By: Diane Benjamin The last local election was April 1st. School districts conned voters into thinking their property taxes would decrease if they approved a 1% Sales Tax increase. If anyone ever sees that decrease, please let me know! h/t a reader! Why is Barry Reilly and Vote Yes For McLean County Schools still getting […]
By: Diane Benjamin Anyone think schools are pushing too hard for the 1% Sales Tax increase? https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-03-05/retired-educator-barry-reilly-leads-campaign-to-support-sales-tax-for-mclean-county-schools Former District 87 superintendent Barry Reilly is heading a committee to convince you to agree to higher taxes. You need to know Reilly is collecting a HUGE MONTHLY pension: https://www.openthebooks.com/members/employer-detail/?Id=70989&tab=2&F_Name_P=Reilly&Year_P=0 He is collecting more than $205,000 a year […]
By: Diane Benjamin School Boards exists because they are elected by THE PEOPLE to watch and control what happens in government run schools. In Illinois many elected school board members are told “Let the professionals handle running the schools”. Sound familiar, as in “professional staff”? New Board members are indoctrinated with a trip to Chicago […]
By: Diane Benjamin Did the local school district’s leadership even blink when Judge Grischow ruled masking kids EVIL? “Statutory rights have attempted to be bypassed through the issuance of Executive Orders and Emergency Rules … This type of evil is exactly what the law was intended to constrain.” Her statement called Pritzker EVIL! We are […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2021/12/16/yesterday-was-bill-of-rights-day-except-in-district-87-part-1/ Barry Reilly tried to get Fitzgerald Sameday to withdraw from the School Board election, some of the email exchanges are already public like the one below. Reilly went so far as to send Fitzgerald the forms he needed to get his name removed from the ballot: Last April […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was planning on posting this yesterday, it fit in well with Bill of Rights Day! I wasn’t able to when the Internet went out. This story started out really long! Instead of one long story it will be in 2 parts. The first 10 Amendments to the Constitution were ratified on […]
By: Diane Benjamin I posted a video of Dusty Joe speaking at District 87 Public Comment last October. She was an employee at this time. The video proves Dusty cares about her kids, if you missed it watch it now: Dusty spoke again at last weeks District 87 Board meeting. The video below is from […]
By: Diane Benjamin Posted yesterday by WGLT reporter Ryan Denham: During-a-Fraught-Time-for-Local-Media-Conservative-Radio-Station-Sees-an-Opening File this one under local comedy. The reporter is upset that Cities 92.9 veers into opinion reporting rather than straight news. Keep in mind the WGLT General Manager RC McBride used to have a seat on the Normal Town Council until he was defeated […]
By: Diane Benjamin District 87 doesn’t live stream school board meetings. They don’t post video on their website either. They should do both is they care about transparency. Barry Reilly already resigned (retiring), Board Members should follow if they are intimated by Shane McCurdy. Reilly has no grounds to ban McCurdy from school board meetings […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the website: https://www.district87.org/Page/1 Link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JQLFB2H The survey has 31 characteristics you think the next superintendent should have. You get to pick 10, comments can also be entered. Two on the list show being “woke” is what they will be looking for if you don’t demand the kids are […]
By: Diane Benjamin All Illinois government salaries and pensions can be found from this link: https://www.openthebooks.com/illinois/#School%20District Every time a unit of government hires additional staff or provides lavish salaries, the pension costs go up. They know it doesn’t matter because YOU will be forced to pay by law. Your “public servants”. This one is interesting, […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve known about the 1619 Project for quite awhile. It is fake history written to make people think America was racist from the start and therefore must be abolished. It is Critical Race Theory meant only to divide people by race. The videos of the kids who spoke at the District 87 […]
East Washington is getting water, sewer, and road. $4.3 million, its going to be closed for quite awhile. By: Diane Benjamin 1) A citizens of Normal wants to know how many hours of staff time has been invested in the Underpass project. The Town of Normal claims they don’t keep track. At the last council […]
By: Diane Benjamin On a tip from a reader I FOIA’d 2 years of credit card charges from District 87. I’m not anywhere close to looking at everything yet. I will post items I found as I go through the files. Start with this one from July 2017: No, Barry Reilly didn’t spend all that […]
By: Diane Benjamin The majority of the meeting was spent talking about TIF districts. The City of Bloomington currently has two: Empire Corridor which is a massive area along Empire street, and Downtown Southwest. The City is trying to get approval from the other taxing bodies for two more: The old Junior High building area […]
By: Diane Benjamin BHS managed to find the document, yes it’s the same one I posted previously: Take Action 4 Sensible Gun Reform Keep in mind – the story used to be: Will there be consequences for lying, or do laws not matter if you are government with an agenda? This looks like a […]
By: Diane Benjamin This BHS and student walkout story is getting more serious. __________________________________ If you missed the previous stories, catch up: https://blnnews.com/2018/03/30/district-87-hiding/ https://blnnews.com/2018/03/22/remember-the-student-walk-out-bhs/ __________________________________ 1) From the District 87 website about FOIA requests: https://www.district87.org/Page/309 Note: they want to charge .15 cents for FOIA requests after the first 50 pages. The email below is in response […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ever feel like people you elect to a local office, like alderman and trustees, don’t represent you? How about School Board members? Who do they work for? In District 87 the people you elect to represent you don’t work for you. From the District 87 website: Click to access filedownload.ashx Does the […]
By: Diane Benjamin I just caught the last few minutes of District 87’s Barry Reilly on WJBC. Dr Reilly repeated the Common Core talking points: It’s a set of standards not a curriculum. Dr Reilly: Since the students are tested over and over and over, please explain how that “set of standards” doesn’t become “teaching […]
