Skokie school district 68 candidates share visions, challenges

The seven candidates for Skokie School District 68 Board of Education shared their top priorities and thoughts on the district’s challenges in a public forum at Old Orchard Junior High School on Tuesday night.

Jeremy Alan Glickman, Shira Roth, Joseph Ruffner, Jillian Scheer, Janna Simon, Noelle Sullivan and Anne Warshaw are running for four seats. During the 90-minute forum, the candidates had a one-minute time limit to answer each question.

Vision and priorities for the school board

Glickman advocated for more interschool activities and community events so that children who attend public and private schools have opportunities to interact with each other. Many residents are not invested in our schools, he said, and these activities will encourage community engagement and help create more unity in Skokie. Glickman said English and math proficiency test scores should be higher in the district and that schools should reprioritize student learning to ensure children are getting the best education possible. His three children attend a private Jewish school.

Roth said that she would like to focus on supporting teachers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers all over the country faced challenges connecting with students while teaching virtually. Without the opportunity to be in a physical school environment learning and socializing, she said, students have had a tough time, and some of that is reflected in test scores. Everyone is looking for solutions, she said, and supporting teachers enables them to do more to help students overcome learning gaps. Roth’s children did not grow up in Skokie or attend local schools.

Ruffner, who is the current board president and has two children in district schools, said that making sure there is community input on the district’s new strategic plan is one of his top priorities. He agreed with Roth that COVID took a toll on student learning and is particularly concerned about kindergarten readiness. Ruffner is excited about the expansion of the district’s Early Childhood Center (ECC), which will be able to accommodate more students and help address learning gaps early on. Improvements at Old Orchard Mall have increased the district’s tax base, he said, and continuing to manage the budget wisely to invest in important programs and services is one of his goals.

Scheer said her priorities are to ensure that students have social-emotional safety and that they have access to arts, music and extracurricular activities. She wants to ensure that budgets put more resources back into classrooms, which includes continuing education for teachers and school administrators. Scheer has two children attending school in District 68 and two children in private school.

In addition to supporting a strong curriculum and extracurricular activities, Simon said she would like to find ways to engage with students’ families of all backgrounds so that they feel safe in schools. She has two children attending a district school. If elected, Simon would like to see the board improve communication and transparency, which would include more formal and informal opportunities for the public to share their ideas. As a public health professional who has worked on food system policy, Simon is passionate about nutrition in school food.

“I would really like to make sure our foods match the cultural diversity of our community,” she said. “We have a lot of different types of things that we're used to eating at home. Let's have that reflected in our menus at school.”

Warshaw, who currently serves on the board, said that schools are the “center of the community,” and people should feel that their voices are heard whenever they interact with the district. Communication and transparency with the public is vital, she said, and she has advocated for stronger tracking and accountability of hate speech in schools. Warshaw, who has two children attending school in the district and one child in pre-kindergarten, said the board must make a concerted effort to build relationships with governmental agencies, schools and other organizations in the area.

“We want good for kids, but we can't make that happen if we're not actually talking to each other,” Warshaw said. “I think we're also missing out on communal resources through the park district, through the village, through the state, because again, the folks that are in leadership positions there have no clue who we are.”

Sullivan, who is also a current board member, said the role of government is to find fiscally responsible ways to do “the most amount of good for the most amount of people.” The school district can demonstrate this by ensuring community members have meaningful opportunities to participate. Sullivan said she is concerned that “Chicago politics” is gaining influence in Skokie, citing eligibility challenges that resulted in candidates being removed from the ballot in the upcoming election, as well as the 2021 school board election. She has one child who grew up attending district 68 schools and is now in college, and two children currently in district 68.

Top challenges for the district

When asked about the top challenges facing the district, Simon, Sullivan and Ruffner all said that building a resilient budget to withstand any potential state or federal funding shortfalls is vital.

“It is imperative that we run it (the budget) lean and mean, but we do it as compassionately as possible,” Ruffner said.

Glickman and Scheer both said they are concerned about hate crimes and hate speech in schools. Scheer said that one of her daughters experienced bullying that included antisemitic remarks at a District 68 school. The school principal spoke with the parents of the students involved, but Scheer said the incident wasn’t reported as a hate crime in district records.

Roth said she has noticed that attendees at school district meetings are not representative of the diversity in the district. She is concerned that diverse families don’t feel welcome or engaged with the board, and that is a big issue that should be addressed. Warshaw said without stronger communication with other governing bodies and constituents, the board cannot be effective in reaching its goals for students.

Library books and diversity

The candidates were asked to share their “personal views on curriculum and choice of library books in regard to diversity and inclusion.”

Simon and Warshaw both said they are happy that the new social studies curriculum is focused on global good and cultural awareness. Simon said her children have brought home books that celebrate diverse cultures, and it has taught her a lot of things about fellow community members. Diversity, equity and inclusion is about including all people and building community together, Warshaw said. She said that “book banning, as we know, is one of the first ways to take away democracy.”

Storytelling connects people to one another, Sullivan said, and having diverse books in libraries is one of the ways that we can combat hate speech and dehumanization.

“It feels very existential for lots of people, and we need to be able to help our kids grow to build the bridge and maybe they can help build those bridges at home to their own families,” Sullivan said.

Glickman said he agrees that diversity and cultural inclusion in stories is important, but he is concerned about age-appropriate reading materials.

“When we're talking about elementary school kids or even younger, I don't know if we need to include everything, every part of our cultures that we have, as adults who understand,” he said.

Scheer also mentioned age appropriateness, and that a book that may be okay for a fifth or sixth grader would “open questions that a second grader is unable to understand.”

“I just am very cautious when it comes to opening questions that are age appropriate for my daughter,” she said. “I want her to take any book and all books that is appropriate for her to read and ask appropriate questions and for you to answer to the questions.”

Ruffner said if we can’t read books and learn from each other’s diverse experiences then “we're wasting a precious opportunity.” Some stories might be uncomfortable, he said, but they shouldn’t be excluded. Roth said that kids always find a way to read banned books and taking them away isn’t the answer.

“If there's something in that book that you don't like and you don't want children to know about, you need to read it with them,” she said. “Sit down, yes. Talk about it. Answer the questions. That's the solution.”

The forum was sponsored by the Parent Teacher Associations of the four District 68 schools and was moderated by Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen.