RHLW, you are so right! All the board did last night was vote in "one of their own." Not a big surprise. Denise is known throughout the Square as a bully. She has used her influence as a former board member in the schools.

It's well known that the unions compensate these board members very well under the table whenever a contract is due for renewal. That's why the teacher salaries are so out of line.

That's why there are so many eager candidates for these positions. Why do you think this woman who doesn;t even have kids in the schools wrestled this job away? She wants another piece of the pay.

RHLW you said it right and well. 2013 is too far off for an election. What are her qualification other than being a former crooked board member?

yikes

You and your friends do not 'pay attention' - you criticize. Where ever you can start your next fire is where you're at.

I usually believe in recycling useful products, but I still hoped District 161 school board would have appointed somebody new. Instead they recycled Denise.

RHLW - the only thing I could ever remember from Denise being a board member was her dedication to children and her dislike for keith pain when he was destroying the lives of many principals, teachers, non certified staff, and community members.
Denise is not a Thug (actually, you're a Thug) - she is a strong women......again you have a huge problem with strong women that exert strength and have a mind of their own.

Wow. So if I understand you correctly, the board is on the take accepting bribes from the teacher's union? If memory serves me correctly, Mrs. Wildeveld was not serving on the board during the most recent contract negotiations. If there is evidence of any misappropriation of tax dollars, the states attorney needs to be notified immediately!

Quote: "Ed,
Better not speak your mind. Denise Wildeveld is watching. She always wants to know who is posting on the comments so she can retaliate. Hope you don't have kids in the district because they will pay for you speaking out."

How exactly would a school board member retaliate and make the kids pay for the parents speaking out? Please give examples. It seems silly to even say such a thing. Are you fear mongering?

If I recall correctly, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Macek and Mr. Balcerzyk were the only 161 board members to have ever gotten money from the teacher's union for their first campaign for board seats. I wonder...was this based on a relationship with the superintedant at the time? They were unproven candidates given several thousand dollars from a union whose members weren't enthusuastic about it. It seems there was considerable upheaval of teachers that spoke out against the contributions. Now THAT directly effects students. I don't recall Mrs. Wildeveld being implicated in this at all.

RHLW - are you frightened that Densie Wildeveld has enough common sense to figure out where the abuse of tax payer dollars is at? I wonder if you and your buddies would like someone 'wet behind the ears' so that the old saying 'they must know where the bodies are buried', maybe true - because they're certainly protecting something, this new board must be getting closer and closer. Because it is not right for a small group of people who WERE in power - be SO afraid of a new board. It's frightening me and I believe a forensic audit is a great idea. I wonder what would be uncovered????

I would like to know where some of you find this truly absurd information. How can you possibly think the reason we are this far in the hole is a reflection of a Xo tract made SEVERAL years ago? This time last year, we had a surplus. The contact didn't kick in this year. Not to mention the contract was to help bring our teacher salary up to what our neighoring districts pay. Mary Kenny reminded our community of this the night they hired Barb Rains. It's ridiculous to accuse the union of giving board members extra money for a better contract. There are many lawyers involved in the process, and that is ILLEGAL! If you had been to the board meetings over the past 6-8 months, you would have noticed drastic financial changes our new board members have made. Think this may have added to our money problems??

If you wish to pause from your spreading of fear for a moment and check the facts: Frankfort median salary for bachelor degreed teachers is $50,000 per year, Tinley Park is $53,000 per year and Summit Hill is $49,500. That is according to the Illinois Board of Education Teacher Salary Study for 2010/2011. Our salaries are not out of line with neighboring districts.

