How would DeKalb school board hopefuls address academic achievement?

DeKALB – Some of the candidates running for spots on the DeKalb School District 428 board shared their thoughts on addressing DeKalb students' academic achievement during a recent virtual forum hosted by Shaw Local News Network.

Seven of the 10 candidates – Nick Atwood, Kristin Bailey, Brandon Elion, Erin Grych, Marilyn Parker, Derek Shaw, who has no relation to the family that owns Shaw Media, and Howard Solomon – took time to discuss the issues central to the school board race. Candidates Jose Jaques, Twangie Smith, James Mitchell and Mark Charvat, who is running unopposed for a two-year unexpired term, were not present.

The Consolidated General Election is April 1, and early voting is already underway.

According to the most recent Illinois Report Card data, DeKalb schools are below the state average for proficiency in math, science and English Language Arts, though science appears to be the district’s strong suit. According to the data, 12.8% of DeKalb students are proficient in math compared to a 27.9% statewide average; 17.5% of DeKalb students are proficient in reading compared to 39.4% state average; and 35.8% of DeKalb students proficient in science compared to the state level of 52.7%.

Data shows the district’s reading and science proficiency have trended up from the previous years, however math proficiency districtwide has remained relatively unchanged since 2022.

What specific ideas do you have to improve academic achievement, if elected?

Candidates' responses, listed in alphabetical order, have been edited down for length. To check out their full responses from the recent forum, see the video at www.shawlocal.com/daily-chronicle/election.

Atwood

Background and priorities:

Works as an appellate prosecutor for the state of Illinois and is an NIU law school graduate and adjunct faculty professor. Atwood said he’s running to improve the transparency and accountability of the school board to the public. He said he’s big on pushing for collaboration. He said that if elected, he would like to reinvest funds in the quality of the district’s education to address the growing achievement gap among low-income and non-low-income students.

Response to academic achievement question:

“The problem with the achievement is that our kids that are coming from stable backgrounds that are fortunate enough to have two-parent households, they’re performing exceptionally well. They’re on par with Sycamore, which we so frequently and unfairly get compared to because it’s a totally different community than the one we live in. Those kids are achieving, and that’s with the system that we currently have in place. If we want to improve the academic achievement, that’s why again it’s got to be more paras [professionals] in the classroom, more dedicated reading specialists and more math specialists. I think you get the best return on investment if you focus on the elementary schools because if we can get these kids at or near grade level sooner, they have a higher ceiling for achievement in the long run. [...] We’re only limited to what the teachers and the paras can do in a school day. But it’s going to take several years. It’s going to take four or five years of investment, planning and putting that infrastructure in place before you’ll actually see the benefit.”

Bailey

Background and priorities:

Works as a marketing and communications specialist for an agriculture machinery manufacturer. She said her 8-year-old daughter attends St. Mary School in DeKalb because “safety is a major issue” for her. She said it is also one of the reasons she’s running for a seat on the school board.

Response to academic achievement question:

“I don’t think the issue is the students' abilities. I think the issue a lot of times is complicated and is rooted in various things like our teaching strategies and our assessment methods. Though assessment is one area – I published a book on this – that is a really sticky area and has a lot of implications for different groups of people and can really come to influence their reading abilities, their writing abilities. But I think that what we need to be looking at is more, how can we bring the whole community in? So, I advocate for a community schools model – or moving towards that – and thinking about, how do we make our schools a hub of resources? And this would benefit all students, the kinds of community resources that they need, either to professionalize, strengthen local businesses, strengthen their skills."

Elion

Background and priorities:

Has a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology with an emphasis in criminology and works at Nestle. He said he’s running for school board because he wants to be the voice of the community that puts the students first. He said he’s a forward-thinker who wants to see students reach the next level.

