Letter to the Editor: Petrarca, Bushnell, Clausen Make Their Case for District 113A School Board

Lemont Patch is accepting letters to the editor, which will be posted on the site as received.

The following letter was submitted to Patch by District 113A school board candidates Susan Petrarca, Brian Bushnell and Michael Clausen, who are running as a slate.

We encourage all political candidates and their supporters to share your views in a letter to the editor. We will post any letters we receive, so long as they are roughly 300 words and adhere to Patch's Terms of Use.

If you're interesting in submitting a letter, e-mail Lemont Patch Editor Amanda Luevano at amanda@patch.com .

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To the District 113A Community and Voters:

The question we’ve been asked most often as we’ve campaigned for the school board is, “Why can’t we hire more teachers?”

Class size is an important issue in District 113A. It’s what motivated us to run in the first place. One parent told us he could barely walk between the rows of desks crammed into an Oakwood classroom. One of us met with  kindergarten teacher to discuss the amount of homework and came away with the impression that she was outnumbered. One 8th grade class has 43 kids.

What we have learned is that 2 years after restoring sound financial practices – ending the deficit spending and tax anticipation warrant borrowing – the district is financially stable enough to address the size of classes. What we cannot figure out is why members of the board -- after voting last year to hire 5 teachers --subsequently stopped communicating with the state about the plan, leading the state to assume the district wasn't going to hire any teachers. Now the board is considering a strategic and financial plan that proposes to spend $1.5 million all at once on technology and adds just 4.5 teachers.

From the beginning of this campaign our slogan has been “Kids First.” It means that everything we would do as school board members would be evaluated on the basis of how it benefits – or hurts – students.

Strong schools and smaller class sizes depend on sound finances, so we are not advocating a return to irresponsible and ruinous deficit spending. Technology upgrades should be done, but on a staggered schedule. We should hire more teachers now, which we can do without spending more than we have. We should continue the responsible accumulation of reserves that will speed our decertification from state financial oversight.

On the Cook County ballot, the District 113A school board is the only contested race. Some voters may ask “Why bother to vote?”

Our answer: Consider what is at stake. This election is about the direction and efficacy of the school district, which underlies the property values and vitality of the community and its attractiveness as a destination for families with children.

You DO have a choice in District 113A, and the opportunity to set the district on path to exceptional education.

Please vote on April 9th. We ask for your vote with this pledge:
We will never vote to spend more than we have.
We will never vote for anything that endangers the financial health of the district.
We WILL vote to reduce class sizes and hire more teachers, because that is in the best interest of our children.

We understand that a seat on the School Board of District 113A is a position of trust. In asking for your vote, we ask for your trust that we will do what we have promised: Put Kids First.

Sincerely,

Mike Clausen (#2), Brian Bushnell (#3), and Susan Petrarca (#4)

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