James D’Angelo: Candidate For Deerfield School District 109

DEERFIELD, IL — Ahead of the April 6 consolidated municipal elections, Deerfield Patch provided questionnaires to all candidates on the ballot.

Eight candidates are vying for four seats on the Deerfield School District 109 Board of Education on Election Day. They include two incumbents (Andrew Morrison and Sari Montgomery) and six challengers (Dana Blumberg, James D’Angelo, Valarie Hays, Kelly Jakymiw, Jonathan Silver and Maureen G. Wener). Current trustees Kate Bittner and Scott Kluge are not running for reelection.

Deerfield Patch is publishing all responses submitted by candidates verbatim.

James D’Angelo

Age (as of election day)

34

Town/city of residence

Deerfield

School district

DPS 109

Family

Wife: Jillian D’Angelo
Children: Ryan (Age 6), Owen (Age 3) and Lucy (Age 1). Ryan is in Kindergarten at Walden, and Owen is in preschool at Early Learners at South Park.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

B.S. in Economics and Communication Sciences and Disorders from Northwestern University, graduated with honors; J.D. from Loyola University Chicago, graduated first in his class

Occupation

Corporate Attorney - 7+ years of experience. Currently an in-house lawyer for a Fortune 200 manufacturing company.

Campaign website

www.ABCDeerfield.com

Previous or current elected or appointed office

None

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

The biggest issue facing our school board is a lack of trust and support from the community. For too long, parents and teachers alike have felt that the School Board and Administration don’t truly support their interests. The pandemic has certainly brought this to the forefront for many people, but the issue predates it. A school board cannot lead a school district without community support. And without teacher support and involvement, our students suffer. Lack of trust and support from the community also makes small issues blow up into larger ones. When everyone is on edge, or when most of the community is unhappy with the direction of the school district, even small changes and minor problems will be met with uproar.

The School Board should do several things to fix this problem. First, the Board needs to improve its communications with the community. The School Board must give more advanced notice about its plans, particularly with respect to its public meetings. For example, when significant proposals are being discussed at a board meeting, the community needs more than 1 business day to prepare. Additionally, more details must be provided ahead of time so the community can adequately participate in the process. Further, the School Board must allow for more meaningful community participation at board meetings -- 2-minute voicemails or in-person comments without any actual dialogue from the Board is not enough.

Second, our school board must drastically increase transparency throughout the District. Our community deserves to know why decisions are made, and the community needs to be able to participate in the decision-making process. For example, at the start of this school year more than 80% of parents wanted at least some in-person instruction, and the District’s Re-Opening Committee had prepared both a hybrid and full in-person model (along with an all-remote option for those families that requested it). But the Administration recommended, and the Board approved, a universal all-remote learning model without any real explanation. That can never be allowed to happen again.

Our school board must work with our new superintendent to earn the support and trust of parents and teachers. It won’t be a quick or easy process, but it’s vitally important for the long-term health of our school district.

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

I, along with the other ABC Deerfield candidates, are strong advocates for improving our schools through more accountability, stronger board leadership, and better communication. Many other candidates for DPS 109 Board of Education this year have not demonstrated an ability or willingness to stand up for our community and advocate for change when necessary. We’re starting to see several negative trends emerging in our schools (including reduced trust between parents and staff, lower school rankings, lower student test scores, and higher administrator turnover), which is why we need new leaders on our school board to change course. And we don’t just need new faces -- we need people who will genuinely approach the job differently. I have already been a successful advocate for change within our schools, and those efforts will only continue once I’m on the Board.

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

The current school board has failed the community in several ways. The most obvious example was its failure to offer any in-person learning at the start of the 2020-2021 school year, even though it was clearly able to do so, and even though almost every surrounding school district found a way to do so. But, it’s important to understand that this failure was merely a symptom of larger problems facing the School Board. For too long the Board has failed to provide effective oversight over the District, blindly approving administrative recommendations and then having to reverse course when those decisions later proved to be unsound. From shrinking gifted and foreign language programs, to approving standards-based grading without teacher and community support, to not effectively communicating with parents, the current School Board has failed us. We need a school board that will restore the faith and trust of our entire community, including parents, students, teachers, and taxpayers. The ABC Deerfield candidates will do just that.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

There are many issues facing the District 109 Board of Education. That’s why the ABC Deerfield candidates wrote several in-depth Issue Spotlights, which provide greater detail on several of these very important issues. They include budgetary and tax-levy concerns, post-pandemic recovery ideas, issues related to equity and advanced curriculum, and administrative issues such as staff turnover and communication challenges. You can read more about them at https://www.abcdeerfield.com/issue-spotlights.

