C.U.S.D. 95 BOE Candidate Forum

001If I can have. Hello testing testing testing hello testing testing testing testing testing is this too loud can someone help me out there. That's okay it's okay. Good evening my name is Katherine Silver and I am one of the presidents of Lake Zurich Middle School South PTO and this is Teresa LaPerry president of the Lake Zurich Middle School North PTO. We would like to welcome you to the Lake Zurich District 95 Board of Education Candidate Forum. Our PTOs are pleased to be hosting this forum as we look ahead to the upcoming consolidated election taking place on Tuesday April 1st. There are seven candidates running for election this year all of whom are sitting to my left. They are Alicia Tim, Sally Kutzer, Dana Lee Mirabali, Frederick Hutchinson, Peter Etienne, Lisa Warren, and Eileen Maloney. Before

002we begin I would like to thank our volunteers who have generously given their time to help us tonight. Our question managers over to my right are my co-president at Middle School South Jessica Burzawa and Isaac Fox PTO co-president Leah Cahoon. Our timekeepers are Sandra Adams and Abby Riley down here. We'd like to extend a special thank you to all of our Lake Zurich High School student volunteers who are helping us collect question cards from the audience. We'd also like to thank all of you who are joining us here tonight in the PAC as well as those joining us on the live stream. We're grateful for your willingness to be a part of this forum. We appreciate all candidates and community members conducting themselves in a respectful manner and we are looking forward to a positive

003and productive experience for everyone involved. Tonight's forum will consist of three parts. First each candidate will be allowed two minutes to give an opening statement. The order in which the candidates will deliver their opening statement was determined prior to the beginning of the forum by random selection. Next we will present the candidates with questions submitted by the community. Some questions have been received prior to the forum through an online forum and we will also be collecting questions tonight throughout the event. Questions will be sorted and consolidated to ensure the widest range of topics can be addressed. Please note that each candidate will have the opportunity to respond to every question. We will not allow questions addressed to an individual candidate. For those of you here in the PAC, if you have a question that you

004would like to present please write it down legibly on a note card and raise your hand and our student volunteers will come collect it. If you have not already received a note card and pencil or would like additional cards please raise your hand now and the students will come distribute them. We appreciate all audience members staying seated at all times. For those of you watching online you may submit your questions through the Google form that you can find linked in the description of the live stream. Our question managers will be including all online questions along with those we received here in person. All candidates will have one minute to respond to every question. The timekeepers will raise a yellow card when there are ten seconds remaining and a red card when the time has ended

005and at that time candidates are expected to bring their remarks to a conclusion. We will rotate the order of candidate responses with each new question. The open question portion of the forum will continue until all questions have been answered or until approximately 8 15 p.m. whichever comes first. We will present as many questions as time allows. If your question is not addressed tonight please contact the candidates directly. Lastly following the questions each candidate will give a one minute closing statement. Closing statements will be delivered in reverse order of the opening statements. Again thank you all for being here tonight. Let's get started. Ms. Tim you may now share your two minute opening statement. Thank you to the PTO presidents, Burzawa, LePerry and Silver for organizing this event. Ten percent of the people do 90% of

006the volunteer work. I see you and I appreciate you. My name is Alicia Tim. I am a community servant, a taxpayer and a parent of two kids in our district. I'm running to be a member of the Board of Education to offer a fresh perspective. I will bring a new set of listening ears and a new voice to the school board. My parents raised me to be a helper. My mom was a school psychologist and my dad and stepmom were social workers. I find joy and purpose in serving my community. In my service to district 95 I will help protect our tax dollars and prioritize a balanced budget. I will ensure that our students have learning opportunities to prepare them for a changing economy. We want graduates who know how to think critically and communicate

007effectively. I will help students find more volunteer and learning opportunities by leveraging my relationships with local community groups. I am a volunteer for Citizens for Conservation and the Lake Zorak Lions Club. My many years of work as a nonprofit board member with the Ancient Oaks Foundation and collaboration with the schools helped district 95 earn the green ribbon award for sustainability. I will help the board right away using my experience as board trustee for ELA library, public libraries and public schools are institutions that must be valued and supported. It was an honor to be elected and it has been a privilege to serve our five-star library. I know the role of a board member and I will be able to hit the ground running when I am elected. I understand the value of community collaboration and

008how every stakeholder in our school district can work together for the success of our students and for our community's prosperity. Please vote for Alicia Tim and I will put our community first. Local voting begins March 17th and election day is on April 1st. No fooling. Thank you. Next we'll hear from Ms. Kutzer. Good evening. My name is Sally Kutzer and I stand before you tonight with a heart full of enthusiasm and a deep commitment to the future of district 95. I am running for the school board because I believe in the power of our schools to shape lives and I want to dedicate my experience and passion to ensuring their continued growth and excellence. I am eager to bring an objective and thoughtful approach to managing our district's resources and goals. For 25 years this

009community has been my home and district 95 has been the cornerstone of our family's journey. Our three children flourished here receiving an exceptional education and taking full advantage of the many opportunities available. And now with time and the benefit of time and experience I feel a calling to give back to the district that has enriched our lives. My connection to district 95 isn't just as a parent. As a former high school teacher and now a district 95 substitute teacher for over a decade I've seen firsthand the triumphs and the challenges our students and teachers face. I also work as a test prep tutor and ACT and AP proctor. These experiences have given me a unique ground level perspective. I have gathered street data and I am ready to share this perspective to help continue the

010great work of this district. I've been actively involved on key district committees and for nearly 15 years I've served on Joni's Closet, an organization dedicated to supporting under-resourced students. We work tirelessly to remove barriers to learning by providing essential resources. Through this work I've honed critical skills that are directly transferable to the role of a school board member. I believe in the power of service. I have a proven track record of supporting students, staff, and community members with respect and effectiveness. My teaching background combined with my deep understanding of district 95 make me a strong and capable candidate. Thank you. Next we'll hear from Ms. Mirabali. Good evening. I'm Dana Lee Mirabali and I'm proud to be a candidate for our school board. As a mom of two sons currently in D95, a 30-year attorney,

