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Name: Erika Young
What office are you seeking? Board member of Bourbonnais Elementary School District #53
What is your political party?
What is your current age? 44
Occupation and employer: Former Firefighter/Paramedic; small business owner; stay at home mom
What offices, if any, have you previously held? Board member for the last 4 years at Bourbonnais Elementary School District 53
City: Bourbonnais
Campaign Website: N/A
Education: Kankakee Community College, University of Indiana Northwest
Community Involvement: I served as a volunteer and part-time firefighter/paramedic with both Bourbonnais Fire Protection District as well as the Limestone Protection District. I started a multi-level Girl Scout Troop 7 years ago in Bourbonnais and continued as a troop leader up until this year. I have coached cheerleading, volunteered as a squad mom, served as Assistant Cheer Director and I am currently the Cheer Director and Vice-President all with the Bourbonnais Jr. Boilers Youth Football and Cheer Organization. I have served the last four years on the school board for Bourbonnais Elementary School District.
Marital status/Immediate family: I have been married for 12 years to David Young. I have three daughters, Charlotte is 12, Vivian is 10 and Caroline is 7. I also have 4 dogs.
Questions:
How can the district improve reading and English proficiency and state test scores?
The district’s test scores have greatly improved in the last year and there is always room for improvement. Reading and English proficiency can be improved by strengthening our curriculum. The district has instituted a new curriculum at the elementary schools this year after observing the vast improvement on state test scores from Liberty, where it was first implemented. The preschool and kindergarten IAR scores still need improving. I believe to strengthen those scores we need to encourage more involvement from home and our community. Early education begins in the home starting with the fundamentals of ABC’s and learning to write their name prior to preschool and kindergarten. I would also love to entice more of our parents and students to attend literacy nights, to be more involved in school activities that engage families in reading and writing. Supporting our teaching staff, providing the needed tools will also improve reading and English proficiency.
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?
I take my role as a current school board member seriously. One of the top priorities I have is remaining fiscally responsible and transparent. I help ensure the administration finds ways to balance the budget and adjust where it is needed without directly affecting the students or teachers. I always and will continue to review all expenditures, approving financial policies, contracts, vendors, spending limits and ensuring resources are allocated efficiently. The district is currently creative in saving, investing and applying for many grants to aid in funding for the schools. I will always believe there is room for improvement and will support creative measures to trim the budget if needed. I do not want to make cuts that will ever sacrifice the needs the students to have a proper education or sacrificing staff. The school board always has open meetings to discuss finances with the public and I will continue to advocate full transparency to stakeholders.
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.
Recruiting and retaining teachers is essential in providing a high educational system. Offering competitive salaries and benefits to retain and recruit teachers while remaining realistically fiscally responsible is one way I will try to help address the teacher shortage. Providing professional development opportunities and allowing advancements within the districts are ways as a school board member I have helped to support retaining high quality teachers. I would like to advocate holding and attending job fairs and use of marketing tools such as social media to recruit teachers. Special education and dual language teachers are hard to fill positions, having a strong hiring committee to entice them is key. Enticing those specialty professionals with specialized instructional support systems, proper educational tools and higher level of educational programs may help recruit the teachers in this field. If re-elected I will continue to collaborate with administration and discuss measures that can be taken for teacher recruitment. We have to be a district that stands out where the teachers will want to come to us. I believe we are already heading in that direction and I will provide support where needed.
If you have children, do they or did they attend public school and was that for all of their K-12 school years?
I have three children that currently attend the school district. I have a 7th grader at BUGC, a 4th grader at Liberty Intermediate and a 2nd grader at Alan Shepard. I also attended the school district from 1st grade through 8th grade and I care deeply for this community and the school district.
What do you see as the school district’s role in deciding what materials should be available in the library and in curricula?
I believe educational materials need to adhere to the standards and values of our community. Material needs to be age appropriate but offer a range of diversity, culture and insight to further their educational experience. The school district’s role is to be responsible and have the best interest of the students in mind while following board policy. As a school board member my job is to support and ensure the curricula follows state and national academic standards. I will support administration to collaborate with teachers to choose the best resources for the students. Keeping lines of communication with staff, administration and the community is vital when deciding what materials should be available in the library and in curricula.
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?
As an elected official my job is to be transparent and fiscally responsible. I will ensure accountability, review and approve the budget, diligently review the bills and spending. I ask questions and scrutinize spending proposals and ensure it aligns with our districts goals and priorities. I will make certain the board continues to be transparent during open board meetings by showing our finances with line item spending to the public as we currently do. The district provides minutes of meetings for those that cannot attend in person. We have a responsibility to the stakeholders to mange the budget effectively and use our resource’s wisely. I believe in educating the community on where their tax dollars are spent, being open and honest. I will answer questions to the best of my ability. I believe is important to invest in the education of our children within our community, they will grow to hopefully be upstanding members and contribute to society. I will consider both the needs for the school district and taxpayers. Taxes are essential for funding public education and providing high quality education for our children. Taxes invest in the preparation of future generations for the workforce. That being said, I understand that taxes can be a concern for many families, especially if they feel their taxes are disproportionately high compared to the benefits they receive. It’s important for the school district to be transparent with how funds are spent and to ensure that money is being used efficiently and effectively. The funding the district receives is 60% from taxes and is supposed the rest is from state and federal funding. Each year the State of Illinois shorts the district out of approximately 10 million dollars. This district is underfunded but is very strategic on investing, spending and saving what little funds we receive from the state and federal government without going to the public for a referendum to increase property taxes. I will do my best to ensure we continue to protect the interests of the taxpayers.
