Tom Chavez: Elmhurst D-205 School Board Candidate – A+ Academics

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

Mr. Tom Chavez, 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.

Chavez has been attending school board meetings for many months, repeatedly providing data and asking questions about school performance. The Board has been largely mute in response. Chavez was instrumental in raising awareness about the abysmal drop in Elmhurst test scores, which the Board has repeatedly tried to spin in a positive way. Chavez asked why D205 has repeatedly hired administrators from the failed Chicago Public School system, instead of school administrators who have achieved academic excellence. Viciously opposing Chavez’ calls for reform are the usual suspects happy with the status quo, including teacher’s union front groups and hard-left political organizers (there is a lot of money floating around education-related consulting work).

Chavez has been focusing on students, parents, and switching the mindset of the Board from rubber stamps to focusing on common sense solutions and resource allocation to reverse the current trends, where half of D205 students are not even reading or doing math at grade level, and will enter York not prepared for higher level work.

Unlike other candidates, Chavez has a “very public and transparent track record of advocating for transparency, and improvement in academic outcomes. Commitment means action, not just words and rhetoric.” Chavez pointed to his work over the last 18 months “collaborating with a team of concerned parents to identify problems, understand potential solutions, and advocate for parents and their children. I have organized meetings and educational symposiums and invited any interested parent in our community to participate. I have been willing to say things that are truthful, but unpopular, to raise awareness in the community about low academic proficiency and curriculum issues.” Chavez commits to bring this attitude to the Board, “looking at the facts and data and inviting all parents to the table who are motivated to improve academic proficiency and restore excellence to Elmhurst public schools.”

On the question of curriculum, Chavez explained that curriculum “is central to a student’s experience. It is a school’s primary means of influencing what and how students learn. The school board is responsible for ensuring our students are on track academically. It is also responsible for hiring the administrative team, assessing, and measuring their performance, and holding them accountable to produce strong academic results.”

Chavez emphasizes that there needs to be an “all hands on deck” mentality at the Board to turn the school system around, because “research shows once students fall far behind, it is extremely difficult to get them caught up. Pre-pandemic proficiency data shows the district has been off track academically for several years.” Rather than lowering standards, “[o]ur community needs a school board that will demand academic excellence for all students, and ensure the right administration, curriculum and policies are in place to achieve it.”

Chavez also went before the Board when his own child and other students were subjected to inappropriate political targeting by certain teachers. One teacher even went so far as to access private information about his child to denigrate him and the student on social media. While D205 has a “controversial issues” policy, and the Board was called upon to enforce it, the Board again stayed mum. Chavez explained that the “evidence is clear that the D205 administration and the board of education do not enforce their policy on teaching controversial issues. Discussing controversial issues, if done in a balanced fashion, is an important part of our children’s education, because it teaches them how to think critically.” But the district must be “held accountable to follow” the policy, which is designed to ensure that both sides of the issue are presented fairly. “I will also ensure curriculum and teaching materials reflect a diversity of ideas and opinions.”

On the controversial topic of so-called Social Emotional Learning, Chavez explained that “Social Emotional Learning (SEL) claims to be a system which helps students develop the skills they need to achieve success in school, career, family and civic life. This sounds like something that would be celebrated everywhere.” But Chavez noted that in reality, “SEL is causing confusion and conflict all across America. Among the SEL controversies are the teachings of gender ideology, sexual preference, critical race theory and spiritual practices. SEL proponents say it is a way to teach children to regulate their emotions, learn empathy and build relationships. SEL critics argue it is a smokescreen for ushering in radical ideology and government overreach. The question people should be asking is; by whose standards are these skills being taught and for what purpose?” Chavez also was well aware of the political purpose of what has been referred to as “Transformative SEL,” which Chavez explained “takes the ‘plain vanilla’ SEL competencies and attaches a ‘social justice’ meaning to each of them. So now, instead of teaching a child to be more self-aware, the child has to see self-awareness through a social justice lens,” and promotes students becoming political activists for a particular political point of view.

Chavez wants the valuable classroom time to be spent on the subjects that most parents “send their children to school to learn,” the “core academic subjects.” To the extent Transformative SEL “is subjective and ideological,” it should not be “mandatory curriculum.” Chavez wants to focus on “turn[ing] the steep decline in academic proficiency back in the right direction, and restore academic excellence to District 205. Curriculum, policy, and priorities are at the top of the list.”

Chavez gave as examples the “2022 IRC data,” which “shows math and reading outcomes across grade levels in District 205 are not good. Nearly half of Elmhurst Public School students, about 4,000 children, are performing below grade level. Reading is the foundational, and literacy is the benchmark for most academic success, so the district should prioritize a strong ELA curriculum. D205 ELA test scores have been persistently dropping for 7-years, so the board of education should require the administration conduct a thorough review of core components of the curriculum, such as scope and sequence and lexile scores of the K-12 reading lists. In education parlance, scope and sequence is a term used to identify the amount of content an educator will teach, and sequence is the order in which they will teach it. Lexile scores are numbers used to categorize the complexity of a text. I consulted with educators and literacy experts and found that scope and sequence and lexile appear to be misaligned. For example, all 9th grade students at York, including those in Honors English, are required to read books that are far below grade level complexity.” Chavez emphasized that these are things that the Board “should require the administration to explain to the community in a transparent and comprehensive manner.” Chavez also noted the falling test scores have also accompanied “D205’s no homework policy, the elimination of comprehensive final exams, and allowing students to re-takes tests.” While recognizing that some students were struggling under the prior approach, Chavez questions whether this one-size-fits-all mentality works with a school district of the size and diversity of D205. Chavez wants the Board to consider are we “helping our students learn, or our teachers teach when we eliminate rigor and accountability from the equation?” Chavez wants the district to first and foremost, “prioritize academic learning in core subjects.”

Chavez, who is a commodities trader who handles sophisticated financial transactions, also is concerned that the “district has done a poor job informing the community about its finances. Most recently, the board approved a max tax levy of 5%, citing inflation driven increases in costs as the reason. Careful examination of publicly available budget information shows the tax levy was unnecessary. On July 1, 2022, the beginning of the district’s fiscal year, cash reserves were $68 million, or $31 million more than required. D205 policy 4:20 states the district is required to hold in cash reserve 26% on the operating budget. The 2022 operating budget was $142 million, 26% is $37 million, but D205 was holding $68 million. According to D205 financial reports, inflation related cost increases (nursing, health care and bussing) were $1.5 million, but the district’s max tax levy asked for $8 million, with $68 million in cash reserves. I raised the issue at the January 2023 board meeting, and at the February board meeting the district announced a small tax abatement.” Chavez again noted the need to “hold the district accountable to be transparent with parents and taxpayers.”

Ultimately, Chavez identified his top priority as restoring D205 to its top tier status, not merely by comparison to peer schools in Illinois, but nationwide. While existing Board members have argued that D205 is better performing than other Illinois schools, this relatively-better performance is only because so many schools in Illinois have also dropped in performance. Objectively, D205 scores have been plummeting. Just a few years ago, D205 used to have over 70% proficiency in its student body performance and that was trending upwards; that has now dropped by over 20 points. Chavez explained that “things have changed, and the district is no longer providing a high-quality education for our students. The number one objective in my term, should I get elected, is to restore academic excellence to District 205.”