011an education advocate, and a running coach, I'm deeply invested in our school's successes. I want the best for our kids and for the teachers who shape our kids' futures. I am running to champion fairness, inclusion, and smart policies that empower our students and our teachers, ensuring every child thrives while maintaining fiscal responsibility. My platform has three pillars, fairness, understanding, and effectiveness. Fairness is at the heart of my platform. Every student deserves access to a high quality education, whether they are an advanced, general, or special education. We need to ensure that our programs are equitable and that every child has the resources they need and that we prioritize their mental health and their well-being just as much as their academic successes. Our students should never feel left behind or overlooked. I also believe in the power

012of understanding. Our district's diversity is a strength and it's something we must celebrate and support. By embracing our cultural and socioeconomic diversity and strengthening our anti-bullying initiatives, we can create a safe, inclusive, and supportive learning environment where all students feel valued and respected. Finally, I'm committed to effectiveness. Our school board has a responsibility to use resources wisely, ensuring that our dollars have the greatest impact on our students, teachers, and community. We must be thoughtful and strategic in our decision-making, always prioritizing what is best for students while being responsible guardians of our tax dollars. With my experience in law and education advocacy, I will bring action, accountability, and heart to the school board. I will work with kindness, fairness, and compassion to ensure that every student is truly seen, truly heard, and truly served, and that

013our teachers have resources to serve our kids. I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and work hard for our community. I'd be honored if you'd vote for me. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Mr. Hutchinson. Good evening, everyone. My name is Fred Hutchinson and I'm here to earn your vote for the Board of Education of District 95. There are really three things that you should look for in a board candidate. One, you should look for someone who's passionate about education. There should not be a stepping stone to something greater. This should be something that comes from within your heart. I have that passion. That passion was cultivated when I was a little kid growing up in Gainesville, Florida, and I watched my mother, who was a parent of three at the time, go

014off to community college because she wanted something better for herself and then transfer to the University of Florida, actually interrupting her education her junior year when she transferred to have my baby brother. But committed to the work, she went on back to the College of Education at the University of Florida and she became a career teacher. I grew up in schools literally day and night beside my mother helping her decorate her classroom, helping her to grade papers, helping her to create assignments for her students. I have passion literally from the womb. Another thing that you should want in a board member is a perspective that will be helpful to the board. A unique perspective. And I will provide a unique perspective to the board. I'm a career educator. As a matter of fact, I've spent

015nearly the last 23 years teaching sociology at the College of Lake County. Now you might think that's just college students. What does that have to do with the K through 12 system? But as a department chair, I staffed dual credit classes and I also taught those classes. So I'll bring that unique perspective to the board. You also should want someone who has experience, an experienced educator. I started my career in fifth grade and have spent, as I mentioned, the last 23 years teaching at CLC. I will bring passion, experience, and perspective to the Board of Education. Thank you, Mr. Hutchinson. Next, we'll hear from Mr. Etienne. Thank you for providing this valuable forum. I'm Peter Etienne. Since coming to the board in 2020, I've aimed to build on the remarkable achievements of District 95, focus

016on improvement areas, and be a voice for all stakeholders. I'm an environmental health and safety attorney and a Lake Zurich resident for 30 years. I served over 10 years on a university board and worked for a short while as a public school teacher. I believe I've positively contributed to the board and I seek reelection to continue this work. I believe that my strong advocacy for sustainability helped the district launch our first sustainability committee. We were one of only 10 districts in the entire country recognized with a national green ribbon for sustainability in 2024. Thanks to our excellent staff and students, the district was awarded two national blue ribbons in 2024. My wife and I are blessed with three children who all attended district schools. Now, my parents had less than a fifth grade education and

017I am only one of my mother's nine children to get a four-year college degree. This background helps me advocate for every student to be future ready and prepared to learn and work in an increasingly diverse district and country. If reelected, I would focus on three main areas. First, academic excellence, increasing resources for teachers, particularly for math and responsible use of AI and continuing to provide a safe classroom experience. Second, financial stewardship. Third, future readiness, helping our students meet the district portrait of our graduate characteristics, prepared to be a global citizen in a rapidly changing world, continuing the district sustainability journey and casting a wider net to recruit a wider variety of excellent teachers and staff. I am Peter Etienne and I respectfully ask for your vote. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we'll hear from Ms.

018Warren. Good evening. My name is Lisa Warren and first I'd like to thank all the PTO presidents here, especially Catherine, Teresa and Jessica. As the middle school PTO president 14 years ago, I got to run this forum and two years before that I was the yellow card person because I was the Charles Quentin PTO president. I've been an active volunteer in this district since my oldest child, Mitchell, started school in 2003. I've been involved in the PTO. I've been a classroom volunteer. I have been a helping hand wherever is needed throughout the district. I also was one of the founding members of our foundation that was established in 2006 and I also have been working actively with Joni's Closet since it became a part of the foundation a couple years after it was founded in

0192006. I've been honored to serve on the board since 2012. It's been very challenging as well as very educating. My degrees are in business and I have my MBA and I believe my experience in both the audit world and the finance world enables me to look at a situation, assess it and determine next steps. I think that is what is going to be effective as we move forward as a school district along with my past experience on the board and with the district. As part of the foundation we got very active in the second year that we existed. That was back when the the district had to cut some programs and there was a lot of fundraising going on to allow those programs to continue because they were very important to a lot of the

020parents and I don't want to see that happen. I'm proud to have been a part of the referendum that was passed. The fact that we've had projects that have touched every single building in this district in several different ways and now we're sitting here with still increasing expenses due to inflation but also with a set revenue stream in place and I think my skill set helps to best assess this situation and move forward prudently. Thank you. Thank you. Next we will hear from Ms. Maloney. Thank you. I'm Eileen Maloney and I would be remiss if I didn't start out by thanking the PTO presidents for sponsoring this forum tonight. As a long-standing and dedicated member of the board of education I am deeply committed to supporting the incredible work of our district. Having all three

021of my boys attend district 95 schools from kindergarten through 12th grade has given me personal understanding of the positive impact our educators and staff have on students. In my role as vice president of the school board and chairperson of the facilities and business operations committee I strive to ensure that our district provides the best possible environment for both learning and teaching. I recognize that behind every budget decision or facilities project are real people working hard to create meaningful educational experiences for our students. Since joining the board I have made it a priority to expand my knowledge and improve my ability to serve. I have actively pursued continuing education opportunities through the Illinois Association of School Boards attending seminars and courses at the annual IIII conference to ultimately achieve the distinguished school board member status. The