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?
When COVID relief money was distributed to schools there were specific guidelines on what it could be spent on. The district was very creative with how the funding was utilized. The board worked with the administration to ensure the funding was not spent on programs that would need continued funding. For example, some of the funding was used to replace the original windows at the elementary schools to improve air quality. Another example was improving outdoor education by replacing and adding playground equipment for the students. If re-elected I will continue to approve creative and cost efficient ways such as grants and alternative funding for our district. I would love to add that the Bourbonnais Elementary school District was nationally recognized as one of 100 districts that has fully recovered from the pandemic. The amazing teachers, support staff, students and administration all worked hard to achieve this recognition.
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 in equal education for all children in our elementary schools. My number one priority as a school board member is the safety and well being of all students and to ensure they are receiving the best education. Over the last year the district added extra bathrooms/lockers by creatively utilizing existing rooms to provide sex specific spaces for students. It is our responsibility to make sure every student is provided privacy and remain sensitive to their needs. I will ensure policies are made and followed to protect student’s rights. I would continue to work with the administration, staff and would like to include parents and community members to continue to protect our students and preserve their dignity.
What is your stance on ICE agents accessing school grounds, and what policies would you advocate for regarding their presence on school property?
My role and responsibility as a school board member is to follow federal, state and local law. My number one priority is the safety and well being of the students. I would make sure our policies are followed and I believe communication with our staff, students, parents and community is key. We need to support our students and their families while being obligated to follow the law.
What are the top three issues that the school district is facing right now?
I believe are the top 3 issues our district is facing are growing classroom sizes, teacher recruitment and bus transportation.
Our community is growing and classroom sizes have increased which directly impacts our staff and our students. As one grade level may decrease another increases. We have made adjustments by moving some teachers to another grade level adding another classroom to accommodate the influx of students at that level. One example was moving a kindergarten teacher up to our 3rd grade at Shepard. The district has been very creative rearranging space to make additional classrooms without making additions to an existing school building.
Teacher recruitment is another issue districts are facing nationwide. While our district is not necessarily in crisis we do have specialty areas that are hard to fill positions such as special education teachers, social workers, speech language pathologists, social workers and psychologists. These positions are short across the state and nation. We need to focus on competitive compensation while working with the BEA to adjust contracts to recruit such hard to fill positions. I would like the district to be competitive with support staff and provide the tools teachers require to ensure a high quality education for our students.
Transportation is a big issue in our district for our community. We transport almost 2000 students to and from school every day. There are approximately 150 routes each day. There is a nation wide bus driver shortage and in the last year as a board member I have voted for competitive wages, voted to offer incentives such as paying for employees to get their CDL, holiday pay if a driver does not call off the day before and after a holiday and bonuses in the last 4 years. The impact of the driver shortage has caused a burden at times on parents, students and the transportation department. Buses are often late causing issues with our parents, disruption to the start of the day with our staff and other issues to the daily operations of the district. The transportation director has been working diligently to be creative in the reduction of bus stops for the next year. While it would be ideal to pick each and every student up at their door, it is not feasible. As a school board member I will support creative measures to ensure students are picked up on time and safely at their allocated bus stop. There are many factors that go into deciding where bus stops will be and it will not make everyone happy but we have nearly 2000 students to transport safely and in a timely manner. As a board member I will continue to collaborate with administration, support and approve items that will allocate resources where needed in a safe and efficient way.
What is your position on allowing students to use cell phones during school hours?
I believe cell phones in the classroom are a distraction to students and the teacher. I do think communication from parent to student is important to be available but not during a class. They can remain in the lockers during instruction time.
Do you think cell phone policies should allow exceptions for emergencies or specific educational purposes? If so, how would these exceptions be defined?
I do believe we can allow some exceptions for emergencies but as stated in the above question I do believe they are a distraction. However, I believe we can be creative to accommodate any need in an emergency. One idea we could implement is turning them in as the students walk through the classroom door in a basket or a numbered pocket holder on the wall. I believe there is room for compromise and discussion that can appease everyone without causing a disruption during teaching and learning. Technology is important and ever changing, as a district we can provide those tools for our students without the need for them to use their cell phones during class time as an educational tool.
What steps would you take to address concerns about cyberbullying and inappropriate content access through student cell phones?
