On December 17, 2007, we published a post titled “A Culture Of Secrecy” in which we criticized local government secrecy which deprives the public of essential information about how the various branches of local government are being run.
Recently our friends over at the Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 Board of Education displayed their continuing allegiance to that Culture of Secrecy with their opaque process for filling the Board vacancy created by the resignation of Board member Russ Gentile.
The D-64 Board claims to have received 18 applications for the vacancy, although we have to take their word for it because we can’t find any identification of the 17 candidates who weren’t chosen, nor any publication of those candidates’ respective qualifications and other credentials – just in case any ordinary citizen might be interested in who is seeking appointment to one of the two local taxing bodies (along with H.S. Dist. 207) which take the biggest bites out of our bank accounts.
The ringleader of this latest stealth effort appears to have been Board President John Heyde, whose 3+ year career in the “Heyde Seat” of the D-64 Board (wife Christina occupied it from 2003 to 2007) has been characterized by keeping as many things over at D-64 under the radar as possible.
We previously highlighted Heyde’s playing coy, if not deceptive, with the identity of the new superintendent, and information about teacher and administrator pay raises, and why the test scores of D-64 students don’t seem to rise to the level of the money the District is spending.
In riding herd on this secretive process for picking Gentile’s replacement, Heyde – with what appears to be the able assistance of stealthy new Supt. Philip Bender (obviously, a fast learner) – made sure that the applications would be reviewed only in closed session [pdf]; and Board members Sharon Lawson and Genie Taddeo cooperated by making the closed session motion [pdf] “to discuss the selection of a person to fill the Board vacancy position” that was unanimously approved, naturally.
Why weren’t those discussions in open session, accessible to the press and the public? These candidates are being considered for a seat on the Board without even having to run for the position, so why should they get to escape all public scrutiny? What is there to hide?
As best as we can tell, even the interviews of those purported 18 candidates were held in closed session, away from the prying eyes of the pesky press and the public – although we haven’t heard whether or not the candidates were instructed to travel to and from the interviews in disguise.
Surprisingly, the appointment of 7-year resident, Washington School parent, and CenterPoint Properties’ CIO Scott Zimmerman to fill Gentile’s chair until this coming’s April elections was announced by press release [pdf] rather than by a puff of white smoke from the chimney of the ESC. That might be a signal the D-64 General Caucus wasn’t involved, although we wouldn’t bet the ranch on that given its historical dominance of D-64 elections.
The D-64 Board, with Heyde at the helm, once again has shown that it still believes it can pawn off these clandestine processes on a gullible public as “transparency.” And the public continues to prove them correct.
So welcome to D-64’s Culture of Secrecy, Mr. Zimmerman.
Assuming that’s really your name.