Todd Witherow: Candidate For Arlington Heights SD 25

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL — Ahead of the April 6 consolidated municipal elections, Arlington Heights Patch provided questionnaires to all candidates on the ballot.

Eight candidates are vying for four seats on the Arlington Heights School District 25 Board of Education on Election Day. They include three incumbents (Gina Faso, Richard Olejniczak and Anisha Patel) and five challengers (Melisa Andrews, Katie Rausch, Gregory Scapillato, Deborah Tranter and Todd Witherow).

Arlington Heights Patch is publishing all responses submitted by candidates verbatim.

Todd Witherow

Age (as of election day)

39

Town/city of residence

Arlington Heights

School district

25

Family

Wife Christy (39), Reese (Dryden, 1st grade), Sloane (PDO), Elle (French Bulldog)

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government? This includes any relatives who work in the government you're running for.

No

Education

BS International Business, Butler and MBA from University Chicago Booth School of Business

Occupation

Aerospace & Defense, 17 years

Campaign website

www.arlingtonheightsforward.or...

Previous or current elected or appointed office

D214 Foundation Board

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single greatest issue facing our district is that we are falling behind other districts as far as annual achievement increases across all students, while at the same time the achievement gap among IEP students is larger than the state average. To address this issue the “easy” answer will be to increase staff and curriculum for gifted students and students needing additional support. This answer comes at a cost to the district; a cost that is ultimately levied across the community in the form of increased property taxes. I believe we need to solve this issue without increasing our operating costs.

If elected I would look to implement a more robust performance evaluation process. The last four years, 100% of our staff were rated as excellent or proficient, well above the state average. With these ratings we should be increasing our performance at the same levels as other districts. Further we need to assess why our achievement gap among IEP and non-IEP students is larger than the state average. We must do better by our community. These discussions will not be easy and will require all district employees to accept accountability for student performance. However, we cannot create a culture wherein our staff is incentivized to “teach to a standardized test”; this kind of focus will miss the mark related to the complete development of our 5,500 students in the district.

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

Only in very rare circumstances do you have experienced professionals serving on a board in the industry for which they were employed. If we use The Boeing Company as an example, none of the board members who represent the shareholders is a former BOeing employee or in the direct industry - Airbus, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin. Instead the board is composed of successful business leaders from outside the industry or that represent customer segments. Being a successful, experienced teacher does not qualify an individual as a good potential board member. In fact, it may create larger challenges as the expertise could drive micro-management of the district.

Instead, board members who have successful careers outside the specific industry, and who represent their constituents, are the most qualified board members This is what I will bring to my potential board seat: 17 years of successful performance in a private company; perspective as a current D25 parent and someone who was raised by two career educators, thus valuing the role of education in our nation; and finally, my current role of serving on the D214 Foundation board for the last two years.

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

The District 25 community has been surveyed six times this school year on their preference for in person or remote. Consistently each time over 70% of the families stated they wanted in person learning for their children. Yet the board and district have struggled to support, vote or accommodate this desire.

Instead of problem solving, much of the board sought out problems that would prohibit this choice for families. The district has been reactive in its decision making and has lacked transparent communication with family members. Furthermore, I am not aware of any attempt by the district or board to seek out input from the broader AH community about school re-opening and how it will impact community members without students in the district. Not supporting 70% of the D25 families and not seeking input from the broader community has been a shortcoming of recent district efforts.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

The top five issues I will focus on if elected are the following:
1. More educational opportunities for all children, including academic enhancement programs for accelerated learners and robust intervention/ accommodations for students in need across every school in the district.
2. Increased transparency and communication from the board to the community, D25 families, the staff and the teachers.
3. Concrete leadership in the 2022 Superintendent and Teacher Union contract renewals, free from bias and conflict of interest.
4. Transitioning the pandemic response into an opportunity for the district to leverage the new technology and methods of education in our district, Cook County, our state and nation.
5. Increased partnership with the Arlington Heights Memorial Library, the AH Park District, Police, Fire and other organizations; our community's strength is grounded in these organizations.

Finally, what is critical is that all of these issues are addressed in a way that supports the desires of the communities. Implementation of the above will be successful through communication, collaboration, and proper funding.

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

My accomplishments in my professional life demonstrate I can be an effective school board member. Over 17 years with my employer, I have demonstrated performance and leadership that has resulted in increased responsibilities consistently. In my current role I have complete authority to lead a $250 million dollar line of business. I also believe my contributions to D214 as a board member for the D214 Foundation is evidence of my ability to perform in a board leadership role within our education system. While neither the Foundation nor D214 will endorse candidates, the current D214 Foundation President has sent several hundred letters of support for me. These two examples provide evidence of success in my professional role and my ability to mirror that success in educational foundations.

Why should voters trust you?

Voters should trust me because I have continuously displayed a willingness to communicate with the public and seek out inputs from all community members. I believe in polite, respectful discussion and will always respond to any question any community has about myself and my candidacy.

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

Notwithstanding the priorities mentioned in an earlier question, I would assess my term a success when I am able to implement a new approach for how we look at diverse staffing, compensation and annual performance assessments. We need to find a mutually agreeable way to move forward with rewarding our best performers and providing support to those who have the opportunity to improve. While this may not be a popular approach for all, it is long overdue. For the last 4 years, 100% of our teachers were assessed as satisfactory or better. Yet our district achievement scores did not increase at the same rate as other schools in Illinois, and our achievement gap between IEP and non-IEP students stands larger than the state average. D25 is in the business of educating our children, and when our achievement gaps are increasing and overall achievement scores are not keeping pace with others, we must be critical in our assessment of where we can do better.