I think you bashers should be ashamed of yourselves. What are you doing to improve the district? To insinuate that board members are on "the take" from the union is slander. If you have proof, let's see it. I remember hearing during the last election that the union donated $10k to the 2007 campaigns of Doyle, Balcerzak & Macek. Which is perfectly legal, but suspect, especially when I read all the mud being slung in these comments. I understand that it is easier to sit at home & throw your little bombs at everyone from behind your screen name. Maybe if you spent more time educating yourselves with facts, & actually come forth to help fix the situation rather than armchair quarter back, your efforts would be appreciated. Criticism is great when it is constructive. I think we are lucky that anyone applied to take over the open board seat - this is going to be an uphill battle. Informed-these naysayers sound more like sore losers that lost an election whether that be 2011 or 2009.

Mrs. Wildeveld is a volunteer, like all of our school board members. None of them is paid under the table for contract negotiations. Contributions are made above-board and are doccumented as was the case with the campaign contributions made to the candidates named above.

I remember back in the day....Denise Wildevelde never took a dime from the union.
Denise made her own homemade signs...I believe the dark side stoled those too.

From my point of view, the underlying problem is the culture of the school board/district/ community. It seems as though people associated with the district, whether you are a parent, community member, teacher, etc. are pressured to take sides with every development. People very often voice their opinions based on the personalities and faction which they are aligned with, or what someone has told them. Summit Hill SD is a very fine district, with excellent teachers, administrators, and supportive parents. It is quite remarkable that our district has been able to achieve great success in spite of the polarization which we have endured over the past five years or so. When are we going to move beyond blaming others, using gossip as a form of attack, and in turn, honorably state our opinions about essential issues while at the same time respecting the ideas of others? Certainly disagreements and debate will occur, especially with the economic pressures which are presently affecting our district and families. This is normal and healthy. However, when we engage in personally attacking others and raking people over the coals behind their backs, it only creates mistrust and disfunction, and this ripples throughout the community. Aren't we tired of watching and hearing these same patterns of behavior over and over? Let's hope the school board and community can move beyond all of this petty nonsense for the goodness of the young people in our community.

Have any of you signed up for committees? All of this energy could be put to better use!

Exactly what are you saying through vaque statements and insinuation? How is she anti-administration? Anti-parent? Anti-taxpayer? What evidence is there that she doesn't care about my kids? I am not upset about the campaign contributions, just trying to bring some facts into this discussion. (Oh wait, maybe I am getting hysterical. I am a woman, you know.) Are you insinuating that Mrs. Wildeveld would "know all about that" because she enjoyed the benefits of such a contribution? I see no evidence to that effect. Were there others that enjoyed such endorsements as FIRST TERM candidates who hadn't yet had the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of the support of our teachers? Please enlighten us, or you could chose to continue to reveal yourself as a fear monger with your vague and unsubstantiated statements.

RHLW aka Sean William Doyle just say it "you have an ax to grind"....you need to start fighting for an excellent education for our children. No matter what this board does it's wrong...you should join a committee,it seems you have alot of time on your hands.

RHLW
While I respect your right to express your opinion on the board's decision to appoint Mrs. Wildeveld, I don't respect the way you have used vague and unsubstantiated statements to damage the reputation of a member of our community.

Webster:
"New Latin, from English hysteric, adjective, from Latin hystericus, from Greek hysterikos, from hystera womb; from the Greek notion that hysteria was peculiar to women and caused by disturbances of the uterus"
It is offensive to women. Look at the history of rape and murder by stoning associated with that "diagnosis". Wouldn't you expect any member of any minority group to ask you to discontiue using words that were for centuries used to degrade and opress them? All I am asking for is a little sensitivity on this subject. Your reluctance to consider it makes me wonder if any female candidate would have been a "mistake" in your opinion.

RHLW
Thank you for at least looking into the definition. Were you going to address any of the questions asking for specifics on bullying, retribution against children, "alot" of damage to the district in the last 6 months, mystery bashing websites, taking money under the table, being "dangerous" and crooked or any other ugly statement posted here? If it is unsupported gossip, I suggest you apologize and move on.