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

I founded and led Deerfield for In-Person Schooling (or DIPS), which was a parent group dedicated to getting our kids back in school as quickly and safely as possible during the 2020-2021 school year. Hundreds of parents united together to cause positive change at our school district, and I’m extremely proud to be a part of that successful movement and of this community of engaged citizens. Beyond that, I’m a successful corporate attorney. I am involved with complex, high-stakes negotiations on a daily basis. In my professional life, “challenging times” is simply not an excuse for poor performance.

Why should voters trust you?

I’ve demonstrated that I’m not afraid to stand up for what I believe in and for what is clearly best for our students. When I saw how poorly our district was handling the pandemic this school year, I didn’t stand back and wait for it to fix itself. Instead, I organized for change, and fought tirelessly for what so many in our community desperately needed. I promise to continue advocating for our students.

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

If the community again trusts the School Board and our administrators, my term will have been a success. There are obviously dozens of very important issues that the School Board must get right, and that’s true now more than ever. But, at the end of the day, if stakeholders trust the District, that means the day-to-day issues are being handled appropriately. While the School Board can’t please everybody on all issues, it’s important to keep the needs and interests of our community as the Board’s top priority. And it’s important to provide enough transparency so that people understand the decisions that they oppose. While some may not support those decisions, they will at least trust that the Board and Administration did the best that they could.

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

This is perhaps the most important role that the School Board plays within our district. The School Board is the only aspect of District 109 that is directly responsible to the taxpayers. The ABC Deerfield candidates wrote 2 in-depth Issue Spotlights relating to fiscal policy, which you can see here: https://www.abcdeerfield.com/i... (“Budgets - A Long-Term Perspective” and “Tax Levy Process”). I have suggested several important changes to the budgetary and tax-levy processes that I promise to implement if elected to the School Board.

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 don't believe this question is relevant for a school board member. I do think that supporting diversity and inclusion in schools, including with respect to racial diversity and educational equity, is vitally important for the school board to address. Please see the next question for my thoughts on how DPS 109 can begin to make progress in that area.

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

No. The School Board has taken some commendable steps with respect to racial equality. For example, the new DEI (Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion) Committee is certainly a step in the right direction. However, the School Board must take stronger actions to make this a clear district priority. We need actionable goals with real timelines, instead of an open-ended committee without a clear directive. Additionally, teachers need to be provided more resources and better directives on how to appropriately teach issues related to racial equity, diversity, and inclusion. While these issues are extremely important, they can be difficult to properly teach (especially at the elementary and middle school levels). The District needs to do much better in this regard.

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?

The District made several mistakes in its handling of the pandemic, all of which could have been avoided had there been better board leadership. The biggest mistakes were (1) the District’s decision to start the school year in all-virtual instruction, (2) the District’s inability to understand how detrimental all-virtual instruction would be for most students, emotionally and academically, (3) the District’s poor communication strategy throughout the pandemic, (4) the constant changing of plans and decisions, without any basis in science or expert opinion, and (5) the broken promises made to the families that selected the all-virtual instruction option (for example, these families were promised that their teachers and schedules would not change, which didn’t even last a full month for some students).

I am in favor of the school district offering 2 options for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year: (1) full-day in-person (5 days per week) and (2) full remote. This should be offered to every family, and their selections should be binding for the rest of the year.

I support the mask mandate for students and staff, in accordance with IDPH and CDC guidance. If that guidance changes, the school district should change accordingly.

I do not support mandatory coronavirus testing for both students and staff, although I am not opposed to the District offering tests to those that want to participate.

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

No

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 ____________

Always be the most-prepared person in the room.