The District 108 Board of Education approved the hiring of Dr. Bill Link as the new superintendent by a six-vote majority last night. Link will begin his duties on July 1 and will earn a salary of $115,000.
For reasons he did not care to explain to Times reporter Nick Vogel, school board member Dean Bacon abstained from the vote to hire Link as superintendent. All Bacon had to say was the following:
I’m not happy with the selection or the contract.
OoooooooooK.
Isn’t hiring a new superintendent one of the more important duties of the school board? Why would Bacon abstain from that vote? If he wasn’t happy with Link or the contract, why didn’t he vote no?
In the spirit of transparency and responsive governance, I feel that Bacon owes the parents of 108 students an explanation for his abstention. I’ve emailed Bacon asking him to do just that. If a school board member has serious concerns regarding our new superintendent, I feel they should be voiced publicly.
6 responses so far ↓
1
Tom
// May 1, 2007 at 11:21 pm
A friend of mine who has been on another school board for many years asked me the same question. why didn’t he just vote “no”?
I’m not shocked by his actions, as nothing he does would shock anyone. I’m sure that Mangan would have voted the same on both votes. 2 peas in a pod.
2
Ms. Teacher
// May 4, 2007 at 9:52 am
Dean always does the opposite of what he should do. It’s like that Bizarro World episode of Seinfeld – he’s the opposite of (almost) every school board member we have. He should have just voted no. Because he abstained from voting, nothing he says about the new superintendent will ever be taken seriously.
And if he didn’t like the contract, he certainly could have shown up to, oh, I don’t know, ANY of the negotiation meetings they had over the course of this school year. The guy loves to complain, but he certainly isn’t doing his part to make any of the decisions.
Time for you to run for school board, KiD.
3
knightindragonland
// May 4, 2007 at 9:06 pm
To his credit, Dean Bacon did respond to my email. He stated that he did not vote no as a “professional courtesy.” I’m not sure what that means, but he did invite me to give him a call to discuss the situation further. I have yet to take him up on the offer.
As for running for school board … I have considered it. The one question I need to answer for myself is this – do I have the time to properly dedicate to the school board while running a busy pediatric practice (it’s not yet, but it will be in 2 years) and raising four daughters?
4
Tom
// May 4, 2007 at 11:32 pm
It’s a good thing he wrote that reason to you, I doubt he could have kept a straight face telling you to your face. I’ll bet other members of the board would dispute that reason. Nice try Dean.
5
A Knight in Dragonland » Pekin Should Abstain From Bacon
// Sep 26, 2007 at 9:47 pm
[...] Bacon doesn’t seem to think so. He abstained from both votes. I posted previously about Bacon’s abstention in the vote to appoint Bill Link superintendent, and Nick Vogel writes in the Times about Bacon’s abstention in the budget [...]
6
A Knight in Dragonland » HVAC Contract Evokes Bacon Tantrum
// Dec 29, 2007 at 1:25 am
[...] Bacon did not feel that voting yay or nay on selecting a new District 108 superintendent or approving the fiscal 2008 budget was worth his time (he abstained from both votes), Sir Bacon, [...]
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