Sorry but the “better late than never” approach here is total BS. These BOE members, especially those that have been around since Horton’s hire, are not taking anything seriously. They know that they’ve been caught —that’s all. Their arrogance and being drunk on power & feelings of superiority has run dry. Now they’re acting all innocent and asking tough questions?! Nope. Not accepting it. Sorry —they’re narcissists who are now worried about their own liability. They facilitated a fraud and possible theft. Co-conspirators all of them.
IMHO, there should be a very public campaign exposing them all for the fraudsters that they are and for the damage they’ve done. Evanstonians should be demanding their resignations/removal —all except for maybe the two most recently elected. We should be demanding a full investigation —top to bottom— of every BOE member and the administration team (both current and those here under Horton)….these people are ruining kids’ opportunities at learning, running people out of public school (& no, those leaving are not all “whyte supremacists”), destroying our school communities (see Bessie R —and the next 2-3 schools they’re going to close), and bankrupting our school district. For shame!
And yet, most likely, no one will do anything. In fact, my hunch is that if there were a vote tomorrow, most Evanstonians wouldn’t even show up and those that would, would vote these clowns back in again. What’s changed in this community to make wrong? Please —convince me otherwise. I desperately want to be wrong here. What a dumpster fire…and the worst part? This was almost all preventable.
If we don't have enough hand raisers to run for a spot to serve on the board, it's hard to see much changing. Do enough people with fresh perspectives want to step into such a role?
Those that run should make a full 360 audit of ALL district functions (including the BOE) & complete transparency with the public as to the findings and recommendations —a pillar of their campaign.
It is clear who is at fault: Joey Halipern, Biz Lindsay-Ryan, Soo La Kim, Sergio Hernandez, Donna Wang Su, Maya Wilkins, Marquise Weatherspoon, Anya Tanyavutti, and Tracy Olasimbo. All of these people were/are board members who failed in their oversight of the administration.
I will also throw a second tier of responsible folks: Candance Chow, Suni Kartha, Rebecca Mendoza. All of these people endorsed both the non-public process that hired Horton--including clear lies when they told the public Horton requested anonymity during the search--AND they voted for Horton for superintendent. It was clear from his resume and the public record that he was patently unqualified for the position.
The only thing more nauseating than their abdication as board members is the effort at the moment to blame someone other than themselves.
These financial problems were anticipated by people like Tom and the peanut gallery commentors at the Evanston RoundTable and Evanston Now. Had people like Joey, Sergio, Biz, et . al, checked their contempt for the public and asked basic questions we wouldn't be in this mess.
Is anyone else getting annoyed that the board members are playing the innocent card and Grossi is agreeing with them? The FB army is basically saying "oh the poor board members didn't know, it's the administration's fault". They are still defending this nonsense. I thought the FB army loved Horton and team and called anyone a racist who didn't. If something is too good to be true (like the lease certificates) then it is. It was the board's job to ask. Why is everyone letting them off the hook? Since the board is so in love Horton and are dying to know how and why the transportation numbers were inflated, why don't they call him up? We all know Horton and the CFO fudged the numbers to pad their resumes. How do they not see this?
To Tom's point earlier, I also know so many parents with kids in the district that have NO idea what is going on that they would vote for a referendum in a minute. I think some of it is ignorance is bliss and they don't have the means for private school so they don't want to know. It's just so sad all around.
I think the political science people call this realpolitik, which is also how I kind of view things like this. Which is, let's start from where we are at and see if we can move the goalposts a little bit towards a better situation. I think that was accomplished yesterday. If everyone knows there is real accountability across the board, we can drive change within a complex system one thing at a time. If we can all get to the same page of "D65 has been broken for a long time and was very broken under Dr. Horton", I think that's a major win.
I guess so but the board is still accountable for this mess too despite them being fed false numbers. They never wanted to listen to the community when they questioned the financing. I do agree that we finally seem to be trying to untangle the mess.
The only reason we are untangling this mess is we don’t have any reserve funds left and government is not sending grant funds like Covid funds . At this point it’s simple revenue need to match expenses. That said I would guess they are going to beg for money from taxpayers next time we have school board elections.
I'd argue that they don't have a choice and need to go to the taxpayers in 2025. First they need to prove they're getting things under control and have a plan
How does a referendum impact voter turnout? If a lot of people are frustrated and unconvinced the board can be trusted to responsibly do their job, would more people show up to vote in opposition? Wouldn't that also potentially impact the actual election for open BOE seats too?
Time to bring Lori L up to kick some ass in E-town….the biggest victims in all this will be those families that cannot afford other options than a failing D65.
"Board member Joseph Hailpern asked what the board might have missed in the auditing process, but Grossi said auditors likely wouldn’t have caught the issues since they generally make “generalizations” about the budget and don’t look at the whole thing." Not true. They perform a very detailed audit and provide the state and the district with findings regarding any issues. The board should ask the district's regular auditors (not just Mr. Grossi) about how revenues and expenditures have been reported.
