The Next (More Important) Election on April 7

Three Open 109 Seats and Not Enough Candidates?

In about five months time, we will be called upon to vote in an election that probably has just as much of an impact, if not more, on our community. The April 7 Consolidated Elections are where we vote for candidates running for a variety of local offices, including the 109 Board of Education (BoE).

Three seats are up for election, and as of now, the Deerfield 109 Caucus has only received one candidate’s application for endorsement. Given that approximately two-thirds of our local tax dollars are earmarked for our schools and that many of us chose to live in Deerfield for the quality of our schools, we feel that these seats are among some of the most important to our area, necessitating highly qualified candidates.

The purpose of the 109 Caucus is to encourage people to run for the 109 Board of Education, vet those candidates who apply for its endorsement on behalf of the larger community, and then help the endorsed candidates get elected.

We strongly encourage those considering a run for a 109 BoE seat to talk to one of our members about a possible candidacy and then if they decide to move forward, to apply for Caucus endorsement. The application deadline has been extended to November 14.

The process is entirely voluntary and initiated by the candidates themselves. They fill out an application, currently available on our website. Once we receive applications, the 20-plus community members on the Caucus review them, and then set up two evenings to interview the candidates. At the end of the second round of interviews, all members discuss each candidate’s qualifications and then we vote to fill the slots. At the end of the second round of interviews, which in some years continued until the wee hours of the morning, we have a slate of endorsed candidate(s) to present to the community for the election.

For those who do decide to undertake a run for the Board of Education, the Caucus process is important. Being a Board of Education member is not for the faint hearted. We need candidates who are abreast of the issues facing our schools and our community and able to set individual agendas aside for the greater community. The Caucus process strives to underscore that.

Candidates we have spoken to about the process have praised it for making them think deeply about the issues and helping them to clarify why they want to be a Board of Education member. There have also been a few who have criticized the Caucus process as being a “beauty contest.” But such criticisms typically seem to come from those who did not receive Caucus endorsement, or felt like the line of questioning was too hard.

If a potential candidate thinks our questions are too hard or being interviewed by a group of approximately 20 Caucus members is too intimidating, that’s nothing compared with facing an auditorium of 400 parents on an issue. The Caucus process seeks to determine if a candidate can stand up to that kind of scrutiny and thoughtfully address the important issues at hand.

And issues of importance, there are many: possible changes to how we fund our schools, the adoption and use of technology in our classrooms, contract negotiations, and many more.

Within the Caucus, we have roundly discussed the reasons behind the decline in applications for this particular election cycle: Is it due to a change in packet distribution so that potential candidates do not know about the Caucus process? Are people considering a run, but perhaps just not now? Have recent events like the political embroilment of the midterms or the raucous Board meetings during the recent Waukegan teachers’ strike made potential candidates think twice about running? Or do people just not care?

At the end of the day, we really have no way of knowing why. But what we do know is that without any viable candidates for these vacant seats, the Board of Education will likely issue a call for applicants and appoint who it sees fit. This is how the Board filled a seat opened by a statutorily mandated resignation in 2011; however, it does bypass “the will of the people”--at least until the term for that seat expires and it goes up for election.

We, hopefully like many of our fellow District 109 residents, would prefer to see all three open seats on the Board of Education in 2015 filled with candidates who were first vetted and then elected by our community.

For more information about the Caucus process, go to www.dps109caucus.org.

By 2014-15 Caucus members Patricia Reese with Robert Benziger, Steph Degodny, Michele Edelmuth, Kimberly Friedman, Jill Fuir, Chris Goodsnyder, Randy Joseph, Joel Kogen, David Merkes, Mara Meyer, Jenny Navickas, Jodi Padden, Lisa Polisner, Sean Seed, Corey Swender, and Robyn Whiteman