Our Candidate Choices
In looking at the voting history of the current Huntley Community School District 158 school board incumbents and their likelihood to continue voting nearly unanimously for excessive spending, tax increases, and referendums, we have also evaluated the platforms of the new candidates running this Spring.
Four D158 school board seats are up for election. It is time to vote the incumbents out and elect new board members on April 4, 2023 who will listen to the concerns of the community and vote with fiscal responsibility in mind.
Our citizen group has researched the new school board candidates and are endorsing four who have shown continued concern about the direction of this school board through their actions and involvement with raising awareness of ongoing concerns for months — and for some candidates, years.
We have spoken with each of them at length and vetted their commitment to changing the direction of the board to represent the wishes of this community.
We invite you to get to know them too.
Our endorsements for the three open four-year seats on Huntley Community School District 158’s School Board are as follows:
Andy Bittman
BittmanForBoard.com
Platform highlight: Fiscal responsibility
Employment and Experience: Engineering and management. Andy has extensive international and multicultural business experience.
About Andy: Andy is a 6-year resident of McHenry County and is the father of two sons and a daughter.
Why he’s running: “The District has lost its focus. Test scores are dropping, enrollment is dropping, and yet our spending keeps rising. We need to be focused on the right kind of spending.”
Why we are endorsing him: Andy has exhibited consistent involvement for more than three years speaking at D158 board meetings, exposing district financial waste and overspending, as well as detailed statistics on declining enrollment.
Laura Murray
Platform highlight: Returning a focus to academics
Employment and Experience: Customer service industry. Laura has team-focused leadership skills and is adept at analytical decision-making.
About Laura: Laura is a 16-year resident of McHenry County and the mother of two sons.
Why she’s running: “Academics is being lost to agenda-driven curriculum, and the district is wasting money on politically-charged agendas and programs that are unnecessary.”
Why we are endorsing her: Laura has exhibited regular involvement at D158 board meetings for over two years, raising awareness of ongoing issues to parents and students.
Gina Galligar
Platform highlight: Ensure all students exceed educational standards
Employment and Experience: Speech language pathologist. Gina has spent 31 years working in education with a focus on special-needs students.
About Gina: Gina is a three-year resident of McHenry County and a lifelong resident of Illinois. She is the mother of two sons.
Why she’s running: “I’ll work to make decisions in the best interest of all students and our community to ensure that general education and special education students thrive.”
Why we are endorsing her: D158 has continually sidelined issues related to the LIGHT program & special ed and is proposing another tax referendum to “solve” them when a budget surplus exists. Gina’s extensive knowledge of needs specific to special needs students would bring a much-needed perspective to the board.
Our endorsement for the single open two-year seat on Huntley Community School District 158’s School Board is:
Michael Thompson
TwoForThompson.com
Platform highlight: To give families, residents, and members of our community a voice in how their tax dollars are being spent.
Employment and Experience: Michael is the Director of Research for a medical non-profit. He is highly skilled at investigative analysis.
About Michael: Michael is a 20-year resident of McHenry County and a lifelong resident of Illinois. He is the father of seven children.
Why he’s running: “Our district voted for
the highest tax levy in its history after the public unanimously spoke against it. We need new board members that will listen to what the community wants.”
Why we are endorsing him: Michael has been speaking at D158 board meetings over the past 18 months regarding district overreach and failure to address community concerns, as well as exposing questionable expenses and uses of taxpayer dollars.
We strongly encourage you to take a look at each candidate’s website and platform, as well as ask them any questions you may have about their beliefs and campaigns.