Elizabeth Bauer: Candidate For Township High School District 214

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — Ahead of the April 4 consolidated municipal elections, Arlington Heights Patch provided questionnaires to all candidates on the ballot.

Five candidates are vying for four seats on the Township High School District 214 Board of Education on Election Day.

• William Dussling, current president (term ends in 2023)
• Alva Kreutzer, current member (term ends in 2023)
• Elizabeth Bauer
• Misa Edwardsen
• Frank Fiarito

Dussling, Kreutzer and Fiarito are supported by the Friends of District 214 caucus.

Patch is publishing all responses submitted by candidates verbatim.

Elizabeth Bauer

Age (as of election day)

53

Town/city of residence

Arlington Heights

School district

Township High School District 214

Family

Husband, Martin, and three children, ages 22, 20, and 15. The youngest is a current Rolling Meadows High School student, the older two are Meadows graduates.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

BA, History, Michigan State University. MA, history, University of Notre Dame. MA, Applied Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago

Occupation

Actuary. I have 20+ years of experience in pension actuarial work and recently returned to school, got a master’s degree in economics, and changed careers to the health actuarial field.

Campaign website

Bauer214.com

Previous or current elected or appointed office

N/A

The most pressing issues facing our (board, district, etc.) are _______, and this is what I intend to do about them.

The district is changing dramatically and quickly in ways that the school board has not yet responded to. Almost a third of students are low-income, compared to less than 10% 15 years ago. The number of English Language Learner students is projected to double in four years’ time. There are substantial gaps in academic achievement across demographic groups, which predate covid. In addition, the number of incidents of fights/disruptive behavior tripled from before covid compared to last school year. Yet this is all being swept under the rug to maintain the “Destination District” image, rather than having the necessary open discussions on these topics.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

After watching the incumbents’ actions and their written and public statements, it is clear that we have two very different beliefs about what it means to be on the school board.

From everything I’ve witnessed, the two incumbents view the job as largely being that of a cheerleader, an ambassador, a booster for the district, promoting all the good news that there is to share. They attend events and give speeches or stand up and get recognized for their presence. Other than that, they fulfill certain legal requirements, checkboxes such as voting for budgets or engaging in the appropriate legal process for student discipline or outplacement or teacher or staff terminations.

But that’s not enough. School board members are responsible for setting policy and engaging in oversight. That means asking questions about potential significant changes in curriculum, grading, disciplinary policies, finance, and operations, and saying “no” if the answers given are not acceptable, and being accountable for whatever happens on their watch. That means being public about and acknowledging what goes wrong rather than hiding it or making excuses, and establishing general practices of openness to reduce the ways that things can go wrong. School board members also have an obligation to be responsive to the community, including opportunities for the community to interact with them, and a willingness to respond to the concerns they hear, and to look into issues in ways that extend beyond simply asking a staff member for assurances.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community or district?

The board has failed to exercise true oversight over the superintendent and administrative staff and has kept important information from the community. This is true both with respect to changes in curriculum but also financial oversight.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

There are three key issues I would like to address during a term on the school board. First, both respect to curriculum and finances, the board has a practice of keeping information under wraps or delegating even significant policy decisions to administrative staff rather than engaging in open transparent discussions. Second, there are and have been significant academic achievement gaps, which pre-date Covid, and the district needs to direct its focus towards at-risk students, both in terms of the board's attention and, realistically, financially as well. Third, the board is not responsive to parents or the community, neither responding to concerns raised by community members nor proactively reaching out to them via townhall-style meetings, citizens' committee groups, etc., which I would implement, hopefully encouraging fellow board members to join me.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

As an actuary, Forbes columnist specializing in retirement, and with a recent degree in applied economics, I am qualified to evaluate data, understand academic studies, and otherwise engage in analysis to inform setting board policies. As a community member, I have been investigating District issues, for instance, through FOIA requests, for the past two years. Finally, as a mom, I have been networking with other parents to understand the parents' perspective across D214 schools.

