Tim Albores, Lyons Township High School Candidate

LA GRANGE, IL — Tim Albores is one of seven candidates for three seats on the Lyons Township High School board. Here are his responses to the Patch questionnaire:

Name:

Tim Albores

Town of residence:

La Grange Park

Age:

48

Campaign contact email:

alborestim@gmail.com

Campaign website:

www.timalbores.com

Family:

Chris Albores (wife), Maya Albores (daughter), Emilie Albores (daughter), Maddy Albores (daughter)

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education:

Bachelor of Secondary Education and English Literature, Master of Social Work, and Master of Education: School Improvement Leadership

Occupation:

Director of Student Services

Previous or current elected or appointed office:

Jamal Place President of the Board of Directors and current La Grange Park Board of Police Commissioners

The single most pressing issue facing the school board is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing the school board is ensuring every student has equal access to an exceptional education. I intend to listen, ask questions, and gather feedback from students, the community, LTHS staff, and administration to ensure the board’s direction continues to lead our students to every opportunity available to them post high school. I will dedicate my voice and my vote to ensuring our students have a path that leads them to the future they desire.

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

It is my strong belief that I am not running against anyone else. I am running to volunteer for my community. I believe a strong board is a balanced board with varying experiences, talents, ideas, and careers. I believe my social work and administrative experience in various urban, rural, and suburban environments, in large and small districts, group homes, and residential facilities brings added value and perspective to our district.

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

My dedication to my family and commitment to the service of others will always come first in my life. While I don’t like campaigning or listing my accomplishments, I do feel it’s important for people to understand my motivation for running. Currently working for a district of 25,000+ students bring challenges and difficult conversations. My job is to empathize, work to build consensus, and sometimes deliver difficult decisions. While this can be challenging, I work to really listen and always try to do what is in the best interest of the students, school, parents, and community. I believe this will lend itself to being a strong and compassionate liaison to the community while working together with my board colleagues and administration to deliver an education that truly prepares our students for the future.

What can the school do to counteract dropping standardized test scores?

The first step is to motivate kids to come to school and attend class on time. As students get older at LTHS, we see higher chronic truancy rates. Students who feel safe, welcome, and wanted in any environment do better. This is not different than us as adults. If we work in a supportive environment, we perform better. I believe this is already occurring at LTHS, however, it must always remain a focus of our school. Similarly, we must continue to maintain the academic rigor of our students to ensure they are prepared for high-stakes tests. This requires scheduled curriculum reviews and revisions to ensure our curriculum aligns with these assessments. Similarly, the school must continue to provide test preparation for our students to ensure performance on these assessments affords students as many post-secondary opportunities as possible. Post Covid, we must continue to show students the value of doing well on the tests regardless of college requirements of these exams for admittance and scholarship opportunities.

Do you generally support the work of the school district's administration? Why or why not?

I do. I have been fortunate to be on the Lyons Township Community Advisory Counsel (LTCAC) for the past 6 years. I have appreciated the open communication and vision the administration has directed in terms of social-emotional learning, infrastructure, elective development, equity, and academic rigor. While I always feel we can do more, the conversations I’ve had have been open and honest. We all need to be pushed to do better, and I believe the current administration isn’t satisfied with the status quo and wants to continue to grow and improve.

How do you view Lyons Township High School's handling of the sale of its Willow Springs land? Has the school district been open enough with the public about the process? Why or why not?

With any major decision, thousands of smaller decisions must be made. While I cannot begin to know all the questions that were asked, what variables were considered, and the results of the thousands of smaller decisions that were made to come to the point they are now, I do question how much transparency and communication there was with the community. While I do appreciate the communication that was shared on January 26th, the community made it clear that they were not aware of the direction the district was heading. Whether the district felt it was open in their communication or not, doesn’t matter if the community feels disenfranchised.

What is your view of critical race theory? Is it being taught in the local schools? If so, what evidence do you have of that?

Critical race theory is a collegiate study of how decisions, biases, and historical practices continue to marginalize those whose voices have been ignored. The important word here is collegiate, as this theory has become politicized as something that is inherently evil and is being taught in our public schools. Both of these implications are wrong and more justification that we must continue to push that both political sides remain outside of our schools: out of our classrooms and board rooms. We must teach the core curriculum with an emphasis on our Social Emotional Learning Standards that require us to teach students how to listen, debate, and challenge our ideas through critical thought. Many adults have forgotten how to debate respectfully. We MUST work to teach our students that through hard conversations, great decisions can be made, but we must be open to really listen. This is embedded in the Standards we are required to teach. See Social Emotional Learning Standards 2A, 2A.4b, 2A.5a, 2A.5b, 2B, 2B.4a, 2B.4b, and 2B.5a. I can appreciate what Education Week reported on the issue a few years ago.

What is your view of sex education in local schools? Should an LGBT component be included? Why or why not?

I believe that sex education is inherently the role of parents or guardians. They should have a say in how those conversations occur. However, often times these conversations do not occur in the home for whatever reason. I say this without judgment. Parents must have a way to clearly opt out of these discussions in schools through various forms (email, text, written consent, etc.), however, in my opinion, public safety requires that we address sex education in our schools. We must ensure our young men and women have the basic information to ensure they will act and grow into responsible adults. We do not want our children to learn inaccuracies that they find on the internet because they don’t have safe and accurate information. The LGBTQIA+ community must be represented and included in these conversations.

Will you take questions from the media if you are elected?

Yes

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:

My father always told me growing up that he didn’t care what I did (as a career) as long as I did what I enjoyed and made enough money to support myself and a family if I had one. It is such simple and sage advice. I would want every student who walked across the field at graduation to have the ability to do this with the education they received at Lyons Township High School. I would only add that I want them all to be strong and kind. Each student should be strong-willed, but open to a respectful conversation/debate; kind to all and strong enough to know when to stand up for themselves; curious so they never stop wanting to learn and grow; and willing to give up their time, energy, and/or money to those who have less. A united community makes for a strong community.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

That I have no political future in mind. I have no ax to grind. I genuinely want to give back to a community that has helped me raise three amazing daughters and I believe that my experience, knowledge, and drive will help make LTHS a better, stronger school.