Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The board member who lost her bid for reelection last week said she's concerned some of the goals put in place during her four years won't be realized.
DeeDee Gorgol said she’ll feel a little down after her last meeting as a District 86 board member in May. “It will be sad,” Gorgol said. “You make a group of friends and have a common interest and goal and it will be sad because … I’m afraid maybe some of the goals we were putting out there won’t be realized.” Gorgol and Board President Dennis Brennan are current board members who failed in their bid for reelection last week running as part of a slate that also featured current board member Kay Gallo and Roseanne Rosenthal. Gallo was the slate’s only winner, as the “Friends for District 86” slate of Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran and Claudia Manley swept the other three open spots. Gorgol said the results of the election were disappointing, …
Monday, April 15, 2013
The slate that placed three winners in last week's election reemphasized its promise for board accountability and transparency in a letter to the editor.
- ELECTIONS
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Monday, April 15
The following is a letter to the editor submitted by the "Friends for District 86" candidate slate: Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran and Claudia Manley, who ran as "Friends for District 86" would like to thank our supporters and volunteers for all their hard work and dedication during the District 86 school board campaign. We are humbled and honored to be able to serve the citizens of District 86 and will do our best to live up to community expectations. We will promote educational excellence within the district. In addition, we also desire to activate the board committee structure to bring skills and expertise from the community into the district. We will reach out again to all community members in the spirit of collaboration to volunteer for …
Friday, April 12, 2013
Dennis Brennan said he wishes the "Friends for District 86" winners well, but warned that serving on the board is a lot harder than criticizing it from the audience.
District 86 Board President Dennis Brennan said he believes his failed reelection bid is partly the result of serving on school boards that have taken action to improve the district and its facilities. “If you sit there and do nothing, you’ll probably get reelected,” Brennan said Thursday, more than a day after his four-candidate slate placed only one winner. “But if you try to get something done … you’re going to probably raise the opposition, whoever that is.” In 2013, that opposition was “Friends for District 86,” the candidate slate of Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran and Claudia Manley that managed to go three-for-three Tuesday after a campaign centered around improving fiscal responsibility, transparency, and community involvement in …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Challengers Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran and Claudia Manley all won spots on the District 86 Board of Education Tuesday after a contentious campaign.
Claudia Manley called it “unbelievable.” Ed Corcoran was “elated.” Victor Casini said it was “a pleasant surprise.” Following the election of all three “Friends for District 86” candidates Tuesday in the race for District 86 school board, Manley, Corcoran and Casini all said the sweep was unexpected, but also symbolic. “I think it sends a message that the platform that we ran on resonated with District 86 citizens,” Casini said. “Namely, fiscal responsibility, transparency and community involvement.” Corcoran agreed that the community showed its support for the substance of the “Friends” slate’s platform. He also said he thought voters reacted to the group’s campaign approach. “We tried to have a positive campaign, talking about what we’re…
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran, Claudia Manley and Kay Gallo were the top four finishers Tuesday in the District 86 school board race.
District 86 voters have decided to make a change. Three of them, actually. Victor Casini, Ed Corcoran and Claudia Manley—the three challengers who made up the "Friends for District 86" slate—won three of four open seats on the Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education Tuesday, with all precincts reporting. Incumbent Kay Gallo also won a seat, according to unofficial results. Manley, the leading vote-getter with 4,196, called her slate's three-win performance was "unbelievable." "We thought we were swimming upstream the whole race," she said. Corcoran finished second in the voting with 4,044. Gallo was a close third at more than 4,005 and Casini was fourth with more than 3,879. Manley said the results show that the …
Monday, April 8, 2013
The following letter was submitted to Patch by District 86 school board candidate Edward Corcoran, a member of the "Friends for District 86" slate.
- ELECTIONS
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Monday, April 8
Dear editor and fellow District 86 citizens, Related to the Hinsdale Township High School District 86 school board election, two direct mail pieces were recently delivered to residents in Hinsdale, Clarendon Hills, Burr Ridge and Darien, one it appears by the "Building on Excellence" slate and another it appears by the "Committee to Re-Elect Brennan." Both mailers contained statements that were false and misleading about the Claudia Manley/Victor Casini/Edward Corcoran slate. The mailers attempt to damage our reputation with lies to gain voter influence. The untrue statements were rebutted by the group Citizens for Clarendon Hills (C4CH) in an email Sunday and are rebutted below. This is exactly the type of bad behavior we intend to fix if…
Patch asked the question, and the eight District 86 Board of Education candidates provided their answers.
In its 2013 candidate questionnaire, Patch asked the eight candidates for Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education the following questions: Do you support the district’s ruling in favor of Hinsdale South staff on Victor Casini’s curriculum objection last year of the showing of American Beauty and Brokeback Mountain? Do such movies have a place in high school classrooms? Here, in alphabetical order, are the candidates' responses: Dennis Brennan: "The board acted correctly and courageously in supporting parental control of the curriculum. Mr. Casini and his running mates sought to substitute their judgment for the parents of each and every student in this elective class. As board members, we should not be interfering with…
Saturday, April 6, 2013
The four candidates in attendance at Thursday night's candidate forum gave their answers.
What is the role of a board member? The four Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of Education candidates that attended Thursday night's candidate forum at Hinsdale Middle School gave their response in the video above. Edward Corcoran is the first speaker. He is followed, in order, by Kay Gallo, Roseanne Rosenthal and Dennis Brennan. Whose answer is best? Tell us in the comments. If you missed the forum, we live-blogged it. Check out Patch's real-time notes from Thursday night here.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
The following letter was sent to Patch by Willowbrook resident George Logan.
- OPINION
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Thursday, April 4
An important election campaign is now in progress for the District 86 school board. I would like to take this opportunity to complement candidates Claudia Manley, Victor Casini and Edward Corcoran for conducting a fair, clean and positive campaign. We can be proud of these three District 86 candidates. After reviewing articles in local newspapers, attending school board meetings, and hearing the candidates state their reasons for running and their platform, I believe these three candidates are well qualified. Their education, work history, leadership skills and desire to do a good job as a District 86 board member are apparent. They have advanced degrees from excellent universities and a lot of work experience in finance, law, engineering…
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
We kept readers updated in real time Thursday night on all the issues discussed at the candidate forum at Hinsdale Middle School.
Couldn't make Thursday night's school board candidate forum at Hinsdale Middle School? Don't fret; Patch has you covered. We utilized the Cover It Live blog above to report, discuss and ask questions about all of the things discussed by the five District 181 candidates and eight District 86 candidates in real time. For more info on the forum, click here.
Proud Teacher
10:24 pm on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Wonder if you are even in touch with reality. I don't have the issue any more, but The Hinsdalean did not print a misleading objection to your letter - it didn't print ANY objection to your letter. It ran a "clarification" (which was apparently in response to an objection), and then stated that the paper could find no evidence to support your claim. Now maybe the editorial statement by the paper … more ›