Dist. 118's plans don't make sense

Dist. 118's plans don't make sense

My children go to school in Wauconda District 118. This year, they have decided to revamp the school boundaries. The problem I and several other parents have with this is the bus situation.

I have an 8-year-old who is going into 3rd grade and because we are barely over one mile from the school, she cannot ride the bus. Instead she has to walk past the park, the high school, across Main Street (the second busiest street in town), past a busy gas station with no crossing guards.

According to the Illinois Sex Offender Information site there are four registered sex offenders within one mile of the school (10 within two miles). Superintendent Dr. Cole's answer for this problem is to pay an additional $300-plus per child to have the bus pick up my child.

We just recently approved a referendum for renovations to the schools, a new school and a new bus depot. Now my child cannot even use the buses. We will soon have our youngest starting school and they expect a 5-year-old kindergartner to walk over a mile to school.

Toward what, exactly, are our taxes going? We pay taxes, school fees, participate in fund raising throughout the school year -- for what?

Jennifer Lavigne

Wauconda

New aquatic center will be a boon

Hats off to the village of Hawthorn Woods for building such a wonderful Aquatic Center. Jeff Pathmann designed and built functional and attractive buildings for the Aquatic Center that will be a credit to all the surrounding communities for years to come.

Ann English

Lake Zurich

Park board behavior is unacceptable

It has come to my attention that volunteers at Renwood Golf Course in Round Lake Beach have been asked to pay for their golf. Although at a cheaper rate, these people who give up two to four days a week are now told that they will not receive their "pay" in free golf.

This shabby treatment of the volunteers at Renwood does not surprise me. Run by the Board of Commissioners of the Round Lake Park District, both the volunteers and employees of this golf course have never been treated fairly. This is due, in part, by some particular members of the board.

Some of these board members expect preferential treatment and if they don't get it, your job is on the line. They expect a worker to stop whatever he or she is doing and wait on them immediately. Their hostility and disdain to the people working at the counter or behind the bar is obvious.

I am an ex-employee of Renwood. I have borne the brunt of this board's extreme rudeness. One board member has gone so far as to scream at me and poke me in the chest, even pushing me backward a bit. I have many horror stories but will limit this. I just want the voters to know what is happening.

A few years ago, a woman who worked behind the bar waited on a golfer before she waited on a commissioner. They had come up to the counter simultaneously. She was ultimately fired and I was suspended for two weeks for "taking her side." This woman had worked there for over 20 years!

These are just a couple of examples of the humiliating treatment that occurs between the board of commissioners and employees and volunteers of Renwood Golf Course.

This is not the rambling of a fired and disgruntled employee. I decided a few years ago, and of my own volition, not to return to this golf course. But now, hearing that these wonderful and hard working volunteers have to pay for their golf, just rubbed me the wrong way. It's time the truth came out about this administration and the appalling way they deal with the employees, the volunteers, the leagues and the pass holders. It makes me wonder what goes on at the park district's other venues?

Come voting time, I implore the constituents of Round Lake to not put these people back on the board.

You need someone courteous but professional, with fresh ideas and a genuine and eager outlook. Someone whose interest is other than getting notoriety, power, and last but not least, free golf and other perks.

That's right; you can't tell me that they pay for their golf, yet elderly people volunteering their time are told to pay! I ask the voters to watch what this board is doing to your park district.

Keep an eye on them, attend their public meetings, and when the time comes, vote them out!

Beth Jeffers

Wildwood