Dist. 204 gearing up for new set of boundary talks

[Arch]

doctorwho said:

We have the same contiguous relationship with Owen as you have with Peterson - we have no contiguous neighbors to the north - there is a huge area of 203 north of us.

Annex them (203 portion N of us) and send them to MV.

Helps 204 fill a N school and helps 203 with its crowding situation.

Win/Win

[wvhsparent]

archwinsome said:

doctorwho said:

We have the same contiguous relationship with Owen as you have with Peterson - we have no contiguous neighbors to the north - there is a huge area of 203 north of us.

Annex them (203 portion N of us) and send them to MV.

Helps 204 fill a N school and helps 203 with its crowding situation.

Win/Win

Ya know...as crazy as that sounds...There might be enough people up on the north side pissed off at their SB that they might go along with that.

[momto4]

lacy said:

momto4 said:

I worked with some really great people from the WE area during the referendum. I have lived in the Cowlishaw area and considered living in Tall Grass but wound up near Eola & Molitor instead. I feel everyone's pain. I would not want to be moved to a further away school, no matter what school it is, when I would have bought my house assuming that my kids would never go further away than they did at the time we moved in. Geez, with Tall Grass they had the perfect set-up of all three (four) schools, shopping, library, etc. within a very short distance and now a movie theater and more. I think the few who give derogatory reasons for not wanting to move to WV give the many who just don't want to travel further or to change from a school they know and love, a bad name.

I have definitely witnessed some WV bashing. It is not the majority but it is ugly and it does put us WV folks on the defensive. How could it not?

Well I have definitely witnessed some South Naperville bashing. And I have HAD IT.

The idea that a few people can give a whole area a bad name is ridiculous and I won't accept that. The idea that we're supposed to apologize for someone else and just accept our label is ludicrous.

Well, I won't take it. I'm pushing back.

I probably shouldn't ask - but what is the South Naperville bashing? Just saying that some areas don't want to go to WV or something more? Even in WV attendance area there are people who don't want to go there because they have no experience with the school and have heard untrue negative things.

How are you pushing back and against what? Whatever bashing of your area or those who have caused that perception?

I haven't asked anyone to apologize for anything. If we just let this topic go and move on to show that we're all working together, then it won't matter what a vocal minority has to say.

FWIW I found the idea that some people think they deserve to choose their school because they pay more in taxes than others to be more upsetting than the idea that a few had bad things to say about WV. This is just sickening. And if we were to count up $$, those of us who have been here a long time have paid to build MANY schools not just the more recent ones.

[lacy]

momto4 said:

lacy said:

Well I have definitely witnessed some South Naperville bashing. And I have HAD IT.

The idea that a few people can give a whole area a bad name is ridiculous and I won't accept that. The idea that we're supposed to apologize for someone else and just accept our label is ludicrous.

Well, I won't take it. I'm pushing back.

I probably shouldn't ask - but what is the South Naperville bashing? Just saying that some areas don't want to go to WV or something more? Even in WV attendance area there are people who don't want to go there because they have no experience with the school and have heard untrue negative things.

How are you pushing back and against what? Whatever bashing of your area or those who have caused that perception?

I haven't asked anyone to apologize for anything. If we just let this topic go and move on to show that we're all working together, then it won't matter what a vocal minority has to say.

FWIW I found the idea that some people think they deserve to choose their school because they pay more in taxes than others to be more upsetting than the idea that a few had bad things to say about WV. This is just sickening. And if we were to count up $$, those of us who have been here a long time have paid to build MANY schools not just the more recent ones.

Let me make myself perfectly clear.

If they would like to say they received emails they considered to be offensive (I think they should first determine their legitimacy), then fine.

If they want to imply (which I think they did) that they represent how a whole area feels. That is not fine.

That is slander.

[gatormom]

I had a different impression lacy. I got the impression that a stack of emails were meticulously sorted and commented on. The number of emails that were in that offensive category were minimal and that was commented on.

