Election Issues: District 113A Candidates Weigh in on Academic Challenges

On March 4, Patch published its , a complete guide to the April 5 consolidated election in Lemont. There you'll find voter information, recent election news and complete candidate biographies.

Before Lemont voters head to the polls, Patch wants to give readers an opportunity to compare where candidates for the School Board stand on key issues.

What do you believe is the biggest challenge the district faces academically, and what will you do to ensure student achieve success in this area?

Academically, we currently have a very good curriculum in reading and math. However, it is only a matter of time before these materials are outdated. It is the
reason why I became involved in the Educational Foundation and PTO. Raising
money to support educational programs is important to me. I would like to make
sure we stay on top of the game and if the money cannot come from the district’s
budgets, the parents of this community are willing to do what they can to help
provide materials and volunteer time. We have to take advantage of it.

The challenge is to always be sure the district is providing the students with a well-rounded education during their young years. I would encourage the evaluation of our academic offerings to the students on an annual basis. Currently, the district needs to work on meeting the Adequate Yearly Progress goal in the areas where it is deficient.

I do not know why the current board and administration took their eye off the ball and allowed the district to fail in its academic performance, especially if it is in only a single educational area. Blaming the poor academic performance due to no federal funding is only a distraction. Just throwing money, local or federal, at a failing program is not going to improve the program. It should have been recognized that there was a failure in the program after the first year and something should have been done to rectify the situation immediately so it would not have happened a second time.

The District needs to work hard to achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) to avoid the sanctions that can be imposed through the No Child Left Behind Act. Achieving AYP is possible — Frankfort District 157C does it for less than we spend per pupil, and they appear to be scoring ISAT scores of 94. The current Board has allowed this issue to fester while losing sight of the fundamental mission of public education. We need new leadership to take responsibility, and find out what works for districts and what isn't working here.

I believe the biggest challenge is trying to tend to the individual needs of each student with less staff and limited resources.

This community has repeatedly shown its willingness to step up in times of need.  I would work to enhance programs utilizing more volunteers.  I would continue to embrace the groups that are willing to step up to fill the void.

Right now, I’m concerned about the class size. Higher student/teacher ratios provide fewer opportunities for individual attention. This is where we will start to see some students slipping through the cracks. I’m also concerned about delaying the curriculum review cycle. Technology and the global economy are changing at a fast pace, and our students need current tools to stay competitive. There are no quick fixes. Without additional revenue, it will be difficult to address any of these issues in the short term. It will take several years to rebuild the fund balances so that we can get out of the short-term borrowing mode we are in now. And I am concerned that state funding will continue to be sporadic, putting further pressure on our budgets. It is important we keep these issues in mind, however, and focus on long-term goals while managing our short-term crisis.

The biggest challenge the district faces academically is the ability to compete in a global market. Due to the limited revenue our district receives, it is tough to help today's children prepare themselves to compete at the highest levels in the future. We, as a board, will need to work on getting back to the basics — curriculum.  To do this, we need to spend more time in identifying the resources and funding necessary to make our children competitive down the road. We need to do what we can to either reduce expenses and/or increase funding to provide what is needed. We need to get our financials in order so we can work on more important things: educating our children.

I believe the biggest challenge our district faces academically is large class sizes. Our teachers are highly educated and our staff is caring and hard-working but class sizes need to be reduced to benefit our children’s education. Our children need to continue to receive the quality education they have received in the past and I will do whatever it takes to maintain that. If a referendum is not successful, more difficult decisions will have to be made by school board members.

On both sides of the spectrum, because of the overcrowding in the classroom, students are not receiving the attention needed to realize their full potential. I believe the teachers are doing an excellent job under the current set of circumstances. However, the gifted students are not being challenged and students
with special needs are not receiving the attention they need to succeed. I would like to see class sizes reduced as soon as possible.

I believe we need to do a better job preparing our students for high school especially in the areas of reading, writing, arithmetic and critical thinking skills — all of which lead to collaborative decision making. I will work to ensure our teachers are focused on preparing our children for high school and have access to adequate materials and resources for their core subjects.