Please quote me so that I can understand where I said as a male you are incapable of feeling emotion. Male is not a race. It is a gender or physiologically speaking a sex. I actually said "you, a male, are capable of feeling emotion." The opposite of what you are accusing me of saying. By the way, I did not attack you, call you names, or anything of the like. You are spreading rumors about me, a total stranger to you, in this forum where my statements and yours are doccumented. You are making it hard for me to trust anything you say.

I did not say that you accused me of attacking you. I feel attacked by you (see "clueless"). I have said nothing that I can't substatiate, but please tell me where I said you as a male are incapable of feeling emotion. It is simply not true to say that I said that. You said I made slurs against the male race. Also not true. It gives me pause to think what else you have not been truthful about today.

I never offered support of any deragatory comments about anyone, including Mrs. Wildeveld, Mr. Pain and any male or female school board members. Again it is simply not the truth. No matter how many times you say that, it will not become the truth. I actually compared Mr. Pain to Abraham Lincoln, a compliment in my opinion. I don't know where you get that I support the negative stuff. If anything, I was trying to stop it here. Perhaps you have misinterpreted Mrs. Kenny, Mrs Nush and Mrs. Wildeveld in the same manner you have misinterpreted me.

If you wish to call it even and move-on, I would be happy to do the same. We are members of the same community and likely have the same goals of seeing our schools financially viable and academically successful. Did it ever to occur to you that i was one of the people interested in the open seat that Mrs. Wildeveld was chosen for? That is where my interest in this story came from. I just couldn't bear to see her bashed when I could have easily been in her shoes. We need to support our school board and its members, unless we have something constructive and specific to say. That is really all i wanted to express.

ALL - Thank God! I think RHLW fell asleep or his ammunition dried up.

Readers:

This is a general reminder: Keep your comments civil. Personal shots accomplish nothing when discussing these types of issues. They come across as an attempt to mask an inability to make an effective argument.

Everyone participating here is clearly passionate about these issues, and I encourage you to debate with as much passion as you can muster. Just do so respectfully, treating the people you disagree with the same way you'd like them to treat you.

And that goes double for unfounded rumors and speculation. Spouting off about personal relationships or making thinly veiled accusations about wrong-doing without any facts is, quite frankly, irresponsible, unmitigated crap. If you can't--or are unwilling to--back up your claims with attribution or without hiding behind a pseudonym, then keep it to yourself. How would you view the reporting on Patch if I posted scandalous stories based solely on "the word on the street" and then didn't even use my real name? And what if those stories were about you? Making sure my reporting is accurate and responsible is something I take very seriously. I don't expect commenters to do the type of research I do (that's my job, and it's one of the reasons, I hope, why you keep reading), but they should consider the gravity of their remarks before making wild allegations.

OK, lecture over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled commenting, already in progress.

Joe Vince
Local editor, Frankfort

@ are you kidding me?
My neighbor was one of the three finalists interviewed for the board position. Although she was not chosen, she said "the application and interviewing process was comprehensive and professional." She felt like she was "fairly considered as a candidate." She also said she supports the board's decision. My wife and I thanked her
for at least trying. How many of us can say we even filled out the application?

I would also like to congratulate our new board member, Mrs Wildeveld!
I prayed for the right candidate to fill this position- as i am certain many others have prayed as well... God is hearing and answering our prayers. For this i am praising Him! He is faithful and just and loves us so much...even when we all can be so unlovable...and I am the first to admit that as well.! He even uses our mistakes for His glory! I am thankful, for His grace and mercy and forgiveness in Jesus that when we trust in Him and persevere through trials we can see His work in our lives and His purposes are revealed to us.
I am looking forward to meeting you, Mrs.Wildeveld! I know you will be an asset to our new board as God will use your gifts to complement our current board members in the important work that needs to be done!. Praying for continued godly wisdom, guidance and strength and joy to all the board members and our administrators and our teachers in all that you do and continued safety for our students.

Square Mom- you have taught me alot in your entries about respecting and caring for others...thank you!