Grayslake D46 candidates discuss personal blogging, other online forums
Grayslake Elementary District 46 board candidates have mixed opinions on whether it would be appropriate to operate a personal blog or another online forum offering information to residents.
All five candidates provided their views about communication tools separate from District 46 during recent Daily Herald editorial board endorsement interviews. The five candidates are seeking three, 4-year seats in the April 5 election.
Candidate Shannon Smigielski’s involvement in a Yahoo! group targeted for District 46 parents led to the communications question. The message board posts news stories and allows for commentary on district issues.
Smigielski, a school bus driver from Hainesville making her first run at elected office, said she would engage the community enough as a board member about district issues without needing to host an online discussion.
At least 185 parents are registered with the District 46 group, Smigielski said. She added she hasn’t been the forum’s sole operator.
“I don’t plan on posting if I become a board member,” she said. “I think that is a conflict of interest.” Susan Facklam, one of two incumbents in the race, said she has no plans to start a blog or other private communications as a board member. Facklam, an on-hiatus registered nurse from Grayslake, has been on District 46’s board since 2003.
“I also believe when someone asks you about (a vote), you really should not use the pronoun ‘I.’ It should be, ‘This is what the board’s decision was,’” Facklam said.
Candidate Kip Evans complimented Smigielski for starting the online parents group, but said it would not be for him.
“I think it would behoove anyone on the school board to speak their mind at the meeting, but at the end, when a vote is taken, the vote is taken and it is accepted by all,” said Evans, a retired teacher from Grayslake running in his first election.
Another first-time political candidate, Marchell Norris of Round Lake, had a different take than Evans. The private business owner and Evans are supporting each other in the election. “Having a blog does not mean it has to be contradictory to everybody making sure that it’s communicated that this is how the board decided to move forward,” Norris said. “And it doesn’t mean it has to be that because you’re now on the board, the only way that you can speak is through a district-sanctioned community website that the superintendent signed and said, ‘OK, you can go tell somebody now that I’ve reviewed your notes.’”
District 46 board President Mary Garcia of Grayslake said many school systems have blogs. Garcia, a teacher at Northbrook/Glenview Elementary District 30, said she and District 46 Superintendent Ellen Correll have discussed starting a joint blog.
Garcia, elected in 2007, said blogging was a topic at a recent school technology conference she attended. “If we were to do that, (District 46) would be the site we would go through,” Garcia said.
Last month, Garcia was at odds with Smigielski, Norris and Evans after she voiced concern her three opponents have received support from tea party members who typically are conservative and criticize spiraling taxes.
Garcia said partisan politics don’t belong in a school board election. Norris, Evans and Smigielski denied Garcia’s claim.
In turn, the challengers raised questions about Garcia’s roles as a school board member and teachers union local president at District 30.