Geneva District 304 school board candidates share vision, goals ahead of April 4 election

GENEVA – Four of the six candidates for three four-year terms on the Geneva District 304 school board all said they wanted to continue keeping the school district in a positive direction.

Incumbents Larry Cabeen, Molly Ansari and Paul Radlinski and newcomer Brent Nakayama shared their ideas before an audience of about 25. The League of Women Voters of Central Kane County hosted the forum Thursday at the Geneva Public Library, featuring candidates for the April 4 consolidated election.

Ansari, who was appointed to the board last March, said she believes her professional background as an assistant professor at Bradley University’s master’s counseling program and as a licensed professional counselor in private practice for children, teens, adults, families and couples.

“I have a master’s degree in counseling and a Ph.D. in counselor education,” Ansari said. “It’s really important for me to be an advocate for mental health and safety, and I feel like I bring that to the board. I want to make sure that our students – their mental health and their wellbeing and their safety are always our top priority in every decision that we make.”

Nakayama said he and his wife have lived in Geneva for 10 years and have three children at Williamsburg Elementary School. Since his children are young, Nakayama said he believes his service could be impactful for many years.

“I bring a lot of experience in program design and management (and) long term strategic planning. I’ve also been a champion of diversity inclusion and fostering inclusive and collaborative work environments,” Nakayama said. “Bringing that experience to the board and making sure that all decisions that the board is tasked with making are well informed, based on knowledge, facts and reason. Just looking forward to continue making the district wonderful.”

Radlinski said when he and his wife moved to Geneva 20 years ago, it was because of the school district. Their three children were all educated in Geneva.

“The reason I’m running is because I want to give back to the community that supported us when we moved here,” Radlinski said. “Based on my experience of 35 years of running businesses and my life experiences of living all around the world – I’ve been in Asia and in Europe and all over the United States – I think I have a very broad and open mind. I understand what the future challenges are for the kids that we’re working for, and I think I can bring a positive to that so they can meet the opportunities they are going to encounter.”

Cabeen said if anyone had told him when he was elected to the school board four years ago, that he would become the senior board member – as Michael McCormick is not seeking re-election, he wouldn’t have believed it.

As elected members resigned or moved away, appointed members selected to fill their spaces, a process Cabeen said he appreciates.

“I look forward to … bringing on a new superintendent and that is a well-received piece of news,” Cabeen said. “We are in the middle of negotiations with teachers for their contract and my understand is that is going well. That would be a huge plus if we could settle that before the end of the year. … I look forward to further projects, some realistic like enhancing the quality of education and hiring real good teachers.”

The three incumbents – Cabeen, Ansari and Radklinski – all said they were endorsed by the teachers union, the Geneva Education Association.

Nakayama said as he is active in the community as a youth baseball coach, he would pursue endorsements in his relationships.

Candidates list challenges facing students

Cabeen said he believes a significant challenge facing students continues to be recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The different things that kids had to do adjust to the school as it changed dealing with separation, dealing with masks, dealing with all kinds of things like that – and the social differences that has made in our life,” Cabeen said. “I feel like we are on a path now to correct those things and get back to normal. But the truth of the matter is, it takes longer than just the time we’ve been on the path.”

For Nakayama, the biggest challenge he sees for for students is with social media and what he called its unwanted influence.

“I would like to bring some of that continued control and just be very cognizant of that in all the policies that are set forth with … how we keep a mindful eye on that and the impact it can have on our children,” Nakayama said.

Radlinski said he believes one of the key challenges children face today is the impact of change – coming faster than it has in the past – with technology, social change and demographics.

“I think it is the responsibility of the school to be preparing those children, so they are ready to take this change, and to be able to adjust to it and handle it,” Radlinski said. “We want to make them to be critical thinkers, we want to make them open to change, and we want to make them ready for a future that is coming to them.”

Ansari said she wanted to highlight how strong the youth of today are, in just the adjustment to social media pressure and academic pressure.

“It’s just really amazing that they have been able to be resilient and strong and I want to ensure that they are fully supported in all of these challenges,” Ansari said. “And I want to be a part of that support and lend my voice to that.”

Candidates weigh in on sex ed

Cabeen said he recently visited a Geneva classroom to see how sexual education is taught in grade school.

“It’s the quietest, the most attentive that I’ve ever seen grade school kids in my life,” Cabeen said. “The sex ed that we teach in Geneva is the same sex ed program that … I grew up with. It’s been slightly modified over the years and such issues as grooming have been brought up. But for the most part, it is the standard sex ed that you know and are familiar with. We see no reason to change it, because it’s working well.”

Radlinski said the board has addressed the issue recently, having reached out to parents and teachers to understand the curriculum.

“They had evaluated what we are doing now in the schools, how the curriculum is being taught, with the input and support of the parents,” Radlinski said. “Then we looked to see through the administration whether we are meeting the expectations and the requirements set by the state. I think we have checked off all of those boxes over the recent time and I think the board has done a good job – prior to my being there – of deciding that we’re on the right track and we are being supported by the community in this area.”

Ansari said she believes sex education should be delivered in a safe manner that she called well intentioned and informed.

“No one person on the board is an expert in this area, but there are people put in place that have trained in their professional careers to know this information,” Ansari said. “I would elicit the information and expertise of those in the field. I would look to the parents. Parents are absolutely a part of that process, as well as teachers who will be teaching it.”

Nakayama said he has a fifth grader currently going through the sex ed curriculum.

“I agree with what everyone has said here,” Nakayama said. “I am not an expert. I don’t think anyone on the board is. I would very much seek out as many expert perspectives you can from all sides, from all sorts of angles. … Parent feedback is very important. We need to make sure the student and family bases that we serve, that their desires and their requests are being heard.”

League moderator Patty Lackman said all six school board candidates were invited to the forum. She said Brittney Sopcak had to decline because of a work commitment and Andrea Heeg did not respond.

The full forum is available online at BATV.