Friends that fundraise together…

Of course it was cronyism. The teachers union controls the board. Take a look at the actual teacher salary increases over the years in District 203. You can find an amazing wealth of information about 203 at www.thechampion.org. The teachers don't want you to know about this site.

Look at the email Jackie Romberg sent out the night before the election. See it below verbatim. I am sure she wishes she hadn't sent it now. She sent it from herself to herself and blind carbon copied everyone so no one that disagreed with her could respond to her mass email. This is how this group operates. They use subterfuge and misinformation to maintain their stranglehold on the purse strings.

Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 10:02 PM
Subject: School district 203

Good evening -

For many of you, this is another Jackie Romberg e-mail about our kids and our schools....my true passion.

I have been actively participating in district 203 schools for over a decade! This is a crucial crossroad for our district. I would like to ask you a personal favor to please get involved on behalf of our community and our schools. I have been working on the re-election campaign for Suzyn Price and have been involved with:
www.QualityEducation203.org
We have spent a great deal of time and energy on getting the word out about how critical this school board election is to the health of our school district. In my opinion, the candidates running as "the taxpayers' ticket"
do not have the best interest of our school district and the students, at the core of their campaign. Please visit the above-mentioned website for further explanation. Our organization of concerned parents and community members has endorsed:
Terry Fielden
Mike Jaensch
Suzyn Price.

Your vote is critical. Please vote tomorrow, Tuesday, April 17th. Polls will be open from 6 AM to 7 PM.
Contact me if you have any questions, and please feel free to forward this email to your list. We need to get the word out about how important this election is for our community.

Thank you,
Jackie Romberg

Of course it is cronyism! Patronage is alive and kicking in Naperville!

This is just another in a long line of seemingly endless, actions and gestures by this Board. It pretty much started with the 2002 referendum and continues to occur regularly, with the latest example of arrogance and disregard for the voters being the applicatioon of their procedure for filling the vacated Board seat.

The list of arrogant actions includes:

· Clandestine meetings which resulted in the deliberate & inappropriate implementation of the 2002 referendum and the cumulative over-collection of taxes estimated at over $90 million (and rising every year!)

· Using these over-collected monies to build a surplus for capital improvements

· Secret meetings (and public denials) by the Board and administration to circumvent the electoral process and extend hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with the Unions

· Covering-up an egregious ethics and contract violation by a Union negotiator during the past election cycle by not reporting it to the community

· Walking a fine line of legality by paying for the creation, and distribution to the community, of a “referendum brochure” thinly disguised as a facilities plan

· Hijacking the Master Facilities Plan (MFP) process to further an incomplete list of wants & whims from a smaller subset of the community while ignoring 18 of the District’s buildings and hiding from the voters the true cost and timeline of an all-encompassing MFP

· Summarily dismissing the three candidates for the vacated Board seat who have proven their ideas, interest, and energy to the community and who received over 25% of the voters in the past election. It is, of course, coincidence that these same three had the temerity to run against the union-backed and union-financed ticket that won the election.

· Filling the vacated seat with a close Board friend and activist who worked directly on the re-election campaign of the new Board President. Who says patronage is dead in Illinois!

All in all, I would say that the Board needs to be watched diligently and closely as they prepare for the referendum that they will assuredly spring upon us, all with the expensive help of the union, dishonest activists, and the other special interest groups that were so involved in the April elections.

· Clandestine meetings which resulted in the deliberate & inappropriate implementation of the 2002 referendum and the cumulative over-collection of taxes estimated at over $90 million (and rising every year!)

· Using these over-collected monies to build a surplus for capital improvements

· Secret meetings (and public denials) by the Board and administration to circumvent the electoral process and extend hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts with the Unions

· Covering-up an egregious ethics and contract violation by a Union negotiator during the past election cycle by not reporting it to the community

· Walking a fine line of legality by paying for the creation, and distribution to the community, of a “referendum brochure” thinly disguised as a facilities plan

· Hijacking the Master Facilities Plan (MFP) process to further an incomplete list of wants & whims from a smaller subset of the community while ignoring 18 of the District’s buildings and hiding from the voters the true cost and timeline of an all-encompassing MFP

· Summarily dismissing the three candidates for the vacated Board seat who have proven their ideas, interest, and energy to the community and who received over 25% of the voters in the past election. It is, of course, coincidence that these same three had the temerity to run against the union-backed and union-financed ticket that won the election.

· Filling the vacated seat with a close Board friend and activist who worked directly on the re-election campaign of the new Board President. Who says patronage is dead in Illinois!

All in all, I would say that the Board needs to be watched diligently and closely as they prepare for the referendum that they will assuredly spring upon us, all with the expensive help of the union, dishonest activists, and the other special interest groups that were so involved in the April elections.

There continues to be strong controversy over the 2002 referendum. There waas yet another string of Letters to teh Editor in the Sun the past week or so, and they continue to focus on whethere or not there was an over-collection and if so, how much is it and how much will it be?

A recent reader, Thom Higgins, took exception to another letter from Dan Denys. Specifically, Mr Higgins inferred bad data by focusing on the current, and very short-term, assistant superintendat of finance (and conveniently forgets the past one!)

A solution? Why doesn't the Sun sponsor a round table/forum/debate with the Board and the citizens' groups that are still outraged over te continued over-collection and denials? I would suggest the Will DuPage Tax Alliance to represent the one side, and Ms Price, Mr Reschke, and mr Fileden to represent the Board.

In this way, ALL of the facts can finally be forwarded and either put away forever OR acted upon by the District.

Does anyone really think the Board will agree OR that the Sun will steop firward and propose it?

, and given the fact that the Board wants us to "forget it and move on", I have a question/suggestion:

Why doesn't the Sun sponsor a forum/debate where the Board can discuss the referendum with a group of citizens who

As the community becomes aware of the many associations between Price and Romberg, the patronage behind her selection for board becomes ever more obvious and undeniable. Unfortunate for the other candidates who were put through the charade. Nevertheless, it really doesn't matter. With Price, Reschke, Shipley, and Crotty, the board already has a voting majority that is the epitome of Groupthink. So whether it's a 4-3 majority or a 7-0 majority, it remains a liberal board that will continue to cower to the demands of the teacher's union while disregarding the limits of the taxpayer.

Mrs Price has previously made comments about what the board has done in the past that it is not a question of right or wrong (Feb 21, 2006) and wants to move on. The problem is that this the crux of all the issues since the 2002 referendum, until the board does the RIGHT thing it is not possible to go on. What am I talking about.

a) the famous $511 annual tax increase and the FAQ by proud to be 203 which stated that estimated total revenues 5 years after the referendum would be approximately 148 million. How can the budget be over 200 million if you did the right thing and adhered to your promises.

b) The facilities task force recommendation is not a Master Facilities plan because per administration and implied board consent the direction was to only look at the problems at Mill and Central. The right thing to do is as shown in the process flow chart contained in the districts facilities proposal report and have the district first determine its building standards and publish a true gap analysis for all building prior to charging forward with a partial plan.

c) When filling a vacant board position all discussions and interview should have been public. The right thing would have been to do everything in open meetings, the community should have been able to observe what has gone on.

It clearly is a question of right and wrong and the board doesn't understand.