Perhaps the most surprising returns of the night came from the District 150 School Board election (winners in bold):

I was not surprised that Alicia Butler didn’t win. On her campaign postcard, the very first bullet point reads, “Open, honest communication with the community.” Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Since the charges were levied that she did not have the degrees she claimed to have, she’s not had open communication with anyone (we’re still waiting for a comment from her lawyer), and obviously her honesty is the very thing at issue.

I was surprised that she didn’t come in last. Beth Akeson tied for first place in my precinct, but in district 2 at large she came in dead last, even behind Alicia Butler. I’m not sure I understand why. I guess her message just didn’t resonate with the voters. Maybe this is for the best — now she can continue to focus on the Heart of Peoria Commission instead of having her interests divided.

Bill O’Brien was interviewed on WCBU after the final numbers came in. Even though he only lost by approximately 30 votes, he was willing to graciously concede rather than pursue a recount. We all thought that was very gentlemanly of him.

Rachael Parker was one of my endorsements, so it’s good to see her win, of course.

The biggest surprise to me was that Linda Butler came in first. I’m clearly out of touch with other voters in the second district because I didn’t see that coming at all. I felt Linda Butler was the status-quo candidate; she’s the only candidate that didn’t take a hard stance against the school in the park idea. I never would have expected her to come in first.

I’m going to predict that this will not represent much of a shift for the school board.

It will come as no surprise to anyone that I’m endorsing Beth Akeson for the District 150 Board of Education. I serve with her on the Heart of Peoria Commission and have seen first-hand how she works with a team of people toward a common goal.

Akeson does a lot of research. She’s relentless in educating herself about topics on which she needs to make a decision both through written materials and personal interviews. She is committed to getting public input before making decisions. That’s important, since the current school board has a habit of making poorly-researched decisions first and then getting public “input,” which they summarily ignore anyway.

Perhaps most importantly, she believes we need to raise the expectations of children in our education system. It’s not enough for the district to make “adequate yearly progress” its goal. District 150 needs to aim higher than minimum standards. And that’s what being on the school board is all about — the children. The school board should be doing everything it can to facilitate educational excellence (not just adequacy) for all students.

I’m confident Beth Akeson will be an excellent addition to the school board. She’s strongly endorsed.

Rachael Parker works for the City of Peoria in economic development. While we all recognize that the city and the school board are two completely separate governmental entities, they are nevertheless interdependent. They both draw from the same tax base, so the health and success of each body depends in large part on the health and success of the other. With that backdrop, I believe Parker would be an asset on the school board to help foster understanding between the two bodies.

Parker is also a proponent of inclusive decision-making. It’s sad that the school board has such a bad reputation in the area of listening to the community that this is such a big campaign issue. But the fact is, it is a big issue. We need people on the board who will really listen to the people whom they are representing and treat them with respect. Parker will do that.

She’s also a proponent of vocational education. I believe vocational education is important whether students are able to go to college or not. It teaches job skills and attitudes that students can begin using immediately in their summer jobs as they’re just beginning to enter the workforce and build their resume.

Finally, Parker (as well as Akeson, for that matter) understands that the Board of Education sets policy, vision, and direction for the school district and then lets the superintendent carry it out. Currently, the board appears to be led by Mr. Hinton. Getting the chain of command righted and having the school board do the leading will do wonders for improving District 150.

The rest of the candidates

It was a little tough coming up with endorsements since there was such a good pool of candidates this time around. It was a toss-up for me between Parker and Bill O’Brien, but I gave the edge to Parker for her city connections and because she would bring more diversity to the board. I feel that Linda Butler is what I would call a “status-quo” candidate. That is, I feel her platform is in line with what the current school board is already doing. She’s the only candidate who has continued to support the Glen Oak Park site for an East Bluff school.

As for the embattled Alicia Butler, I’ve maintained all along that if the controversy surrounding her honesty and integrity were not cleared up before the election, then I can’t in good conscience endorse her. If she is able to clear her name after the election, she can always run again the next time around. But it’s too much for me to believe that this is some sort of vast political conspiracy involving both the Journal Star and Bradley University to remove her from the board and ruin her life.

