A Walk Down Memory Lane, Part III

When we last left off, Bongo had shared summaries and news clippings showing Larry Snow's trail of destruction from 2004 through May of 2007. Feel free to look back at those posts if you missed them or if you need a refresher...

Part III

July, 2007
Snow Tries to Renege on Superintendent Contract That He Voted to Approve

When Superintendent Dr. John Burkey was hired in 2006, Larry Snow was involved with the creation of the contract, including its wording and the salary figures. So Larry was well aware that Dr. Burkey was given a starting salary that fell well below the average for Superintendents in large K-12 districts. Snow also knew that the contract provided for a pretty large salary bump after Burkey’s first year, which increased his pay but still placed him below most of his peers with regard to pay.

Snow voted in favor of the Burkey contract.

One year later, Snow tried to renege on the deal he helped to create, and said Dr. Burkey did not deserve a large raise. Snow made these comments in open session even though he knew that personnel matters were closed session topics. During the meeting when he was asked to refrain from discussing the contract in open session, Snow continued with his rant, in direct violation of the code of conduct for school board members.

When Snow was reminded that he helped to negotiate the contract and knew full-well what salary provisions were in it, Snow said he didn’t understand the contract he voted to approve. But wait a second. Didn’t Snow say his background was as an expert in contract arbitration? Hmmm.

NW Herald 7/14/08

July, 2007
Board Discusses New Snow Removal Contract; Snow Refuses to Abstain from Discussion and Vote

After a year of nothing but trouble with snow removal vendor Moore Turf Care, discussions took place in July to award the contract for the next year. From his chair on the board rail, Larry Snow immediately began advocating for his friends and political allies Linda and David Moore. He spoke up in favor of the vendor even though he knew the contract had brought nothing but headaches onto the administration. Board Vice President Tony Quagliano asked Snow to recuse himself from the snow removal discussion since he obviously was not a neutral party, but Snow refused and continued to advocate for his friends Linda and David Moore.

Wasn’t Larry Snow the guy who made all kinds of accusations about political cliques and political favoritism toward friends? The fact that Snow refused to recuse himself from the snow removal discussions proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that his first priority was to try to get a lucrative District 158 contract for his friends.

NW Herald 7/20/07

September, 2007
Snow Shows Complete Disregard for Rules During September BOE Meeting

Larry was in rare form at the September, 2007 Board meeting. He was argumentative and disrespectful during almost every agenda item discussion. Here are summaries of just a few of his controversial and disruptive actions at this meeting:

Snow Admits his Sun City Attack Ads were Politically Motivated; Refuses to Correct Misstatements

Snow’s controversial and disruptionist tendencies were apparent right off the bat. During the public comment portion of the meeting a resident questioned the content of Snow’s full page ads in the Sun City Herald in the days leading up to the election. It was pointed out that many of Snow’s accusations were false, and Snow himself admitted that the ads were politically motivated. Snow was asked to publicly correct the misinformation he had provided to the residents of Sun City, and he refused.

Snow Tries to Remove Moore Turf Care’s Latest Blunder from the Agenda

One agenda item on this night was an oil spill by Moore Turf Care on the playground at Leggee. Snow moved, and Seedorf seconded, a motion to remove a discussion of the spill, which MTC did not report until a full 24 hours after it occurred, even though they knew there would be children on the playground that day. The Snow-Seedorf attempt to protect their friends failed and the issue was discussed during the meeting. According to the Leggee Principal, about a quart of oil had been spilled down the entire length of the playground on Wednesday morning, and children were slipping on the spill all day on Wednesday. Notification of the spill by Moore Turf Care did not occur until Thursday.

Robert’s Rules? We Don't Need No Stinking Robert’s Rules!

Also on this date, Larry Snow made a motion to completely ignore Robert’s Rules of Order and proper parliamentary procedure, and have the board meetings run by the vice president for three months. Snow cited his dissatisfaction with the manner in which President Green was conducting meetings.

In reality, Snow was frosted that Green cut his comments off when they bordered on slanderous for the district, included verbal attacks against other board members and administrators, or were blatantly false statements. In other words, Snow was mad that Green was actually enforcing parliamentary procedures which prohibit such activity at a meeting.

Green defended himself by saying that he stood by his actions and while it is not his job to interrupt a speaker when he disagrees with the speaker’s opinion, it is most definitely his responsibility as President to interrupt when incorrect statements are made.

Again with the Attempted Censorship…

A bit later in the meeting, Snow requested that any e-mail sent district-wide by the board president must first have superintendent approval. Snow then accused Green of sending a politically motivated e-mail to all staff.

Here is the content of the e-mail that President Green sent to all staff members:

Hello all-

I hope the first couple weeks have gone well. From time to time, an individual BOE member will contact a staff member for information requests, etc. I’d imagine most of the time this is not a problem, but I have been made aware of instances where staff members felt obligated to put higher priority work on hold to handle these requests. Just a reminder- Policy 2:140 provides you all with the authority to tell us to take a hike if we, as individual board members, are pestering you! The mission statement is “Inspire, Challenge, Empower,” not “drop everything you’re doing and handle a request from an individual board member.” Please take a few minutes to re-read this policy, and feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns regarding this or any other issue.


