Dupage Policy Journal

Academic and author Robert Bruno is avowed Marxist who openly advocates for socialism in the U.S., arguing it is more “ethical” than capitalism.

He moonlights as president of the Elementary School District 41 board in decidedly capitalist Glen Ellyn, pop. 27,855, home to hard-driving entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 executives. 

The district budget is $56 million and the median income there $111,000— nearly twice the national average.

How taxpayers in an upscale, white-collar suburb willfully handed the reins of their elementary school system to a man calling for the redistribution of their own wealth is a story of both suburban ambivalence and teachers union motivation.

Typically low-turnout affairs with little fanfare, 2017 saw a shift. 

The Glen Ellyn Education Association (GEEA), part of the state’s largest teacher’s union, stepped up its advocacy, backing Bruno, 67, and a $40 million tax hike referendum.

Voter registration surged ten percent, according to the DuPage County Election Commission. Turnout rose by one-third.

Bruno won handily, earning 3,264 votes that year, tops among five candidates vying for four board seats. His was nearly double the 1,707 total that the top vote-getter, Stephanie Clark, received in a District 41 race just two years earlier.

A University of Illinois professor well-regarded nationally among Marxist-leaning labor union activists for his screeds against the “profits of capitalists,” Bruno took a softer approach with Glen Ellyn voters.

In his first 2017 campaign, Bruno diplomatically told Shaw Newspapers he hoped to “make a positive contribution to our district’s schools.”

“Civil discourse is not only required for productive communication but it is necessary for good decision-making,” Bruno said. “I’m guided by the commitment that we should be tough on the issues but kind to one another.”

“Bruno's Rules of Compliance"

The district’s era of kindness didn’t last long.

Union-backed Democrats won three more seats in 2019, and Bruno ascended to board president, flexing a dominant 6-1 majority.

Change— and acrimony— soon followed.

Community members argued over whether board members should be standing for the pledge of allegiance. And the board began operating under new rules.

Bruno was granted more authority and control than previous board presidents. He would personally decide which agenda items could be allowed for discussion. District policy committee members would now serve at his discretion.

Former board president Clark, a Republican, was purged from the district’s special education committee. 

Bruno also pursued legal action against her, making a puzzling claim that Clark wasn't entitled to keep email public records from her tenure. 

He also hired a lawyer to investigate whether Bruce Currie, the only Republican left on the board, had "violated his oath of office" by challenging the Bruno's rule changes. Currie only found out he was investigated when he saw the legal bills. 

As community criticism mounted, Bruno proposed a ban on social media use by board members. He also backed a measure to require armed police protection at all board meetings, and suggested replacing the use of Robert’s Rules of Order at board meetings with his own dictates.

“They should just call the new rules, Bruno's Rules of Compliance,” quipped a former board member.

“Bob can do anything he wants. My only ‘power’ is to point out to the community when I disagree with, what in my opinion, is a power grab by the board president to silence opposing opinions,” wrote Currie, 54, on Glen Ellyn Forum, a local message board.

Bruno assigned Currie and others a book to read-- Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools--  by a critical race theory activist and UCLA professor Tyrone C. Howard.

Howard argues for school districts to "do more in the fight for racial justice." He argues black students would perform better if there were more "black history, life and culture" in school curriculum."

At Hadley Junior High, seventh grade English students learning how to identity different character types in literature got a taste of the new normal.

“Juan wasn’t technically supposed to be in this country. He was considered by law to be an illegal immigrant,” it said. “It was a hard and lonely life for Juan, and it was only made harder by one of his bosses, Rick.”

“Juan wondered what had happened in Rick’s life to make him so hateful.”

“Is Rick a flat or round character?”

"Our white privilege should be used to call it out for what it is."

When COVID-19 hit, in spring 2020, battle lines in Glen Ellyn had already been drawn.

Bruno and the board closed Glen Ellyn schools. And siding with teacher’s union sentiment, he wanted to keep them closed indefinitely, attracting the ire of parents who wanted in-person instruction.

A “pro-open” slate of candidates declared it would challenge Bruno for control of the board, and built momentum. A survey showed 70 percent of District 41 parents wanted children in school. Bruno relented; schools would re-open. Then barbs started to fly.

Last month, a Bruno supporter rummaged through 100 tweets from one of her neighbors on the pro-open slate, building a Google spreadsheet chronicling the ones she didn’t like.

It had 39 rows— one for each tweet, along with a comment, presumably to highlight a problem with the opinion expressed.

“No more masks. “Saliva testing.”  Union exploitation machine” “Beijing Biden”

Bruno backer and Julie Spiller, 51, turned the tweets into a video slideshow to music from the 1990’s rock band Three Doors Down. She posted it on Facebook.

“Racist remarks such as "Beijing Biden" help perpetuate hate,” she wrote. “Stop this bullshit right now." Vote wisely in (the) D41 School Board (election).”

Spiller argued that it was disqualifying if a school board candidate had refused to obediently wear a mask, or had expressed concern about then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s business ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). She called Republicans "insurrectionists," repeating a widely discredited claim that they tried to overthrow the U.S. government.

“I don't think this mentality belongs on the D41 school board,” she wrote. "Our white privilege should be used to call it out for what it is."

Spiller, who owns a vintage home accessories store in downtown Glen Ellyn, said members of the "pro-open" slate refusing to support the Marxist group "Black Lives Matter" were "haters" and "caused a lot of f'ing problems for many (Glen Ellyn) businesses" that, like hers, wanted to display signs of support in their windows.

Jessica Valerio, 42, a charter school principal living in Glen Ellyn, wrote on Facebook that Republican views were "disgusting" and declared a GOP board candidate should "suffer the consequences of her ignorance."

College of DuPage Math Professor Christy Peterson, 46, decried the GOP views on Facebook as "hate speech" and said any candidate believing such things "is unable to represent me or anyone that cares about treating humans with dignity."

Karen Winter, 51, went on Facebook to call the GOP views "appalling."

"No no no no no! Last week a group of Asian women was (sic) gunned down because of racist rhetoric such as this," Winter wrote.

Glen Ellyn is 3.4 percent black per the U.S. Census.

District 41 voter registration has surged 19 percent between 2011 and 2019, from 18,390 to 21,856, according to the DuPage County Election Commission.