I’ve been confused about who actually audits D65 - doing some research on this. The Board members mention that Baker Tilly audits the District, but I’ve never seen an audit report. I know the ISBE does some audits too and I’ve poked around a bit and found their audits to be basically not an audit in the financial sense.
Does anyone know if Horton is related to Tiffany Henyard? Just asking’. I hope that as news of this financial malfeasance continues to roll out, no one is soft on the Board. The Board SOLE PURPOSE is to approve budgets and hire superintendents. They should have been demanding figures in real time and paying attention. They have a right to literally look at the books- not just at some report printed out for them. Blame ultimately lies with them for making decisions without community input. The buck stops in that room at JEH. If you know people that don’t know what’s going on, it’s up to you (and you, and you, and me, too) to elucidate. Keep up commenting on RT and EN. Write opinion pieces, make it a group one and get friends to co-sign. And for the love of Pete- VOTE.
I am quite pleased to see how seriously the board seems to be taking this, even though they'll never acknowledge they happily accepted the miracle funding plan without asking questions.
That said, it's a bit silly to ask the financial advisor his opinion on whether laws were broken. Presumably they can ask their attorney that behind closed doors
It seemed like they were alluding to consulting the d65 counsel a sa next step, they just shielded it within closed session since it potentially deals with specific personnel.
Not just the state prosecutor. The federal prosecutors and the FBI. If financing was obtained through deliberately false statements, there are likely federal crimes involved.
A much smarter friend of mine noticed that Dr. Grossi’s bio includes financial work when there are state takeovers of districts. Do you have any knowledge on when this happens in a district? In this instance, particularly as it relates to financial impropriety? Is a state takeover something that we could be looking at in D65?
Tom has anyone got news on the new teacher contract. Are they close to deal cause school basically has started without the contract in place. I’m guessing it’s going make the budget even worse.
I don't think they could do that even if they wanted to, there's no such financial instrument that I'm aware of that is available to D65 like that. They would've already tapped it if it did exist.
Sorry but the “better late than never” approach here is total BS. These BOE members, especially those that have been around since Horton’s hire, are not taking anything seriously. They know that they’ve been caught —that’s all. Their arrogance and being drunk on power & feelings of superiority has run dry. Now they’re acting all innocent and asking tough questions?! Nope. Not accepting it. Sorry —they’re narcissists who are now worried about their own liability. They facilitated a fraud and possible theft. Co-conspirators all of them.
IMHO, there should be a very public campaign exposing them all for the fraudsters that they are and for the damage they’ve done. Evanstonians should be demanding their resignations/removal —all except for maybe the two most recently elected. We should be demanding a full investigation —top to bottom— of every BOE member and the administration team (both current and those here under Horton)….these people are ruining kids’ opportunities at learning, running people out of public school (& no, those leaving are not all “whyte supremacists”), destroying our school communities (see Bessie R —and the next 2-3 schools they’re going to close), and bankrupting our school district. For shame!
And yet, most likely, no one will do anything. In fact, my hunch is that if there were a vote tomorrow, most Evanstonians wouldn’t even show up and those that would, would vote these clowns back in again. What’s changed in this community to make wrong? Please —convince me otherwise. I desperately want to be wrong here. What a dumpster fire…and the worst part? This was almost all preventable.
SPOT ON!
100%. They were complicit and shut down all opposing views or those that questioned them.
If we don't have enough hand raisers to run for a spot to serve on the board, it's hard to see much changing. Do enough people with fresh perspectives want to step into such a role?
On the positive side, I get the sense there will be enough candidates
Those that run should make a full 360 audit of ALL district functions (including the BOE) & complete transparency with the public as to the findings and recommendations —a pillar of their campaign.
It’s pretty wild that a small number of people can essentially bankrupt an entire school district in five years.
It is clear who is at fault: Joey Halipern, Biz Lindsay-Ryan, Soo La Kim, Sergio Hernandez, Donna Wang Su, Maya Wilkins, Marquise Weatherspoon, Anya Tanyavutti, and Tracy Olasimbo. All of these people were/are board members who failed in their oversight of the administration.
I will also throw a second tier of responsible folks: Candance Chow, Suni Kartha, Rebecca Mendoza. All of these people endorsed both the non-public process that hired Horton--including clear lies when they told the public Horton requested anonymity during the search--AND they voted for Horton for superintendent. It was clear from his resume and the public record that he was patently unqualified for the position.
The only thing more nauseating than their abdication as board members is the effort at the moment to blame someone other than themselves.
These financial problems were anticipated by people like Tom and the peanut gallery commentors at the Evanston RoundTable and Evanston Now. Had people like Joey, Sergio, Biz, et . al, checked their contempt for the public and asked basic questions we wouldn't be in this mess.
Is anyone else getting annoyed that the board members are playing the innocent card and Grossi is agreeing with them? The FB army is basically saying "oh the poor board members didn't know, it's the administration's fault". They are still defending this nonsense. I thought the FB army loved Horton and team and called anyone a racist who didn't. If something is too good to be true (like the lease certificates) then it is. It was the board's job to ask. Why is everyone letting them off the hook? Since the board is so in love Horton and are dying to know how and why the transportation numbers were inflated, why don't they call him up? We all know Horton and the CFO fudged the numbers to pad their resumes. How do they not see this?