022ongoing education has strengthened my understanding of effective governance and enhanced my ability to advocate for the needs of our staff and students. I have also had the privilege of serving as district 95 delegate to the Illinois Association of School Boards delegate assembly ensuring our district's voice is heard at the state level. Additionally my participation on the teachers contract negotiating team and the insurance committee has given me valuable insight into the challenges our staff face and the importance of collaboration to achieve positive outcomes. District 95 has been recognized with two blue ribbon awards and a green ribbon. Thank you Ms. Maloney. Thank you all. At this time we will move to the community's questions. As a reminder each candidate will be given one minute to respond to each question. Make sure our timer gets there. Awesome

023thank you. So Ms. Tim we will begin with you. How will you ensure that all students regardless of their background have access to high quality education and what steps will you take to ensure that our curriculum is inclusive and reflects the diverse background of our students? This is my favorite question. The state of Illinois dictates that we serve every child in our public schools. Public schools are the bedrock foundation of keeping a society functioning, kind, intelligent, active, engaged and what I can do with curriculum is limited here but I can help set the mission of the district. I can support our teachers. I can encourage the board to look at new ideas and the kids everyone needs to be able to be seen and heard because if they are comfortable they will learn. If they

024are not comfortable they won't learn and we will not have good outcomes and our test scores will go down and we just don't want that for our children in an excellent district where we have all the resources to give to them. We are very very fortunate here. So I'm here for every child and it will be my honor to serve the community as a whole. Thank you. Ms. Kutzer. So the mission of district 95 is to empower every learner to achieve personal excellence. So that word every learner or those words every learner are really important that we reach every student with our curriculum. We are poised with making sure we have equitable access to resources for both our students and our staff to make sure that we are reaching every student. I was fortunate enough

025to sit in on a recent board meeting where they were reviewing curriculum that was going to be implemented in the coming year and a group of teachers came in from their committee that they had piloted three different programs and had really spent a lot of time discussing the programs and they shared some of the information and it was really cool to see the diversity in the books and the items that they were talking about and I think that's the path that we have been on and we will continue to stay on that path. Thank you. Ms. Mirabali. Sorry about that. It is important that all of our students are heard and seen. We have students at all different levels. Some are in advanced placement, some are in general placement, some are in special education and

026it is very important that all of our students are taught at the level where they need to be taught that they are taught and seen for who they are with their background. We have children from many different cultural backgrounds, religious backgrounds, different types of educations from their parents. Some will be going to college, some will be going to trade school, some will be getting certifications, others will be going straight to work and others the military and we need to make sure that we have curriculums for all of these students so that they can reach their potential and give back to their community and I will be working with the teachers to figure out what is the best way to do that for all of our students. Thank you. Mr. Hutchinson. Yes, this is a very

027important question and as a board as a board of education there are a couple things that we would need to do to ensure that all of our kids are served. One we have to make a commitment to having a curriculum that's culturally relevant that represents all of the kids in the district. So the first step is to commit to that and we also must commit to equity. We must commit to giving every kid in this district what they need in order to be successful. Commitment. We have to be committed to both of those equity and to a culturally relevant curriculum. Now what we need to do after that is to ensure that we have our teachers, our staff, our administrators have the appropriate training to engage in culturally relevant pedagogy and to create a school

028environment that affirms who students are. And so it'll be important for us to tap into resources within our community and from the outside to ensure that we activate our commitment to equity and diversity. Thank you. Mr. Etienne. Thank you for the question and as has been mentioned the law provides for education to every student in the state of Illinois and plus the district provides that every urges every learner to achieve personal excellence. Now a new law also requires that advanced classes that students who qualify for those be placed in those and so I think as well I think of equity and I think for those students who are able to go to those classes we should encourage them to do so. You know as a former teacher I really think of students that struggle. I

029was one of those for whom math didn't come easily and so for my kids I was able to pay for them to have tutors. I would like district 95 to provide more tutors for those who do not afford who could not afford it. So in that way every student is able to get the excellent education that district 95 provides. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Warren. I believe our current curriculum process does ensure a quality education to each and every student in our district. I love the fact that Ms. Stallion has come in as our assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and has put into a place a curriculum review process that involves teachers in every school at every grade level that they all have input as we're looking to look at changes in curriculum. Those

030go back into the classroom. We get the input from students. We get input from parents. We get input from other teachers who might just peek into that classroom to see what this whole new curriculum is about and getting all of those perspectives I believe ensures not only diversity but also inclusion. You have so many eyes looking at the curriculum that if there's a void it's going to be observed and it's going to be fixed. As the chair of teaching and learning student services is just as involved in our curriculum and I think that's key too. Thank you. Ms. Maloney. Thank you. Our mission, vision and values are changing. Our district 95 has done an excellent job of involving all stakeholders, students, teachers, community members, staff, administration and board members and other interested parties, community members

031in all of our strategic initiatives. We have a very robust instruction committee and what they're particularly concerned about is meeting our values which include equity, integrity and respect. I think they've done an excellent job of incorporating our values into the curriculum and have gotten the feedback of all of our stakeholders as well. So I'm very confident and comfortable with the curriculum and achieves equity. Thank you. Thank you all. The next question from our community is with increased reports of negative classroom behavior what would you do to help ensure that teachers are feeling supported by upper administration? We'll begin with Ms. Cutzer. This is something that I see as a substitute teacher all the time. There's a lot of needs, a lot of abilities going on in a classroom and we definitely need to listen to

032what teachers think would be the best way to support them because not every classroom is the same. So what works in one classroom might not work in another classroom. It's not a one size fits all model but I do think it's very important that we address this issue because it is just expanding. So what you know as I mentioned before the needs in a classroom are so varied and so great that it hurts everyone if we can't figure out a way to balance that. It's very difficult for a teacher to manage that if they don't have the support and resources whether that's extra paraprofessionals or extra professional learning. Thank you. Ms. Mirabali. Regarding behaviors in classrooms that sometimes can happen because of things that are going on in the home with the children or it

033could be going on because of children having certain diagnoses and they can't stay regulated and if we can give our teachers this proper training and how to deescalate and help students stay regulated it could really make a difference in our classrooms. Sometimes children can't stay regulated because they lack executive functioning skills. Our children who have neurodivergency have been expanding and that is not because more kids are being diagnosed or it's not because more kids have it today it's because more children are actually being diagnosed than they were in the past and our younger teachers have learned about this in their classes in coming through schools but our older ones haven't and I have spoken with the school district regarding these issues and they are working on training our teachers and supporting them so they are

