Ben Zulauf: Elmhurst D-205 School Board Candidate –Connect to Parents

Editor's note: The following is a reader's commentary. This is unrelated to Patch's reporting on the race.

Mr. Ben Zulauf, Elmhurst school board candidate, answered voter questions to provide an overview of his positions and perspectives regarding school board issues. Each of the nine candidates listed on the April 2023 ballot for District 205 School Board positions were asked to answer the same set of questions.

Zulauf is a teacher and certified literacy specialist. With a special needs child of his own, he is well positioned to understand the needs of parents and students in the classroom. Zulaf reiterated that he will bring a student and parent-focused mindset to the D205 school board. “It’s incredibly important to listen to parents when it comes to children's education, and I have the mindset of seeking to understand before being understood. I’ve already met with several parents from the community who have described their concerns about certain topics being taught in schools, and making time to meet with parents is something that I would continue to do as a board member.”

In view of concerns about the increasing polarization of curriculum within D205, combined with falling test scores, Zulauf explained that the Board should be “informed, asking questions, and pushing back when the answers aren’t sufficient. Being informed is incredibly important because not being able to adequately discuss curricular decisions with any parents with whom you speak will only lead to greater confusion and frustration.” Zulauf emphasized that he would commit to more curriculum transparency, with parents “hav[ing] access to as much of the curriculum that the school district can actually share, and the district should provide several opportunities for parents to learn about what’s being taught in school.” He explained that the district needs to do a better job of “provid[ing] an explanation of what’s taught and when far enough in advance for parents to actually review the materials and make an informed decision.”

Several parents informed the Board about breaches of the Board’s controversial issues policies, and the Board did nothing. Zulauf was asked what he would do differently. Zulauf was reluctant to commit to criticize the current Board on the issue, while recognizing “that my own personal views of those topics influence my response.” But he acknowledged that the question “exemplifies the need to have open lines of communication between the community and the school board,” and that this is yet another opportunity to “explain what’s being taught when so that the greatest number of people possible feel they had the time and opportunity to make an informed decision about what’s best for their own child.”

On the question of social emotional learning, versus transformative Social Emotional Learning, which has been criticized for elevating group identities, and crafting curriculum around issues of race, class, and culture, Zulauf stated that the “place I think it has in D205” is that “all students should be able to see themselves reflected in the curriculum at some point in time. That’s the mirror. Seeing yourself in the curriculum helps to build students’ confidence in their identity, agency, and sense of belonging because we’re putting value into who they are as a person. They should also see other people, cultures, identities, etc. reflected in the curriculum. That’s the window. Students should be able to learn about people who are different from them, which will in turn increase students’ curiosity. It also helps students be more accepting of one another and understand perspectives different from their own. Finally, students should be able to ‘step into another world’ and consider how they might respond in certain situations. That’s the sliding glass door. Taken together, those three things should help build students’ collaborative problem-solving ability.” Zulauf is also in favor of using “inclusive practices. This includes things such as but not limited to putting students in the least restrictive setting and attempting to foster relationships, teachers to student and student to student. Both of these increase students’ self-efficacy and understanding of one another.” Zulauf also supports embedding “SEL supports into our day-to-day practices so that we’re providing a base for everyone. At the same time, we need to identify who may need additional support so we can give them what they need. Finally, I’m for schools using restorative practices so that students learn how to work through problems together.”

When it comes to academic excellence, and falling test scores, Zulauf noted that his “campaign goals have all aligned to this. Not because I want to focus solely on the scores but because professional development, curriculum, instruction, and assessment is a larger issue in education. According to the National Council of Teacher Quality, only 41% of teacher preparation programs in the state of Illinois actually teach what we know from reading research. That means that more than half of our future teachers leave college unaware of that research, something I experienced myself. To compound matters, very few of these programs have a course dedicated to how to best teach writing. All of this means that school districts need to provide quality professional development to address gaps in understanding.”

Zulauf also pointed to the need to improve literacy curriculum. The “most widely used literacy programs across the country don’t align with reading research, according to an EdWeek poll. D205 just adopted a new literacy curriculum that is aligned to research for a majority of schools, but we need to make sure that we select a quality curriculum for Conrad Fischer as well. To accompany this, we need to make sure that we’re providing the appropriate [professional development] so teachers know why they’re being asked to use certain practices in place of others. We also need to make sure that we’re assessing our students appropriately. The creators of the literacy Common Core State Standards have said that we cannot teach or assess standards in isolation, so we shouldn’t be attempting to do that as a district.

Zulauf also noted that beyond literacy, “we also need to look for ways to increase the amount of science and social studies students have. Content knowledge matters, which the district acknowledged when it purchased a knowledge-building curriculum, so we need to increase opportunities to increase students’ content knowledge. Finally, we need to make sure that students have the opportunity to write across the curriculum. Countless schools across the country have improved scores simply by having students write more. We should look to them as model schools and see what we can take and apply here.”

Zulauf declined to discuss the capital funding budget, citing conflicting news media reports; but stating “this is something that I’d like to dig into further before offering any suggestions.”

Zulauf’s ultimate priority if elected to school board will be to “continually discuss academics, which means that we need to look at the professional development we’re providing and evaluating our instructional and assessment practices that accompany our curricula.”