My name is Annette Johnson. I am currently on the East Aurora D131 School Board where I have been serving our community since 2009. Having served with Mr. John Laesch for 4 of those years, I have been asked by many residents to share my views because of my firsthand knowledge of his performance as an elected official.
Mr. Laesch stated at a recent Mayoral debate that he missed only one D131 School Board meeting while he was on the board. That is false. He missed 34 meetings. Let me repeat that - he missed 34 meetings. That is an unprecedented lack of respect by an elected official for his elected position.
John says he is 'passionate' about green issues. During his time on the school board, he was appointed to the committee tasked with upgrading our school district to integrate many green friendly programs in our buildings. Again, he did not participate or attend those meetings. He had to be removed from that committee because of his lack of participation. Apparently, his passion for the environment was only words not deeds.
Laesch talks about how he supports young people and education. While on the School Board, he did not attend any School District function including High School Graduations. It is a long-standing tradition at East Aurora that School Board members participate in High School Graduation ceremonies to support and show respect for the graduates and their families. Mr. Laesch was the only board member who never attended a graduation - not one. Not very respectful.
Mr. Laesch takes credit for busing when in fact at the time when the vote was taken, he called it a political stunt. Not very supportive.
I personally had difficult dealings with Mr. Laesch because of his lack of respect for the position of school board. While on the board Mr. Laesch became involved with administration that have since moved on from our school district. The employees secretly and illegally recorded a meeting that at times became a passionate discussion about wasteful government spending by the school district. Mr. Laesch was aware of the wasteful spending, but for his own power grab, he threatened me by saying, "I'll destroy you" if I did not resign. This displays his willingness to use any tactics, legal or illegal, to get his way and make himself look like the hero to feed his own ego and further his political agenda. [Beacon News 4/19/16]
Aurora Voters, do not let him further exploit our hard working and honest families to promote his political agenda. The office of Mayor and the future of our families are too important to let this happen.
