In March of 2008, | was given an opportunity to interview for an opening on a Board that | would have never run for because | truly believed to a person, we had the best people in the community representing us. When an opening came about, | requested an interview. Knowing | was from a town of seven thousand, | knew my odds of winning re-election were minimal but | thought for the two years, ‘maybe | could make an impact. | was chosen for the position and seated in April of 2005. As | approach my eleventh year, it s with great sadness that | have to submit my letter of resignation to this Board and this administration. | love this school district, the administration, the teachers, the staff, my fellow board members and the students. | loved walking the halls and stopping to talk with whomever wanted to say hello. I loved stopping in the offices to talk with the support staff | loved the first day the teachers came back and the last day before break. | loved graduation and especially preparing the speeches that | had hoped would change a life, but what | loved most ofall was watching kids turn into young adults and corning back to share their successes. In 2015 we as a Board had to make a heart wrenching decision to attempt to close a gap caused by so many factors to include decreased enrollment, underfunding by the State of Illinois and perhaps in hindsight building one too many schools because we agreed with Dr. Wyllie that with more schools ‘came more opportunity. In taking this decision as to what might be best to the public during a meeting last summer, we put out three options. Option one was a tax referendum, an idea that | wouldn't have been able to support knowing where we are headed. Option two, the elimination of all extra-curricular activity that would suffocate part of why people moved to this community. Option three was to close a school. With the property tax freeze on the horizon and the pension shift looming, this was our only choice to get where we needed to be. It was this decision that ultimately forced my resignation. Since August, my personal life no longer was a personal life. Since August, my family became part of public attack and unfortunately, my business was continually attacked to the point that my employees began to suffer. On January 12, 2016, my employer, State Farm Insurance, sent representatives from Bloomington to my office to discuss my future because they were receiving letters from people, some anonymous and some who signed their name questioning if | was what they wanted representing them within our community. State Farm was pointed to several websites and social media sites where the attacks were most heated and they had no choice but to approach me to see what was most important to me, my career or my board position. This was the moment, I knew the small army had defeated me {As I type this resignation, | could not be any sadder than I am right now. | LOVE this district and | know every decision we made, we made with the best interest of the one hundred and five miles in mind. | type this resignation knowing in two years we will have a surplus and | know in five years we will be better than ever but | type it knowing | will not be around to see it. In my ten years | had only missed four meetings. | rearranged travel and business appointments to be there at the meeting and to never miss a graduation. Little did | know that when | stepped off that stage with the last of four graduations behind me, it would be my last ceremony with the students | want to thank everyone involved ten years for everything you have done to contribute to the “Lincoln-Way Way.”God bless you all and please as you move forward understand that from our end, it was never for one second, as this group would have you think, about politics. This as any rational human being will understand, was the right thing to do for the district. Support these Board members moving forward because if you do not, many of us will see a once proud district crumble if the wrong people succeed in tearing this apart. Respectfully; Kevin L. Molloy Former Board of Education President