The All Berwyn Committee (ABC) hosted a candidates' forum last week, giving residents an opportunity to greet and question those who would seek to control over 50% of local property taxes. Here is a summary of what CARES members who attended heard:
Most of the D98 incumbents were not there because of a conflicting meeting the same evening.
Joseph Festa is a 35 year resident of Berwyn and a former employee of District 98 in the maintenance department. He said he was running for the school board because he thought there were some redundancies in administrative staff that could be eliminated, saving the district money that could be spent on educational programs.
Mark Weiner - Running for the 2 year seat. Mark works as a lawyer and served on Berwyn City Council for 4 years. He believes education is the backbone of a strong community and supports District 100 goal of being in the top 25% of schools in the state as evidenced by standardized test scores, but wants to shoot higher. He believes the district needs to engage the community on education. He stated that he was impressed by all the people running for the board this year.
James Swicionis - Current board member running for the 2 year seat. Jim is a 34 year Berwyn resident and has 4 kids who are attending District 100 schools. He works as a lawyer. He is proud of the achievements of board in his 8 years on the board and of hiring Stan Fields He listed the use of technology by the district, full day kindergarten and the increase in ISAT scores as major indicators of the current board's effectiveness. His main goal in the next term would be to improve the "marketing" of District 100 to the communiy and expand pre-school and gifted services.
April Wozniak - Has a 6 year old attending Irving. April has a bachelor's degree in child development and works in finance for nonprofits and currently works for the national organization of YMCAs. She also mentioned the achievement gap and three specific areas through which the district could better address it: improved parent engagement, access to early learning opportunities, and summer programs to address summer learning loss. She believes the biggest issues that need to be addressed are loss of learning over the summer and early learning experiences, especially for those who are the "have-nots"; She has also worked with something called "Friendly Math", a program which makes math less intimidating for youngsters.
South Berwyn District 100:
Eight candidates for D100 were present; six are running for four open 4-year terms and two (Jim Swicionis and Mark Weiner) are running for one 2-year term.
Current members Anne Marie Suter (appointed to fill a vacancy) and Joanne Zaworski and Jim Swicionis (up for reelection) detailed the new programs and school improvements the board has been able to accomplish over the past several years, without additional tax revenue: full-day kindergarten and upgraded technology in the classrooms were the ones most mentioned. Jim Swicionis also pointed to increased teacher retention and better morale.
New candidates Andres Avila, Debbie Suchy, Gil Pena, Mark Weiner, and April Wozniak offered praise for the work of the current board and of DACEE (District Advisory Committee for Educational Excellence) as well as some new ideas they would like to bring to the district.
Ann Marie Suter - 16 year resident; 4 kids with 3 currently attending D100; dental hygenist; Appointed to fill vacancy in November, 2010. Advocate of PTAs and community involvement. Wants to bridge gap between schools and home.
Andres Avila - He is a high school counselor in Chicago Public School system at Namaste Charter School; bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin; M. Ed. degree from Harvard University. He is working on a second Master's degree and has two sons currently attending Piper and a daughter who will be attending Piper in a few years. He is Piper PTA president and believes his experience in the Chicago Public School system will help on the board. He loves the way technology is being used in D100 (his son has a laptop) and wanted to get more parental involvement in the school systems, especially those who normally don't get involved. He has devoted his professional life to helping kids from working-class backgrounds like his succeed in school and go on to college. He is knowledgeable about new and best practices in education. He talked about improved parent involvement and outreach, and particularly the need to connect with and engage families that don't typically come to PTA or other school meetings.
Andres Avila - He is a high school counselor in Chicago Public School system at Namaste Charter School; bachelor's degree from University of Wisconsin; M. Ed. degree from Harvard University. He is working on a second Master's degree and has two sons currently attending Piper and a daughter who will be attending Piper in a few years. He is Piper PTA president and believes his experience in the Chicago Public School system will help on the board. He loves the way technology is being used in D100 (his son has a laptop) and wanted to get more parental involvement in the school systems, especially those who normally don't get involved. He has devoted his professional life to helping kids from working-class backgrounds like his succeed in school and go on to college. He is knowledgeable about new and best practices in education. He talked about improved parent involvement and outreach, and particularly the need to connect with and engage families that don't typically come to PTA or other school meetings.
Joanne Zaworski - She is a 20 year resident of Berwyn. Her daughter is attending Hiawatha. She is a Northeastern University graduate and works as a real estate agent. She was first elected to the board in 2007; she is proud of the hiring of Stan Fields, the district's vision statement, the use of technology in the classroom, full day kindergarten and the hiring of reading teachers. She thinks the district needs to do a better job of communicating with its residents and wants to increase enrollment in the gifted programs.
Debi Suchy - 35 year resident She has had 2 sons go through District 100; one son is now in college while the other son is a sophomore at Morton West. She works as an accountant and was Berwyn City Collector from 2005 to 2009. She serves on the South Berwyn Education Foundation board, the YMCA board and the Berwyn Development Corporation board. She is excited about the District 100 vision. She talked about the fact that there are two types of families sending their kids to schools in Berwyn - the haves and the have-nots and the achievement gap between the haves and the have-nots. She believes the kids of the haves will have the resources to do well but the have-nots will struggle. She believes that the school board must serve every child in the community.
Gilbert Pena - He is a 17 year resident of Berwyn with 3 kids attending District 100 schools. Gil works as an engineer and architect. He is involved in Youth Crossroads and is a member of the Berwyn Community Relations Commission. He says the current board has done a tremendous job of using technology. He wants to see more partnering with businesses and corporations and wants to retain good teachers and increase the use of technology. Gil also talked about increased parent involvement and volunteer opportunities, and out-of-the-box funding that could be pursued through business partnerships or other avenues besides the district's tax revenues.