034able to help them and if we can get more support in the classrooms with social workers and occupational therapists that can also help our students and our teachers. Thank you. Mr. Hutchinson. Yes without a classroom environment that's conducive to learning learning is not going to take place for all of our kids so this is a really important issue teachers have to be able to control their classes and they need the support from the administration in order to make that happen. Now what that looks like will vary from class to class from teacher to teacher maybe from grade to grade but we must be committed to ensuring that all kids have an opportunity as a matter of fact to have a right to learn in a class environment that is conducive to learning. It begins at

035home with the parents but when they come to us as a school it's our responsibility to make sure that the kids are doing what they're supposed to do so that everybody can learn and in order to make that work we've got to have training. People are trained in their content areas but they also need to be trained in classroom management and so support might look like training more training for our teachers. Thank you. Mr. Etienne. Well thank you I you know I think of the challenges that teachers face today it's just incredible and and I think at the end of the day they are dealing with students that are changing as a community and our society change. I mean the destruction of their phones the destruction of everything going on and and the discipline issues

036that they have to face so my starting point is that I assume that they have good intention and then they have the best interest of the student at heart and so I think we should give them the support that they need that they which whether it's additional power professionals that are needed in the classroom and work with parents to make sure that the parents and the teachers work in a cooperative matter to to provide a good learning experience for all of our students. Thank you. Ms. Warren. My understanding is that we have been providing some professional development to teachers as well as administrators and how to best support the teachers. The reality is that to put interventions in place as someone mentioned it's a different story for each child and so that takes some time

037to figure out where that child is and what's the best intervention and unfortunately it's not a fix that happens overnight it takes some time and we have had some experiences where interventions have put into place and the next school year the student is not as disruptive as they were even not disruptive at all so a lot of this it just takes time it takes patience the interventions will work which I think social workers and therapists will tell you but it's just not an overnight solution and hopefully in the long run we will achieve this goal and have a great learning environment for everyone. Thank you. Ms. Maloney. Thank you. Through conversations that I've had with some of our teachers I know that this is a significant problem what I think what many have said before

038me what it really comes down to is like it's it's a tough job and especially when there are behavior issues that that are seemingly like they're not easy to solve one of the things that I've had conversations with administration about is what is the possibility of having floating paras and paraprofessionals in in the district and in the schools because the paras frequently follow a particular student but if that particular student isn't in a classroom with additional behaviors then that extra para doesn't solve the problem so floating paras could be a solution for these issues. Thank you. Ms. Tim. There has been some state legislation that was passed to make exclusionary discipline of students illegal and they are looking at that legislation because every behavior situation is different and every child needs a different approach. I

039have heard from the community teachers that they need more paraprofessionals in the classroom sometimes their paraprofessionals get pulled to different areas I mean that's how we have to roll in public education but we could use more paraprofessionals the teachers that have high population classrooms could use more support also and it would be good to get all the stakeholders involved so let's get the parents together with a social worker and school psychologist and see what the best path for these kids are is and I wish we could let kids move their bodies if there's some way we could work that into the day I know it's hard on teachers but if we could let kids move their bodies a little more I think they would be less upset. Thank you. Our next question is if LZ

04095 loses federal funding due to the shutting down of the Department of Education how would you revise the budget? What services are expendable or a high priority? And we will start with Ms. Mirabali. If the Department of Education does pull some of our funding it's going to it's a little over three million dollars at the current budget that we have right now that is a significant amount of money even though it's a small percentage of our overall budget I think rather than trying to cut programs because I think right now there's so much that our students need and our teachers need if we could find additional funding in other places that would be an area that I would look into partnerships with people with organizations within the community looking for grant proposals and trying to

041find funding to make up that loss so that our students and our teachers are not left holding the bag and not able to continue what they're what they've been doing losing money would be hurtful and so if the Department of Education is completely dismantled I think we're going to need to find our funding from elsewhere versus trying to cut programs. Thank you. Mr. Hutchinson. Yes it's a shame that we have to have this conversation about the U.S. Department of Education closing who would have thought that we would sit here and have this conversation but you know this is life sometimes things happen that aren't really good for anybody so the district needs to be strategic we need to think ahead to figure out like what happens should we lose that funding I don't think any

042of us really have an answer to that question right now because this is such an unimaginable question to begin with but it's incumbent upon us as members of this community of the school community of the school district to figure out what's going to happen next I don't know that any of our programs are expendable I don't I wouldn't say that we have programs that we can just get rid of but we might have to get creative in how we fund those programs look for sources other revenue sources partnerships with people in the community or other schools and so on in order to make that happen. Thank you. Mr. Etienne. Thank you. You know I've walked around the district the past few months it's amazing how many times that question has come up and I think

043people are concerned I think I start off by saying first of all our priority are our people and so ultimately we have spent a lot of money on facilities since we passed the referendum and and we have great facilities but at the end of the day if we have to prioritize we have to prioritize on our people and so in some cases we might we might have to adjust how much we spend on facilities. Unfortunately for the district the district is in a very financially strong position the impact of the Department of Education cut would be somewhere in the two percent range and I think we'll be able to absorb it and and and as I reiterate it I think the priority is prioritizing our staff over facilities. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Warren this

044question has come up quite a few times. Federal funding is about three percent of our total budget so it's not it's a it's a big number but it's not a big number in the realm of things and I think what's key to remember is the Department of Education was established by President Carter and a lot of the funding that comes from the federal government came before the Department of Education existed so things such as free and reduced lunch does not come from the Department of Education as when I understand it actually comes from a different department than the federal government so we're not really sure how much we would actually lose. I think what we would lose more than funds is the perspective of national best practices. The Department of Education is the entity that

045evaluates schools for blue ribbon awards. I think that's remarkable it's it's showing what schools should be looked at nationwide and exemplified and those are the things that would disappear with the Department of Education disappearing and I think that's even more important in some ways than the funding that might go away. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Maloney. Thank you. I agree with a lot of what Lisa just said. Our the percentage of our budget that is impacted by the federal government is relatively small. Nobody wants to lose a dime. We all want all of the money that we have but realistically I believe that much of the funding wouldn't go away when the department goes away. The funding would come from a different source in the federal government. We don't know that yet. It's quite unfortunate

