Activist Toolkit

1. What motivates you to seek this office? What skills, experiences, and perspectives would you bring to the District, and why would those contributions be valuable in the role of School Board member?

I care deeply about our community and our students. While I have already served 8 years on the D200 School Board, I am deeply concerned that the work started during that period may regress and my strong desire is for this work to continue. This includes taking bold initial steps towards the establishment of much needed racial equity as well as moves toward greater fiscal responsibility.

Our community values racial equity and needs fiscal accountability. So, I am willing to “throw myself out there” again, even in the polarizing political climate that exists locally as well as nationally.

In addition to 8 valuable years on the D200 BOE, I bring nearly 40 years of business experience, having run an operation similar in size to OPRFHS. I also have experience in collective bargaining both at work and as a member of the Board’s negotiating team, and salaries and benefits comprise over 75% of district costs. I have been an Oak Park taxpayer for over 30 years, and my wife Karen and I put our 5 children through OPRF, so that offers me the view of a parent and community member. My older daughter also now teaches in D97, providing me with the valued perspective of an educator.

2. What are the three biggest challenges or opportunities you expect District 200 to face in the coming years, and how would you work with your colleagues to address these challenges or realize these opportunities?

Three long standing challenges continue to face this District, with COVID adding a new challenge. They are:

1. Racial equity – how can the BOE execute its strategic plan and assure equity and excellence for ALL. This involves knocking down and removing barriers/ bias.

2. Fiscal responsibility - we are a well resourced district and have been challenged by an excessive fund balance from large tax levies in the 2000s. Those levies have been brought under control. We must align spending with our strategic plan objectives, while balancing the budget.

3. Facilities – we have a 100+ year old landlocked building that has not had a major renovation in over 50 years. We need to invest in our community’s high school in a responsible way to support 21st century learning.

The COVID Pandemic has greatly impacted education. We need to safely return to the classroom, in a financially responsible way, while taking advantages of things learned that change the way we do education.

The BOE needs to focus on assuring policy exists to guide the administration, so I would work with colleagues to put the policy in place in these critical areas. The BOE will need to work with its next superintendent to make sure the procedures and practices to support such policies are in place.

3. How will you balance competing interests, such as your own deeply-held values and opinions, input from District staff and fellow board members, and diverse views from the community? How would you describe your leadership style and your decision-making process generally? 

Listening and seeking further understanding are two very critical skills required of BOE members. I would listen to the input of others, trying to understand their perspective. My decision making process involves doing my homework and asking a lot of (tough) questions to try to fully understand the issue. After having done that, I realize my role is to make decisions that are in the best interests of our students and community. We live in a community with many voices and interests. I realize that I will have people that do not agree with every decision I make, but I have been doing this for a while. People have told me that while they did not agree with all of my decisions, they feel I am level headed and respect me for that.

4. What values would you bring to the budgeting process? What changes do you favor in the process by which the District conducts its budgeting and fiscal planning?

I have been highly involved in the District budgetary process over 8 years and have played a role in a number of changes including: 1) modifying the districts fund balance management policy to factor in many recommendations from the FAC of 2013, 2) shifting from a “tax to the max” approach prior to my joining the board, to one of levying what is needed to sustain the District over the long term, 3) elimination of the process of doing an annual modified budget, which essentially set the budget to actual expenses late in the fiscal year (like predicting today's weather at 10PM tonight!) and 4) pushing for a balanced budget. When I joined the BOE the dialogue was that it is typical to deficit spend until a referendum then passes. This is not a sustainable approach.

Moving forward, we need to look at educational spending versus benchmarks, assuring we are aligning our resources with the expected outcomes. The state has adequacy information which can be used to challenge where our spend goes.

5. How will you balance the community's desire to decrease the property tax burden with the need to maintain the quality of our schools, create an equitable learning environment for all students, and address facilities issues?

Balancing taxes with student needs has and will continue to be a key responsibility of the BOE and has been a theme of my 3 campaigns. As mentioned above, we need to benchmark where our resources are going, and that information will help inform our spending decisions. From 2003 through 2010, the District’s tax levy increased by an average of 6.2% per year. This led to a huge fund balance and an oppressive tax burden for many. During my 8 years on the BOE, we shifted from a “tax to the max” philosophy to levying only what we need, leaving $60 Million in our taxpayers pockets that could have been taxed. Our levy has averaged 1.4% during my tenure on the BOE. During that time we have continued to invest heavily in our students. Moving forward, we must invest wisely, using data to guide us!

