By: Diane Benjamin From the 4-26-2022 Community Engagement meetings for Unit 5: Is this what pay freezes and reduced raises looks like? https://blnnews.com/2022/05/21/this-needs-explained-by-unit-5-part-2/ Two more sessions: https://www.unit5.org/ Monday, May 23 — 6 to 7:30 pm – Normal Community High School, 3900 E. Raab Road, Normal Tuesday, May 24 — 6 to 7:30 pm – Virtual […]
By: Diane Benjamin Part 1: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/21/this-needs-explained-by-unit-5-part-1/ Things to know: All of the data came from the Teachers Retirement System Not every employee of Unit 5 is in TRS Some employees earning minimal amounts (less than $1000) were deleted for clarity The main list has 923 employees A list at the bottom has another 44 with […]
By: Diane Benjamin Part 2: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/21/this-needs-explained-by-unit-5-part-2/ —— Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/18/unit-5-big-raises/ OpenTheBooks.com shows: In 2019 Unit 5 had 2059 employees – total salary: $85,561,545. In 2020 Unit 5 had 2024 employees – total salary: $90,070,590 That is a huge increase in salaries with fewer employees than the previous year. I FOIA’d the data Unit 5 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is an email received by Jeffrey Wynn from Unit 5: In case the print is too small, Dan Lamboley claims in this email the new High School curriculum to align with Comprehensive Sexuality Education is complete. Since part of the curriculum is complete, Wynn next asked for copies of what will […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 didn’t have many attend their 2nd round of Community Engagement sessions last night. They really want to put a property tax increase on the ballot in November. They need attendees to get yes votes. From a person who did attend, video is not available: Kristen Weikle lamented unfunded mandates. They […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 has another Community Engagement meeting tonight! 6-7:30 at Parkside. See the other two meetings in this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/18/middle-of-the-road-college-at-veterans-pkwy/ Maybe somebody will ask them to explain this: Remember Superintendent Kristen Weikle claiming on video nobody got 7+% raises between 2019 and 2020? https://blnnews.com/2022/05/07/unit-5-word-salad/ OpenTheBooks.com showed total salaries increased 7.9%. Since their […]
By: Diane Benjamin This document is amazing. Parents have rights too, schools have to provide you with ALL materials used to teach. Schools can’t use surveys to gather information on your kids without your permission. We know they are breaking that one! Schools can’t sell your child’s information without your consent. Schools can not discriminate […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this Press Release for Gov. Pritzker: https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.23781.html This was issued after 2 bills related to sex education were signed: SB 818 and HB 24. What you need to notice in this press release: Sex education has been replaced by “Sexual” Education Comprehensive Health Education is more “inclusive” If you don’t know […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1482?meeting=528747 If you still haven’t reviews the National Sex Education Standards, do it now: On the Agenda: You need to attend this meeting is for no other reason than to know who needs voted off the School Board early next year. It appears Unit 5 wants to continue the National Standards in […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) We now have proof Unit 5 teaches kids what to think, not how to think. Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2022/05/04/normal-your-taxes-funded-this/ Doug Fansler sent a video of a Ted Talk to Chemberly Cummings after her Youth on a Mission promoted EV’s without considering all sides. The students obviously didn’t look for facts […]
By: Diane Benjamin In this story I showed the salaries reported to the Teacher’s Retirement System from Unit 5. That is where OpenTheBooks.com gets there data from. https://blnnews.com/2022/04/01/unit-5-did-esser-funds-inflate-salaries/ This chart is from the OpenTheBooks website, it clearly shows salaries increased in 2020 while Unit 5 had fewer employees. This data is used to determine pensions […]
