Senn Tomorrow, two days ago

This past Monday there was a meeting of the Senn Tomorrow Task Force, which, as I've written before, was created by Alderman Mary Ann Smith to address concerns in the community related to the conversion of Nicholas Senn High School into a military academy.

One of the big issues was the question of whether the task force would operate under the Illinois Open Meetings Act. When the subject was first brought up two months ago, many of the task force members who came from outside the school system were unfamiliar with the act. There were concerns that it would place an excessive burden on the task force and leave members open to legal action against them. However, most members, upon reviewing the act, agreed that it would not be difficult to comply with it, and a motion was passed 18-1-2 in favor of operating under the Open Meetings Act.

As for substantive work being done, a subcommittee is working on a survey to be distributed to members of the community. It is hoped this will provide insight as to how people think the school can be made better. The subcommittee plans to get a market research expert to help create the survey on a pro bono basis, and I can speak from personal experience that an expert is necessary. Many years ago, I worked for a market research firm, manning the phones. (I was terrible at it, by the way.) All employees had to be trained on the basic methodology of how the surveys were developed. I learned that there is a science to it, even if it is a "soft science," and if it's not done right, the Senn Tomorrow Task Force could end up expending a lot of time and energy collecting garbage data.