Meet Carol DeMicheal: Kirby School District 140 Candidate

TINLEY PARK, IL — Meet Carol DeMicheal, Kirby School District 140 school board candidate. The Consolidated Elections are April 6.

DeMicheal recently filled out the Patch candidate survey, and her answers can be seen below.

If you are a candidate for the April election, and would like to answer our Patch candidate questionnaire, please email yasmeen.sheikah@patch.com.

Carol DeMicheal

Age (as of election)

forever young

Town/city of residence

Tinley Park

School District

Kirby School District 140

Family

I married the love of my life, David, at a young age. We have been married for 37 years. We have 3 awesome kids and one granddaughter.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education

Daley College / Child Development

Occupation

National Human Resource Executive / Recruiter for a large retailer. I have worked there for 28 years in a variety of positions in HR.

Campaign website

KSD 140 School Board Candidates-DeMicheal*Shalash*Mullee*Martelli | Facebook

Previous or current elected or appointed office

I have been on the Kirby District 140 Board of Education since 2005, and have served in all roles. Additionally, I am appointed to 2 advisory boards at Northern Illinois University

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

The most pressing issue right now is the ongoing pandemic and navigating to get our children back to school safely. Hopefully things will continue to get better. Our Board of Education, along with administration, have had to make some grueling decisions for the safety of our children and staff over the last year. We have had to rely on science, ISBE, IDPH and the CDC to make the best decisions for everyone. I fully realize that people have various perspectives which they are entitled to have. We have heard all stakeholders and there are many different things that they want us to do. Unfortunately we cannot please everyone. We hope that people continue to try and understand that we really do hear all voices, and share in the pain of this terrible situation. We continue to have to go back and check data while tapping into resources to get our schools back open safely. The most responsible decision we can make is to continue to listen to science and review where we are willing to go outside the guidelines as safely as possible. Every life matters.

After that, the social-emotional piece of this will have to be continually looked at to make sure we get our kids back to a good place. The educators in our schools are adept at identifying the students’ needs, and they go above and beyond to support those needs. Our board is proud to say that we have been able to allocate one social worker and one counselor to each school in our district. We have purchased a social-emotional screener as of last summer, which is a valuable tool used by educators to measure the social-emotional competence for children in grades K-8. This tool, along with the expertise of our counselors and social workers, will help manage and execute this process. With some tweaks, I am confident that our children will receive the social-emotional support that they need.

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

I am only familiar with the candidates that I am running with. Our slate is: Carol DeMicheal, Thomas Martelli, Lucy Shalash and Aileen Mullee. The four of us bring a variety of strengths that will make a great contribution to the Board of Education. Tom and I are veteran board members, which I think helps a lot because of the knowledge we have of the district and the years we have spent making the district better. We know all the wins we have had in the past and have joyfully been part of the victories. We have also had many challenges and it is great to work with a team and be part of the solution. This has always been an entire board effort, as one board member cannot work alone. The 2 running mates we have, Lucy and Aileen are very different and bring a great perspective to the board. Lucy being an educator will be a big win, as she is passionate about children and how to teach them. She is very well thought of in her district and has a great perspective on kids and education. I know her to have great listening skills and a very objective stance. Aileen is a business owner and brings great ideas outside the box. She is smart, articulate and has worked tirelessly to make sure her own children get everything they need. She will do the same if she is elected to the board. She is also a business owner and has had to look outside the box to come up with creative ideas and solutions.
I believe the 4 of us working together with the other 3 board members will make a very dynamic team, coming from various backgrounds and perspectives.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform

There have been many successes this district has had, and will continue to have. Knowing all the strengths and opportunities we face, I will continue to work tirelessly to achieve and escalate all of our goals. Our slate is ready to go and will bring continued wins as we work together as a team.

Due to covid, the first priority is to get our kids back physically and mentally; we will help them do that with our teams. We are prepared for all the challenges and will celebrate with our stakeholders as we start to get back on track.

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

We have had many successes on the school board and will continue to drive our goals for our student’s education and stakeholder accountability.

We have provided students / staff with state of the art technology for greater learning. We have added counselors and social workers in every building.

We have received recognition for spending taxpayer dollars toward education and student learning. We have remodeled / updated every school.

We have put plans in place that were executed through our teaching staff and provided resources and tools to strengthen state scores.

