Ives' unhelpful tweets getting in the way

I commend State Senator Michael Connelly and State Representative Grant Wehrli for holding a recent Town Hall meeting in Lisle to address SB1 and Illinois school funding.

However, there was a huge distraction that prevented the meeting from being more productive. That distraction was the presence of State Representative Jeanne Ives. Rep. Ives has been under fire for recent tweets where she called teachers "the most uncourageous group around" and told them "you are the problem."

On top of that, she recently shared an op-ed from a controversial publication to her Facebook page, which likened teachers who support their LGBT students as "dirty old men in trench coats lying in wait to expose children to sordid things."

Just as we are seeing on the federal level, an elected official's irresponsible tweets are getting in the way of solving major problems. I do not understand why Sen. Connelly and Rep. Wehrli would choose to align themselves politically with Rep. Ives. How can we expect our children show respect to their teachers, when our elected officials cannot do the same? I encourage Sen. Connelly and Rep. Wehrli to refrain from holding future town halls with Rep. Ives.

Sara Kurganov

Lisle