Debi Suchy - 35 year resident She has had 2 sons go through District 100; one son is now in college while the other son is a sophomore at Morton West. She works as an accountant and was Berwyn City Collector from 2005 to 2009. She serves on the South Berwyn Education Foundation board, the YMCA board and the Berwyn Development Corporation board. She is excited about the District 100 vision. She talked about the fact that there are two types of families sending their kids to schools in Berwyn - the haves and the have-nots and the achievement gap between the haves and the have-nots. She believes the kids of the haves will have the resources to do well but the have-nots will struggle. She believes that the school board must serve every child in the community.
Gilbert Pena - He is a 17 year resident of Berwyn with 3 kids attending District 100 schools. Gil works as an engineer and architect. He is involved in Youth Crossroads and is a member of the Berwyn Community Relations Commission. He says the current board has done a tremendous job of using technology. He wants to see more partnering with businesses and corporations and wants to retain good teachers and increase the use of technology. Gil also talked about increased parent involvement and volunteer opportunities, and out-of-the-box funding that could be pursued through business partnerships or other avenues besides the district's tax revenues.
Mark Weiner - Running for the 2 year seat. Mark works as a lawyer and served on Berwyn City Council for 4 years. He believes education is the backbone of a strong community and supports District 100 goal of being in the top 25% of schools in the state as evidenced by standardized test scores, but wants to shoot higher. He believes the district needs to engage the community on education. He stated that he was impressed by all the people running for the board this year.
James Swicionis - Current board member running for the 2 year seat. Jim is a 34 year Berwyn resident and has 4 kids who are attending District 100 schools. He works as a lawyer. He is proud of the achievements of board in his 8 years on the board and of hiring Stan Fields He listed the use of technology by the district, full day kindergarten and the increase in ISAT scores as major indicators of the current board's effectiveness. His main goal in the next term would be to improve the "marketing" of District 100 to the communiy and expand pre-school and gifted services.
April Wozniak - Has a 6 year old attending Irving. April has a bachelor's degree in child development and works in finance for nonprofits and currently works for the national organization of YMCAs. She also mentioned the achievement gap and three specific areas through which the district could better address it: improved parent engagement, access to early learning opportunities, and summer programs to address summer learning loss. She believes the biggest issues that need to be addressed are loss of learning over the summer and early learning experiences, especially for those who are the "have-nots"; She has also worked with something called "Friendly Math", a program which makes math less intimidating for youngsters.
Morton High School District 201:
Only one candidate for District 201 participated in the forum.
Rita Maniotis - She is running as a write-in candidate in District 201. She believes that people want quality education in District 201. She wants to accomplish 3 things:
1. Cut ties between Cicero political machine and District 201 - She talked about the fact that the board now allows only one comment in public session on action items and said it was increasingly hard to find out what is going on. A question in the audience asked whether it was true the board was ending meetings early and not starting at 7 PM, she responded that when she went to board meetings in November and December, the meetings were ending as she walked in the door.
2. Restore graduation requirements - She talked about the fact that her son will not be able to get into the University of Illinois with the current limit on credit hours in District 201. She stated that she will have to pay tuition to send him to summer school in order for him to take the additional courses he will need when he graduates in order to get into the University of Illinois.
3. TIF districts - She said she wanted to look at the impact of TIF districts on school budgets. She stated an IASB study showed that the Chicago Public School system would get an additional $150 million if there were no TIF districts. She also pointed to Oak Park, which is giving TIF money back to the originating districts.
When asked a question about the fact that there were no black teachers at Morton, she said there needed to be more minority teachers.
When asked if she had a magic wand, what would she change, she responded that she would put solor panels on the field house to save energy. She ended by saying that she thought Morton High School had simply become a machine to send kids to Morton College and that the district is sending a message to its kids that a 4 year college is out of their realm.
1. Cut ties between Cicero political machine and District 201 - She talked about the fact that the board now allows only one comment in public session on action items and said it was increasingly hard to find out what is going on. A question in the audience asked whether it was true the board was ending meetings early and not starting at 7 PM, she responded that when she went to board meetings in November and December, the meetings were ending as she walked in the door.
2. Restore graduation requirements - She talked about the fact that her son will not be able to get into the University of Illinois with the current limit on credit hours in District 201. She stated that she will have to pay tuition to send him to summer school in order for him to take the additional courses he will need when he graduates in order to get into the University of Illinois.
3. TIF districts - She said she wanted to look at the impact of TIF districts on school budgets. She stated an IASB study showed that the Chicago Public School system would get an additional $150 million if there were no TIF districts. She also pointed to Oak Park, which is giving TIF money back to the originating districts.
When asked a question about the fact that there were no black teachers at Morton, she said there needed to be more minority teachers.
When asked if she had a magic wand, what would she change, she responded that she would put solor panels on the field house to save energy. She ended by saying that she thought Morton High School had simply become a machine to send kids to Morton College and that the district is sending a message to its kids that a 4 year college is out of their realm.
Many of the candidates brought a clear passion for education and for their community to the forum. In many cases, they echoed one another's sentiments about fiscal responsibility (said no to the question about a referendum) and putting the needs of children before any other considerations, including pursuing consolidation of Berwyn school districts.
Berwyn CARES has sent all candidates surveys about their positions on various educational issues. We will be publishing their unedited responses on our website in the coming weeks, giving YOU the opportunity to do a side-by-side comparison. Please follow this election carefully and be sure you are informed before you vote on April 5th.
1 comment:
My questions for all the candidates:
Have you read "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell? If not, why not?
What is your opinion of structuring Berwyn schools after the formula used by KIPP schools in New York?
Do you adhere to the principles of Wendy Kopp and her "Teach for America" system? Again, if not, why not?
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