Elections and Issues in Oak Park and River Forest

Voting day is TUESDAY, APRIL 4 for municipal elections in Oak Park and River Forest although early voting is available beginning March 20.  River Forest residents should check HERE for information on polling places, early voting locations and individual RF races.  Oak Park residents should look HERE for information on early and regular voting locations.

Other than the races for RF Village Trustee (4 candidates for 3 spots) and the OPRFHS D200 School Board, most of the RF races are uncontested.  That is certainly not the case in Oak Park, where there are heavily contested races for OP Village Trustee and Village Clerk, OP Elementary D97 School Board, the OP Library Board and OPRFHS D200 School Board.  This Chicago Tribune/Oak Leaves article from last December includes all the races in both communities, though some candidates mentioned in the article have since withdrawn.  But it gives a good overview of all the races.

Also on the ballot in Oak Park are TWO referendum questions for D97.  One is a tax levy increase question that seeks to boost funds for operating expenses; the other is a bond issue referendum that will replace bonds maturing within the next year or so.  

You can read more about the OPRFHS D200 candidates in our recent website post HERE.  Information about the D97 referendum questions and a list of Voter FORUMS is on our page HERE.

D200 - It's Time for a CHANGING of the GUARD!

One sign that it's time for some new blood on the D200 School Board was the adoption of spending "limits" for daily travel reimbursement.  Under the heading "Expense Control Measures" the D200 board at its  February 14 meeting, approved a maximum allowable reimbursement for travel, meal and lodging expenses of $900 per day. Part of the reasoning behind setting a fairly high limit was to avoid putting undue burden on the Business Office personnel who review reimbursement requests that exceed a certain threshold.

One board member did question the limit, thinking it might be a bit excessive, but in the end the measure was approved unanimously. READ MORE in this article in the Chicago Tribune.

So now, with municipal elections coming up on APRIL 4, we encourage you to support these "pragmatic" candidates for the OPRFHS - D200 - School Board:

MATT BARON - visit his website and facebook
JACK DAVIDSON - visit his website and  facebook
DOUG SPRINGER - visit his website and facebook

They'd LOVE your SUPPORT and your active engagement in their campaign.  Learn about them and encourage others to do the same.  All the candidates have literature and yard signs. 
Perhaps you'd be willing to host a coffee or cocktail hour for friends and neighbors to meet the candidates?  Sharing their facebook posts is a good way to build name recognition.  Small steps can become very powerful when leveraged using social media!  For more ways you can help, either contact the candidates directly via their facebook or websites, or send us an e-mail: D200Pragmaticsolutions@gmail.com

The New COMPREHENSIVE Facilities Process and the Expert's Solution

A new comprehensive facilities process for the high school is underway. The process was first presented on December 13 and approved by the D200 School Board at its meeting on Dec. 22.

While internal stakeholders clearly need to be involved in answering these questions, the administration recommended undertaking a process that would also more broadly and deeply involve community residents and community partners. The Board agreed and approved a resolution charging administrators with “establishing a community engagement and outreach committee to review previous processes, make recommendations, and strengthen community partnerships pursuant to District goals related to equity, academic programming needs, facilities to support those needs, and finances, in order to ensure that the District meets the educational needs of the next generation of learners.” Administrators are planning to make recommendations to the Board in January regarding creating the committee. (SOURCE)

The first step is the creation of a "Launch Team" that will work to determine the desired attributes and qualifications for the members of the Community Engagement and Outreach Committee and the process by which those committee members will be selected.  The Launch Team includes school faculty and staff as well as community residents known have supported both the Vote No and Vote Yes campaigns.

The new process will be one that includes not just pools, locker rooms and performing arts spaces but goes further and looks at the instructional needs of the next generation of learners and how the facilities should be altered to meet those needs.

NOW back to the topic of the SWIMMING POOL situation at OPRFHS!

Pragmatic Solutions recently submitted an opinion piece published in the Wednesday Journal titled "The Expert's Pool Solution" (LINK) to advocate that the high school should go back and adopt recommendations in the report by Stantec Consulting issued in March 2013.  Stantec Consulting is a renowned engineering and design firm that was commissioned by the D200 School Board in 2012 to complete an in-depth study of the pool situation at OPRFHS.  Their report (linked HERE) concluded that the best solution, given the constraints of the land-locked campus at OPRFHS, a single 8-lane, 25-yard standard high school competition pool in the East Pool site, expanding into the South Gym as needed.

Looking ahead and future facilities planning

A big THANK YOU to each and every Oak Park and River Forest resident who voted on the referendum question. The referendum was defeated.

What's next? Trust must be built. Transparency must be apparent. True LONG TERM PLANNING must take place thats meet the needs of the many, not the wants of a few. 

At a special meeting held on Tuesday, December 13,  the BOE approved a Resolution for the school administrators to create a plan for a revised and improved stakeholder committee consisting of OPRFHS staff and administrators, community thought leaders, but NOT hired consultants, architects, etc. The discussion must revolve around Those Things That are Best (for the students). 

A non-partisan professional facilitator will be hired to create and guide the committee. The details are to be announced at an upcoming BOE meeting. 

The high school issued a statement on December 15 that was sent to families and the community via Huskie e-mail.  Read the full statement HERE.  It says, in part: 

What happens next? In the past five years, the district has led two long-term facilities planning committees and multiple pool committees, as well as a strategic planning process. With the community at an impasse regarding facilities issues, district administrators have recommended initiating a different process, one that includes pools, locker rooms, performing arts classrooms, etc., but goes even further to ask: What are the instructional needs of the next generation of learners, and how should the high school’s facilities be altered to meet those needs... .
..Administrators are planning to make recommendations to the Board in January regarding creating the committee.

(post updated December 17)