201 candidates

[Shelley]

It is up to me to save the "snow removal" thread.  Bonster raises some good points about not knowing much about some of the candidates.  Get googling folks!  Make some calls.  Find some info.  Pick a name and post what you know/find out.  Here they are:

4-year seat:

   Mark Titzer (Java)
   Pat Fortunato
   Margaret Kelly
   Ed Rios
   Tom McClain
   Eulalia Ortiz
   Derek Dominick
   Jeffrey Pesek
   Michael Iniquez

2-year seat:

   Ted Korbos
   Angelica Guerrero
   Jessica Jaramillo-Flores

[P-PANTHER a/k/a La Pantera]

Go Ted go!!!!!!

[Bonster]

Go Ted go!!!!!!

Panther-
...to the tune of "Go Cubs Go," by Steve Goodman, no less! 

[P-PANTHER a/k/a La Pantera]

...hey Chicago, whadda ya say, the Cubs are gonna win today!!!!

LOL!!!

[Ted]

  OK Bonster,  here is what I know about the candidates:

District 201 situation - The school population of District 201 has almost doubled from what it was in the late 1980s and early 1990s.  It has gone from being a largely white population to a largely Hispanic popuation. In the past 5 years, District 201 has built two new school buildings in Cicero - the Freshman Center and the Alternative School. 

A) FInancial -

   The District has run up a long term debt of $186 million dollars that will not be paid off until the year 2024.  That is the maximum amount of debt the school district can incur, based on state law.

  In addition, the district has incurred large deficits over the past 5 years (including deficits of $27 million dollars and $14 million dollars on budgets with revenue less than $70 million dollars)  Most of these deficits were due to two things - the building of the Freshman Center and the hiring of new teachers and other employees to handle the burgeoning school age population. 

  The current expectations are that the district will continue to incur a deficit of $7 million dollars in the near futur and the district has asked residents to pass a tax rate increase referendum that will bring in an additional $15 million dollars in revenue to cover the $7 million dollar deficit and use the extra $8 million dollars for other things.

B) Academics -

  The district has recently implemented a "small schools" programme that puts students in their freshman year into a "School within a school". These students stay together for all 4 years of high school and have the same teachers for their main classes all 4 years.  In addition, the "small schools" are academies that provide different career or college paths, incuding a Math & Science Academy, a Business Academy and an Arts Academy.

C) Splitting the district -

  Another issue is whether the district should be split into two K-12 unit districts rather than remain a single high school district with 4 grade school district feeding the high school district.  CARES put a referendum on the ballot in November, 2006, asking voters whether they wanted to create a single K-12 district in Berwyn.  That referendum received 58% YES vote.


D) Teams -

  Another issue is whether Morton West high school should have its own sports teams separate from Morton East. Morton West used to have its own sports team (the Falcons). 20 years ago, the school board combined the sports teams from the two schools. They kept the name of the Mustangs (the Morton East team) and eliminated the Falcons.

E) Equal Representatiion -

  Another issue is that people in Cicero usually control the school board because Cicero has a larger population and that, over the past 20 years, these CIcero school board members have used their position on the school board to use District 201 for patronage and to favor Cicero over Berwyn, Stickney and Lyons. At least, that is the perception of many Berwyn residents.

F) Residency -

  Finally, another issue is residency. In the past, it is believed by many that there were many students from Chicago attending school at Morton East and Morton West and that District 201 was not enforcing strict resdency requirements.


G) The Candidates -

1) Margaret Kelly - Ms. Kelly is a Berwyn resident who is an incumbent board member.  Ms. Kelly has served on the board 16 years and has served as school board president for 14years;  She claims that she has a doctorate in education.  She is married and has two children, both of whom work for District 201. 

  Ms. Kelly supports the tax rate increase and supports the small school system implemented by Morton. She opposes splitting the district into two pieces.

2) Pat Fortunato - Ms. Fortunato is a Berwyn resident who is  an incumbent board member. She has been on the board 8 years; Before running for the high school board, Pat Fortinato served on the Morton College Board. She has also served as Berwyn's 8th Ward Alderman and ran for Berwyn City Clerk in 2005. She is a former Republican (she ran as a Republican in the 1997 election for alderman) who switched and became a Democrat.  She is the niece of Cicero politico Alan Carr, who was the Cook County Commissioner for the 16th District (near west suburbs) before Tony Peraica beat him in the primary election in 2002.

  Ms. Fortunato supports the tax rate increase and the small school concept.  She opposes splitting the high school district. She has stated publicly that she favors a separate sports team for Morton West.

3) Mark Titzer - Mr. Titzer is a Berwyn resident who is a former consultant for Price Waterhouse who is currently a senior accountant for Depaul University.  He has experience in both accounting and finance as well as education (since he works for DePaul).  Mark is one of the founders of the Berwyn Citizens Aligned to Renew Education (Berwyn CARES).  He supports the tax rate increase referendum and supports looking into the feasibilty of creating a K-12 district in Berwyn.

