Enter Deborah Boyle. Now, many of you might be saying, "Didn't you ridicule the Boyle family just last fall?" The short answer is "yes." The long answer is, I was upset after reading about the 14-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who had been raped, and then reading that Bret Boyle was purported to be "psychologically damaged" by the prospect of attending Downers Grove South.
But here's the thing: the Boyles didn't come out of the gate using that angle. They put in for a normal transfer that many other people have put in before them for similar reasons. Only, theirs got turned down, for little or no reason. The all-powerful poobahs on the school board, who seem so irritatingly similar to the poohbahs on the park district board, just felt like being arbitrary. So, Deborah Boyle got her Irish up and fought. She fought tooth and nail, and one of those teeth and/or nails was the psychological angle. She wasn't going to sit there and take it. In fact, if she had slugged one of those board members in his/her smug puss, I would've been down at the police station with bail money and a bunch of cupcakes for her.
Actually, I would've vastly preferred that action to the psychology one, but then I'm not the one who would've been charged with assault.
I have more than just the Boyle's experience to suggest the school board needs some changin'.
Take what happened to Phil Labak when he went to file for candidacy. While he was there, one of the incumbents sauntered in -- WITH THE OTHER INCUMBENT'S PETITIONS along with her own. So, they would all appear together on the ballot. So, unsuspecting voters (granted, it's their own fault, but still) who might just check off a bunch of boxes in a row, would be more likely to re-elect the incumbents. This probably happens all the time, the "in-crowd" getting an edge. When Mr. Labak dared to question her royal highness the school board incumbent, he was accused of "causing a scene." Indeed! How dare the rabble question the aristocracy!
Not only do I believe this practice should be prohibited because it allows a group of people to rig the ballots, but how lazy is someone who can't drop off his/her own petition? I'm supposed to have faith in his/her work ethic after that?
So, Deborah Boyle and Phil Labak and all the other "little people" who haven't mattered in the past, you have my vote, at least. For what it's worth. Of course, I'm a "little people," too, so I'm not sure the impact I can have.
Also, Deborah and family? I apologize for my mean remarks earlier. You see, I got my Irish up when I read about that poor girl who had been raped, and... you understand. Friends?