I do not believe a broad brush was used. Every area has bad apples and that is that. Not an insult to WE or TG. That is just my take on those comments.

I don't believe anything the SB said that night would have been appreciated by many. This was a difficult decision that has made many people unhappy.

[d204mom]

wvhsparent said:

archwinsome said:

Annex them (203 portion N of us) and send them to MV.

Helps 204 fill a N school and helps 203 with its crowding situation.

Win/Win

Ya know...as crazy as that sounds...There might be enough people up on the north side pissed off at their SB that they might go along with that.

And when people read stuff in the paper like Alan Leis actually listened to the Will-O-Way folks asking to stay at Mill St Elementary it makes 203 look more and more attractive.

I think the education is the same but they seem to treat parents a lot better over there. The neighborhoods around here that ask to stay at their current school are singled out for punishment.

[proschool]

FWIW the bonds on the schools were already partially paid off before most of the homes in the SW were built.

Will county properties were underassessed during most of the period that thoise bonds were being paid. It's better now but guess what all those schools are paid for.

I don't believe that much revenue can come from the SW because there is very little commercail property there. If they want to pay less taxes they should have elected politicains who developed land in way that generated more tax revenue. I am a business owner in Aurora/Dupage and I pay taxes on my home and my business.

If they have kids in the school system you already take more in benefits from the school district than they pay to the school district in taxes.

[slp]

momto4 said:

lacy said:

Well I have definitely witnessed some South Naperville bashing. And I have HAD IT.

The idea that a few people can give a whole area a bad name is ridiculous and I won't accept that. The idea that we're supposed to apologize for someone else and just accept our label is ludicrous.

Well, I won't take it. I'm pushing back.

I probably shouldn't ask - but what is the South Naperville bashing? Just saying that some areas don't want to go to WV or something more? Even in WV attendance area there are people who don't want to go there because they have no experience with the school and have heard untrue negative things.

How are you pushing back and against what? Whatever bashing of your area or those who have caused that perception?

I haven't asked anyone to apologize for anything. If we just let this topic go and move on to show that we're all working together, then it won't matter what a vocal minority has to say.

FWIW I found the idea that some people think they deserve to choose their school because they pay more in taxes than others to be more upsetting than the idea that a few had bad things to say about WV. This is just sickening. And if we were to count up $$, those of us who have been here a long time have paid to build MANY schools not just the more recent ones.

It absolutely goes both ways.

I see and feel the southwest Naperville bashing when I read posts stating (with sarcasm) that White Eagle kids will need some diversity training....with comments that the south feels they "deserve" NVHS.....with comments about how the 'prescious' kids of WE will have to go to WVHS.

I have read and heard many hurtful things about WE residents since the day I moved here and never understood why WE has this reputation with some in the area.

I was told that it stems back to when WE was developed and some anomosities with the City of Aurora. For goodness sakes, that is almost 17 or 20 years ago....time to move on!!!

Negative comments on both sides need to be atributed to the idiots who state them, not an entire area.

[lacy]

gatormom said:

I had a different impression lacy. I got the impression that a stack of emails were meticulously sorted and commented on. The number of emails that were in that offensive category were minimal and that was commented on.

I do not believe a broad brush was used. Every area has bad apples and that is that. Not an insult to WE or TG. That is just my take on those comments.

I don't believe anything the SB said that night would have been appreciated by many. This was a difficult decision that has made many people unhappy.

Gatormom, I didn't have a problem with anything else at that meeting until they started down this path.

I don't have a problem if my area is sent to WVHS.

I have a problem if my area is labeled as "bad" and then sent to WVHS. It creates a problem for the kids - and I won't tolerate it. They are creating a negative perception for an entire area IMO. Who pays the price for that?! - the KIDS.

