Here is a copy of a letter that I sent to Tony Arredia, Mayor of Des Plaines, following up on my presentation to his City Council on the need for 3-point seat belts on school busses. The mayor and I have known each other for a long time, thus the informality in the salutation.
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Similar letters were sent, today, to the Village President of Schaumburg, the Superintendent of District 214, Senator Sullivan and Representative Krause.
You'll love the part of the letter that refers to District 21.
June 25, 2001
Honorable Tony Arredia
Mayor of Des Plaines
City Hall
1420 Miner Street
Des Plaines, IL 60016
Dear Tony,
Thanks for the opportunity to make a presentation to the City Council last Monday regarding the urgent need for 3-point seat belts on school busses. I was delighted with the Council’s enthusiastic response to my proposal.
During the past two weeks, I made similar presentations to the Village of Schaumburg Board of Trustees, the High School District 214 Board of Education in Arlington Heights, the Elementary District 21 Board of Education in Wheeling, and to State Senator David Sullivan. Earlier this year, I met with State Representative Carolyn Krause about the issue. All responded with enthusiasm, except District 21.
On Thursday, June 14th, I spoke at the District 214 school board meeting. Board members responded immediately to my proposal. The meeting agenda included a proposal to solicit bids for 14-passenger school busses to replace 15-passenger vans. Board Member Bill Blaine directed the purchasing department representative to specifically state in the bid specs that the board wants bids for busses that are equipped with 3-point seat belts. Mr. Blaine said that his request was in direct response to my presentation earlier that same evening.
On Monday, June 18th, I was at your City Council meeting.
On Tuesday, June 19th, I made the presentation to the Schaumburg Committee of the Whole. The trustees loved the idea of requiring 3-point seat belts on school busses so much that they said they might adopt a requirement that current school busses be retrofitted. That would be great for the kids who ride school busses! The trustees referred the matter to their Public Safety Committee.
On Wednesday, June 20th, I made the presentation to State Senator David Sullivan at a meeting of the Northwest Tax Watch group. Senator Sullivan concurred that the idea has great merit and said that he would get back to me this week to set up a meeting in his office to discuss the matter further.
On Thursday, June 21st, I made the presentation at the District 21 school board meeting. The District 21 Superintendent, Bud DesCarpentrie, who is one year away from retirement, strongly opposed the idea. However, he seems to have a big problem with the issue of the safety of students. Later in that same meeting, another resident of School District 21, Mark Ganoung, spoke to the board. He said that he is a school bus driver for Laidlaw, and that he used to be a driver on one of District 21's routes. For the first three days that he drove the District 21 route, he had 75 kids on a bus with a legal maximum of 72. In addition, one of the stops was at a location in which kids (some as young as four years old) needed to cross three lanes of traffic to get to their homes, which exceeds the legal maximum of two lanes of traffic. Mr. Ganoung brought the matters of overloading and illegal conditions to the attention of the District 21 administration. Mr. DesCarpentrie responded by having Mr. Ganoung fired for complaining. Mr. Ganoung’s letter of termination stated that complaining about safety or illegal conditions constituted "being uncooperative." Problem solved, I guess. Anyone else want to complain about unsafe or illegal conditions on a District 21 bus or route?
In March, State Representative Carolyn Krause attended a meeting of the Riley School (in Arlington Heights) Community Safety Committee, of which I am a member. Representative Krause concurred after my presentation that state legislation mandating 3-point seat belts on school busses was warranted, but that she has not yet been able to generate sufficient political support to get it passed.
Any time that I get involved in a controversial issue, there will be those who engage in a campaign of dis-information and distortion about what I have said or about my position because of who I am. The Daily Herald seems to have started a dis-information campaign against me on the seat belt issue. An article in the June 23rd issue of their paper falsely quoted me, misrepresented my position on the issue and substantially distorted the facts regarding the need for 3-point seat belts on school busses. The Daily Herald should not be regarded as a reliable source of information on this issue.
I look forward to participating with you as the process of reviewing the matter continues. Thanks for your interest in the matter of 3-point seat belts on school busses.
Best regards, Rob Sherman
Rob Sherman P. O. Box
7410
Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
A post office box is used
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Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com