4) Ted Korbos (me) - I have been a Berwyn resident for almost 22 years. I have  a Bachelor's Degree and a Master's Degree in Mathematics with a minor in Accounting.  In 1978, I joined the consutling division of the Big Eight accounting firm of Arthur Andersen. In 2001 that division of Andersen broke off into a separate company called Accenture.  I currently work for Accenture Learning Services (a division of Accenture), which provides content development, session delivery and learning administration services to corporate training clients.  My role is that of data architect.

  I have  voted against the two tax referendum because I believe the amount of money being asked for is too much.  I would support a smaller tax increase and I would like to see the tax increase become two separate taxes - one being a smaller long term tax for education purposes and another temporary tax for capital expenditure spending and paying off the long term debt.  I would also like to look into outsourcing as a cost cutting measure. I believe the district has not looked into outsourcing because of the patronage workers that would lose their jobs.

  I support the small school concept and would like to see it extended by turning the Freshman Center into a magnet school.  I also support creating an 11 person school board where 5 representatives would come from Cicero; 4 from Berwyn; 1 from Stickney/FOrest View and 1 from Lyons/McCook. FInally, I support the creation of a separate sports team for Morton West.

5) Ed Rios - Mr. Rios is a Berwyn resident who currently serves on the Berwyn Township Board.  He is a member of CARES who has been vocal at several CARES meetings about the need to "shake up the district" and change the perception of the schools here.  He helped circulate petitions for the referendum to create a K-12 district in Berwyn.

6) Tom MCClain - Mr. McClain is a Berwyn resident who is the Vice-Chairman of the Independent Voters of Berwyn.  He is also a member of CARES and has attended several CARES meetings. He bought his house in Berwyn in 1985 (he acutally bought a house that I was going to buy that same summer of 1985).

7) Derek Dominick - Mr. Dominick is the son of Cicero Town President Larry DOminick and, I think, is employed by the Town of Cicero as HR Director.  HE is a Cicero resident who is supported by Larry Dominick.

8. MIchael Iniquez - Mr. Iniquez is the son or close relative of the CIcero Police Chief.  He is a Cicero resident who is supported by Larry Dominick.

9) Jeffrey Pesek - Mr. Pesek is the close relative of the Town of Cicero Administrator of Development Craig Pesek. Jeffrey Pesek recently received a judgement from the Town of CIcero fo $1 million dollars.  He is a Cicero resident who is supported by Larry Dominick.

10) Jesscia Flores - Ms Flores is supported by Larry Dominick and his organization.  She is a long time supporter of Larry Dominick.

11) EUalalia Ortiz - Ms. Ortiz is a Cicero resident who is supported by Ramiro Gonzalez, David Donohue and Ed Vrdolyak.

12) ANgelica Guerrero - Ms. Guerrero is a Cicero residnt who is supported by Ramiro Gonzales, David Dononue adn Ed Vrdolyak.

[mustang54]

 Still too many candidates with ties to both the Cicero and Berwyn politicians. Ted I would not make the freshman center a magnet school. West is very overcrowded and needs expansion. I would build a new building for the magnet school on 26th and Home. I would also move the administration building in there to save on renting a space.
  Did any of you see on Fox news at 9 the other night that the Chicago Public Schools now offer Chinese as a language choice? 6,000 kids are taking it and they said next year the number will double. They also said what people would never quess is the vast majority of the kids taking the class are black and hispanic.What they did not mention that I was told by a Morton department head a few weeks ago is the entire program is being paid for by the Chinese government. Morton has cut out some of the languages they offered at one time. In this day and age Chinese and Arabic would be great additions for the students.

[Shelley]

Mustang,

I read an article in the Trib magazine a few months ago about the Mandarin Chinese program.  One thing that stuck with me was the mention of how valuable/marketable the tri-lingual student (English, Spanish, and Mandarin) would be.  I think the article called it a "Triple Crown" or something like that.  We're 2/3 there!  Who of the candidates would be forward-thinking??  We need leaders who will be thinking (mostly) of the future of these kids...not their pasts or presents!!  Magnet schools, new technology, foreign language, extended day/year, small schools concept, etc.  We need a school district for this century...the decades to come.  I agree with Melliman...board members with different ideas will be good and will likely generate more ideas and more thorough investigation of the issues. 

Shelley

[mustang54]

Mustang,

I read an article in the Trib magazine a few months ago about the Mandarin Chinese program.  One thing that stuck with me was the mention of how valuable/marketable the tri-lingual student (English, Spanish, and Mandarin) would be.  I think the article called it a "Triple Crown" or something like that.  We're 2/3 there!  Who of the candidates would be forward-thinking??  We need leaders who will be thinking (mostly) of the future of these kids...not their pasts or presents!!  Magnet schools, new technology, foreign language, extended day/year, small schools concept, etc.  We need a school district for this century...the decades to come.  I agree with Melliman...board members with different ideas will be good and will likely generate more ideas and more thorough investigation of the issues. 