I also won't accept the idea that I am responsible or need to apologize for what someone else may have done. If a derogatory email was sent to me - I would address it with the person who sent it - but the surveys weren't sent to me.

If they didn't intend to paint a whole area with a broad brush - then they should make themselves clear. They could make a public statement to that affect.

Then I would be O.K. with it. Otherwise, I am definitely not.

[slp]

lacy said:

gatormom said:

I had a different impression lacy. I got the impression that a stack of emails were meticulously sorted and commented on. The number of emails that were in that offensive category were minimal and that was commented on.

I do not believe a broad brush was used. Every area has bad apples and that is that. Not an insult to WE or TG. That is just my take on those comments.

I don't believe anything the SB said that night would have been appreciated by many. This was a difficult decision that has made many people unhappy.

Gatormom, I didn't have a problem with anything else at that meeting until they started down this path.

I don't have a problem if my area is sent to WVHS.

I have a problem if my area is labeled as "bad" and then sent to WVHS. It creates a problem for the kids - and I won't tolerate it. They are creating a negative perception for an entire area IMO. Who pays the price for that?! - the KIDS.

I also won't accept the idea that I am responsible or need to apologize for what someone else may have done. If a derogatory email was sent to me - I would address it with the person who sent it - but the surveys weren't sent to me.

If they didn't intend to paint a whole area with a broad brush - then they should make themselves clear. They could make a public statement to that affect.

Then I would be O.K. with it. Otherwise, I am definitely not.

I agree 100%.

I too don't want any negative perceptions (which are totally false) to have a negative effect on our kids in any way.

The rhetoric on both sides needs to stop and move forward positively for the benefit of our kids.

[gatormom]

lacy said:

Gatormom, I didn't have a problem with anything else at that meeting until they started down this path.

I don't have a problem if my area is sent to WVHS.

I have a problem if my area is labeled as "bad" and then sent to WVHS. It creates a problem for the kids - and I won't tolerate it. They are creating a negative perception for an entire area IMO. Who pays the price for that?! - the KIDS.

I also won't accept the idea that I am responsible or need to apologize for what someone else may have done. If a derogatory email was sent to me - I would address it with the person who sent it - but the surveys weren't sent to me.

If they didn't intend to paint a whole area with a broad brush - then they should make themselves clear. They could make a public statement to that affect.

Then I would be O.K. with it. Otherwise, I am definitely not.

Nobody needs to apologize for anything unless they are the responsible parties. It is time for all of us to get off the "if one person says something about my area, we all think the entire area is guilty of it" trip. Again, my impression was that was not an attack on WE or TG but rather a fact that they recieved a few emails.

For heaven's sake, if this district is going to move forward, maybe it is time we all start to lighten up and not take every comment made by each other as a personal attack on either us or our children. We have our own version of PC developing and I for one am sick of it.

[Arch]

slp said:

I have read and heard many hurtful things about WE residents since the day I moved here and never understood why WE has this reputation with some in the area.

It might be as simple as this: I know of one and only 1 person in WE that probably has an even stronger negative point of view about people 'not like them'... but that is it.. ONE. I know many others who would give you the shirt off their back to help you out and go to enormous measures to be involved in the community in a very giving way both in time and in money. The one insignificant point of view is not even a blip on the radar. We can choose to paint that point of view as being representative of an area or we can simply leave it at what it is: someone's own personal point of view that is not reflective of anyone else's regardless of where they live.

I think people tend to focus on the negative blip because they somehow want to find something to bash or set up to play victim or show some sense of injustice; whether that is a conscious effort or not (the result is the same).

For the record, I have some neighbors here that have similar thoughts about the world. Again, they are not representative of anyone's opinions except their own.

[lacy]

gatormom said:

lacy said:

Gatormom, I didn't have a problem with anything else at that meeting until they started down this path.

I don't have a problem if my area is sent to WVHS.

