Kane Co. (ECWd) –
After months of attempts in forbidding certain elected officials from listening to recordings of past closed meetings, it appears the naked monkey has finally been put on the table. Yes, U46 Board member Traci O’Neil Ellis will get her chance to prove Board Member Ward lied and can do so by voting YES to release the recording on Monday’s agenda. Or she will vote NO and claim Ward lied without taking any steps to prove it. The reference to putting the naked monkey on the table is one from Ellis during a past meeting. We covered that escapade in this article.
We are placing our bets on Ellis voting NO on this matter but do hope we are proven wrong.
The agenda item states:
A motion is requested to release to the public the audio recording of the Board of Education’s self-evaluation which took place in closed session on January 25, 2014 because the need for confidentiality no longer exists. Said audio recording must exclude any mention of any matters that are legally exempt from public disclosure, including but not limited to individual student information and/or information related to specific employee/staff evaluations, and the Board directs Administration to supply the January 25, 2014 closed session audio to the Board’s outside legal counsel to review and redact those areas exempt from public disclosure prior to the release of said audio.
I find the write up on this matter quite interesting. They have sent the tape to outside counsel instead of using their own counsel and directed him to make redactions of applicable information. Considering we have seen this move before with other public bodies, we would not be surprised to find more than just exempt information getting redacted.
Ellis insists she made no reference to members of the public nor any reference to certain politics being similar to a 21st century brand of the KKK, however, past board members have confirmed such references were made.
After seeing Ellis’s public Facebook post where she makes reference to the GOP Convention as the “Klanvention”, I suspect the truth of the matter is she probably did make such a reference during the past closed meeting. The racial overtones in her facebook post are clear, so, Ms. Ellis, please put the Naked Monkey on the table and encourage every board member to Vote YES to release the audio in question so the people will know the real Traci Ellis.
Of interest is those who “liked” her comment, of which the Board Attorney was one of them. What kind of School Board member, who happens to be an attorney, and Board Clerk, who is also an attorney, refers to an entire group of people exercising their rights as a Klanvention? Is this what we want in the position of leadership in an institution responsible for educating children? Seriously, what message did Ms. Ellis just send to every student in that school? I believe a message of hate and racism. Considering she was not at the GOP convention, nor ever met the vast majority of those there, what other possible justification can there be to refer to Americans exercising their political rights as a Klanvention?
Ms. Ellis, you are what is wrong in American right now! Do us all a favor and resign.
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