North Cook News

Paul Kelly is convinced the motto he’s come to live by consists of the principles the District 225 school board can use right now.

“Treat customers with respect, plan for an unpredictable future,” the Team Glenbrook 225 school board candidate posted on the group’s website. “These are two important principles I have lived by in my successful 22-year career in private sector business planning and budgeting. Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been the case for members of the Glenbrook High Schools District 225 school board.”

Kelly and his Team Glenbrook slate of Carol Schmidt, Bo Herbst and Mai Lin Noffke are out to change that.

By Kelly’s estimates, the last seven years have seen District 225 max out when it comes to the property tax levy they have sought, even as the board was amassing a cash reserve topping $80 million.

Even last year, he added, the board sought a record-high 4.6% increase and over the last seven years the average requested increase of 3.9% more than doubles the rate of inflation over that same period.

“Great schools require strong community investment,” Kelly added. “But asking for the maximum increase every year, regardless of need or circumstance, is an-all-too common practice among school boards.”

Concerned parent Glen Farkas insists he’s seen it all and has finally had enough.

“This past year has been an incredibly difficult one for everyone, but especially if you have children in any of our school districts,” he said in a statement. “Like so many citizens throughout Glenview and Northbrook, the TEAM Glenbrook 225 candidates were disappointed in the way the current District 225 school board handled the COVID pandemic. The absence of strategic planning in the early summer of 2020, as well as a severe lack of communication with parents and feckless negotiations with the teachers' union, led to a disastrous outcome for all high school students at GBN and GBS.”

Farkas argues the real victims were all the children.

“Students, especially the seniors, missed out on nearly a complete year of their education and saw many of their extracurricular activities canceled and/or minimized for the 2020-2021 school year,” he added. “Their social and emotional well-being was also compromised, and many students struggled under the weight of isolation and inferior remote learning.”

Farkas said it all adds up to him fully supporting Glenbrook District 225.

“If you don't have children, or your children have already graduated, it is still critically important that you vote in this election,” he added. “I have lived in this community for nearly 20 years and I have witnessed extreme growth in unaccountable spending along with a corresponding and compounding growth in my property tax bill.”