046like Mr. Hutchinson said that we have to figure that out but the reality is I do believe that the funding that we would receive would be picked up by alternative departments. Having said that once again we are as a district excellent at obtaining new and creative funding alternatives and our business operations director is phenomenal at coming up with alternative ways to fund. Thank you. Ms. Tim. I do appreciate the direction of the Department of Education because they are protecting civil rights of students around our country and we need to have a baseline for what is protection for our kids. We also need to protect our kids with disabilities and I'm wondering who is going to be the voice of that. Obviously our state is doing a wonderful job with that but I think extra pressure

047from the federal government is good. I think we would need to collaborate with other school leaders in the area to come up with solutions and try to like get our good brains together and come up with alternate funding, corporate sponsorship. Sometimes you have to make cuts. My mom was a school psychologist in Chicago public schools for 30 years and she proctored IQ tests in bathrooms, janitor closets, but buildings with rooms with broken windows so perspective is really important when we think about these issues too. Thank you. Ms. Kutzer. So as many mentioned this is a small percentage of our budget so we are very fortunate here that this is not a make or break situation for Lake Zurich. I'm hoping that these programs that are very important are absorbed in other entities because the programs

048are really what I think all of us really care about. Of course as mentioned the dollars we don't want to turn away any dollars but we're hoping that other entities absorb that. I think it's also very hard to just guess what's going to happen. We have to be ready to pivot but as any decision that's made on a board that's done by doing research, by talking to stakeholders and coming up with solutions as a board that we think are best solutions. So that would be my approach to something in this situation just like it would be with any other difficult decision. Thank you. Our next question is there are several classrooms at the elementary level that have 27 plus students. Taking into consideration the rapid and continuous growth of our community how would you address

049the issue of large classroom size? We will begin with Mr. Hutchinson. Classroom sizes are really an important issue for teachers and for students. We want to have classes as small as we can make them and still be valuable as a school. There's lots of research that shows that classroom size in particular small class sizes help students learn more effectively. It just makes sense like if you have 20 students you can actually get around to all 20 of them and work with them independently. If you have 30 students in a room that becomes a bit more difficult. So as a district we need to think about and project the growth that's coming in the future and be prepared to go to the community and ask them for help with addressing the needs as they arise. That

050would be my way of dealing with that issue. Thank you. Mr. Etienne. Thank you. You know this is a very timely question and I encourage you to watch the board meeting. Maybe sometimes it might seem boring but some exciting things happen there. This week we're going to talk about a demographic study which is very timely. We're going to look at the demographics around our district and figure out the growth and the trajectory and try to understand where our new students are going to come from. Whether it's going to remain flat or not. We have some more capacity in some areas so that has to be looked at. The short answer to this is that I support the demographic study doing it in a steady and methodical way and try to get some answers and try

051to shift our population as needed. And then where in urgent cases we might need help we provide power professionals to help teachers handle the classes that are that are too large for them. Thank you. Ms. Warren. So actually classroom sizes are satisfied as part of the union negotiations in the contract and so it's something that's always brought up and discussed between teachers and the board as part of that. I think what is hardest for me personally and also most exciting for me personally is the fact that the school classroom does not look like it did when I went to elementary school. It is not a teacher up front with all of the 28 or 26 however many students are in the class facing forward listening to the teacher in part knowledge. If you look at

052our new spaces the new May Whitney all of these new spaces that we've created they have breakout spaces they have small group spaces. The way teaching happens is so different these days and our our the classroom size it's not that I have to do you do have to teach 28 kids but you're teaching it in a very different way that I think allows for co-teaching it allows for small groups it allows for independent work and so that sort of helps deal with some of these sizes Thank you. Ms. Maloney. Thank you. I've been a participant in the last three teachers contract negotiations and that the the size of the classroom which varies by level is absolutely a negotiated part of our contract and I certainly expect when we negotiate again whoever is doing that will

053be dealing with that number again. I know that we've had some problems this year because sections didn't pop they may have expected them to pop and create a separate another classroom but they didn't and the following the contract is pretty much our guidance that's what we do and so but I do think a solution under those circumstances is the floating paras that when it's needed in a particular classroom the paras there and when it's needed in a different classroom you have that same resource that can be shared so I think that that is a potentially good solution. Thank you. Ms. Tim. It seems really hard to be a teacher to that many kids and I feel for teachers I really do and obviously these negotiations are important for taxpayers and teachers and kids and we

054make the best decisions we can with the resources we have. It seems like perhaps a teacher shortage is an issue. The projected teacher shortage in the U.S. by 2025 is 225,000 and college students aren't becoming teachers that has fallen 50% in the last decade so I hope that we try to make schools a supportive place for teachers and students and that we collaborate with each other and that we realize we are all trying to get to the same goals of creating goals with citizens for our communities. Also you want to engage with village leadership before they're building new housing developments and make sure that they're taking into account these classrooms and these buildings and how much space we're going to have for these kids so props to the teachers doing all that hard work. Thank

055you. Ms. Cutzer. So the interesting thing is our overall population is actually down. It's just that we have bubbles of larger class sizes in certain grade levels so we really need to just sort of figure out how can we shift things to make those class numbers more manageable. I subbed in a classroom a few years ago at Sarah Adams that had 15 kids and it's completely different when you have 15 kids in a room which is a very low number to have 27 kids in a classroom. It's really not even the same thing so we definitely need to listen to teachers again to see what is the best way to manage when we do get to those higher numbers. Obviously 26 is our max in our contract but obviously things happen sometimes after people move

056into the district after we start school. The demographic study is going to be key for us to analyze that data to figure out where to go with that. Thank you. Ms. Mirabali. The teachers, excuse me, the teachers are the heart of our schools and they are the ones who make the difference for all of our kids. I've seen that with my own children. I've seen it with friends children. These large classrooms make it very difficult to teach all of the kids and meet the kids where they are. Paraprofessionals can help but I think sometimes we one we don't have enough of them and frankly I don't know if we pay them enough because they aren't able to teach like our teachers teach and I don't know if this is possible but if we could have

