Opposition to District 15 $130 Million Referendum Keeps Adding Up

Trust is a hard thing to win back when it is lost. This is something that District 15 leadership, as it is today, will continue to fight against based on a track record over the last couple of years.

Today, it will be 79 days (and 83 total when we arrive at election day on November 8th) that the District 15 community has had to learn [in a backwards fashion], about the $130 million referendum that proposes to build two new schools. One of these schools would include a 1,200 child, 3-story elementary school on what is now Osage Park in Palatine (the only community park for northeast Palatine residents) and the second, a 1,200 child middle school on Palatine Road and Ela Road in Inverness.

The property where the mega, 1,200 child elementary school would be built is owned by the Park District. Osage Park would have to be purchased from the Park District by the School District. Funny thing, years ago, the School District sold this very property to the Park District under former Superintendent Frank C. Whiteley and former Palatine Park District Executive Director Fred Hall. Go ahead, look it up.

These two new schools would be built at the expense of closing the longest established neighborhood school in Palatine (Gray M. Sanborn) and converting Jane Addams into a loosely-planned STEM middle school; a proposition with no real concrete plans behind it. The State Board of Education doesn't require much when it comes to calling a school a STEM school (yet).

There is serious opposition that continues to build over what we call too large of an ask for a school district that continues to reap the negative effects of the non-inclusive atmosphere they have fostered...yes, no inclusion for the very people who live, work, raise families, build businesses, create jobs, own property and contribute every day to the value of this community.

These people....ALL of these people, deserve to be included in the process of reorganizing, and revamping our school district to ready for the future. These are the very people that will pay for it! These people were NOT included in the development of any plan around this referendum.

Please visit all the links below, and learn more about why so many are opposed to this referendum.

The Daily Herald encourages a NO vote in their editorial on October 19, 2016. Click here.

The Illinois Policy Institute warns voters about economic impacts and D15 closed-door dealing on October 28, 2016. Click here.

The Journal and Topics encourages a NO vote in their editorial on November 3, 2016. Click here.

Letters to the Editor:

1. Hard to Judge D15 Tax Request on Merit here.
2. D15 Board Doesn't Deserve Yes Vote on Referendum here.
3. Osage Park Not Right Place for New School here.
4. Cannot Trust Dist. 15 Board with $130 Million here.
5. Sign Thieves Steal First Amendment Rights here.
6. More Thought on School Building Plan Needed here.
7. Yes Vote is Giving District 15 a Blank Check here.
8. Dist. 15 Plan Creates Troubling Inequalities here.

A website called 4RD15Kids.org was created by and for District 15 stakeholders who want a better, stronger and smarter plan, that provides in-depth research and studies to ensure the price tag isn't too high, and what is being proposed would actually work. None of that has been done.

This website provides our residents with solid reasoning as to why the proposed $130 million referendum is an extremely poor choice that was rushed, and lacks all of the due diligence and community input that should be expected from any school district. It is important to note that other area school districts have done all of this and MORE leading up to even the proposal to put a question like this on the ballot.

We understand wholeheartedly that our community is evolving, and with those changes - we need to consider change very seriously. We the residents of District 15 deserve a plan that is solid, and respectful of how it will affect our entire community in the future.

That is NOT this plan, and because of that first and foremost, we strongly encourage you to VOTE NO. Please see the exact referendum question, which will be the very last question on your ballot, below:

Shall the Board of Education of Palatine Community Consolidated School District Number 15, Cook County, Illinois, build and equip two school buildings, acquire a site for one of said school buildings, improve the sites of both of said school buildings and issue bonds of said School District to the amount of $130,000,000 for the purpose of paying the costs thereof?