Endorsement Of CARE Endorsed Candidates: Letter

Written and submitted by Peter Henry.

As the old joke goes, "In the ham and egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed."

There is a "Cold War" of sorts brewing in the race for the four open school board seats in NSSD112. The combatants are not the Soviets vs. the US, but the remnants of the Moving Forward (MF) crowd vs. the CARE endorsed folks.

The MFers are essentially "baby boomers" on the "wrong side" of 50 (I can comfortably say this as I too am from the baby boom generation). They have the support of some of the political elite in Highland Park. The MFers are Dan Jenks, Bennett Lasko, Art Kessler and Jane Mordini. These folks also have the unfortunate distinction of having all been in support of the disastrous $198 million dollar referendum and strong supporters of BDR3. They were all on the wrong side of the biggest issues facing the Highland Park schools in a generation and they have the audacity to ask for our vote for school board. Amazing!!

On the other side of the coin, we have the CARE endorsed candidates. This group includes Alex Brunk, Brent Ross, Julie Campbell and Lisa Hirsh. They are all from "generation X" and are fresh-faced and new to elected politics. They all opposed the referendum and fought hard against the potential ravages of BDR3. These folks argued for a more moderate, measured solution to our school situation. More importantly, all of these candidates have small children currently in the school district (or soon to be). Hence, they will not be just "involved" with solving our issues, but "committed" to solving them.

I had many concerns with our last school board and freely expressed them publicly. One of my main concerns with the previous school board, and there were many, was that none of them really had small kids in the district and, therefore, they were not going to be directly impacted by their own decisions. I don't care what people say, it makes a big difference!!

On April 4th, I will be voting for the four CARE endorsed candidates. I will be asking my baby boomer brethren to turn over their keys and let the next generation tackle the current school situation. Personally, I want folks that are "committed" on the school board and not just "involved."

Peter Henry
Highland Park