057co-teaching or floating teachers to help in those situations when we can't have a smaller classroom. That way the teachers can float around and help in certain classrooms. In high school we have some co-taught classes and it's very beneficial to those teachers and to the students who need that. We have these mixed classrooms in the elementary level and so having co-teaching might be a solution that helps. Thank you. I have to say these questions coming in are very good and we're having trouble picking some. So our next question is given the increasing level of anxiety among students what additional resources or strategies do you believe should be implemented in our schools to support mental health and well-being? And we will start with Mr. Etienne. Thank you. She probably doesn't want me to mention her at all

058but my wife is a psychologist and she spends a lot of time thinking about students' mental health and people's mental health. I believe the school as it is or district as it is right now which we focus on the mental health of students and the emotional learning as well and I believe the programs that we have in place continue to build upon those foundations. We have also as a district provided additional psychological resources for students that may be in need. Now keep in mind your district is not your professional psychologist on a day-to-day basis. That's not the job of our counselors and so they might need to go outside to get additional help but we provide avenues with counselors and more resources that will allow them to deal with those areas and channel them in

059the right direction. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Warren. Our teachers keep getting asked to do more and more and more besides just teach their children and one of those things that we've been asking our teachers and training our teachers to do is screening students to try. Those teachers are the ones that best know the kids that are in their classroom day in and day out and they help identify kids that might need additional help. Peter mentioned that we do have at least one social worker if not more in every school and in recent years we now have a psychologist in each school as well. So we have a lot of resources and we've been adding to those resources especially after COVID to help provide not only our students but our teachers with the emotional health

060that they need. Help they need. There's hotlines. There's so many resources throughout Lake County for students and adults. I think it's become a bigger priority nationwide and so you just have to tap into all those resources that we have. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Maloney. Thank you. I think one of the things and I do mean one of the things that COVID taught us is that the social emotional well-being of our children is of paramount concern. That it's sort of a baseline to success in in school and our principals present a school improvement plan every year to the board and it's a very robust school improvement plan and I'm very proud to say that a huge chunk of the presentation involves social emotional learning. So every school has a social emotional learning goal and we

061have instituted various professional development for teachers in that realm that's new and there's it's definitely an issue that needs constant attention and constant surveillance. So thank you. Thank you. Ms. Tim. It seems to be an issue everywhere. COVID obviously had a huge impact and our kids are constantly being bombarded with the world's problems constantly with their phones and they're on iPads all day and this is the way of our world now but I think we should look at getting kids outside. I know the teachers like to go outside too and maybe it's hard to get them in and out but I think a little break from the screens every day something that should be instituted. I know Illinois is a very good state for physical education but not all states support physical education so I'm

062glad we do that and maybe we should even let the high schoolers get out of the building for 15 minutes. We are going to be training staff to support these diverse student needs and it is part of the action plan to address social emotional learning. It's a part of learning and a part of growing for kids and we just have to keep our eye on the prize with that because being emotionally intelligent is actually a gift for our global citizens and for our kids to succeed in future careers. Thank you. Ms. Kutzer. So I literally today finished reading the book called The Anxious Generation. It was recommended to me by another educator and I finished it in two days because it was fascinating and basically the premise of the book is that we need more

063play-based learning obviously for younger kids because we have had so much phone-based learning so I would definitely be an advocate for adding some play-based learning into our school day. I also see the difference in the classroom at the high school level that we have gone to removing phones from students' hands during the class. They now have to keep them in a little phone caddy when they walk into the classroom and again it's a stark difference from previous years so that helps a lot. Lastly I would definitely be an advocate for offering resources to parents and more professional development for staff to help understand students that struggle in this manner. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Mirabali. Mental health is key for our kids learning and for our classroom learning. We need to have social work resources

064available for more students. There is a lot of children these days who have anxiety, ADHD, sensory processing disorder and these kids have a lot of worries even children who don't have these diagnoses and with everything that our kids are exposed to because of their phones and their tablets if we can have more students have access to professionals within our district who understand anxiety who understand how to work with them with their anxiety and how not to shame them for their worries they will do better in the classrooms it is too much for the teachers to be responsible for all of it it's just too much so we can have supports with social workers pushing in otis pushing in aren't pulling out kids they can give the children strategies and how to work with all of

065their worries thank you Mr. Hutchinson yes a lot of the issues that we've seen with students suffering from anxiety issues and emotional issues actually stem from our pandemic era what we did well as a nation is take measures to protect our kids during the pandemic i saw that as a community college instructor i saw that as a parent of a kid in this district what we didn't do so well not necessarily this district but as a nation what we didn't do so well is prepare for these kids return to school we just opened up and said all right we're back let's go back to normal normal is not the same as it was before the pandemic and we really didn't address the issue the way it should have been addressed as a collective as a

066nation rolling out something to help these kids and i think that's where a lot of our problems are stemming from we see it in the school district and we see it at the college level too and so we have to treat this as a national problem thank you all right our next question every community has its own set of challenges from your perspective what do you think is the greatest fear or worry that families in our community have particularly regarding our schools and education system we'll begin with miss warren so this is interesting because we always say we must be doing a good job when we don't have a lot of public comment with people coming and being mad at what the district is doing i personally think our largest opportunity and as a district

067is having our community join us and understanding that not every child is destined to go to a four-year university there's a lot of children that the best path for them is a community college perhaps a trade school or even going directly into the workforce or even the military and i challenged a friend of mine i said what do you ask a senior and you go where are you going to school and i think we need to be more broad-minded and understand that all of these career opportunities are equally valuable and equally needed and we should value any child in the path that they think is best for them because that's their best personal excellence thank you miss maloney i'm sorry can you repeat the question please yes of course thank you every community has its

068own set of challenges from your perspective what do you think is the greatest fear or worry that families in our community have particularly regarding our schools and education system i think our community has many different worries it's hard for me to like isolate and say the most the biggest worry i think that there's a huge portion of our community that does worry about grades and that grades and taking the right classes and enough of the um accelerated classes is the way to go and then you juxtapose that with the social emotional learning and how stressful that expectation that you will take you know six advanced classes per semester and you know do well in all of them i do think that that drives a lot of worry a lot of fear and a lot of

069stress in our community and i think really the focus shouldn't be on the highest level class you could possibly take but the ones that bring you joy and thank you miss tim it seems to me that a worry is will my child get a job and be able to afford a house and move out and we have to be very flexible i think about what we're learning when i went to school i could get a degree in latin american studies and go work in an office for a while and think about things and pay my rent but kids today have a lot of focus on getting work-based training and work-based learning so that they can get a job so community colleges are working on four-year degrees which would be great for the immediate needs that