We have won the meritorious budget award for several years in a row. We will always be accountable to our stakeholders and will put our children first on what they need, no matter what the cost.

In my career in Human Resources I am driven to find solutions and hear all sides of a situation to help with fair and reasonable solutions. I have been given continuous amounts of responsibility due to my track record in HR.

Why should voters trust you?

I know that my track record shows all the accomplishments we have done as a team and has benefited our children and community. I have been transparent and open to our stakeholders. Prior to covid, we were gaining great achievements on all our goals.

Covid has added a tough element to the entire world, but scaling that down, every decision I/we have made has been for the safety and wellbeing of our students and staff. I value all people, I am transparent and will always do the right thing.

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

As we navigate back to where we were prior to covid, I would like to continue to work hard on the educational performance of students. Our test scores were going up and we continually added tools to the district to help students.

Moving forward, I would like to see the following goals to be achieved

• Keeping up with state of the art technology so our kids have an advantage
• Make sure the curriculum is right for student success – continue to review (have committees)
• Continue to improve/ increase communication and keep relationships great with the community. Have parent groups when needed for more feedback (to grow)
• After things with covid start to get better, I would like to additionally look at what else students need for success. This may look different. Also, I would like to be the leader on some things like we were on technology, when other schools came to visit to see what we were doing and how we were doing it.
• Keep a balanced budget so we can spend whatever we need for the best education for our students.
• Make sure relationships with all stakeholders are great – More outreach to community
• Come out better than ever as we are on a great educational track

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

Since we are a bedroom community, we rely on tax dollars to make our schools work. We have handled these dollars in the best interest of our children’s education and have been extremely fiscally responsible. As a result, we have not had to incur debt like many other districts have.
We have received recognition year after year on the financial spending

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 was born and raised in Chicago and went to a racially diverse public school. I had great parents who always taught me the value of all people, and though we treated all of our friends and neighbors with the same friendliness and compassion, I quickly came to see that society did not. As I got older, I started to realize that many Black people were not treated the same way I was... which was something I did not understand. My parents helped give me the courage and selflessness to truly listen to my friends of color and try to understand. Based on the inequality that Black people have suffered through the years, I do believe in the mission of the BLM organization and also just the simple statement that "black lives matter". The organization's goal ( as stated on their website) is to "eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. ... Combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for Black imagination and innovation, and centering Black joy...etc." This organization stands for a lot of good and healing, but as with any good thing, a few bad apples can taint its name. Looters and rioters that infiltrated the BLM protests to put forth their own agenda of crime and recklessness took advantage of these demonstrations for their own gain. Unfortunately, many were lead to believe that looters and rioters were one in the same with protestors and this is simply not correct. As far as the peaceful demonstrations we've seen this last year, I would just like to say that the right to peaceful protest is a wonderful freedom that each American has the ability to exercise.

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 think there will always be an opportunity to grow in this area. At this time, we have embraced and advocated for racial equality. We have to continue to be invested in our children from all walks of life and make sure they know that we value and support diversity, inclusion and belonging.

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?

As most districts, we were remote for the first quarter. We then went to a hybrid schedule and were always looking for ways to increase in-person learning. We created a plan to go back full time in the 4 th Q. With these decisions we made, many districts still have remained remote or hybrid to date with no plan to return to full time this year. I am proud of the collaboration with administration and the entire educational team for working together to make full time a reality. I think it’s important to understand that more than 50% of the school districts were in the same place we were, and had stayed remote the first half of the year. Many districts are still remote. Every school district is different in size of classrooms and the ability to safely return by the CDC and IDPH guidelines (which by the way, seemed to be changing every day). In D 140 we were fortunate to have the financial capabilities to provide the PPE and other supplies that meet the guidelines to return to school safely.

To answer the first question “Are you in favor of remote learning, in-person learning or a hybrid of the two?” I am in favor of WHAT IS RIGHT as far as trying to stay within guidelines. This has been the toughest issue for ALL schools. As the numbers go down, in addition to the ability to provide necessary resources, and science says it is SAFE for our children and staff to get back to school, I am in favor of going back full time.

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

I do not believe you can make a vaccine ‘mandatory’. It really is a personal choice.

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

I am committed to serving my full term if elected.

The best advice ever shared with me was ____________

“You must leave the world in a better place than you found it”