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Does partisanship exist in race for U-46 seats?


By Seth Hancock
  The definition of partisan is “a strong supporter of a party, cause, or person.”
  In the April 4 election for three open board seats in School District U-46 that’s supporting incumbents Veronica Noland (Elgin) and Donna Smith (Hanover Park) as well as challenger Melissa Owens (Bartlett) is proclaiming itself above partisanship claiming “there is no right or left in education, only forwards and backwards.”
  Enoch Essendrop, a challenger in the race from Elgin, said that’s clearly not the case at the final candidate forum on Wednesday, March 22 in Bartlett. He’s running on a platform of reform along with incumbent Cody Holt (Elgin).
  “There are certain groups here and around the district that would claim that there can be no right and left in education, but there is,” Essendrop said. “And there’s a definite ideological divide, and there are those who would like to take this district in a far leftist route. They want to raise the debt, and they in fact want to raise your tax levy.”
  Essendrop added: “I promise to freeze your taxes. Our taxpayers are already overburdened and they need to be helped. They’re leaving our state at an alarming rate. We had 120,000 people leave our state, and that number will only go up. It will only keep increasing, and a large part of our property taxes goes towards funding our district, and we need to reform that.”
  Noland, Owens and Smith have all been “strong supporters” of public sector unions, the district’s response to allowing students with gender identity issues to access the bathrooms/locker rooms of the opposite sex without any public input and so-called “equitable funding” from the state and while claiming they’re above partisanship.
  Throughout the campaign Noland has claimed to support “civil decision making” while at the same time misrepresenting colleagues positions as well as personally attacking them.
  That appears to have seeped over to supporters as one questioner at the forum implied that Essendrop and Holt made untoward statements about transgender students during the controversy. Noland as well as others in the current board majority along with CEO Tony Sanders have personally attacked critics and dismissed their concerns while supporters of the decision also complained that a Christian world view was even being expressed.
  “I don’t think I’ve said anything about these students,” Holt said. “I do believe that we should be compassionate to all of our children and we should protect all of their rights and privacy and wellbeing. And quite frankly, we can be compassionate on both sides of the issue.”
  “I think everybody should be very civil when we discuss the issues, and there were some comments at the board meetings that I disagreed with and I didn’t think were civil,” Holt added.
  “All students need to be protected. Their privacy and wellbeing are important, and I have not made any statements regarding any students in particular,” said Essendrop who added: “I don’t understand being held responsible for statements I did not make.”
  On the way the decision was made, Sanders making the change behind closed doors with no public input, all three of the union-backed candidates were in full support. Owens said “I’m comfortable with the process,” Smith that the guidelines “were very well thought out” and Noland “it happened appropriately.”
  While the current board majority has refused to budge, Holt has joined board member Jeanette Ward in seeking a compromise which the majority has refused to debate.
  “I do think there’s a compassionate way to move forward with commonsense student privacy guidelines that will allow the use of facilities of their biological sex, and then we provide reasonable accommodations to nurses offices or staff bathrooms” for students with gender identity issues said Holt who added possible future lawsuits or complaints will likely force a change in practice.
  Essendrop said there are “pages and pages” of policies “yet for some reason this is a guideline rather than a policy. The problem that occurred in the fall had to do with dishonesty. It had to do with underhandedness. The backlash that came was a result of the lack of transparency. The district taxpayers were upset because they were not informed of the change because there was no change in policy, it was a change in a guideline. So the people of U-46, and the parents and the students of U-46, were not informed of the change, and that is where the backlash came from.”
  The questioner who raised the issue asked how they would protect LGBTQ students, and Essendrop said: “They don’t seem to be unprotected now. They’re not complaining at this point. They’re treated very well, they have clubs and they’re heard.”
  Essendrop added: “You know what I wouldn’t do, I wouldn’t try to silence them. People sitting up here (Noland and Smith) voted to change public comment restricting public comment because they didn’t want to hear from them. In fact one member up here said they were tired of hearing from them.”
  A student accused the compromise by Ward and Holt as being segregation.
  “This isn’t about segregation,” Holt said. “This is about common sense, biology and student privacy. These students, once you place someone in a restroom or facility of the opposite sex, it violates the student’s privacy. That’s plain and simple.”
  Holt added: “It’s not about segregation or, I know I heard another candidate say it’s like separate water fountains (at a previous forum), it’s not even that. Its privacy and biology. There are only two genders.”
  During opening statements Owens said she’s running because of a “firm belief in the value of public education” and she wants “to continue to leverage those resources that we have in the wider community.”
  Smith, whose been on the board since 2001, said she’s qualified and has received training from the Illinois Association of School Boards, and Noland said U-46 is “a major employer in our community” and the unions need to be protected as she claimed unions are the reason for a 40-hour work week.     
  Essendrop laid out his guiding principles of “academic freedom, transparency, diversity of thought, fiscal responsibility, critical thinking and we need to make return on investment a priority.”
  Holt said “we need to lower the property tax burden on district residents,” there’s a need for government reform “making sure that our district is open, accessible, accountable and transparent” and “we should embrace school choice and charter schools as a route to spurring innovation and competition” as well as “create more efficiencies within our budget to put more money back into the classroom and limit the ever growing tax burden.”

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