Six candidates compete for four seats on the Alden-Hebron School District 19 board

On April 6, local voters will be asked to choose among three challengers and three incumbent candidates to fill four open seats on the Alden-Hebron School District 19 board.

Candidates listed upgrades to the combined junior high and high school building, improving educational opportunities and the district’s ongoing COVID-19 response among their top priorities in their answers to a set of questions sent out by the Northwest Herald.

The candidates include incumbents Penny Smith, Andrew Madsen and Brandon Berg and challengers Johnny Eskridge, Matthew Misiek and Ricky Madsen Jr.

We need to “look at our student data to see what degree of learning loss, if any, has occurred and how to remedy that situation,” Smith said in a written statement. “We need to look vertically in the curriculum to see what learning gaps have occurred and come up with a plan to fill them.”

Smith has lived in Hebron for 42 years, 23 of which were spent working as a middle school math teacher. She said she decided to run for reelection to provide “strong leadership and stability during these unprecedented times.”

The pandemic and its impact on education has pushed many people to the opposite ends of a spectrum of beliefs, said Eskridge, who served on the board for eight years before losing his bid for reelection in 2017. Eskridge said his 23-year military service made him a good leader.

A crucial part of moving forward in the process of restoring normalcy in District 19 will be for the board to set an example in “meeting in the middle,” Eskridge said in an interview Tuesday.

“The board’s role should be to consider the entire perspective of the community and not be a rush to go back to a pre-pandemic state,” Misiek said in a written statement. “Keep the focus on safely progressing students and their skills while giving educators the ability to thrive.”

Misiek has been a member of the Alden-Hebron Community Advisory Council since 2019 and has more than 17 years of experience in radio and TV broadcasting. He coaches soccer locally and is president of the Wonder Lake Youth Soccer Club, he said.

Another new candidate, Ricky Madsen Jr., emphasized the importance of getting kids back in school and said COVID-19 could be used as an opportunity to help students understand “the importance of remaining flexible and adapting to changing conditions as essential life skills to overcome situations.”

Ricky Madsen Jr. has worked as a firefighter/paramedic for 19 years and currently works as a field staff instructor for the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute. He said he feels his strong leadership skills, education background and lifelong residency in the community would make him an asset to the board.

Andrew Madsen, the uncle of Ricky Madsen Jr., was nominated to fill a vacancy on the District 19 school board 19 years ago and “[has] been reelected ever since,” he said. He said he feels his long tenure with the board makes him the right person to continue serving the students and families of Alden-Hebron schools.

Berg was nominated to fill a vacancy on the board two years ago and decided to run for reelection, he said, because he wanted to show his love and appreciation for the school district that has done so much for his family and his community.

“I’m in the position for my kids and for all the other students that go to school here to try and provide them with the absolute best education possible,” Berg said in an interview. “The kids are my No. 1.”

If reelected, Berg said his priorities would be to aid in the smooth transition of Tiffany Elswick, current principal of Alden-Hebron Elementary School, into the role of the district’s new superintendent. He said he also hopes to work with the community to come to a decision on whether to rebuild, remodel or simply maintain the district’s combined junior high and high school building.

This comes after local taxpayers rejected a 2019 referendum that would have allowed the district to issue $20.3 million in bonds to build an entirely new facility.

Andrew Madsen said, if reelected, he would push for upgrades to the building rather than leaving it as is. With respect to COVID-19, he said he wants to ensure a “safe learning environment” for students.

Smith also advocated for repairs to the junior high and high school building and said she wants to bring District 19 into “the 21st century of learning.” She listed social and emotional support in the wake of the pandemic as another one of her priority issues.

“Transparency – that’s the key word,” Eskridge said when discussing his priorities. “There have been times where we may have gone nine or 10 months without having one parent attend the board meeting and the big thing is to emphasize that those meetings are important for everybody to attend.”

Ricky Madsen Jr. was an outlier in saying that one of his priorities would be to make sure that “an excellent working environment” is maintained between the school board, the district’s administrative staff and the local teacher’s union to develop an action plan together to fill needs within the classroom.

He also said he would aim to develop a 5-, 10- and 20-year plan for capital expenditures to “ensure the taxpayers’ money is spent most efficiently.”

Misiek also spoke very specifically about what his goals would be as a school board member, which included more community outreach and equipping educators with the tools necessary to “effectively bring out the best for our students and skills.”

“Everybody just needs to vote,” Eskridge said at the end of his interview. “That’s the biggest thing.”