Nicole Pelzman, Valley View Board Of Education Candidate

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Nicole Pelzman is a candidate for Valley View School District Board of Education. There are 10 candidates running for three open positions in this race.

The consolidated election is April 4.

You can find Pelzman's answers to the Patch candidate questionnaire below:

Your name:

Nicole Pelzman

Age (as of election day):

42

Town/city of residence:

Romeoville

School district:

365U Valley View School District

Family:

I am married to my husband Ilario Pelzman Jr. who is a long time resident of Romeoville, as well as a VVSD alum. He also is a United States Marine Veteran. We've been married for 20 years. We have two beautiful daughters, Danielle (20) who graduated from Romeoville High School, and Lillian (12), who is a 7th grader at A. Vito Martinez Middle School. We live in the Wesglen neighborhood off of Airport Rd. in Romeoville since 2012 when we returned from being stationed in North Carolina.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education:

Some College

Occupation:

Office Manager for Trichardt Family Wellness in Romeoville.

Campaign website or Facebook:

Facebook - Nicole Pelzman for VVSD School Board

Previous or current elected or appointed office:

N/A

The most pressing issues facing our (board, district, etc.) are _______, and this is what I intend to do about them.

Some issues I have with our education system right now are accountability, 90/10 grading scale, No Child Left Behind Act, respect, manners and morals. It's time for our children to be held accountable for their actions with consequence. Educators and Teachers are trying too hard to be our children's friends, and our children are losing the respect our teachers deserve. Also we need more teachers to step up in educating our children and not just pushing them through. Some really do need more help and it needs to be addressed. Our grading scale is solely on test scores, and if a child is being pushed through class work how will the score well on a test? This really needs to be revised. We need to stop letting the state dictate how our children are taught and holding politics and money over our districts heads. If elected, I will try my hardest to help make some changes in our district, and get to the bottom of as why we are not taking better care of our teachers and students as well as our schools. I'd love to meet with every Principal of each one of our schools in our district to see the school and see what we can do to better support them. Until I'm able to see what goes on from the inside, its hard for me to figure out the best strategy to get these things better looked at.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?*

I'm a person of compromise. I look at everything from both sides, I listen to what people have to say and I love solving problems. Our district is a problem right now. All I can say that makes me different from those on the board, or those running, is that I like accomplishment. I do not settle, and I speak my mind. If I don't like something, I'll let you know and I will challenge it.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community or district?

For those on the board now, I can not tell you one difference they have made to our district. Some of our schools are very old needing renovations inside and out, we have people on the board trying to use their "power", we have people on the board who try to hide things from the public, someone who doesn't even live in our district, and the list goes on. There's too much politics going on and not enough being done to better our district and our kids education.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

I'm an actual parent in the district. Already had one student graduate, and have one who will be in it for 6 more years.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I've been an office manager for well over 15 years now. I know how to work with budgets, accounts payable, accounts receivable, I also help run my husband's business, team building, how to problem solve and just over all run an office to make it profitable and make people want to be proud of where they are. Shouldn't we be proud of our district?

Why should voters trust you?

I'm a no nonsense person. I'm very open and truthful.

If you win this position, what accomplishment would make your term in office a success?

I promise to let the public know EVERYTHING that is being discussed and what's happening in our district. Too many times I hear look it up on the website or go watch the YouTube video. If we can get email blasts about surveys and colds, why can't we get email blasts for what our board is addressing and voting on? I promise to use my own social media to get the word out so parents are more involved in what's going on.

What are your views on fiscal policy, government spending and the handling of taxpayer dollars in the office you are seeking?

I'm very curious to see where all our money goes! My subdivision alone pays anywhere from $8,000-$10,000 a year in taxes. We get a lot of grants and money from the state as well so I'd like to see where it all goes and it needs to be broken down for the parents to also see.

What are your thoughts on how the district has handled the COVID-19 pandemic?

I think the district did their best in the beginning when we all didn't know what it was, but keeping our children out of school for as long as they did was unacceptable to me. Not only did our children just get pushed through school basically with online learning, their socialization was damaged creating much more problems.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some school boards saw extremely heated disagreements during public meetings. If elected, what changes, if any, need to be made to ensure meetings are run efficiently while still allowing open discussions?

Nothing needs to change. Parents have every right to attend and speak their minds. It's our jobs to listen to them show compassion, and actually want to help. I attended a few of those meetings and I can tell you I only seen one board member actually look like he cared about how parents felt. Again, compromise. As a parent its our duty to protect them and do what's best for them. Not the government or the school board, and that was very one sided.

How do you feel about sex education being taught in school? Should an LGBTQ component be included, and why or why not?

Honestly, I think it depends on the material we are talking about. Also depends on the age group you are targeting. Sex Education is beneficial to students who can't or don't have those conversations at home. Teaching teens about abstinence and safe sex is beneficial in protecting them against unwanted pregnancies as well as sexual transmitted diseases. Sex Education could also could help girls with self breast exams, periods and hormones. To me that's not just a health subject since things do change once you become sexually active. Same thing for boys. Things change once they become sexually active. I think touching on the subject of LGBTQ is fine. It doesn't need to be thrown in everybody's faces, but being discussed may help some understand their own feelings and open up about it. I'm not anti LGBTQ , but I do think right now there is way too much sexualization going on in our schools and its not necessary at all. Having a safe place for a student to go to is helpful especially if they can't talk to someone at home. I feel the same way about same sex. It does not to be all in the students faces. Trust me, they see enough online. Children also do not need to be told on their first day of school their teacher is happily married to a man with children, but prefers the company of women. Not necessary. Again, we need to get back to basics and away from all this sexualization.

What are your views on critical race theory and whether it should be taught in the district?

No it should not be taught in our classrooms.

Do you think the current board has done enough to support racial equality, and if not, what specifically should be done to do so?

I feel that VVSD as a whole is so diversified I do not see it being an issue.

When it comes to student achievement, what are schools within this district doing well and what needs to be improved? How can those improvements be made?

I couldn't tell you what big achievements our district has accomplished nothing seems to be very publicized. You have to literally try and look everything up yourself. We need to do better with that. Also I live in Romeoville, and never hear much about Bolingbrook, yet we're all in the same district? So we need to do better and making achievements well known to the public. More announcements. We have to also remember not everyone has social media or even knows our district and schools have it.

Is there any reason you would not serve your full term of office, other than those of health or family?

No

The best advice ever shared with me was ____________

Be true to myself and honest