Mayor Rotering’s Silence And Poor Picks For School Board: Letter

Written and submitted by Aaron Wolff.

Dear Editor:

With all due respect to Mayor Rotering, whom I have strongly supported in the past, I cannot abide by her recommendation or support for two men for the Board of School District 112.

When the School Board threw the City’s residents into the terror of the prospect of a $198,000,000 referendum or closing three or four schools & busing children all over town, I and others asked and begged, Mayor Rotering to speak out and oppose the School Board’s proposals. I also spoke up at a City Council meeting with many others who opposed the Board’s proposals and I stated that the school closings would adversely affect real estate values in the City. Unfortunately, I was right:

Between Oct. 2014-Dec. 2014 and Oct.-Dec. 2015, a Table in the Chicago Tribune on January 12, 2017, §5, p. 8 shows that Highland Park’s median price of real estate closings dropped from $499,000 to $467,500 or 6%. In the same period, Deerfield’s median price of real estate closings increased from $427,500 to $443,000 or an increase of 3.6%. In the same period, Lake Forest’s median price of real estate closings increased from $755,000 to 796,000 or 5.4%.

A similar Table in the Chicago Tribune on February 16, 2017, §5, p. 8 for the period between Nov. 2014-Jan. 2015 and Nov. 2015-Jan. 2016 shows that Highland Park’s median price of real estate closings dropped from $513,750 to $475,000 or 7.5%. In the same period, Deerfield’s median price dropped from $401,500 to $363,000 or 9.5% but Lake Forest’s median price rose from $635,500 to $734,500 or 15.5%.

There can be no doubt that the School Board proposals during these relevant time periods had a serious adverse effect on property values due to the tumult they created. Home seekers and current residents still want their children to be able to walk to grade schools.

Although Mayor Rotering was asked by myself and many others to speak out against the School Board’s ill-conceived proposals, she never did so. Worse yet, she has now endorsed [or seems to favor] for the School Board two men, Dan Jenks and Bennett Lasko who supported the $198,000,000 referendum. In fact, both men publicly claimed to the community there was no other option -- Jenks in a Daily North Shore editorial and Lasko in public debates at Sol El and elsewhere. I don’t know if the Mayor endorsed or indicated support for Jane Mordini, an incumbent School Board member seeking re-election, a position to which she should certainly be denied for having voted for the referendum, school closings and busing.

I urge District 112 residents to consider and vote to fill the four open seats on the School Board with Alex Brunk, Julie Campbell, Lisa Hirsh and Brent Ross who have been endorsed by CARE. They live in different areas of the City. They opposed the referendum and unnecessary school closings and will oppose any Board effort to go there again.

Very Truly Yours,

Aaron S. Wolff