Editorial: School board disruption shows consequences of indifference to local elections

That Liz Biondi is unsuited to serving on a school board should have been evident even before she made her ridiculous comments regarding, among all the many qualifications one might demand of a school superintendent, the one irrelevant condition she couldn't countenance, the possibility the person might be gay.

That she should resign, having now made her inadequacy undeniably obvious, almost goes without saying. But the embarrassment she brings - and not for the first time - to the Warren Township High School District 121 school board in Gurnee is also a cautionary tale.

And a timely one, with the campaign season launching for municipal and school board positions.

Biondi was elected to a four-year term in April 2013 by 31 write-in votes in an election in which no candidate appeared to seek a vacant board seat. Thirty-one. In a district that encompasses some 36,000 households.

What does that say? That it can be too easy to get elected to a school board? That school board jobs are too unpleasant to attract enough qualified candidates? That Dist. 121 has operated so effectively that the community became complacent about its leadership?

Perhaps there's a "yes" in there somewhere to all these questions, but the primary lesson is in the importance of every school board position, and really every elected local-government position. With municipal and school board elections coming this spring, the Biondi disruption emphasizes how important it is for good, interested candidates to step up for leadership positions and for voters to give careful consideration to whom they will elect.

Voters in Warren Township High School District 121 cast nearly 11,000 votes for school board in April 2013, giving each of three candidates about 3,600 votes. But a fourth seat was also available and no one sought it. So, with more than 100 times fewer votes than the other candidates, Biondi made it to the board with her 31 write-ins.

Almost from the beginning, she has demonstrated questionable fitness for the job. Only four months into her tenure, she was part of a contentious board meeting in which her husband had to be escorted out by police. A few months after that, she joined fellow freshman trustee Catherine Campbell in refusing iPads used by all board members, making communication and interaction on the board more difficult. In February, after nearly a year of turbulent interactions with other board members, she made the outrageous claim that her telephone was being tapped. While she has apologized for expressing the offensive hope the district's next superintendent is not gay, it's still disturbing she did not know better than to advocate a condition of hiring that could break laws against discrimination.

Now, she has more than two more years to represent Dist. 121 residents. Would those residents have elected her if they'd known her true potential or if they'd had a more-reasonable alternative?

That, of course, is impossible to say. But it does stand as a warning to residents throughout the suburbs this spring. Pay attention to local elections. Offer to serve if you can, but by all means learn the candidates and vote.

The consequences of failure, as the Biondi case shows, are disruptive and costly.