070we're having in many manufacturing teaching nursing so if we can push that agenda through in the state i think it'd be wonderful for kids that don't want to go to four-year schools and um that's the big worry i would say that we can hopefully do something about and i think we just need to all um work together and work on kindness too and less divisiveness thank you miss kutzer i think one of the biggest worries right now with families is just instability sort of not knowing what's going to be happening next and i think a strength of our district is that we do offer stability here we have received many accolades we have blue ribbon schools we were um we're considered a great place to work a new award for us exemplary status on our

071illinois report card the school board received the governance governance recognition award so we have a lot of really stable programs here in the district we also have a very clear strategic mission and i think that offers families a very good sense of calm to know that you're sending your child to a great school district thank you miss mirabali talking with other parents in the district i've heard about a lot of bullying that has gone on with kids and i think it is a fear not only for your child to be bullied but perhaps for your child to have those unbearable behaviors and to cause pain to other kids and i think if we can do a model similar to what middle school south has where if a child's bully they are heard but the child

072who is doing the disfavorable behavior is also heard and they try and work with the children together to understand one another to create a path forward so that behavior does not continue they build bridges and they help these kids move forward in a way that i haven't seen in some of the other schools that my children have been in and we've been in four of the eight schools in this district and i think if we can let that model throughout the district it could help all of the parents feel better about the bullying thank you mr hutchinson yes i think parents are concerned about whether or not our district is preparing our kids for whatever is next whether it's college or a job or career training that's what's on people's minds and so there are

073a number of things i think we should do to address that concern we need to expand access to high quality academic programming for students who are on their way to four-year schools make sure that they all have access to the classes that they're capable of taking we need to provide career and technical training for jobs of the future clear pathways to those jobs for kids who are not going to go to college and we also need to address this bullying issue i've heard from many parents and my own kid was bullied in this school district and it's heartbreaking when you hear about your kid being bullied it's something that we must take seriously as a district and we must address not just the kid who's bullied but the kids who are doing the bullying thank

074you mr atian thank you some of my think um i think most of the parents i talked to probably similar to myself and they think of a couple things even when their kids are young they think well i hope you get a good job so that's one thing that they think about second they they think about paying for college because college is expensive and the third thing is stress and and and loneliness in a large population of our students now regarding you know getting a job i think that's why i talk about getting students future ready and focusing on a and and career pathways as district 95 is doing paying for college we're working on ap classes and dual credits that opportunities that will be open to all students and third distress and loneliness i

075i do think even with incubator and robotics and other means that get them away from the cell phones are good ideas and perhaps encouraging them to engage in other things outside of school like sports and church activities and so on thank you thank you our next question and probably our last question um what is your perception of our district's strengths and weaknesses with regard to curriculum and how would you address any weaknesses start with miss maloney um earlier i was talking about the teaching and learning committee and it's a very robust committee that has been established by the board to discuss curriculum needs and how our district addresses the curriculum needs and what potential new classes and an instruction that we would need and i think that committee does an excellent job and the results

076from that committee are the discussions from the committee are brought to the board and then the board discusses i i would say the my perception of a weakness i don't actually think it's a weakness i think math is hard i think students struggle and we do our best and i think we've instituted a lot of solutions to math being hard thank you miss tim our scores are up for kids with ieps low-income students english learners which is a growing population in our district so that's really good news they're outperforming pre-covid testing levels so we're doing some great things with curriculum um my my own son was struggling with math and my my own husband actually was tutoring in the district with his math skills and that seems to really have been addressed and the teachers

077are really getting really on top of the problem right away so if they see a kid kind of failing they're with them right away office hours extra tutoring you know available so math is always a struggle i think we really need to make sure we're focusing on stem classes cutting edge learning the best facilities that we can have for these future jobs so our kids are ready for a changing economy a changing environment for them thank you miss kutzer so our curriculum currently has four pillars that they work with and that's that it's authentic dynamic growth focused and responsive so i like that we have a very strategic focus with our curriculum it's very meaningful it's very intentional we have a system in place where we review curriculum every few years so there's constantly eyes

078on it we get a lot of feedback when we are piloting new programs this most recently when they were piloting the new programs i mentioned earlier they received feedback from parents of students in the classes that were piloting those programs obviously the teachers so i think we do a really great job of keeping focused and making that making sure that the curriculum is in line with our district strategic plan thank you miss mirabali one thing i love about our district is that we're a unit district and that our curriculum goes k through 12 and so our learning for our children can grow each year and for children who have disabilities or who have special needs that is a fluid process for our students and i think that's wonderful one of the things that i love

079is our english program and i've seen how my children have grown with writing and reading on the flip side of that in our middle schools we took our literature and our composition classes that were two classes and we combined them into one and i do wonder if we kept them as two separate classes if that would help our students during those key formative years of learning how to write in a meaningful way and to continue doing that i also feel that if we were helping children earlier on with executive functioning skills when they got to this middle school and high school levels they would be better able to do those multi-step math problems and that more difficult writing that we have at the higher levels thank you mr hutchinson as a parent of a senior

080here at the high school i reflected on this question a lot lately as my daughter applies to colleges and receives acceptances all over the country she might actually leave me and go to california can't believe it but anyway i've talked i've thought about this long and hard and our district does a lot of things well as you all know i actually moved to this district my family moved here because of this school we wanted to have a better opportunity for our daughter so we bought a house in this district and i work i and my wife work really hard to make sure that we're able to make the happen as all of you probably do too work really hard to be in this district and there's a lot that we do right we've got the

081ribbons that's been mentioned many times tonight to prove it but there are some things we can do better we can protect our kids from threats to their emotional health and safety we can make sure that there are clearly defined pathways to career opportunities for our kids and we can expand access to ap classes and dual credit classes for more students thank you mr atm and thank you um in ele in this district we are doing excellent fact i would say you know don't tell the stevenson people that but i think we're doing as good as they are so um you know as a former english teacher this is great to see math we've made great progress but any of you have listened to me on on the school board know that i'm the math guy

