Fellow Concerned Students, Tomorrow, my petition drafting peers and I will be going to the Board of Education meeting to present our petition to Mrs. Ward. We would appreciate any support any of you could offer. Four of us are planning to speak to the board, if any more of you would like to speak, you are welcome to do so, but you could be just as much help showing up to clap at the right time. If you do want to speak, please respect the following guidelines. No insults or ad hominem arguments, keep it respectful and focused on the issues, even if the other side is not. No name calling, baseless accusations, or turning this political. This is not a partisan issue. We don’t need to give the accusations of us being “Ill informed leftists” any merit. Public comment etiquette says that comments aimed a specific board member are not appropriate, so try to keep direct finger pointing to a minimum. Also remember when giving your comment, this petition is about students saying that Mrs. Ward is not a good representative of U-46, not about some of the terribly biased things she has said. She can hold whatever beliefs she would like, she just can’t impose them on us. Be respectful to the opposition, even if they don’t respect you. We need to be the bigger person in this situation, so if you don’t have something nice to say, please don’t say anything as it could do more harm than good. Also, dress to impress for the board. If you aren’t speaking you don’t need to dress up. Furthermore I would recommend arriving early. If you are planning on speaking, try to get there 45 minutes prior to the start of the meeting. If you just want to spectate, half an hour should be adequate. This will ensure we get seats in the main room for what is bound to be a busy meeting. If you arrive later you may end up in overflow seating. It will also give us a chance to consult and make sure we present one cohesive message. The meeting is going to be starting at around 7:00 at 355 East Chicago St. in Elgin. If you have any questions feel free to email me at brendonculloton@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing a lot of you at the board meeting! Thanks, Brendon Culloton