As a school board member I currently sit on the policy committee. I would continue to encompass policy development, education and implement support systems and collaboration with staff. Educating our students and parents on the impact cyberbullying has is an important key to combat cyberbullying. We need to have clear and concise consequences and consistency with our policies and procedures. I would love to implement parent workshops and more resources to help parents understand the seriousness of cyberbullying and to help educate them on monitoring their children’s online activities effectively. I would also like to establish some kind of anonymous reporting mechanism for students to safely report cyberbullying. We also need to collaborate and work with local law enforcement and our wonderful SRO when any cyberbullying is threatening or contains other illegal activities.
Should students be able to use AI in schoolwork?
There are pros and cons to consider for student use of AI in schoolwork. While it can be an enhanced learning tool and help students interact creatively with technology, it can also cause students to rely too heavily on AI to complete their schoolwork making them less independent. I also have ethical concerns on the reliability of information sourced from the use of AI. The use of AI reduces critical thinking and can form bias from unreliable sources. I think we can introduce it into elementary education but in moderation and with guidance. It is important to use a balance and make sure our students still engage in critical thinking skills and social interactions while benefiting from the support capabilities AI has to offer.
What is your plan for making district financial reports, including budgets and expenditures, publicly available and easy to understand?
First and foremost I believe in transparency, truth and accountability. Our school board meetings are always open to the public and in the past four years of my service the board has never gone into closed sessions for financial reasons. During board meetings the district administration reports on budgets and expenditures which are shown on a screen for all to view. Board meeting agendas are posted as well as minutes from every meeting on our district website and emailed to staff and parents. The district is open and honest with our constituents regarding our budget, funding and breaking down information during the school board meetings. I believe we could do better making our website more user friendly to help aide stakeholders find this information on our website. School board budgets, funding and the levy are all difficult to understand to the general population. Each year there is a public budget hearing and levy hearing with a thorough explanation of where, how much and what we do with those funds. The meeting times and dates are posted for the public to attend.
How would you involve parents and community members in the decision-making process for curriculum or policy changes?
A parent’s involvement in their child’s education is crucial for their growth and success. I would love to see more involvement of our community members in the decision making on certain policy and curriculum items in our district. I would like to see a community forum implemented and create an open dialogue with parents, teachers, students and administration. By having community involvement in these forums or forming a committee to be involved in this process, we can help ensure the district’s curriculum and policies align with the values and the needs of our community. Another way we can involve parents would be to present proposed changes as they arise to them and gather feedback. I believe this would help build more trust and maintain transparency. We can do this through online surveys or physical forms sent to our community members.
What is your position on banning books in school libraries or classrooms, and how do you define the criteria for such decisions?
I do not believe in banning books in school libraries or classrooms. I do however believe in ensuring literature available to our students should be age appropriate. I also believe parents should be well informed of books their children are reading or assigned by the teachers. If there is a book that may contain sensitive material, parents should be notified first with cliff notes, a summary of the book, along with resources to find specific information on the sensitive material. The parents should all be emailed and have a physical permission slips to sign and turn in before the student is given a book. I believe if all those steps are not followed, the book should not be handed out. We are a K-8th grade elementary district and parents should be directly involved to determine if their child can read sensitive material. The school board has formed a committee over the last year to read books and approve them prior to being added to the curriculum. I would like to advocate to allow some parent representation on the committee to review and offer input that align with board policy and our communities values. Keeping the line of communication open with staff, students and parents is a must.
How would you balance maintaining appropriate class sizes with the current teacher staffing levels?
Every year the district tries to predict enrollment to adjust for staffing levels and class sizes. The balance between the students to teacher ratio is high in our district. The district has moved teachers and redistributed classes to try to avoid overcrowding. It would be ideal to place a cap on class sizes but unfortunately not always realistic. While we cannot build a new classroom we can try to adjust staffing to reduce class sizes. We have to also remain fiscally responsible and realistic as such changes can be costly. It is imperative teachers are not overloaded by overcrowding classrooms. An overcrowded classroom is not a productive learning experience. I would like to be able to hire more teachers aides if funding allows. We could rotate a few aides to the larger classes to help maintain student needs.
Do you believe the district is allocating enough resources toward hiring and supporting teachers, and if not, what changes would you make?
Yes, we are using all allocated finances that are budgeted for hiring personnel but there always is room for improvement. We have budget constraints and must adhere to the collective bargaining agreement when trying to decide a salary offer to new hires. It is important to plan and invest in the best teachers for our district. I think we need to focus on our high needs areas such as special education, social workers and speech language pathologists. These positions are hard to fill and need the most focus for our immediate future. I would like to continue to work with the BEA to be able to make enticing and competitive offers for these hard to fill positions. I want to also work with the BEA on strategies to retain our teaching staff to reduce the need for frequent hiring. Marketing is also key for recruitment platforms and there is always room for improvement to highlight our district. I would really like to continue to collaborate with the BEA to help make those changes.
How will you make sure you are accessible to your constituents?
I am very accessible to the community. I have a district email and I return my emails promptly. I am a very approachable person and I always invite the community to attend our school board meetings.