Full Name: Wayland Middendorf
What office are you seeking? Y115 School Board
What is your political party? Republican
What is your current age? 56
Occupation and Employer: Substitute teacher Yorkville CUSD Y115
What offices, if any, have you previously held? None
City: Yorkville
Campaign Website: No
Education: BS Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign 1994
- Masters of Business Administration Northern Illinois University 2001
- Mandated Reporter certification 2021
Community involvement: Boy Scout Troop 40 Yorkville, IL Merit Badge Counselor
- American Legion Post 489 Yorkville, IL member
- Yorkville High School FIRST Robotics Team Mentor
Marital status/Immediate family: Married with three children
Why are you running for office?
I am running for the Y115 School Board to make certain we are providing our students with the skills and education necessary to become productive citizens, whether they go into the general workforce, trades, military or some form of higher education. I want to enable our teachers by providing them with the tools and resources they need to provide the skills and education needed by our students. I do not want to overburden the teachers with non-beneficial requirements. Finally, I want to secure quality teachers by ensuring they are being compensated equally or better that other area schools.
What makes you qualified for the office you’re seeking?
I have the experience needed for the position. My Masters in Business Administration and bachelor degree in electrical engineering shows that I have the educational background for the position. My leadership for 24 years in the US Marines, Army National Guard and retirement in the US Army Reserves as both enlisted and a commissioned officer shows my ability to work with a diverse group of people. Having all three of my children attended kindergarten through high school in Yorkville School District gives me the parental perspective for the position. 12 years of being a substitute teacher in Y115 school district primarily at Circle Center Grade School, demonstrates I have the teachers perspective. As part of my previous experiences, I have always been open to listen to both sides of the story as somewhere in the middle always lies the truth. Being an engineer, I approach situations with an analytical view instead of an emotional view, which leads to finding solutions that are not always what either side wants but is the most balanced for all concerned. I think you will find that I am the most centered candidate.
Have you sought and/or received any training to run for your local school board? If so, from whom?
No
Would you propose any changes to the curriculum? If so, what?
Most curriculum requirements come from the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). The school district has to follow those requirements but can make recommendations to the ISBE. Some recommendations that need to be made include updating Common Core requirements. The school district also directs requirements/programs to teachers that need to be reviewed. Some common core requirements, especially in the area of math, lead to confusion for the students and extra long blocks of instruction for simple problems such as addition. There are lots of applications that can help facilitate learning but some like Dreambox cause frustration and confusion as the program does not do a good job of explaining the problem when a student answers a problem incorrectly.
Are LGBTQ students treated fairly in your district?
While I hope all students are treated fairly in the district, I personally have no knowledge to make an informed statement for this area.
What is your assessment of how Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is handled in your school district?
Overall the school district does a great job with DEI; however, I have witnessed areas where the district could improve inclusion between students.
Do you believe the district needs to make any changes to improve DEI in your district?
Yes, the district needs some changes but only minimally through scenario based training.
Are teachers in your district paid adequately now and in retirement?
Our teachers are underpaid compared to many of the comparable sized districts in the area. I do not have the knowledge to comment on the retirement payment of our teachers.
Would you support changes to teacher pay scales? If so, how?
Yes, I believe teachers pay scales need to be increased especially for our experienced teachers in order to retain the experience within our school district. I believe we are competitive for our new teachers. Our paraprofessionals barely are paid minimum wage.
What is your assessment of the district superintendent’s compensation?
Our district superintendent is on the higher end of compensation for the state as a whole but appears to be inline with compensation from districts in the Northeast region of Illinois and other local school districts of comparable size.
Would you make any changes to how the district superintendent is compensated?
Possibly, but I will need to review the current compensation and research compensation of local comparable school district superintendents.
Do you support the current superintendent? Please explain.
As with all leaders, there are always areas of deficiency and success. I support and applaud the current superintendent in his successes, such as having learning options for students and their families during Covid. I will, however, ensure the superintendent is held accountable for and will fix his and his administrative department deficiencies.
Should schools in your district adopt and teach sex education according to the National Sex Education Standards? Please explain.
Some items within the National Sex Education Standards appear to be beyond the age level they are directed at. I agree that we should have some commonality in education from state to state. So as a whole it will need to be reviewed and maybe used as a template for our district with some items removed or modified for age appropriateness.
What is your assessment of how the COVID-19 pandemic was handled locally?
Overall, I think our school district handled the pandemic very well based on the information to minimize the spread of the disease. The options of remote, in person and hybrid were great to facilitate the needs of the individual students.
What did you learn from the pandemic?
I learned that the pandemic has caused a lot of anxiety for students, and it may take awhile to get students to cope with their anxiety. I have also witnessed more disobedience and disruption in classes. Sharing and playing with others is an area of concern that the teachers and staff had been trying to rectify since the students have returned in person especially in the lower grades. The pandemic also caused many students to disengage from extra curricular activities. Extra curricular activities are a critical part of the student experience, and many students missed the opportunity to fully engage. We have also shown that the school district has the flexibility to change to remote learning on a short notice and provide relevant learning, although not ideal.
Are voters that support your district taxed at an appropriate level?
I think the taxes are high, but it is not the fault of the school district whose budget appears to appropriate for the school size. It is rather the lack of industrial and minimal commercial to reduce the burden on the taxpaying voters.
Would you support any plans to raise taxes in the district? If so, what should the additional revenue be spent on?
All areas need to be reviewed to improve efficiency with the funds we currently receive from the tax payers. I can provide a fresh view of the budget to seek out the areas of waste. I am a proponent for a balanced budget. I want improved education and resources for our students, whether it is building more or expanding schools to reduce class sizes or to hire and retain quality teachers.
Would you support lowering taxes in the district? If so, what programs or services in the district would you cut?
Lowering taxes would take some deep digging into the expenditures. I could see possible reducing expenditures which might allow us to reduce taxes but with the increasing class sizes and student count we would have a hard time reducing taxes at this time. Lowering taxes might be possible if business expansion within the city occurred.
Will you accept the voters’ decision in your race on Election Day?
Of course I would accept the decision I think it is despicable the divisiveness that has erupted in our country over the past several years and the lack of acceptance of the politician’s failures.
What is your position on open, transparent government?
I think the government should have an appropriate level of transparency. A lack of transparency always breeds mistrust. However, complete transparency can lead to the fear of making mistakes, a lack of trust and can facilitate a lack of creativity and ingenuity. Complete transparency usually only finds the what and who of problems due to our blame society, but does not focus on the why and how to fix the problems.
Do you support the Freedom of Information Act and citizens’ ability to freely access government records?
Yes I do support FOIA. Most people use it to seek out problems and their solutions for the greater good without fixing blame. Some people, however, misuse and abuse the right of FOIA with the intent to achieve their own agenda and destroy the person they are fixated with.