Board Member Should Resign After 'Mein Kampf' Comment: Letter

The following letter was written and submitted by Timothy State, a resident of Highland Park. The views expressed here are the writer's.

While I’m sure the leadership of North Shore School District 112 Board Member Jane Solmor-Mordini was at one time noble, her reference to “Mein Kampf” and her recent suggestion that community member Davis Schneiderman wrote itdemonstrate that she is no longer able to focus on the challenges our community or the District face.

As a community, we deserve more—and should demand more—from our leaders.

Solmor-Mordini’s verbal sparing with Schneiderman tarnish the entire Board and reflect poorly on Highland Park. Community work is meritorious. It is the boards and commissions in our community that weave together to make the fabric of our democracy. As a community volunteer for nearly 20 years in this community and others, I know first-hand the completely thankless nature of tackling the tasks at hand. I have compassion for the Board members who have received death threats—an insult to the hours they devote in good faith to better our community and make difficult, hard decisions.

But Solmor-Mordini, with reckless exchanges like hers with Schneiderman, has become a magnet for such attention and is undermining herself, the Board, and the process. Her apology is lackluster, formulaic at best, and disingenuous. The discourse she drives has no place in our community.

If she is a leader, she would accept responsibility for her words and gracefully resign. If not, the Board should take action to remove her in order to maintain their credibility. Her senseless comments distract the Board and she needs to go so that the Board and community can focus on what is truly important: the best way to provide education to the children of our community.

Timothy State