207 the $240,000,000 in spending will be split equally-with no details provided-between the three schools.

Again-this is an easy NO vote. Do not reward fiscal irresponsibility with more fiscal irresponsibility.

And with the implementation of the new Hybrid Block schedule where students may spend less time in class being instructed by a highly compensated teacher-even more reason not to give this incompetent school board more taxpayer money to mismanage.

Anonymous on 08.14.18 11:16 am,

I assume you are from Park Ridge (PR). Many homes in PR are familied homes with children who attend one of the three high schools managed by D207. I am not from PR. There are parts of Niles that are incorporated and parts that are not. Same with Des Plaines, and Glenview and Harwood Heights. All of the “homeowners” in these incorporated and unincorporated areas will be affected, and like home owners in PR, the affect will not be evenly distributed from home-owner to home-owner.

Anonymous on 08.14.18 11:16 am, your Park Ridgitus is showing and I suspect I should be offended. Park Ridgeitus is that attitude where PR folks assume thay are their neighbors’ better. It’s nothing new.

Too bad you can’t see past your nose. If this thing passes (and based on history of similar referendums in Illinois over the past two election cycles, there’s a 70% chance that it will), we are ALL going to have to pay.

Sorry chaps, PR is not “north shore”. Get you head out of your behind or you’re just going to have to pay more for the education of all those other “inferior” children from other places.

Did you notice the D207 does not post board packets in advance of its Board meetings, unlike D64, the Park District, the City and the Library Board? What gives with that?

EDITOR’S NOTE: We just recently noted that. Can’t say it surprises us with Supt. Wallace at the helm and a clueless, rubber-stamp board propping him up whenever its members aren’t smooching his derriere. But it may win the prize for least transparent and accountable.

A dubious distinction, well deserved.

Why do you keep giving Austriaco and Coyle a pass? They are both attorneys and they’ve been on that board for over a year. If they can’t figure it out by now, they’re incompetent or just more of the same old same old.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This editor is an attorney with significantly more experience than either of the two whom you mentioned, yet when he was first elected to the Park Board in 1997 it took him awhile to get the lay of the land, determine how much any of his fellow Board members and District bureaucrats could be trusted, etc. Hence our special treatment of Austriaco and Coyle.

That being said, however, the training wheels should have been taken off before now; and, from this point forward – and maybe even looking back a few months since the early-May end to their 1-year “honeymoon” – they need to be held accountable for their acts and omissions.

8/14 6:09 pm-many of us here in PR do not have our heads in our behinds and know full well this is not the North Shore. Just look at the test scores and rankings of all the public schools in PR and you can see we are very far from the NS. However many of us simply do not want to give any more tax money to a board full of fiscally irresponsible people who will take this additional $195,000,000 and use it irresponsibly-whether it is spent at ME MW OR MS.

Again read the propaganda BS on the D207 website and you will see this board is not being forthright dishonestly hiding how and where the funds will be spent. They are hiding behind the “safe and secure vestibule” BS and the it’s for the kids argument. Beyond insulting!

I just looked at the “Referendum” section of the District’s website and it is totally inadequate and deceptive, both by what it says and what it doesn’t say.

Also, the “Community Engagement” section is like a battle plan for a referendum political campaign. Doesn’t the law forbid the District from using taxpayer money to campaign for a referendum?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, but there are ways to get around it, as we will point out in our next post.

Anon on 08.15.18 2:41 pm,

Well you may not have your head where the sun doesn’t shine, but a lot of our fellow taxpayers in D207 do.

Here’s part of what we know for sure, and forgive the comment’s length.

D207 Board & Administration over the last few years have been withholding tens-of-millions of dollars ($45mm) from short term maintenance activities, substantially diminishing the value of those taxpayer-funded working dollars v the increased cost of those future maintenance activities. Best estimate at this point is a 3% to 5% loss in dollars working-value. Those previously taxed dollars, added to the $195mm, will bring D207 back up to their $240mm+ goal.

How many of those FUTURE Referendum projects could have been eliminated from the “Plan” had they actually spent the money as we Taxpayers expected? We were never told of this arrangement. We were never informed of the monies not being properly spent, by design.

Where were our representatives? Why were voter/taxpayers not informed of these activities and the long-term consequences there to?

Making sure ALL of the taxpayer derived dollars are spent wisely and in a timely manner and not squirreled away for more expensive schemes in the future, is the responsibility of the Board and their employee, the Superintendent. Unfortunately, the Board isn’t up for a vote in November, only the Referendum. As for the Superintendent, he still has a contract.

I want you to think about this.

The referendum monies are to used only for those activities stated in the referendum. It is a cash cow, but for this purpose, let’s call it a stream – a money-stream.

If the referendum passes there will be two money-streams; the regular property tax money-stream including the ($45mm hold back, currently growing at 3%=/- per year), and the a Referendum money-stream of $195mm. Two streams to drink from.

The current property taxed money-stream has, to date, been doing all the hard work; paying for acquisitions, maintenance, administration, teaching activities, etc.

The new Referendum money-stream will relieve the current property-taxed stream (now increasing at 3%/yr +/-) of much of its burden. Once relieved of that burden, the remaining property-taxed stream monies can be used to pay for other things. Use your imagination.

You’ve got to love this scheme!

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Where were our representatives?” Asleep at the wheel and/or pathetically intimidated by the “educators” like Supt. Wallace.

Worse yet, four of them are attorneys…although their timidity and their passivity re Board matters suggest they would have their hands full defending against parking tickets.

Thank you 2:12 for your information. As I have stated numerous times this referendum even if lowered is an wasy NO vote. Unfortunately those people who oppose this irresponsible money grab to be spent by a demonstratively incompetent board will be vilified by some loud mouths on social media.

I would add another item to demonstrate the incompetence of D207. This new hybrid bell schedule has been so poorly planned and executed. It has created blocks of time with no teacher lead instruction on Tuesday and Wednesday. Many students have 4.25 hours of free time. Therefore these two days for many sophomores thru seniors does not appear to constitute a school day under IL law. How did the board get this thru the IL board of education?

So in a world where our students should be spending more time in the classroom to compete in today’s competitve market D207 students will have less time with highly compensated teacher instruction. And the district wants to get more money from us to mismanage give unjustified bonuses and overpay teachers. Again vote NO encourage your neighbors to vote NO. Do not support this referendum.

At least we get to vote on it. Hopefully the voters will see this project for the foolish waste of money it is.

Agreed this is an easy NO vote. I’m embarrassed for PR that our schools have declined so significantly and we are being led by incompetents.
This block schedule is an absolute joke! I’m going to send an email to Wallace asking when we can expect to see the results and/or early indication of success or lack thereof of this bone headed move. All the kids are discussing how they want to leave school at 11:30 because they’re finished with classes for the day??!! This WON’T help the pathetic decline of MS

Where can we get VOTE NO signs. I see VOTE YES, but would like a VOTE NO.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We don’t know, but you might want to contact the manager of https://207referendum.blogspot.com/. Or if you want to have some made to order, we recommend AlphaGraphics in Park Ridge (642 Busse Hwy, Park Ridge, IL 60068).