Meet District 157C Board Of Education Candidate Michael Bouck

FRANKFORT, IL — The upcoming election is less than a week away, and early voting has already started. In Frankfort and Mokena, one of the contested local races is the race for the District 157C Board of Education. There are four open spots on the board in the upcoming election on April 2. Michael Bouck is one of the five candidates running for a position.

Bouck lives in Mokena with his wife Megan, and their five children. He has a JD from Chicago-Kent College of Law and has worked as an attorney for 18 years and as a business owner for 21 years.

Bouck has also served as coach for his children in various sports and was a founding board member at two dance schools. He believes the most pressing issue facing the board is school safety.

"Our children are our most precious assets and we should do everything in our power to keep them safe when they are at school. I want Frankfort District 157C to be the safest school district in Illinois," Bouck said. "The recent addition of a full time police office for the district was a good start – but we need to do more. We need to focus on cutting edge technology and policies to ensure our children receive the very best."

He said he would also like to see two more resource officers in the district, so that one is assigned to each school.

"Further, I would like to see the district implement ALICE training as recommended by the Frankfort Police Department. We should also review the national studies and recommendations brought on by recent tragedies to ensure we learn all we can and implement what makes sense for our district– so that we can be confident that we have done all we can to make sure our students, teachers, and staff are as safe as possible while at school," Bouck said.

He believes his background in education and his professional experiences will give him the expertise to assist the board. Bouck said he has a background as an engineer, attorney and business owner.

"Additionally, I think that I have the good judgment and temperament needed to be a helpful member of the board to work well with others to ensure that we provide the best for our students, parents, teachers, administrators, and tax payers. I’ve been an active member of the community for many years and have a good pulse of the district. I listen, I care, and I get things done," Bouck said.

For more information, visit his Facebook campaign page.

There are four open positions on the District 157C Board of Education in the April 2 election. The other candidates are newcomers Sital Bhargava and Brian Skibinski and incumbents Edith Lutz and Larry Kociolek.

If you are a candidate in the upcoming April 2 election, you can email andrea.earnest@patch.com for a candidate questionnaire.