I have a problem if my area is labeled as "bad" and then sent to WVHS. It creates a problem for the kids - and I won't tolerate it. They are creating a negative perception for an entire area IMO. Who pays the price for that?! - the KIDS.

I also won't accept the idea that I am responsible or need to apologize for what someone else may have done. If a derogatory email was sent to me - I would address it with the person who sent it - but the surveys weren't sent to me.

If they didn't intend to paint a whole area with a broad brush - then they should make themselves clear. They could make a public statement to that affect.

Then I would be O.K. with it. Otherwise, I am definitely not.

Nobody needs to apologize for anything unless they are the responsible parties. It is time for all of us to get off the "if one person says something about my area, we all think the entire area is guilty of it" trip. Again, my impression was that was not an attack on WE or TG but rather a fact that they recieved a few emails.

For heaven's sake, if this district is going to move forward, maybe it is time we all start to lighten up and not take every comment made by each other as a personal attack on either us or our children. We have our own version of PC developing and I for one am sick of it.

Oh, I agree - only individuals need to apologize for their own actions. This isn't George Orwell's 1984 - I am not the thought police. If someone says something (let's remember they are protected by the first amendment), I may not agree with them, I may not even like them, but it doesn't reflect on anyone but them. No one but they can "take responsibility".

But then why did M2 and BG stir this pot?! If they wanted the district to move forward, then why didn't they say they received some negative emails, they weren't happy about them, but they don't reflect the view of everyone.

They can be mad at those individuals all they want.

But they seemed to verbally spank a whole area by referring to the SW part of the district. That's what I (and others) have a big fat problem with. It's my understanding that the conversation continued after the meeting with BG asking residents who came up to speak to him if they wanted to apologize for others.

What the heck?

Maybe BG and M2 need to publically make clear what they menat. Then I can "move on".

[d204mom]

lacy said:

It's my understanding that the conversation continued after the meeting with BG asking residents who came up to speak to him if they wanted to apologize for others.

What the heck?

Maybe BG and M2 need to publically make clear what they menat. Then I can "move on".

Earlier I thought you meant that BG realized what he'd done and apologized to folks after the meeting. Now I see that he was demaning apologies from people just because they live in a certain area?

He is clearly unable to objectively serve on our school board at this point. Hopefully he will recuse himself from voting on boundaries.

[warriorpride]

archwinsome said:

slp said:

I have read and heard many hurtful things about WE residents since the day I moved here and never understood why WE has this reputation with some in the area.

It might be as simple as this: I know of one and only 1 person in WE that probably has an even stronger negative point of view about people 'not like them'... but that is it.. ONE. I know many others who would give you the shirt off their back to help you out and go to enormous measures to be involved in the community in a very giving way both in time and in money. The one insignificant point of view is not even a blip on the radar. We can choose to paint that point of view as being representative of an area or we can simply leave it at what it is: someone's own personal point of view that is not reflective of anyone else's regardless of where they live.

I think people tend to focus on the negative blip because they somehow want to find something to bash or set up to play victim or show some sense of injustice; whether that is a conscious effort or not (the result is the same).

For the record, I have some neighbors here that have similar thoughts about the world. Again, they are not representative of anyone's opinions except their own.

Oh, so you mean, as another example, people finding something that an SB member did or did not do; or said or did not say. And then characterizing/labeling them (evil, stupid, alterior motives, etc.).

It goes both ways, folks. The SB and Admin has taken plenty of sh*t over the past few years. Some of it probably deserved, but not all of it, especially when it comes to getting personal, and when it comes to them doing what they believe is best for the district.

Just like some of the public speakers on Tuesday, I could sense some true emotion in some the SB members when they spoke. Do you really not think that they care about 204? For a district as large as this is, they obviously can't cater to each famlies personal 100% satisfaction, at the expense of 100's or 1000's of others. They need to take a holistic view, and I don't think that they've ever strayed from that.

So, how about we cut the SB some slack, too? It seems like a pretty thankless job to me.