Snow Disregards Closed Session Rules and Tries to Discuss and Vote on an HEA Contract Issue in Open Session

Still on a roll, Snow decided that the rule that contracts and negotiations can not be discussed in open session without the consent of both parties, was not important. Even after he was told that his actions could compromise the board and the District, Snow went on to make a motion about the level of teacher salary increases for the upcoming contract. Even his sidekick Seedorf knew this one was wrong, and she did not provide her customary “second” to Snow’s motion.

Snow Votes Against Snow Removal Contract that Doesn’t Go to Moore Turf Care

Due to the lousy job the Moore’s did with snow removal the prior year, they were prohibited from bidding on the contract for 2007-08. Bids were opened and a new snow removal vendor emerged… Tovar. The company had an impeccable record of customer satisfaction and they had the equipment and manpower to assure that District 158’s snow removal needs would be handled on time and correctly.

Snow voted against giving the contract to Tovar, even though they were the lowest bidder. Any lingering doubt about Snow’s loyalties and priorities were put to rest when he voted against what was clearly in the best interest of the District’s taxpayers regarding snow removal.

Snow Tries Again to Circumvent Open Meeting Act Regulations

Evidently not swayed by the board’s explanation that discussing teacher compensation in open session exposes the Board to possible liability, Snow tried to amend the annual budget proposal to include a $25,000 line item for teacher bonuses. Snow was told that his motion was a violation of the bargaining agreement, and Snow provided no measurable method for determining who would get the raises. Board member Gentry said he had no opposition to rewarding good performance, but reminded Snow that it is not good business practice to violate a contract.

Snow Votes Against Balanced Budget
On this night, Snow voted against the budget. Even though the budget showed revenues that were higher than expenditures, Snow voted against the budget.

Approved BOE Minutes, 9/20/07

October, 2007
Snow Blasts Village of Huntley Officials and Lobs Allegations of Backroom Deals with Developers

Evidently, trying to ruin the reputations of his other board colleagues and the administration was not enough for Larry Snow. In October, Snow published statements which accused officials from the Village of Huntley of making backroom deals with developers. Snow’s comments included this: “A few free lunches, a few free dinners, a thank-you envelope in the Christmas basket sent to the home and a few well-placed political [contributions] and you have a recipe for overcrowding (in Huntley).”

The unfounded comments were made in regard to a development in unincorporated McHenry County, which was not giving any impact fees to the local schools. In a three-page response to Snow’s allegations, Huntley Mayor Chuck Sass said Huntley has no jurisdiction over developments in unincorporated areas, and the village could not annex the property because it was not contiguous to any Huntley border.

NW Herald 10/4/07

November, 2007
Snow Tries to Create Community-Wide Panic Over MRSA Issue

In the fall of 2007 a few cases of MRSA, a drug resistant skin infection, surfaced in McHenry County. After a case was identified at Martin Elementary School, all District 158 schools were “supercleaned” to help prevent the spread. In all, 238 elementary classrooms, 90 middle school classrooms and 105 high school classrooms were cleaned. When it was discovered that a few kindergarten classrooms at Chesak had trash cans that had not been emptied, that entire school was supercleaned again.

Soon thereafter, Snow began suggesting on newspaper blogs that a MRSA epidemic might be on the horizon and he pointed fingers at District 158 administrators. The District eventually had the communicable disease coordinator for the McHenry County Health Department come to a board meeting to calm the brewing community-wide panic. She explained that the District’s MRSA response effort went “above and beyond” what they needed to do to respond to a case of MRSA in one building.

Tony Q, disgusted with Snow’s attempt to scare parents into thinking their administrators didn’t care about the safety of their kids, had this to say:

“What Mr. Snow provides throughout his writing is pure, unadulterated fear mongering at its worst.”

NW Herald 11/8/07

December, 2007
LITH Resident Michael Luecht Takes out Full Page Ad in Northwest Herald and Asks Snow and Seedorf to Resign

By December of 2007, much of the community was fed up with Larry Snow’s antics and despicable behavior. Residents were surprised on December 15 when they opened up their Northwest Herald and saw a full page two-color ad. In the ad, Lake In The Hills resident Michael Luecht explained that he has attended board meetings and “the two obstructive board members are stunning to watch in action. They just want attention, they do not have an identifiable agenda, and they are certainly not qualified to be in leadership positions.”

Little did Luect know that the next week Stacie Talbert would resign her position as the District’s top fiscal office employee because of Snow and Seedorf.

If you don’t know who Michael Luecht is, he and two of his friends were recently in the news as the incredibly generous donors who created the MCC Promise Fund, a scholarship program available to high school seniors. To say he’s a good guy would be putting it mildly.

December, 2007
Comptroller Resigns: I Feel Like a Sitting Duck

In a move that both surprised and angered parents, Comptroller/Treasurer Stacie Talbert resigned at the December meeting, and on her way out the door she made perfectly clear that her departure was a direct result of Larry Snow’s and Aileen Seedorf’s treatment of other board members, of administrators and of District employees. “I’ve personally witnessed how they have attacked my colleagues and I feel like a sitting duck wondering when it will be my turn. Here at District 158 the word ‘administrator’ is viewed as a dirty word by some, and the type of collaboration, trust and respect between some of the Board members and administration is not conducive to moving the school district forward. Overall, I cannot work in an organization with such negative culture.”

NW Herald 12/26/07