Jared Ploger, Oswego SD308 Board of Education election questionnaire

Full Name: Jared Ploger

What office are you seeking? School Board Member

What is your political party? School Board elections are non-affiliated elections.

What is your current age? 47

Occupation and Employer: Educator-Valley View 365U

What offices, if any, have you previously held? Oswego CUSD Member 2015-2019, 2022-present

City: I am from Somonauk. I was born in and currently have lived in Aurora for the last 17 year

Campaign Website: https://www.facebook.com/PlogerSD308

Education: Bachelors Art Degree-History Major (Northern Illinois University)

Masters Degree-Education (Olivet Nazarene University)-emphasis in Reading Specialist

Community involvement: BOE, GAR Commissioner, IESA Committee, Teaching and Learning Committee, DEI Committee, Kiwanis, Illinois Farm Bureau Member, Volunteer for GCC-Great Cycle Challenge-Fight Kids’ Cancer

Marital status/Immediate family: Wife-Monica Ploger (Teacher at IPSD 204)

Son-Alex Ploger 22 (graduate of Oswego East H.S.)

Son-Aiden Ploger 15 (current student at Oswego East H.S.)

Why are you running for office?

Education is my passion as much as it has been my profession. My decades of service include being an educator for 17 years, a coach for 13 years, and a Board Member for five years, as well as serving on numerous committees with fellow educators. I’m running for re-election because I believe the quality and experience of education we provide our students directly impacts our community and our future as a society.

What makes you qualified for the office you’re seeking?

I have more experience as a Board Member than all of the other candidates running combined having served as the Board Secretary from 2017-2019. I have the second largest amount of professional education experience of all the candidates in this election. I have served on committees at the state level as well as numerous District committees in multiple Districts.

Have you sought and/or received any training to run for your local school board? If so, from whom?

I have already received the BOE Training from IASB and received an award for being named a Master Board of Education Member from IASB.

Would you propose any changes to the curriculum? If so, what?

I want to see the curriculum constantly evolving. That said, curriculum changes need to balance between two forces. On one side, we can’t change so many things that we overwhelm and confuse staff on what is and what is not working. On the other side, we can’t skip our curriculum cycle changes and then end up with a log jam of needed changes. Balance is the key to our changes. The changes I would make to our curriculum are the normal changes we see coming in our cycle.

Are LGBTQ students treated fairly in your district?

We are making gains but we certainly have a great deal of way to go on our journey as a District to treat our LGBTQ community equitably. Through my conversations with district parents, I’m hearing a clear desire to continue and increase support of LGBTQ students.

What is your assessment of how Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is handled in your school district?

Again, we are making gains but we have a great deal of way to go on our journey in order to embed pieces of this so things don’t feel and look prescribed.

Do you believe the district needs to make any changes to improve DEI in your district?

always need to be aware of necessary changes and improvements. One key thing to remember is not to abandon the journey when there are missteps. It’s then that we need to listen, learn, and adjust. Embedding pieces of DEI into our Departments should be the priority.

Are teachers in your district paid adequately now and in retirement?

According to the Illinois State Board of Education, if you are a teacher entering at the lowest pay rate, Oswego pays lower than IPSD 204, U-46, West and East Aurora, CUSD300, St. Charles, Yorkville, and Plano. If you start with a Masters, Oswego 308 is lower than all of those Districts as well. In a tight labor market, we need to fill the positions we are required to fill by law and there is a need for our most vulnerable students. We also need to examine what is causing so many young people to leave the field. It could be partially due to the changes in retirement as well as a clear path for advancement. Without those young teachers ready to take the place of retiring teachers, we will fall behind our neighboring districts.

Would you support changes to teacher pay scales? If so, how?

I would absolutely support changes that once again balanced attracting new teachers with making sure we are retaining our talented staff. When we look purely at what our teachers make, we will see a higher number. This is because our teachers tend to stay. This is great! However, as more and more retire, we must realize we are going to have to recruit and retain.

What is your assessment of the district superintendent’s compensation?

We have gotten away for a number of years paying below the state average. We must realize some of that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. At some point, we will need to address what we pay all of our staff is below the state average.

Would you make any changes to how the district superintendent is compensated?

We are in the middle of a Superintendent search. Our current Superintendent has made it clear he wanted to stay here and was willing to take less. We will have two options: Pay less and go with someone with little experience or pay more for someone with more experience.

Do you support the current superintendent? Please explain.

The current Superintendent is retiring. I absolutely support him for the next 4.5 months as our Superintendent.

Should schools in your district adopt and teach sex education according to the National Sex Education Standards? Please explain.

Personally, I feel we should. And I understand that some parents are uncomfortable with those classes. We have a process for those parents to opt their children out. I do think it’s important to remind all parents that those classes serve many purposes, such as giving them the language they need to feel comfortable protecting themselves and their bodies from harmful situations and scenarios they may find themselves in. In this way, these classes assist young people in advocating for themselves.

What is your assessment of how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled locally?

We had many volunteer groups and government leaders do the best they could in a very precarious situation. We saw families helping families, and a community coming together to make sure students had meals they would normally get in school. I applaud everyone who made the best out a very difficult situation.

What did you learn from the pandemic?

I watched the school districts in the state of Illinois and found something fascinating. The one thing that makes Illinois a unicorn is that we are the only state that has PreK-8, 9-12 and PreK-12 School Districts. Some states have Districts by counties, as an example. What I found was that the three types of Districts responded in different ways and it added to confusion here in Illinois. People didn’t understand how Districts could have such different and varying responses. I remain committed to advancing that conversation as a State in trying to reach out to all of us in better understanding how our local levers work here in Illinois.

Are voters that support your district taxed at an appropriate level?

Illinois is a high taxed state. The easy answer here is yes. I would tend to agree with that answer also. However, we must also be aware of the taxes we pay that go to pay for our brick and mortar buildings of our schools. So many of our schools are not yet paid for. This extra tax burden can not be avoided at this point. The level itself does not take into consideration past expenditures and the decisions that were made. When one factors in that debt piece, it gives a different view of the overall tax burden.

Would you support any plans to raise taxes in the district? If so, what should the additional revenue be spent on?

The question is “any” plans. I don’t believe in absolutes. There are always scenarios in which one needs to raise and lower revenues. The best thing to spend any new resources and revenues on are the things that most directly impact our students’ learning as much as possible and as best we can.

Would you support lowering taxes in the district? If so, what programs or services in the district would you cut?

Again, there are always scenarios in which one needs to raise and lower revenues. Are we near a scenario for lowering revenues? Not while we remain 64% funded according to the Evidence Based Formula and while we have this amount of debt from the great expansion that lead to many new buildings. We are in no position to cut programs or services in this District. We are still struggling from years of cuts during the 2010s.

Will you accept the voters’ decision in your race on Election Day?

Yes. I have absolute faith in the Clerks of Kane, Kendall and Will Counties.

What is your position on open, transparent government?

Transparency is critical and one of my characteristics, sometimes to a fault. However, I will always advocate for being honest, open and authentic with voters and I will continue to model that behavior.

Do you support the Freedom of Information Act and citizens’ ability to freely access government records?

Yes. In fact, I’m proud to be one of the board members who advocated for SD308 to have more transparency with FOIA requests than most governing bodies.