School Board Bits: Resident Tells Board Members to Stop Acting Like Children; Students Recognized

At a relatively quiet District 122 school board meeting Wednesday, one resident tried to make a loud statement by chewing out administrators and board members for their conduct and people who ran anonymous smear campaigns during the election earlier this month.

Resident Denise Swider spoke for at least five minutes during the board's public comment portion and chided board members for perceived in-fighting.

"The actions of board members have mirrored that of children," she said. "This takes away from the task at hand: caring for the children"

She said to stop approving salary increases and accused the board of not being fiscally responsible. She also said she thought there have been no concessions on the part of the administration, and that she'll be monitoring the school district much more closely now. Swider also scolded people who played dirty politics during the election, mentioning mailings that lied about candidates and offensive, inappropriate comments made on a local gossip website.

Superintendent Mike Sass later disputed some of the numbers Swider used in reference to his salary and pension, though he didn't say what it was. He offered to meet with Swider to go over what he said was "not accurate at all."

Additionally, resident Phil Adair, who recently lost in the school board election, said that board meetings should have more of a dialouge and more public input, but he didn't feel there were adequate resources available to the public to speak on certain issues. More from the meeting:

Martino Students, Principal Honored

Martino Principal Bonnie Groen was applauded during the board meeting for earning her doctorate earlier that day, and two of her students at Martino were also recognized for their accomplishments.

Katie Ervin was recognized for being an advocate for diabetes research and speaking to Congress and her senators about the importance of funding that research. Andrew Robbins was honored for being one of just 30 students in the state selected for the Illinois Elementary School Association's Scholar Attitude Award.

Liberty/Martino Graduation Dates

Sass told the board the dates for upcoming graduations for eighth-grade students at Martion and Liberty junior high schools. The Liberty graduation is at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 26, at Lincoln-Way West High School, and the Martino graduation is the same time and place on Friday, May 27.

Insurance Renewal

The board was presented with the district's property and casualty insurance renewal. Assurance Agency Ltd. marketed the insurance needs of the district to three vendors and the district chose Indiana Insurance, which offered an annual premium of about $119,000 and increased the total insured value by almost $3 million.