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Name: Stephan Moulton
What office are you seeking? School Board Member
What is your political party? NA
What is your current age? 41
Occupation and employer: Civil Engineer Drafter/Land Surveyor
What offices, if any, have you previously held? School Board Member
City: Bourbonnais
Campaign Website:
Education: B.S. Criminal Justice AdministrationCertified Civil 3D DesignerLand Surveying
Community Involvement: Friends of Bourbonnais Fire District
Chicago First Church of the Nazarene
Bourbonnais PTO/PTA
Marital status/Immediate family: Married to Kari Moulton and we have 2 boys James (14 and he is at BUGC) and Luke (10 and he is at Liberty)
Questions:
How can the district improve reading and English proficiency and state test scores?
Over the last 4 years the district has made some huge strides in improving our English proficiencies and we have great plans and people in place to make sure that those test scores continue to increase. Yes the district still has room to improve.
Fiscal responsibility is an important part of elected roles, and a priority for voters. Do you believe the school district budget needs trimming? Why or why not? If you were to cut, where would you do it?
The district over the last two years has moved from and accrue to cash accounting system. This allows for more real time understanding of our accounts. The district has had a balanced budgets 3 of the 4 last years, and that includes all of the extra work that has been done to all 5 of our buildings, bus garage, and repairing lots of infrastructures issues throughout the district. I am glad that the district has made it a priority to look into the future so that we can plan and budgets for problems rather than having to react to issues. I am always looking to cut spending. I always have 2 things in mind when it comes to spending. First, how is this going to benefit our students or staff right now and into the future. Second, Is this a need or a want? Needs come first and wants are budgeted for in the future.
Illinois, like many districts across the nation, is facing significant teacher shortages. What is your idea to recruit and retain educators, including special education, dual-language teachers, etc.
I think that it is important for our district to strive for the best of our teachers and our students, if we are performing at a high level in education then educators are going to want to come be apart of a great team. We are focused on providing an environment of learning and peer development through our PLC programs. We want our appeal for educators to come to be us because we are willing to invest in them.
If you have children, do they or did they attend public school and was that for all of their K-12 school years?
Yes. I have two that have gone through this great district. Our oldest is in 8th grade and our youngest is in 5th.
What do you see as the school district’s role in deciding what materials should be available in the library and in curricula?
As a school district it is our responsibility to make sure that material available to students in age appropriate, and provides an expansion of learning that will guide them forward in life. I also feel that parents should have a voice in what their child is reading and there should be open communication between the parent and the classroom. What we read, watch, and listen to shapes us into the citizen that we will become.
Most of local residents' property taxes go to their school districts. Are taxes paid to your school district too high? What would you do to protect the interests of taxpayers?
In our local community we do not have the ability to raise taxes on our own. We are capped at 5%. It is very difficult to manage a budget with this, however B53 has managed to overcome these challenges by not asking more of our tax payers, Therefore I am committed to make sure that we only live within our means as a district. With the upgrades coming to high school the challenges in our community are much tough for other surrounding schools to ask tax payers for anymore, and we should not have too. We work with what we have and unless tax payers are asking for us to take more then I have no plans to ask for it.
Most of the COVID relief money from the federal government is coming to an end. What spending adjustments does your school district need to make to address that?
The great thing is the B53 as known for a long time that the money was going to be coming to an end for a long time and that is why we never allowed our budget to be depended on COVID money. We have always worked with our tax budget and then the COVID relief was separate.
Should Title IX cover sexual orientation or gender identity? What are your views on the use of locker rooms and bathrooms by transgender students and their participating in sports?
I believe that every community is different and should function with local control when it comes to matters of their own students. Each community has their desires for their students based on the feedback they receive from their community. As for me, I will continue to listen to our parents and tax payers and put their interest.
What is your stance on ICE agents accessing school grounds, and what policies would you advocate for regarding their presence on school property?
I am a school board member and not a member of any other agency that might have other legal responsibilities. The county has its laws and as a member of a board that is policy based I will leave law enforcement to conduct their work. I do hope that there is come collaboration between the agency and the district.
What are the top three issues that the school district is facing right now?
Spacing, we are growing at a rapid pace and finding space within our aging buildings is difficulty.
Transportation, we are struggling with staffing our busses and making sure that we can transport all our students with little issue.
Caring for old buildings
What is your position on allowing students to use cell phones during school hours?
My stance is to leave this up to our building administration. If they are having an issue with misuse of cell phones then they need to take measure to make is not an issue. As a board member my position is to empower our administration to know their students and do what they need to for their buildings
Do you think cell phone policies should allow exceptions for emergencies or specific educational purposes? If so, how would these exceptions be defined?
Our buildings have several measures in place to make sure that we are able to get emergency personal involved without the need of extra phones. We have worked with our local Fire and Police to implement radios and phones within our buildings to help during these situations. As phones can be helpful they can also cause more confusion during crisis situations. The district takes the safety of our students and staff very serious.
What steps would you take to address concerns about cyberbullying and inappropriate content access through student cell phones?
Cyberbullying is a real thing and causes real damage to our students. I have always stood against ANY kind of bullying of any kind. I have always pushed that we get in front of these situations and work with families to make sure that we are educating our students on the recourses available to make sure that NO ONE is a victim of this. There are several recourses available o our students on a day to day basis to make them aware of how to address these types of bullying.
Should students be able to use AI in schoolwork?
Absolutely! There are so many ways that AI could be very beneficial in the classroom for students and educators. I have always been a propionate of advancing our education and technology. Our world is ever changing and we have to be able to adapt to it and lean into it. You could always look at the negative side of technology and there are a lot, but when embraced and used for good it can be a great tool.
What is your plan for making district financial reports, including budgets and expenditures, publicly available and easy to understand?
This was something I ran for 4 years ago. Now at BESD53 you can find all financial reports, budgets, agendas, policies, expenditures, and just about everything in between found on the district website under Board of Education. We also go over the budgets and expenditures at every meeting. We also do almost nothing behind closed doors. We do everything in public at our meetings for the entire community to see.
How would you involve parents and community members in the decision-making process for curriculum or policy changes?
All board committees are open to the public and the board as always welcomed public involvement at all of our meetings. We want the public there and we want them involved. All of our meetings are posted along with these agenda. We also welcome emails and phone calls from the community all the time. We love to hear what their thoughts are and how we can come along side them to help them in any way that we can.
What is your position on banning books in school libraries or classrooms, and how do you define the criteria for such decisions?
It is not on my agenda to ban books, however libraries in our schools should have material that will further a students education and challenge them as an individual and should most importantly be age appropriate.
How would you balance maintaining appropriate class sizes with the current teacher staffing levels?
The board is every working with the BEA and administration to make sure that there is a collaborative effort to make sure that we are meeting the needs of our students along with the teachers. Without our teachers we can do nothing good for our students. We have to invest in our teachers in order to build great students.
Do you believe the district is allocating enough resources toward hiring and supporting teachers, and if not, what changes would you make?
I believe that through collaboration with our teachers and what their needs are we are able to help support them. Through our PLC programs we are able to provide meaningful professional development to help support our teachers, we are will to allocate what it takes to make sure that our staff is receiving the support that is needed. There are always challenges, but meaningful collaboration we are able to provide the right support in the right places.
How will you make sure you are accessible to your constituents?
My constituents are always able to find my information on the district website and can contact me anytime. When elected you can find me as a lot of events throughout the year. Feel free to stop me and ask me any thing anytime.