Letter to Steve Antolak

[I sent the following email to Steve Antolak requesting clarification of his comment about parents believing they are "a mini-board of education." His response will be posted above this one.]

Steve,

First, thank you for the significant time commitment that you made when becoming a School Board member. I do not know if you anticipated the demands placed on you when taking on such a role, but in the difficult times that the District faces, I am sure your time commitment will continue to grow.

As a parent in District 279, your comment last night concerning parent involvement struck me as out of place. I will try to paraphrase your comment and I hope to watch it again when the School Board meeting is replayed, but you indicated that you were not concerned about the administration overstepping their bounds, but rather the parents acting as a "mini-board of education."

The reason this struck me as odd is that you have never appeared to be someone that is fearful of parents. Furthermore, in my observations over the last 10 weeks, parents have little to no power and are largely engaged when convenient. I have not witnessed any event that would indicate parents have too much power (or really any power). In fact, unless I am missing something, only six parents are engaged so far in the transition.

I would draw the similarity in numbers between the parents engaged in the transition and the number on the School Board as an attempt at humor, but I am a bit befuddled.

I also could not help but notice that the two administrators whom you were addressing (forgive me for not knowing their names), were smiling and nodding their heads as you made your statement. This nonverbal communication means something. Why grin and nod? I am not asking you to presume to know what they were thinking, but rather dispel any belief that there may have been inside knowledge of parents previously overstepping their bounds between you and the administrators – or if there is knowledge of such activity, please bring it to light.

I understand you are a very busy person and again your dedication to the role as a School Board member is to be commended. If possible, I would like your thoughts and clarifications on the above.

In an effort to open a sincere dialog with the School Board, I will post my entire email as well as your entire response on the District 279 United blog (http://blog.district279united.com/), pending the leadership team's approval. I would typically offer to keep this information private at your request and as a matter of courtesy, but most any information passed to and from a public official is available to the public from my understanding (minus privileged content, confidential information and designations such as that).

I believe the best way to have a sincere dialog is to be open to the community as a whole.

Best regards,
Derek Haidle