Former Educator Rips District 227 School Board Meeting: Letters to the Editor

Chicago Heights Patch is accepting letters to the editor, which will be posted on the site as received.

The following letter was submitted to Patch by Olympia Fields resident Helen Burleson with a background in education.

Burleson, who served on Flossmoor Board of Education from 1972 to 1981 and the Illinois State Board of Education from 1981 to 1983, attended the June 21 Rich High School District 227 Board meeting.

In the letter, Burleson expresses her opinion of how the meeting was conducted. Her opinion does not reflect that of Chicago Heights Patch.

If you're interesting in submitting a letter, send an e-mail to christopher.paicely@patch.com.

Fascism Reigns Supreme at Rich High School District 227 Board Meetings

On Tuesday, June 21, 2011 I attended the District 227 Board meeting, which was run like a fascist concentration camp. The hierarchy of the board rule and control with an iron fist allowing only to be said what they want to hear. If it pleases them, it’s fine. If it displeases them the president gavels you to an instant halt not even allowing one to finish a sentence.

The rudeness, the arrogance, the disrespect and disdain that is shown (to) members of the community are intolerable.

New board members don’t seem to be given time to review proposals that were discussed before they came on board.  A new member asked that a very important expenditure be tabled until the new members could review the plans, the bids, and the decisions that had been made. To any reasonable person, such a parliamentary movement would have been granted; but not this board that runs rough shod over the newer members and the community.

There is nothing democratic about this manipulation and domineering fiasco.

Most boards allow visitors to have input at least twice during a meeting. Unless one comes with preconceived statements, they have no voice. Intelligence would take into consideration that there are things discussed during the meeting that one might want to respond to for clarification or edification. No, not in the fascist regime of this dysfunctional school board is there any opportunity for tax payers to exercise their right to know. This is taxation without representation in the extreme sense of the phrase.

Attendance at the meetings is sparse. The hostility and mean-spirited tone of the meetings do not provide a welcoming partnership between school and community.

As in everything in nature, there is a day of reckoning.

-Helen Burleson