Quick decision

On Oct. 17, the Daily Herald published a letter to the editor by Dan Petro, High School District 214 board president and Bill Dussling, vice president, in which they asserted that the cancellation of the planned "fully flexible" in-person or remote learning choice "was debated and approved by the Board of Education at a public hearing on Aug. 13, 2020. Not in secret." I suspect this statement was a direct rejoinder to my objections to their decision, in the public comment portion of the Sept. 10 board meeting. Let's review:

On Wednesday, Aug. 5, Chicago Mayor Lightfoot announced that the Chicago Public Schools, which had planned for a rotational reopening, were switching to fully remote, despite acknowledging that there had been no "significant spread" in camp/day care settings, but following substantial union pressure.

That same day, District 214 held an early-morning special meeting, during which parents in attendance described a slickly-produced video and comments from superintendent David Schuler, Petro and other staff and board members that left them under the impression, until clarification late in the meeting, that change to remote was a "done deal."

The next week, on Aug. 13, in a follow-up board meeting, Schuler presented additional rationales for keeping schools closed, the school board asked further questions and a vote was taken: 6-1. Note that it would be a stretch to call the board's comments at this meeting a "debate": the board members, generally speaking, asked clarifying questions and expressed support for the plan.

This leads to one of two conclusions: either the board came to a consensus through individual discussions outside the meeting to support Schuler's plan or they simply have a long-established practice of approving any administration recommendations rather than exercising appropriate oversight as one would expect of a school board. Which is it?

Elizabeth Bauer

Arlington Heights