Letters to the editors - Tri-Cities

A Ray of hope on St. Charles board

After attending several past school board meetings, I concluded that several school board members wanted to dominate, control in secret, and hush up other members.

Board member Karla Ray saw how the board was operating and spoke out about it, stating that the board needed to be more open. She was admonished by the board and threatened with sanctions, and had to refrain from further disclosures.

By the way, Karla was not on the board when the board secretly and unlawfully gave a lucrative contract extension to the previous school superintendent.

Recently, Karla was able to point out to an Illinois Association of School Boards representative, Dawn Miller, that school board President Kathy Hewell was orchestrating majority votes behind the scenes. Dawn Miller advised Hewell to stop making weekly phone calls to individual board members. Karla also tried to have the board get additional training about the Illinois Open Meetings Act.

It's rare to have a person willing to stand up for their beliefs. Many people just want to go along to get along. Karla is one of the few local people I respect for being willing to fight for citizens.

Gene Kalley

St. Charles