Published in the Richmond/Spring Grove Report on 4/5/03

            With $603,000 of contentious budget cuts approved and another $600,000 cuts anticipated for next year, pressure is on Nippersink School District 2’s three recently elected board members to live up to their campaign promises.

            These promises include opportunities for genuine community input and improving communication between the board and district residents. The biggest challenge to all seven board members, however, will be finding ways to slash the district’s budget further than it already has without harming valued education programs.

Kattner, Bushing Barely Hang On to Seats, Gullifor Wins 3^rd Spot

Although Nippersink District 2 School Board incumbents Nadine Kattner and Diane Bushing won re-election to their three-year terms Tuesday, more than two-thirds of the district’s 1,846 voters opted for other candidates. According to the McHenry County Voter Information Web site (www.mcvote.com), Kattner won only 16.69 percent of the vote while Bushing won 15.36.

Former District 11 School Board member Mike Gullifor easily won the third available seat on the board, with 27.6 percent of the vote. During his campaign, Gullifor stressed increasing community input in district decisions and greater accountability for school board members and administrators.

Although the five other candidates also stressed increased accountability for board members and had a variety of budget suggestions, they failed to win enough votes. Nancy Piggot received 408 votes; Cindy Walleck received 382 votes; Renee Patrick received 288 votes; and write-in candidate Tom White received 235 votes. Twenty-four voters opted for different write-in candidates, whose names were not available. 

Budget Ideas, Board Accountability Focus of Campaigns

Piggot had suggested implementing fee-based programs and cutting the associate principal positions; Walleck called for lobbying state legislators for better state school funding and reorganizing administration positions; and White recommended seeking grants, holding district-wide fundraisers, and eliminating the NMS dean of students position. 

Based on discussions at the March 18 meeting, at which the board voted on its recent budget cuts and discussed the inevitability of future cuts, is likely that the board will have no choice but to consider many of these ideas.

Bushing said that the school board is also looking into redistricting as an effort to even out enrollment numbers across the two elementary schools.  And at last month’s meeting, board member Lynn Hunter announced that a committee would be formed to study the efficiency of the district’s Citrix web server program.

Gullifor, who said he was happily “shocked” by his showing at the polls, acknowledged that the toughest part will be “living up to those expectations” he created during his campaign. Still, Gullifor says that as a board member he will be committed to getting residents' and teachers' input on district matters. In the past, Gullifor said, residents have had “only one avenue to respond to”—the monthly board meetings which allow just brief and strictly regulated community input. “We should be using every avenue, whether it’s e-mail, telephone, fax, or community forums,” he said.

Neither Kattner nor Bushing returned phone calls requesting comment.

Vote Reflects Community Perceptions

The voting seemed to reflect community perceptions of how the board handled recent budget reduction decisions and about its style of communication with residents. At two recent candidate forums, residents complained that the current board didn’t include them in the budget reduction process until it was too late for them to have much impact. For example, it was not until February 28 of this year that Superintendent George Zimmer sent a letter to district residents announcing a March 4 community budget forum and asking for resident’s reaction to a list of proposed budget reductions. The board voted on its budget reduction package less than one month later, on March 18.

Many residents also slammed the board for sharing information with them only on a selective basis and for providing a narrow channel for community input on district issues.

In the past, various board members as well as Zimmer have said that the district office welcomes community input via telephone, e-mail, or during regularly scheduled board meetings.

Incumbents Say Board Is Listening

            During their campaigns, Kattner and Bushing defended the board’s handling of the budget reduction process. Both candidates praised the work of the budget committee, which included all seven board members, administrators, teachers, and residents. At one of the candidate’s forums, Bushing stated emphatically that the board seriously considered residents’ input before making its final recommendations. Kattner expressed the same thought at the March 18 board meeting. This issue remains unclear, however, since the board did not share any of the residents’ correspondence during the March 4 forum or the March 18 board meeting.

As far as the board’s communication with district residents is concerned, Bushing said that after District 2 was formed in 2000, so few residents attended its Communication Council meetings that they were discontinued. According to a letter mailed by Kattner to district residents this week, the council will be reinstated at the end of the month.

There are other signs that the current board has been listening to resident’s recent complaints. During last month’s meeting, which was sandwiched between the two candidate’s nights, board members Tom Wizinski and Jim Hasken emphasized the importance of community input. And this week, Kattner sent a letter to district residents about the district’s budget problems. The letter was unusual because it outlined the board’s thinking on the budget situation and Kattner signed it. Normally, Zimmer sends such letters.

            The new board members will be seated at a special meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, April 7, at the NMS Library. At that time, the board will nominate and elect its officers, according to the district office. The regular monthly board meeting is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, at the NMS Library.
 

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