There’s a logical principle that the simplest explanation tends to be the correct one, and in this case the simplest explanation is that Alicia fudged her resume and is trying to cover up her mistake. I’ll give her credit for chutzpah, but I’m afraid I can’t give her my vote.

Apparently the Journal Star was expecting the Moss-Bradley Association to string up Alicia Butler and bat her around like a piñata at last night’s candidates forum. The Journal Star’s coverage begins with a heavy tone of disappointment: “Despite a reputation for being a tough crowd, the Moss-Bradley Residential Neighborhood Association ignored the elephant in the room for one of its own.” Phil Luciano said on the radio today that he thought the neighborhood association had given Butler “a pass.”

I’m not quite sure what these fine members of the media were expecting. Alicia Butler was the first candidate to speak, and the first thing she said was that she wasn’t going to talk about the controversy surrounding her that night, but that a statement from her lawyer would be forthcoming. I suppose we all could have peppered her with questions about it anyway, just for sport, knowing full well all she would say is “no comment” and “my lawyer will be issuing a statement soon.” Instead, the residents took the four minutes allotted Butler for questions and answers to ask her school-related questions.

Nevertheless, I caught up with Butler after the meeting and did ask some follow-up questions. For the most part, she spoke off the record, and I always respect someone’s request for comments to be off the record. But I can tell you a couple of things. Her lawyer is Hugh Toner, and she doesn’t know exactly when he’ll be issuing a statement, but she thinks it will be next week. Her mother, who was with her at the forum last night, steadfastly stood by Alicia and believes this is all a smear campaign. And finally, I asked her if she felt a sense of urgency in getting this resolved, because it certainly appears from the outside that she’s kind of dragging her feet. She said she was working diligently to find all her documentation and is turning over everything she finds to her lawyer.

Judging from her interaction with several people who came up to her while we were talking, she continues to have a lot of supporters despite the controversy. Even Mayor Ardis expressed to me that he was still supporting her, which the Journal Star is now also reporting.

Me? I haven’t made up my mind yet. In an old episode of the Andy Griffith Show, Opie tells Andy and Barney about a friend he has named Mr. McBeevee. He explains that McBeevee walks in the trees, has twelve extra hands, and jingles when he walks like he has rings on his fingers and bells on his toes. Andy and Barney believed this fantastic person was just an invisible friend and played along until Opie claimed McBeevee had given him a quarter and a little hatchet. They then worried that Opie was stealing these items and using “Mr. McBeevee” as an excuse for his kleptomania. Andy threatened Opie with a spanking if he didn’t come clean and admit that he made up this McBeevee character, but Opie steadfastly maintained he was not lying.

Andy decided not to spank Opie, but believe him instead. Barney, of course, thought he had lost his mind. It was so obvious Opie was making all this stuff up. Then something amazing happened: Andy met Mr. McBeevee. It turned out it was a real person — a lineman for the telephone company. He walked in “trees” (telephone poles), had twelve “extra hands” (tools), and the jingling was from his tool belt. Opie was vindicated in the end.

Can that be a metaphor for what’s happening with Butler? Probably not. I talked to Bradley myself today and checked the alumni directory. There is no indication anywhere that I can find that she ever graduated. It will really be a miracle if Alicia somehow produces transcripts that prove she really did get her bachelors and masters degrees.

But that said, I still think the whole thing is fishy. Charges that this is a smear campaign are not without merit. Even if it’s true that she embellished her resume, neither her job (she’s self-employed) nor the school board position require the degrees in question, so why did the Journal Star investigate it? Yes, it reflects on her character. But then, so does this letter to Sean Matheson signed by 14 District 150 administrators in May 2004 that alleges he “physically assault[ed] the Superintendent,” among other indiscretions. Yet that letter was allegedly suppressed by the paper’s editorial board. You didn’t see a big exposé in the Journal Star about that, even though it’s clearly more egregious than padding one’s resume. Why did the Journal Star apparently protect Matheson, but skewer Butler? There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark.

I’m willing to suspend judgment until Butler’s lawyer issues his statement. But it needs to come before the election, and it better be good. I found Butler to be very likable, and frankly, I want to believe her. But regardless of whether this revelation was politically motivated, it is an issue of trust and integrity. If she claimed to have degrees she really doesn’t have, then she needs to go, regardless of how likable she is or whether I agreed with her voting record on the board.