6. Special education is mandated by federal law. How will you set up structures to ensure ongoing concerns of families engaged with special education are addressed? What do you believe are the biggest issues facing families and children with special needs, and how will you work to see their needs are met?

D200 has a strong, well resourced SPED department. Decisions have been made based on what is best for the student, going well beyond what the mandates are from our government. People come to our District because of the richness of supports offered. In addition to our extensive on site SPED services, we have over 80 students who are placed off campus, to get services not available from our staff. Each student has his/her own unique needs, and it is the responsibility of OPRF to fully understand and support those needs – not a simple challenge. It would be our desire to bring as many of the SPED students into our building. The current facilities enhancements has a revamp of SPED facilities as a priority, with building access being part of that.

7. How do you define equity? Have recent discussions in the larger community informed or changed your thinking? 

Equity to me means providing varied resources to assure equal opportunity and outcome.

I have learned a tremendous amount about equity challenges during my 8 years on the BOE, and much of those learnings have come front and center in the past few years. The equity challenges that exist at OPRF (and our nation) have existed for decades. I have become aware of how our educational system is the product of a white dominant culture, and that there are barriers and biases that have hurt people of color. Such biases and barriers are systemic, which means we need systemic changes to remove them. We have been fortunate to have a multiracial BOE and administration that have been willing to have tough discussion on racial equity, and I am greatly appreciative of that as it has helped me continue to learn.

8. How do you plan to solicit feedback from people who may be experiencing OPRFHS in a different way than you? What barriers do you believe may exist in this process?

We have tried to host town meetings to allow people from throughout the community to provide input to the BOE. There are numerous parent groups that we as Board members participate in to gain input. Unfortunately the pandemic has impacted the ability of some of these important groups to meet. Gathering valued feedback from all voices is one of the greatest challenges.

While there are plenty of vocal advocates, the silent majority is often hard to reach. People have busy lives and going to school board meetings often does not rise to the top of the priority list. Additionally there are cultural barriers where many people do not feel comfortable going to the HS or advocating for their needs in public forums.

9. How should the District assess its policies and progress with respect to the opportunity gap? As a Board Member, how will you determine whether the District is succeeding?

The district developed and adopted a racial equity policy, which is a key foundational component. The administration has and continues to develop procedures to support the policy, including evaluating actions through an equity lens. The equity gap has existed for far too long, and there has been inadequate progress toward reducing the gap. As a BOE we are working on additional policy that requires specific reporting or student outcomes to show what changes are occurring. As mentioned earlier, I am advocating that we look at resources to assure they are utilized in alignment with our desired outcomes. We are resource rich, but are we putting them in the right place? Recently I reread the 2003 study by OPRF on the opportunity gap. It is sad to say there has been inadequate progress in 17 years since that report. Rather than new studies and efforts, I believe we should unbundle that study, see what we did and did not do, and what the outcomes were.

To me success is simple – we should see a measured gap reduction, helping those who are lagging by reducing systemic barriers.

10. District 200 Superintendent Joylyn Pruitt is retiring in June 2021, and a search process has been initiated by the current Board. What qualities do you value most when searching for a new superintendent?

We need a strong, student-centric leader who is willing to drive systemic change in the face of opposition. A superintendent must know his/ her strengths and weaknesses and be able to build a team that compliments her/his skill set. We need a straight-forward communicator, telling the BOE what the challenges are in addition to the positives of the District.

11. What is your impression of D200’s Access for All detracking curriculum redesign program and of detracking efforts generally? How will you handle parent concerns that arise as implementation begins?

The curriculum design has 2 separate components: First, it involves standardization of curriculum. Secondly it involves reducing barriers to access for this curriculum by “merging” the honors and college preparatory tracks. Standardized curriculum is much needed, as there has been too much variability from one class to another. Reducing access barriers is also important, as there is evidence that there are racial biases in tracking. The challenge is to assure the rigor is there for ALL students. This will require effective differentiating teaching – we have a highly skilled faculty that will need additional professional development to adjust and enhance their skills in this area.