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

Fiscal policy is one of the most critical issues a board can influence. Currently in D25, we receive approximately $80M a year in revenue. Only 7%, or $5.6M of funding a year, comes from the State of Illinois. Per Congressional Research Service, the State of Illinois provides the least amount of state funding support to public education of all 50 states.

We are fortunate to live in a community that values strong education. Eighty (80) percent of our annual budget comes from local property taxes. The average across Illinois school districts is 67%. Seeing we already significantly exceed the state average, we must be innovative to hold taxes flat, or even decrease them.

(https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20190826_R45827_7a8d531e7ae1e7fabafeffb87cdfd1b3d03ced49.pdf)

Do you support Black Lives Matter and what are your thoughts on the demonstrations held since the death of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake?

I support equality among all citizens and students. The first step in equality is inclusion. We must ensure we are inclusive in our hiring, staffing and student services throughout the district and community. The right to demonstrate is a means to freedom of speech. I believe everyone should have the ability to express themselves. I strongly believe, however, that expressions must be lawful and respect the surrounding community.

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

I believe the board’s adopted motion on diversity and inclusion was a positive step forward. However, the motion lacked specific actions or forms of measurement that would be used to assess progress of the district. While our current district student population might not represent the desired level of diversity, we should look for creative solutions from the pandemic to increase diversity in our classrooms, like creating a “buddy class” with CPS where students can zoom weekly to engage in diverse class settings and instruction.
We must also look for ways to attract more minority teachers and administration to the district. For 10 years from 2011 - 2022, 96 or 97 percent of our teachers were white, with the exception of 2021, where it was 98 percent. This is in contrast to our student population where over the last five years white students made up only 73 to 77 percent of the student population.

If there was an easy solution, I am confident the district would have identified it by now. This is not an easy challenge to solve. I would bring my private sector experience in addressing a similar challenge: minority and female interest in STEM related degrees. My company has employed several strategies to increase our diversity and inclusion. These efforts have resulted in the company being recognized as the 15th best company in the US for diversity per DiversityInc (2020) and HBCU Top Supporter in Career Communications Gap (2020). The ability to recruit and retain a diverse workforce is no different in D25 than in the private sector.

One opportunity would be to create D25 brand awareness in the D214 Education Career Pathway. Outreach could be targeted to under-represented populations. Similar partnerships with surrounding districts, such as the Chicago Public School system to engage diverse high school students expressing an interest in teaching careers. A big part of success is informing potential employees about the opportunities and benefits of a profession in teaching. These strategies take time to realize results, but can be successful when initiated and sustained over a period of time. A more near term opportunity would be participating in diverse job fairs such as the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) career fair that is being held virtually in April. Participating in this fair is a very targeted strategy to impact diversity in the short term. These are a few of the strategies I have seen work across other organizations and I am confident similar strategies will work in addressing this gap with District 25.

What are your thoughts on the district’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic? Are you in favor of remote learning, in-person learning or a hybrid of the two? Do you support a mask mandate for students and school staff, or mandatory coronavirus testing for both students and staff

Without access to all the information our district received from teachers, staff, families, health departments and others it is hard to fairly answer this question. There are two areas where I think the district fell short in responding to the pandemic.

One area was the lack of proactive planning and communication with the community, D25 families and D25 employees. The sudden communications, surveys and changing communication at the end of the summer caused major disruption and caused many to lose trust in the district. Trust is extremely hard to regain once lost. Further, we continue to not be proactive with Summer U and Fall plans. Families are making decisions and placing deposits today for private schools who have been able to operatie full in-person 5 days since day 1. The district has not yet communicated a clear plan and commitment to D25 families for the Fall. This can easily be done and should be done.

The other area lacking is the unwillingness to seek out community input and expertise. One such area would be seeking out, listening and making decisions with input from local health experts, pediatricians, phycologists and risk managers. I offered lessons learned as a D25 parent from my professional experience in the pandemic, some of which were challenges the district ultimately faced as well.

I support offering a choice for families this year and next year. My priorities related to the pandemic and next school year would be to first establish and clearly communicate a remote academy across the district, not school-based for families who desire that choice and to support our most at risk teachers. Then the district can offer five full days in-person for the families who desire that choice. To get to this model we must be mindful of the mitigations we put in place in our schools (distancing, movement of students / teachers, masks, screening, air filtration) and consistently assess the cases we experience to adjust the mitigations we have in place, or relax.

When the vaccine is available to them, do you support mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for students and staff?

I do not support mandatory vaccinations for students and staff. All students and staff have personal situations that will impact their willingness or ability to receive the vaccine. We should not mandate the vaccine, but we must be clear that once the vaccine is made available to all we expect our district to return to a normal, five day in person instruction week structured similarly to how it was pre-pandemic. We must remain steadfast in our mitigations,, but proactively remove mitigating measures in a timely fashion when they are no longer needed.

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

There is no reason I would not serve out my full term of office. While I may be asked to relocate for work, I do not foresee that occurring in the next four years.

The best advice ever shared with me was ____________

...don’t let your business run you, make sure you are running your business. Our students and staff have been asked to manage a lot over the last 12 months. We also face some critical, long-term decisions related to the superintendent's contract and the union agreement, which both expire at the end of the next school year. I want to be elected to ensure the community is being heard and well-represented related to the operations of D25.