Local: D-150 candidate Laura Petelle to make her case to opponents of shortened school day
This is the letter that Diane Vespa — a friend and fellow blogger — sent to members of District 150 Watch, the group Diane helped form to fight the district’s mostly abandoned effort to drastically shorten the school day for grade school students so that teachers would have group planning time.
Hello all!
I suspect more than one of us felt a wee bit guilty that we were at least partially responsible for the situation we found ourselves in – especially those of us that expressed little or no interest in past school board elections. (I raise hand!!)
Throughout our meetings of last summer and since, we have worked hard to identify a candidate for school board that would be 1. Qualified 2. willing to serve and 3. Share a vision for District 150 that would closely resemble ours.
I believe we found that person in School Board candidate Laura Petelle, a local attorney and ICC College Professor.
This Sunday, Terry Knapp has arranged a special meeting at Godfather’s Pizza, Nov 23, at 7:00pm, for purposes of introducing District 150 Watch group members and their friends to Laura Petelle. This meeting shall serve as venue for Laura to share her platform with all of you, as well as provide you the opportunity to ask questions of her and satisfy yourselves that she is, in fact, the perfect candidate to support for School board. After meeting her, I feel confidant that you will feel as I do.
We will be looking for individuals to assist with her campaign in a large or small capacity, as well as any and all campaign contributions which are an unfortunate prerequisite to a successful outcome.
Please forward this message on to your friends, and keep me posted on who we can expect as well as who we do not need to call. My goal is a room filled to capacity this Sunday! My phone number is 309-645-8608 and you are welcome to call me anytime.
Duty calls us once again, my friends. It is time to unite and begin the deliberative process of taking back our schools. I hope you will attend this meeting (with friends!) and throw your wholehearted support behind Laura Petelle for School Board.
In solidarity,
diane
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 am
Does Diane realize that Laura’s a Democrat … a CHICAGO Democrat?
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
Knight – School Board races are non-partisan, and I would hope that even the most hardened partisan would put aside politics for the sake of pursuing what they believe is in the best interests of school children.
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:32 am
note to self – delete Billy from e-mail list
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Diane: What makes you think that half of the other people on your mailing list don’t have me in THEIR mailing lists.
And as I said in a previous post, party affiliation matters little. Laura is on the right side of every major issue the schoolboard has faced in recent yours.
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Turn down the seriousness, Diane. I was just proddin’ ya a little. Thus the smiley.
:p
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:58 pm
No offense was taken… I just typed in a hurry.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:02 am
So, what district seat is she running for?
November 24th, 2008 at 5:20 am
I think Eyebrows would make a great addition to the school board.
November 24th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Emtronics — Third. She’s running for Spangler’s seat.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Thanks CJ. Well no need for my support. I can’t vote for her.
December 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
No offense to Laura. I’m sure she’s smart and well intentioned as many have said. However, haven’t we had enough of community do gooders on the board? Aaron and Alicia were not particularly effective. I think the best board members come from the parental ranks – people who have or who have recently had students in the system. I have thought myself about serving on the board because of the taxes I pay. But really I just believe that someone with children involved in the system would be better qualified.
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Mary Spangler came from the parental ranks, and what has she brought to the table over the last 5 years? Oh yeah, Wacky Wednesdays.