Go mrs sykora. The mattsons are proud of you.

You misspelled Jaime Olson's name. She will make an excellent addition to the board and will bring independent thinking, something that seems to be missing from our local politics.

Let's not vote for the incumbents who voted a bonus disguised as an "oral agreement" to Mitchem. $66k of our money just wasted. If they didn't pay him he was not going to go away. They still have to drive past empty foreclosed houses in VV district every day and represent unemployed and under employed constituents who paid that $66k.

No offense to either candidate, but Chrystal Hansen and Ronnie Bull will not get my vote. They are members of the "Friends of VV" (along with Steve Quigley, Rick Gougis & Leo V). FOV approved Mitchem's $67k bonus, received large sums of money from special interest groups and they are part of Mayor Claar's regime.

I would like to see some fresh new faces serving on the board.

One more point: Board member Liz Cambell will get my vote because she voted NO to Mitchem's payout.

I too would like to see some fresh faces shake things up.
Mitchem's bonus... for doing what exactly?!?
Lowering the district's grading scale...shameful!!
We need people who want to RAISE our standards and challenge our children,
not continue to dumb down the system!
I had the privilege of hosting a foreign exchange student from Germany this past fall. She attended BHS. She confided to me that compared to the rigors and curriculum she had at home, our system is well behind. I agree, we seem to be more interested in just moving the kids along rather than raising the bar.

Hansen and Bull voting to give Mitchem his bonus is a matter of integrity to me. Whether we don't like the idea of him getting a bonus (to cover his educational expenses which many sup. of districts get) is beside the point. The whole board agreed to give it to him when they discussed his contract. Just because it got inadvertently left out of the written contract is irrelevant. They knew they had promised it to him, and like more people should be nowadays they had integrity and stuck to their promise. More people today need to stand by their word, instead of going back on promises. How nice would this be? "Yea, we promised you an education bonus (reimbursement), oh, it got left out? Well, too bad, stinks to be you!" If your boss told you in Jan. that at the end of the year you were going to get $5,000 to reimburse some work expenses, but you and he forgot to write it down in your contract, then in Dec. he says, "oh well, it's not in your contract, and I changed my mind." You'd be upset! That's just not nice, and I appreciate the board members that stuck to their word.

Most legal agreements, contracts these days state that what is included in the contract is what is agreed upon and anything promised either verbally or in writing prior to his contract is null and void and does not apply. This bonus was not int he contract. When Mitchem read the contract, it was his responsibility to make sure everything he wanted or was discussed was in the contract prior to signing it. He did not. Why? It's just speculation, but maybe he was conspiring with several board members to use this as a way of getting the bonus that would he would not have gotten otherwise if it was made public in his contract.

Very excellent point. The only way a "transaction" like this can happen is if you have cronies sitting on the board. I can't in good conscious vote on any person tied to an established regime. It's nothing more than a breeding ground for corruption.

(not saying that this case is an example...just saying that it's a breeding ground..)

I don't like it.

From the Patch article on July 16, 2012: "School Board Members Venegas, Quigley, Gougis and Ronnie Bull voted in favor of the contract amendment. Campbell abstained from voting. Board Members Jim Curran and Chrystal Hansen were absent from the meeting." If you're going to complain and try to persuade people not to vote for certain board members because of how they voted to accept the amended contract for Mitchem, at least take Hansen out of your comments, she wasn't even at the meeting in July.

lol Caring Citizen, you sound like you could be Mitchem himself.
As far as a contract goes, it is the persons responsibility to go over a contract before signing. I mean, he is supposed to be a smart man right?? Also knowing the security problems we have at 3 of our schools, not having the front holding area to check people in before they have access to the students, would have been a great place for him to pass on to the Children.I also agree He messed up big time with the grading 90/10, but he got so much crap about it, I know he knows it was a bad idea, but will never pull back on it. I think he has done some good things too though.
When I hear he cares about our kids, i think that is not fully true, he is a man getting paid good money for a job. I dont think it is anything more then that.
I also want to add that Dan Falese is good people. He has a great family, with some very well mannered kids.
I would also like to say that the 3 schools i speak of as far as needing that holding area, none of my 3 VVSD children go there. Plenty of things needed for security of my kids schools, but i think we should all agree, that needs to come first. That money could have gotten that well on its way.

I failed to share the goods about Mitchem.......he knew who we had as principal wasn't working for us at BJ Ward, so they went to heaven, and got us this angle man Mr. W!!! He truly is doing this job for the kids. The Staff loves him, and you feel that when you walk in. He has gone over and beyond to help these kids. What man would get a huge garage sale going over on his
time off with his staff
, to raise money for children to get children healthy snacks.
MR. Laverty is the best thing to ever happened to HHH. He is great with the kid, and is always acaLLY

Sorry, it went before I was done Dan Laverty is the best!!! Kids love him, and parents do to. He is always available to any of us!!! And he has put many things in place, and fixed others. The kids are so more happy with him there, he can manage it all!!! He is the best!!!

Let's not forget that our teachers and parapros have been working since Aug without a contract!

Lets also not forget that friends of mine who work for the district were told in meetings regarding the first contract that was voted down that there were many items that were "gentlemen's agreements." The union president said that some of the reimbursements, etc wouldn't be written in the contract but they were agreed upon. As a member of a union myself I told my friend he is insane if he decides to vote yes on anything that isn't written. Melissa, how come the patch isn't giving more coverage to the fact of what was proposed and voted down in October and the idea that we are now in January with no contract in place.....shouldn't the public have what information they can have as they consider their schoolboard votes?

Rhonda,

I heard that you moved out of VVSD boundaries but that you're kids are still going to Pioneer.

If you hate the district and what it represents so much, why did you keep your children in school here instead of sending them to the school in the neighborhood where you now live?

Plus currently there is no proposed contract. The one that was proposed was thrown out because staff voted it down and a new one hasn't been proposed yet. My understanding is the district is claiming they have no money so teachers are being offered raises that don't even match a cost of living increase, they will pay more in insurance, less will be reimbursed for higher leanring and they are being asked to work more hours. Meanwhile upwards of 15 to 20 admin jobs have been created in two years, renovations on buildings have been done to the tune of 1.5 million dollars and we spend more and more on programs for the kids whose parents are probably not paying local taxes because they are on state aide or use the homeless label and move their kids in w an aunt/grandparent. Why does none of this get coverage so that our communities can see what's really going on instead of just what's being told at forums.

Sykora has my vote! She is a retired math teacher from the VVSD and has a heart for the students. I do believe she will make a difference. As for Ronnie Bull, well let's just say he has served his time on the board and could use a break. It is unfortunate that some other positions aren't up for replacement.

Curious : So what if Rhonda's kids go to pioneer school. If she still lives in the VVSD area, and only moved a few miles, there are steps you can do to keep your kids at the school they are accustom too. I moved only a few blocks, changing one of my 3 children's schools by one block. One year he went to the new school, and we had many problems. We positioned to go back to our school for his last year. And we got approved. I think you need to worry about the kids getting shipped in from other areas, not a bolingbrook resident. I have been here for 41 years and my husband and myself have also gone through the VVSD school system. Though I don't think Rhonda should be getting so emotional on these patch threads, I don't see how where her kids go to school is an issue. As I said, worry about the children who's parents don't pay taxes to this town, there are so many of them claiming to displaced and living with someone here in town, and it not being true!!! I have family who lives out here, in 4 different residences, all who pay taxes to our schools, and only 2 of them have children in our schools. So are you going to say something about me for my child being in his original school to find ish out his last year. I did it the right way, as I'm sure Rhonda has.