082i always make noise about that we're doing fairly well but we can do better so i think we should provide more resources for teachers maybe provide some math specialists and more tutors i've said that before because i think it provides a level playing field for people that cannot afford and third i think we in the teaching and learning committee that that myself and another board member participated in we have we see the building blocks we see the building blocks and investment that the district is doing now so i'm excited i'm excited that we'll see as the cohorts move through we'll see great improvements in the future and i'll continue to focus on those areas going forward thank you thank you miss warren as i mentioned before i'm very proud that our curriculum process does include

083many voices from throughout the district and the community and i think as mrs meribali mentioned we are unique and very fortunate to be in a k through 12 district they are there's sort of few and far between in this area and being able to articulate curriculum from k through 12 is really a great thing and we're seeing the benefits of that in math we actually when they went through and actually really looked and make sure we're using the same vocabulary k through 12 and we found some gaps and some of that was when you accelerated kids we didn't realize that maybe they were missing that second half of third grade because they went into advanced math and so we're filling those gaps and that's huge too and it's gonna take time we're seeing the increased

084scores in the elementary and we're gonna see it in the grade schools and something that may seem to be common sense but through that process we also are making sure that our el students and our special ed students are also have the same resources as regular education thank you thank you to all of our community members here and online for your participation and thank you to our candidates for your thoughtful and insightful responses at this time we will move forward and each candidate will give their one minute closing statements we will begin with miss maloney thank you i've spoken a great deal tonight about my experience as a board member please let me summarize for you why that experience matters approximately 16 or 17 years ago district 95 had to borrow money to make payroll

085the board was governed by good people smart people with good intentions who wanted to volunteer for the district remember the school board manages 112 million dollar budget two-thirds to about 70 percent of your tax dollars go to the schools that is a tall ask small mistakes snowball experience matters we have a triple a bond rating the current school district and we have been very fiscally responsible i'm chairman of the business operations and facilities committee and i have excellent experience please vote for me on april 1st thank you miss warren many people look at my resume and ask me why do you volunteer so much and i do because i truly believe it's my nature i have a servant heart i was raised that way my parents volunteered in the schools in the church in the

086community and that was the model they set for me and i've continued to do so i like to thank think that i am following sort of that scott scout motto of leaving the world better a better place because of what you did and that's a big reason of why i do what i do it's a big reason of why i'm on the board i feel like i'm making a difference and i feel like i'm helping to make this district an even better place to be when i was out getting petitions signed to get on the palette again a friend of mine that i also volunteer with in other works said of course lisa i will sign your petition because i firmly believe that every decision that you make has the kids benefit at heart that

087was the biggest compliment i could receive from anyone so please vote for me thank you thank you mr atn this has been an exciting past couple of years of district 95 we have been recognized nationally for academic achievement and sustainability but there are areas we can do better i believe i'm uniquely qualified to contribute to the district future progress my experience as an attorney and years serving on a university board plus my experience on the district 95 board and as a public school teacher combined with my personal background positioned me well to be a voice for every stakeholder if i were fortunate enough to be re-elected i would focus on as i've said academic excellence providing more resources for teachers second financial stewardship being fiscally responsible with taxpayers dollars and third future readiness preparing our

088graduates to face a rapidly changing environment and communities i am peter etienne and i respectfully ask for your vote thank you very much thank you mr hutchinson i'm just going to put my notes away speak from the heart i love this district i love this community i'm looking out in the audience i see my next door neighbor who actually is family to me miss wendy and um there are great people all over this district just like my neighbor wendy and they have wonderful kids and they work hard and they try to give their kids the best they can give them and the school district i believe is trying to do the same thing and it's incumbent upon us to make a careful decision about who's going to move this board forward there are people who've

089been here there are people who are new like me my heart is in this district i could have moved anywhere but i chose lake zurich school district and i want to be the person who helps to move us into the future i need your support thank you thank you miss mirabali i've spent my career solving problems amplifying voices and driving change through teamwork i'll bring that leadership to d95 to ensure that our staff have what they need to ensure that every child thrives academically socially and emotionally i'm committed to strengthening our schools with fairness inclusion and smart policies because every student and person deserves to be truly seen truly heard and truly served fairness means ensuring that all our students have access to the resources they need while prioritizing their mental social and emotional well-being

090understanding means embracing our community's diversity and championing strong anti-bullying initiatives to create a safe and supportive learning environment effectiveness means every dollar is used wisely to drive real positive outcomes for students teachers and families as a mom attorney coach and education advocate i'll bring action accountability and heart to the school board with kindness fairness empathy and compassion i'll fight for every student's success i'd be honored to earn your vote please support me thank you thank you miss kutzer district 95 is more than a district to me it's a deeply personal commitment i have been immersed in this district as a parent volunteer and teacher i care about the students who walk these halls they deserve a learning environment that ignites their potential and prepares them for the world and the educators the leaders the staff

091who pour their hearts into nurturing these young minds they deserve our support and our best resources i could have easily closed the book on district 95 in may with my youngest child's graduation but my commitment runs far deeper it's about paying it forward building on the positive path we've established and doing what is best for students staff and the community i'm committed to being prepared for meetings asking good questions and listening to all stakeholders i'm ready to collaborate with the board and the superintendent to find ways to elevate district 95 while remaining fiscally responsible i humbly ask for your support and your vote and i embark as i embark on this journey to serve our community thank you miss tim thank you for this opportunity i hope you've got to know me a little better

092my family has lived here since my youngest attended little leaders preschool and i knew then that district 95 was a very special place it might have been the petting zoo at may whitney though serving as trustee on the board of the five star illa library taught me that public institutions are essential to support and educate great humans my library board and non-profit experience will allow me to jump right into board work and i promise to dedicate myself to the task and continue to promote the mission of our district district 95 is the heart of our community and as leaders we must advocate for every student i promise to partner with the superintendent and other board members for a bright future for our kids the entire community invests in this school district and i will work

093to see to it that everyone gets a good return on their investment in public education it would be an honor to serve as your representative on the school board please vote for alicia tim thank you thank you thank you to all of the candidates for enlightening us on your positions and qualifications tonight it has been wonderful to learn a bit about all of you and we thank you for your willingness to serve the community thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers for helping to make tonight a successful and productive evening also thank you to our community members who have joined us here tonight at lakesburg high school and for those of you who have joined at home from the live stream it is inspiring to see the dedication to ensuring a positive future for

094our community school district and the well-being of our students as a reminder if your question was not addressed tonight please reach out to the candidates directly your voice matters so please be sure to vote on april 1st thank you and have a good evening