Response to academic achievement question:

“The first thing that goes to mind when I think about academic achievement, I go back to when I was child. I had homework everyday or at least Monday through Thursday. Far too often now, I see a lot of kids in district...they come home with their Chromebooks, but they don’t have any homework. There’s nothing that would enable them to come home and take what they learned in school and apply it independently, and then bring it back to school and fact-check it – or right or wrong answers. I feel like if we can bring an element of having homework that’s also going to foster that engagement and inclusivity of the parent-student interaction. With that hands-on instruction, we’re talking about math, ELA, science. [...] I want us to be more hands-on with the learning and having the kids be more hands on projects. They’re getting all those types of learning styles – the audios, the visual – those things that help them retain this information. Let’s look at the scores. Let’s look at what we’re doing now. Let’s look at what we’re not doing. And then let’s look at what we are doing. And whatever we are doing, let’s kick it into overdrive. Let’s do more of that."

Grych

Background and priorities:

Like her husband and children, Grych attended DeKalb schools. She said she wants to give voice to families who want to have a say in curriculum and be active in classrooms. She said she’s running in part “to stop the radical sexualization of our children.” She said she would like to see the reversal of the 2022 Illinois State Board of Education ruling that adopted statewide standards for sexual education mandated under Illinois law.

Response to academic achievement question:

“The Common Core Math, it’s got to go. Learning five different ways to do multiplication is confusing to children. When you’re confused, you don’t succeed. We need to go back to the basics as I’ve stated – reading, writing and math. Leave the ideologies out. We need to include the families. I heard Nick [Atwood] say, we only have the time in the classroom to work with these kids. That’s not a good attitude. We as home, we as the families, we as the community can support, whether that’s grandma, whether that’s mom, dad, brother. I mean, gosh. I have kids who are helping each other because I don’t remember how to do calculus. Having some help from an older brother or having help from a friend, it’s all good."

Parker

Background and priorities:

Has a Masters of Arts degree in educational administration, a Bachelors of Science degree in home economics and a license and certification in special education. She has 40-plus years of experience in education working with students, teachers unions and educators. She said she is dedicated to ensuring that all children get the best education possible.

Response to academic achievement question:

“Every school system has school improvement plan, and I’m sure that DeKalb has a school improvement plan. That plan is made and it’s revised every year. Certainly, I would be a team player to make sure that the school improvement plan includes what we’re going to do in those areas where the students did not master.”

Shaw

Background and priorities:

Works as a graduate teaching assistant for the Earth, Atmosphere and Environment Department at NIU. He has a Masters degree in public administration from Kansas State University. He said he’s well-equipped for handling school district budgeting issues. He said he would like to work with officials from the town of Cortland to address speeding concerns near Cortland Elementary School.

Response to academic achievement question:

“I would say more after-school programs and more science, technology, engineering, art and math events like NIU holds once a year, I think. That’s not enough. I think we need to do events like that more often. So, I’d encourage more interest in science, math and the arts. I don’t think that we should focus so much on state standardized tests. I think that that’s not the best way to teach our kids based on some regulation like that. I think it’s better to take a holistic approach.”

Solomon

Background and priorities:

Previously served on the school board from 2015 to 2019. He holds a Ph.D. in instructional system design from Florida State University, Master of Education from Northern Illinois University, Master of Philosophy from Northern Illinois University and a Bachelor of Philosophy from Bradley University. He said he is concerned about the federal elimination of the Department of Education and how it’s going to play out over time.

Response to academic achievement question:

“We need to look at the conditions that our people are in. And we need to also deal with the question of poverty that’s been raised once or twice already. That is a condition of many of the students as they come to our institutions. And we need to work on poverty. And the way you work on poverty is you get money. I’m not suggesting that we do anything other than pull some money out of our tax base, which is increasing on the south side of town, and use some of the increased taxes not for such things as TIFs, which are the city grants rather than we do, but use those for poverty reduction. I have no simple answer for poverty reduction other than except everybody needs more money. The more successful those organizations on the south side are, the more we’re going to be.”