Why should voters trust you?

In 2021, I ran for the school board for the first time. When I didn’t win, I didn’t walk away, but have continued to attend board meetings, network with parents, and submit FOIA requests to learn what is happening in the district. It was through our efforts that the board was pressed into livestreaming its meetings. I am not running for the sake of winning an election or having that public recognition, but to truly make a difference.

If you win this position, what accomplishment would make your term in office a success?

I will consider myself to have been successful if I am able to foster open discussion among the board about district policies (curriculum, operations, etc.) and votes on key decisions which are not a predetermined 7 – 0.

What are your views on fiscal policy, government spending and the handling of taxpayer dollars in the office you are seeking?

The district has long had a practice of increasing taxes to the maximum degree permitted, then making decisions on how to spend the money, rather than assessing whether it is truly necessary to capture the full permitted levy each year. Until recently, state law incentivized this “max levy” practice because foregone levy amounts could never be re-captured, but new legislation means that this justification has been removed. The board should therefore always assess whether a given construction project is beneficial and worth the money and whether that money is being spent in the most prudent manner possible, rather than considering the levy as a fixed amount of money available to spend regardless of needs.

What are your thoughts on how the district has handled the COVID-19 pandemic?

The district waited too long to bring students back into classrooms, and left the decision in the hands of students to too great a degree. If the district had made significant efforts to encourage at-risk students to return to classrooms during the period when this remained optional, they were not effective, and students are still paying the price.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some school boards saw extremely heated disagreements during public meetings. If elected, what changes, if any, need to be made to ensure meetings are run efficiently while still allowing open discussions?

We did not experience these disputes in District 214. However, many parents felt that their voices were not heard or even listened to. Having periodic townhall-style forum opportunities in which board members commit to responding to the community would be a much-needed supplement to school board business meetings.

How do you feel about sex education being taught in school? Should an LGBTQ component be included, and why or why not?

To my understanding, the current sex education program in District 214 is a “middle of the road” program broadly acceptable to most parents. However, some parents have expressed the concern that individual teachers are adding content that goes beyond the “moderate” curriculum, and that they have not been able to view the full class materials. Every parent ought to be able to easily access all content and know the process for opting out if needed.

What are your views on critical race theory and whether it should be taught in the district?

There is no single definition of what “critical race theory” means. For this reason, to be clear, I’ll state that the history of the United States should be accurate, complete and comprehensive, with respect to such topics as slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Harlem Renaissance, the Great Migration, the Civil Rights movement, and so on, bearing in mind that not everything can be covered.

However, some parents are concerned that teachers are teaching their students with a partisan political point-of-view or even require that students conform to that point of view, or encourage or require political activism by students. The district should provide the necessary assurances and curriculum transparency so that parents are able to be confident that this is not occurring.

Do you think the current board has done enough to support racial equality, and if not, what specifically should be done to do so?

To my knowledge, there are no circumstances in which students are discriminated against due to their racial/ethnic status or skin color in District 214 schools. However, there are serious achievement disparities due to such issues as being more likely to be low-income, and it is increasingly necessary to direct more attention to these issues.

When it comes to student achievement, what are schools within this district doing well and what needs to be improved? How can those improvements be made?

The district offers a great many opportunities for high-achieving students, including a multitude of AP classes and dual credit classes. However, the board should be asking questions about what additional attention and resources can be directed at struggling students. In addition, I have heard mixed reports from parents regarding children with IEPs and whether their needs have been met. While I am not a subject matter expert, it seems to me the starting point is more discussion and questions around financial allocations. Lastly, there are significant differences in the course offerings at each of the schools, and students could benefit from some flexibility to more easily take classes outside their home school.

Is there any reason you would not serve your full term of office, other than those of health or family?

No

The best advice ever shared with me was ____________

Honestly, people aren’t in the habit of handing out advice to me, but demonstrating by their actions, that it’s important to step in when you see a change is needed rather than just waiting for someone else to do so!