Collaboration preferred

On April 9, at the District 214 regular board meeting, other parents and I called for greater openness and transparency, beginning with livestreaming/recording board meetings. Afterward, in an interview quoted in the Daily Herald, Board President Petro said that livestreaming was done "for the last year" but had been deemed "cost-prohibitive" when previously discussed.

In point of fact, the board has made available on its website only two recordings, for its November and December meetings. When I personally requested that the January board meeting, which was conducted in a hybrid Zoom/in-person fashion, be likewise made available, I was told that they would only make available meetings when legally required to do so. We also know that the cost is trivial in the year 2021.

In addition, Petro claimed, "They don't know what they're talking about ... They're not paying any attention to what we're doing. ... I'm not sure how much more transparent we can get." That's quite the change from his promise, in an April 2 letter to the editor, to "increase communication" and "work collaboratively with all stakeholders," and board member Millie Palmer's statement in an article on April 8 that "the board can do better on transparency and providing background about decisions so parents and others 'will know they're being heard.'"

To take but a single example: In November, when the "adaptive pause" was implemented, barely a week after the board meeting affirming that there would not be, board members justified the lack of a vote because the decision was within Schuler's delegated power. In contrast, District 25 board members discussed this decision openly.

It unfortunately appears that, with the election over, advocate-parents at D214 Parents for Kids (d214parents.com) will be obliged to remain adversaries of rather than collaborators with the school board.

Elizabeth Bauer

Arlington Heights