By: Diane Benjamin’ Update to your electric bills skyrocketing: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/27/expect-painful-bills/ The Ecology Action Center put out more than Bloomington did about the increase: https://ecologyactioncenter.org/aggregation2022/ The shortened version is government shut down coal fired power plants with no way to replace the electricity they generated and what is replaced is more expensive. Government declared war on […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader (I can’t find everything myself!) Central Catholic High School will have a new principal: https://pantagraph.com/news/local/education/mcgraw-named-principal-at-central-catholic-high-school/article_1a2cc2ca-c749-11ec-99f0-9309f7f83754.html The article states Chris McGraw works for Unit 5 now. It doesn’t say what else he does at Unit 5. https://www.unit5.org/domain/3645 Page down, his name is there. He’s part of the District EQUITY team […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 has held 2 events with citizens because they want a tax increase. The last one is virtual tonight: Question that needs answered: Why did salaries increase in 2020: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/01/unit-5-did-esser-funds-inflate-salaries/ The number of employees and students decreased from 2019 but salaries increased over 7%. Was that a planned increase to push […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 will be holding 3 community meetings to convince citizens to give them more money with a property tax increase: Saturday, April 23 -11:30 am to 12:30 pm – Normal West High School, 501 N. Parkside Road, Normal Monday, April 25 – 6 to 7:30 pm – Kingsley Junior High School, 303 Kingsley […]
By: Diane Benjamin Community meetings by Unit 5: https://blnnews.com/2022/04/14/unit-5-community-meetings/ Board President Amy Roser tearfully explains why the District needs more of your money in this video. She claims they have deficits of $13 million which will grow to $26 million in 5 years. She doesn’t mention how it will double in a short time. Things […]
By: Diane Benjamin The chart below came from Open The Books. The number of employees and total payroll reported to Teachers Retirement Fund also came from Open The Books. The number of students each year came from this story – note enrollment DECREASED: https://blnnews.com/2022/03/04/unit-5-enrollment-is-decreasing/ Average salary is just Math. Even with enrollment down, salaries saw […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tri-Valley already did this survey, District 87 is today: A student at Tri-Valley told her mom she left questions blank she didn’t want to answer. Good! The survey is called Illinois Youth Survey, it is for grades 8-12. Some other local schools have already taken the survey. Schools had to chose to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal has been hauling in money from the Uptown TIF. It isn’t nearly enough to pay off the debt they racked up with their vision, but their pot of gold ends in 2026 and Unit 5 will be a huge beneficiary. Unit 5 needs to know how much they […]
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 Is Equity better at Unit 5 schools since Dr. Shelvin was hired for the 2021-2022 School year? Question: What happened to the kids who participated in the restroom destruction challenge they saw on TikTok? Did they get Equity? Did the taxpayers get Equity? Did the kids that didn’t participate see Equity and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Proving yet again local government has no respect for religion, the Unit 5 School Board held a meeting on a Wednesday night during lent. Churches don’t do Lenten services anymore? Mine does. The video claims this meeting lasted until 2:43 this morning. 75 people signed up for Public Comment. Not everyone stuck […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last school year Unit 5 has over 1000 fewer students than they had in 2018: As of October 1 of 2021 enrollment was 12,499. I FOIA’d it but was told is was still changing daily. The above number for 2021 is for school year 2020-2021. Whatever the current number is, Unit 5 […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this story for MORE information: https://blnnews.com/2022/03/04/unit-5-enrollment-is-decreasing/ Without Open The Books this data would be very difficult to find! Salary information comes from data reported to pension funds. Checkbook data came from Unit 5. If you haven’t heard, Unit 5 wants you to pay more. Unit 5 needs to toss their Diversity, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Okay, they claimed the CDC isn’t requiring them, but the truth is school buses didn’t fall under federal law. The Edgar County Watchdogs reported that February 11th: https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com/2022/02/stop-the-misinformation-there-is-no-federal-law-mandating-masks-on-school-buses/?fbclid=IwAR0ci4fILd0ZXXwYn8UyEDy70KqtkHXGODPg-PF9xT7JawyliONo7oqtqfs Unit 5 sent the below to parents: We wanted to update parents on state and federal changes regarding COVID mitigation that transpired over the […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) The “professional staff” in the Town of Normal cancelled National Fitness Campaign after the Council voted to proceed. Your representatives passed it but are not allowed to un-pass it after learning the vote was under fraudulent circumstances. Staff decided all on their own. 2) Governor Pritzker issued illegal executive orders for […]
