State's Attorney's Office Confirms School Board Under Investigation

This is how you change your community for the better. A simple FOIA request uncovers evidence of illegal activity. You publicize what you've found and file a criminal complaint. And then the prosecutors go to work:

The Lake County State’s Attorney office has confirmed it is looking into complaints of misconduct against Grayslake School District 46 officials related to the campaign for last month’s school board elections.

E-mails sent by District 46 officials, which form the basis of the complaints, were submitted this week to the state’s attorney’s office by district critics who are affiliated with the Lake County Tea Party movement.

In a press release issued Tuesday, Lake County Tea Party spokesman Paul Mitchell, of Hainesville, said the e-mails show, among other things, that political activity was conducted by district officials using public resources.

The e-mails, also posted on the Lake County Tea Party’s website, were obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, he said.

Mitchell said that in the weeks leading up to the election, one District 46 official had inappropriately used a public e-mail account to discuss campaign activities with other district officials.

In another e-mail, a different official referred to offering gift cards to high school students as an incentive to register to vote, Mitchell said.

The officials have not disputed the authenticity of the e-mails and have declined to comment further.

They say we're interfering with the task of educating the children. I say they're using the children as human shields to try to get away with their continued embezzlement of district funds for their own benefit.

So far, we have only scratched the surface of the tip of the iceberg.