Editorial: Threats, name-calling against school board members must stop

The resignation of a St. Charles Unit District 303 school board member early this year prompted a colleague to speak out about the harsh treatment board members have endured from the community.

Carolyn Waibel even warned of potential future departures because of the hate directed at school boards during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We didn't take an oath to be harassed in our homes, to be emailed 12 times in two hours, to be called names, to be hung up on," Waibel said.

Back in January, the board was grappling with remote vs. in-person learning. Flash forward several months, and the harassment continues - this time over whether kids should mask up in class.

Heated discussions, including one that led to a hallway fight, dogged school board meetings all summer. And the vitriol isn't ending with a meeting's adjournment.

While their members serve without pay, there's been plenty of ugly payback for suburban school boards over the past year. And it has to stop.

Part of the problem arose from a delayed response from the state, meaning districts had to set their own masking policies before Gov. J.B. Pritzker imposed a mandate for schools earlier this month. As districts debated mask policies, they had to weigh individual preferences against the larger health picture.

Parents on both sides of the debate spoke up - and rightly so. But some went too far.

In a recent letter to the editor published in the Daily Herald, District 211 board member Kimberly Cavill, a sex education teacher by profession, gave a terrifying glimpse into the kind of responses she's received over controversial issues.

"Though I certainly anticipated heated disagreement on issues coming before me as a board member," she wrote, "I did not anticipate getting Facebook messages telling me to kill myself. I did not anticipate emails littered with curse words and hateful slurs. I did not anticipate people posting satellite images of my home on social media alongside dangerous, evidence-free accusations too disgusting to summarize. I did not anticipate people who find my work so reprehensible that they twist it into something monstrous and publicly slander my character."

Ultimately, character assassination can have a chilling effect on suburbanites' willingness to serve. We urge conscientious board members to stand strong. We need our schools guided by those who care, those who are willing to hear both sides, those who stand up for what they believe.

It was hard enough to find interested, qualified candidates to run for these positions in the past; imagine what it will be like going forward.

Our public servants deserve better. And so do our children.