Masks are no longer required at Unit 5. From an email sent today: The district is recommending masks be worn as an important COVID mitigation but effective immediately they are no longer required by students, employees, and visitors. I’m now waiting for discrimination charges from students by teachers who hate seeing faces. Tonight’s meeting will […]
Stop The Misinformation – There is No Federal Law Mandating Masks on School Buses Illinois (ECWd) – As we continue to expose malfeasance across virtually every level of public service in Illinois, the most recent lifting of mask mandates for a large number of students from the Temporary Restraining Order issued against Governor Pritzker, the […]
Posted on Facebook: Thomas DeVore FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY NOT LEGAL ADVICE A new friend asked what she should say to her board. If I still had kids in school, and they still required masks, this is what I’d say. ———————————————————————— While the restraining order can only presently be enforced against school districts named as […]
By: Diane Benjamin Video from last night’s School Board meeting: https://vimeo.com/653773028 Public Comment starts at 49:30. Comments by the Board members proceeded the public. Only one teacher wanted the mask mandate to stay in place even though it has been ruled illegal. Parents, students, and Unit 5 teachers spoke against the district continuing to to […]
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 this link on the Unit 5 website: https://www.unit5.org/domain/3645 Go to the bottom of that page: Recognizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Work in our Schools Formerly some of the links inside the recognitions didn’t work – they said request access. I FOIA’d that information, the links now work. What were they hiding? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 has had a Citizens Advisory Council (CAC) since 1948. https://www.unit5.org/Page/265 That link has a list of who the citizens are. What it lacks is what they have done! Click here: Gee, I expected to see Agendas and Minutes. Silly me. The only information available is when they met: Did they […]
By: Diane Benjamin Critical Race Theory has lots of different names, it may not be called CRT in the schools but the principles of CRT are taught. District 87 has Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committees – even though agendas for their subgroups are supposed to be posted, nothing is. https://www.district87.org/domain/2157 Unit 5 has a Diversity, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 jumped on the Equity bandwagon before looking at where they were jumping to. They hired a company called Systemic Educational Equity, LLC, I don’t have the date they were hired. I do have some of the payments Unit 5 made to them, I’m betting their are more: Unit 5’s payments […]
By: Diane Benjamin Awhile back Unit 5 sent me a list of approved resources. The list is extensive and problematic: https://sdpc.a4l.org/district_search.php?state=IL&districtID=6034 I knew Unit 5 didn’t buy every resource on the list, so I FOIA’d which ones they did buy. The good news is Panorama is on the list but it isn’t on the list […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sounds like a tragic start to life! She was poor but somehow managed to become of Doctor in most likely Education. She also has three Masters Degrees, in other words she is a product of the education system at the highest level. Pretending not to be a capitalist, Dr. Dubiel started her […]
Flying around I over-heard talk of big raises for staff using the COVID dollars. At least one districts thinks they found a loophole in how the money can be spent. I wonder who they think is going to pay bloated salaries when that money runs out? Maybe staff wants combat pay, today at BHS:
By: Diane Benjamin I went to the District 87 meeting last week because their meetings aren’t on video. Unit 5 meetings are, I’m just now getting to their Public Comment. Please note: Public Comment will likely not change your elected officials mind. It is for the public because it proves other people think the same […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) Local schools are teaching Critical Race Theory. They get around it by using the principles of CRT without calling it teaching Critical Race Theory. They might call it anti-racism, white supremacy, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or White Privilege. Any program that uses race as a qualifier for generalization about a group […]
