Candidate for District 15 School Board 4-Year: Lisa Szczupaj

Help the Engage D15 candidates bring new, and needed leadership to the District 15 School Board. Click here to get voting information for the April 4th election!

Meet Lisa Szczupaj

Lisa Szczupaj is a business professional and concerned D15 parent who was deeply involved in the D15 late start/early release debate in 2013. She is the mother of two children and is an active volunteer in the D15 community.

Lisa and her husband Jim are parents to two boys; their youngest attends Paddock Elementary School and their oldest attends Fremd High School. She has served on the PTA Board for the past 9 years at Paddock, holding a PTA executive level office for two of those years. Additionally, she continues to serve as a member of the D15 Parent’s Committee for Educational Excellence and volunteers frequently for programs at Paddock, Plum Grove Jr. High School and Fremd. Lisa is active with Palatine Boy Scout Troop 209 and has been a Team Mom for the Palatine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) and the Palatine Penguins Lacrosse Program. Lisa's husband Jim is also involved in the community, as he is a coach for Palatine Youth Baseball, Palatine Park District Basketball and Palatine Amateur Football Association.

The Late Start/Early Release debate began in 2013 when D15 administration and the Teachers Union contracted “Teacher Enrichment Time" to occur on Wednesday mornings, causing a weekly late start day for children. Lisa recognized the challenges for children and parents with the late start model. She gathered more than 1,000 signatures and appealed to the Board of Education to survey parents to determine their position on the issue. D15 administration ultimately appeased her request, and a survey showed parents overwhelmingly wanted early release on Fridays instead of late start on Wednesdays. This schedule, due to Lisa’s involvement, is in place today in D15. Lisa was also involved in arbitration with D15 and the Teacher’s Union relating to this issue, representing the interests of parents and children. She vows to continue representing all D15 residents as a school board member, including those with older children or no children who reside in the school district.

Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a major in Spanish and a minor in Business Administration. She also earned a Master of Business Administration from DePaul University with dual concentrations in Change Management and International Business. She is the Director of Business Development for Sika Corporation and has been employed by the company for a total of 23 years.

Why run for school board? Lisa is proud of the solid education provided by D15 but believes there is room for improvement to ensure it is a top-performing school district. Her considerations include curriculum, facilities, and extracurricular programming, which draws residents to D15. She is firm in her stance that leadership must work together while living within financial means with finite resources. Additionally, she believes the Board of Education must restore trust as representatives of the taxpayers, and D15 Administration as representatives for the children of the community.