There are parents who are clearly opposed, seeing this as a zero-sum game, with gains for those on the lower performing end coming at the expense of the already high performers. It has been communicated that it should not be a zero-sum game. My personal experience, having put 5 kids through this school, is that the most impactful classes my kids had were those with diversity in their classes – this being racial diversity as well as learning diversity. I would ask those parents to allow their students to try things, with an open mind.

12. Educational and business leaders have begun to use a "cradle-to-career" framework when talking about education. Please discuss the role of District 200 within the “cradle-to-career“ framework.

A HS district cannot be effective if it only looks at the 4 year period that its students inhabit the building. D200 actively participates with and supports the Collaboration. The opportunity gap already exists by the time a student reaches kindergarten, so investing in pre-kindergarten support is directly in line with D200’s equity goals. It is also critical that D200 work with its feeder districts, so there is continuity for the student as they migrate from one school to the next. Additionally, it is important that OPRF offers a curriculum that prepares students for careers outside of college. D200 has strengthened its course offering, with courses ranging from media to health care to beautician.

13. What lessons learned from the implementation of remote and hybrid learning during the pandemic do you believe will be applicable going forward, even after the pandemic abates?

The pandemic has put a spotlight on the use of technology in education. It has also made it evident how critical social-emotional wellbeing is in learning. After decades of “doing school” a standard way (48 minute classes in front of a teacher), we were forced to make serious modifications. These included a different daily (block class) schedule, online instruction. Some students suffered while others thrived. We now have an awesome, but overwhelming opportunity in front of us. What changes can and should we make in how we “do school”? I know the way I work will never revert back to what it was pre-pandemic. For school, we must seek input from our students on what worked for whom, and what did not. We need to assure there is the social emotional support, but should be open to other ways that meet student learning needs best.

14. District 200 has taken some steps to move away from policing and surveillance in schools toward restorative justice, mental health supports, and other services in schools. Do you feel these moves have been successful? Why or why not? What work do you believe remains to be done in this area?

We really are in the infancy of our use of restorative practices. I believe the move from prior disciplinary practices to a more restorative approach is the right direction, as the prior system was racially biased. The example I share that best proves that to me is this: historically there has been a higher tardy percentage for black/ brown students. When the data was broken out by period, we found that for period 1, the tardy percentage mirrored the student population. However, for periods 2-8, there was a higher tardy percentage for students of color. The difference is this: for period 1 there is a system where you are tardy if you do not enter the building by a specified time. However, for the rest of the day, tardy is at the “discretion” of the adults in the building. This reinforces that there is a bias.

The prior discipline system ended up removing kids from class who need classroom time. While we certainly need to keep all students safe, we need to take every action to keep kids in the classroom, not remove them for punitive suspensions.

We need the restorative practices to mature, and then see what the data tells us.

15. Do you see a role for the Board in ensuring that the climate at OPRFHS is welcoming to students in minority populations, whether racial, religious identity, LGBTQ+, etc.? What specific actions or policies would you propose?

The Board has a responsibility to assure that ALL students have the opportunity for an excellent education. It can do so by putting in place policy that clearly outlines the expectations. This has been done during this recent BOE term with the creation of a racial equity policy as well as modifications to the Equal Educational Opportunity policy (and supporting procedures) aimed at protecting students of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

16. District 200 Board members share responsibility for oversight of the Collaboration for Early Childhood. Do you support this example of intergovernmental cooperation? Are there other types of intergovernmental cooperation that you would support?

I have strongly supported D200’s participation with the Collaboration during my 8 years on the Board. The work of the Collaboration aligns with the mission, vision and values of D200. We realize that the opportunity gap starts at birth, so efforts to provide resources to help those in need during their pre-kindergarten years, while also supporting their family structure, can help to address equity concerns. The Collaboration has demonstrated great fiscal responsibility for all the dollars furnished by D200 and other taxing bodies.

As part of the work led by the Collaboration, we need to continue to work to allow data exchange between the Collaboration, D90, D97 and D200. Unit school districts have an unfair advantage over our structure in allowing student data to be monitored and tracked over the 13 years in public school. We must continue to fight to allow data sharing for the benefit of our students.

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[The above answers were supplied on 2/17/21.]