To Tom's point earlier, I also know so many parents with kids in the district that have NO idea what is going on that they would vote for a referendum in a minute. I think some of it is ignorance is bliss and they don't have the means for private school so they don't want to know. It's just so sad all around.
I think the political science people call this realpolitik, which is also how I kind of view things like this. Which is, let's start from where we are at and see if we can move the goalposts a little bit towards a better situation. I think that was accomplished yesterday. If everyone knows there is real accountability across the board, we can drive change within a complex system one thing at a time. If we can all get to the same page of "D65 has been broken for a long time and was very broken under Dr. Horton", I think that's a major win.
I guess so but the board is still accountable for this mess too despite them being fed false numbers. They never wanted to listen to the community when they questioned the financing. I do agree that we finally seem to be trying to untangle the mess.
Baby steps...
Nobody likes to hear this (myself included) but except in cases of extreme misbehavior, the accountability comes in the ballot box.
The only reason we are untangling this mess is we don’t have any reserve funds left and government is not sending grant funds like Covid funds . At this point it’s simple revenue need to match expenses. That said I would guess they are going to beg for money from taxpayers next time we have school board elections.
I'd argue that they don't have a choice and need to go to the taxpayers in 2025. First they need to prove they're getting things under control and have a plan
How does a referendum impact voter turnout? If a lot of people are frustrated and unconvinced the board can be trusted to responsibly do their job, would more people show up to vote in opposition? Wouldn't that also potentially impact the actual election for open BOE seats too?
Time to bring Lori L up to kick some ass in E-town….the biggest victims in all this will be those families that cannot afford other options than a failing D65.
"Board member Joseph Hailpern asked what the board might have missed in the auditing process, but Grossi said auditors likely wouldn’t have caught the issues since they generally make “generalizations” about the budget and don’t look at the whole thing." Not true. They perform a very detailed audit and provide the state and the district with findings regarding any issues. The board should ask the district's regular auditors (not just Mr. Grossi) about how revenues and expenditures have been reported.
I wonder why the board has not asked the regular auditors these questions? Very confused.
I’ve been confused about who actually audits D65 - doing some research on this. The Board members mention that Baker Tilly audits the District, but I’ve never seen an audit report. I know the ISBE does some audits too and I’ve poked around a bit and found their audits to be basically not an audit in the financial sense.
Does anyone know if Horton is related to Tiffany Henyard? Just asking’. I hope that as news of this financial malfeasance continues to roll out, no one is soft on the Board. The Board SOLE PURPOSE is to approve budgets and hire superintendents. They should have been demanding figures in real time and paying attention. They have a right to literally look at the books- not just at some report printed out for them. Blame ultimately lies with them for making decisions without community input. The buck stops in that room at JEH. If you know people that don’t know what’s going on, it’s up to you (and you, and you, and me, too) to elucidate. Keep up commenting on RT and EN. Write opinion pieces, make it a group one and get friends to co-sign. And for the love of Pete- VOTE.
Yup - agree. Good example is the fight between Henyard and the Board down in Dolton - they had to bring in Lori Lightfoot to kick some ass
Ah yes here we go with the Great Bus Savings. It was an honest mistake! We literallly thought we were saving one billion dollars.
Stay tuned on the bus savings thing, I'm trying to write a damn article on this but other things keep popping up!!
I am quite pleased to see how seriously the board seems to be taking this, even though they'll never acknowledge they happily accepted the miracle funding plan without asking questions.
That said, it's a bit silly to ask the financial advisor his opinion on whether laws were broken. Presumably they can ask their attorney that behind closed doors
It's better late than never!!
Totally disagree. They are covering their asses nothing more.
It seemed like they were alluding to consulting the d65 counsel a sa next step, they just shielded it within closed session since it potentially deals with specific personnel.
Not just the state prosecutor. The federal prosecutors and the FBI. If financing was obtained through deliberately false statements, there are likely federal crimes involved.
A much smarter friend of mine noticed that Dr. Grossi’s bio includes financial work when there are state takeovers of districts. Do you have any knowledge on when this happens in a district? In this instance, particularly as it relates to financial impropriety? Is a state takeover something that we could be looking at in D65?
As someone who lived in Detroit during that state takeover, I can say we are nowhere close because D65 still has big (and increasing) revenue
Tom has anyone got news on the new teacher contract. Are they close to deal cause school basically has started without the contract in place. I’m guessing it’s going make the budget even worse.
I have heard nothing!
Sergio said everything was going great at the June meeting! Guess not.
It will soon be time for D65 to follow Chicago’s lead and take out a fat ‘Payday Loan’ to meet teacher union demands….
I don't think they could do that even if they wanted to, there's no such financial instrument that I'm aware of that is available to D65 like that. They would've already tapped it if it did exist.
Thank you for that context.
Let’s hope so. Otherwise we’re going to go even further into an abyss.