Shelley

Well said Shelley. We need to prepare the kids for todays world not the world of Lavergne,Shirley,and Fonzi!
Morton offers 2 types of spanish courses in their language arts department. Spanish for those who do not speak it and Spanish for those that do. If they already speak it teach them something else. DUH!

[OakParkSpartan]

Learning Mandarin  is a good idea.  College of Dupage offers a course.  It is pretty good.

Tom McClain is the FORMER IVB Vice-Chair, based  upon an email  he sent out a week or so ago.  He's an honest guy. Same with Ed Rios. Ted and Mark clearly are as well.

That's the Four I'll vote for.

Cheers,
Brian

[Ted]

Ted I would not make the freshman center a magnet school. West is very overcrowded and needs expansion. I would build a new building for the magnet school on 26th and Home. I would also move the administration building in there to save on renting a space.

  Mustang, I agree.  I was thinking of turning the Freshman Center into a Magnet School for Cicero students only.  I don't think it would be large enough to serve both Cicero and Berwyn.

Still too many candidates with ties to both the Cicero and Berwyn politicians.

  I should state that I have been a member of the Independent Voters of Berwyn since 1999, when it was first formed and I have been a long time supporter of the IVB.

Ted

[Dancing Queen]

  Hmmm.... looks like Larry Dominick is taking a page from Bill Lipinski and John Stroger and trying to use the District 201 board as the stepping stone for the next generation of the Cicero aristocracy.  Just look at the names - Dominick, Pesek, Iniquez. All relatives of Cicero officials.

  Todd Stroger would be proud!

[Ted]

Ted your name will for the 1st time be on a ballot. You can not afford to upset Cub fans!! lmao

Hey Mustang, maybe you're right.  Here's a picture of one of the Cicero people (Mike Iniquez) who is running for the school board!

'Incredible fan'
Eric Filipek (left) and Mike Iniquez (in slightly modified "Incredible Hulk" mask) of Cicero cheer their favorites on Tuesday in Atlanta.
(Tribune photos by Scott Strazzante)
Sep 30, 2003

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-031001fan-photogallery,1,5850214.photogallery?coll=chi-homepage-fea&index=6

<LMAO>

[Bonster]

That's great!

He's got my last vote!

[mustang54]

Ted your name will for the 1st time be on a ballot. You can not afford to upset Cub fans!! lmao

Hey Mustang, maybe you're right.  Here's a picture of one of the Cicero people (Mike Iniquez) who is running for the school board!

'Incredible fan'
Eric Filipek (left) and Mike Iniquez (in slightly modified "Incredible Hulk" mask) of Cicero cheer their favorites on Tuesday in Atlanta.
(Tribune photos by Scott Strazzante)
Sep 30, 2003

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-031001fan-photogallery,1,5850214.photogallery?coll=chi-homepage-fea&index=6

<LMAO>

Ted you are priceless with the stuff you come up with!! lmao

[P-PANTHER a/k/a La Pantera]

Ted your name will for the 1st time be on a ballot. You can not afford to upset Cub fans!! lmao

Hey Mustang, maybe you're right.  Here's a picture of one of the Cicero people (Mike Iniquez) who is running for the school board!

'Incredible fan'
Eric Filipek (left) and Mike Iniquez (in slightly modified "Incredible Hulk" mask) of Cicero cheer their favorites on Tuesday in Atlanta.
(Tribune photos by Scott Strazzante)
Sep 30, 2003

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-031001fan-photogallery,1,5850214.photogallery?coll=chi-homepage-fea&index=6

<LMAO>

Ted, Ted, Ted,

Cardinal rule-know your forum! (bonster)!!!!

[Ted]

Ted, Ted, Ted,

Cardinal rule-know your forum! (bonster)!!!!

  OH..MY..GOD... A Cubs' fan saying the Cardinals rule!!!!   Tony LaRussa must be smiling somewhere  <LOL>

  Ted

[Ted]

That's great!

He's got my last vote!

Looks like Bonster has a new avitar  <LOL>

[Ted]

  The candidate's names are out on the Cook County Clerk site for the April 17 election.

  It looks like Eulalia Ortiz has withdrawn from the race (or at least, her name was not listed on the County Clerk site) and the name of Angelica Guererro has an asterisk next to it.  Not sure what the asterisk means.

[littlealexa]

We need our mayor and the movers and shakers of Berwyn to meet with the Chinese government, perhaps with their help we can better improve our schools. 

I also read that article re tri-lingual kids; I was highly impressed.  My son is only 18 months, but I'm ready to improve our schools now for the sake of his and other childrens' education. 

I sure hope that the right candidates are chosen so we can move forward.

[Berwyn Patsy]

In my opinion those candidates would be Mark Titzer and Ted Korbos.