Six seek four seats in Hawthorn District 73

Six candidates, including all four incumbents, are running for four, 4-year terms in the April 5 election. Vernon Hills-based Hawthorn houses about 3,900 students in four elementary and two middle schools.

Incumbents note greater teacher accountability and openness to the public among their successes during their tenures. Two newcomers, while not critical of the current board, say they would add a fresh perspective.

On the ballot are: incumbents Lisa Jay, who works in customer service and office management for a kitchen and bath distributor; Michelle Comitor, a teacher in Deerfield District 109; Jayson Tran, a software engineer, who was appointed to the board last year and previously served from 2003 to 2005; and, Jeffrey Bard, an environmental program manager.

Cristopher Nolan, a law school student and Matthew Napierkowski, a corporate manager, are newcomers challenging for the position.

Responses are from questionnaires and interviews with the Daily Herald.

Comitor said a lack of unity among the board, administration and teachers has dissipated since she was elected.

“Over the last four years, that has greatly improved,” she said.

She also said the staff has been streamlined and there is closer scrutiny of teacher performance in their first years before they become tenured. If they are not performing, they are being released, she said.

“As a board member and a parent, that’s what you want to see,” she said. Comitor does not list a particular issue but says she wants to continue to ensure quality education for students, although she will not have kids in the district after the next school year.

“I’m not ready to go yet, even though my kids are,” she said.

Jay agreed the district can’t wait for teachers to be tenured to gauge performance and act if necessary.

“We don’t wait until that fourth year,” she said. “Teacher accountability and evaluation was something that was very important to have.”

She said communication with district shareholders has increased “10-fold” in the past four years and she has become a liaison between the board and community.

“Ask me your questions. Let me tell you. Let me explain.”

She said her goal is to maintain the financial security of the district and is concerned about increasing enrollment and managing the student/teacher ratio.

“I do not want class size to increase,” she said.

Tran agreed there was more emphasis on problem solving.

“The biggest success is how we conduct business. It’s open, it’s transparent. We’re not a divisive board. We work with each other,” Tran said.

He also listed a “whole child” focus on learning to include arts, technology and athletics and attention to finances as successes.

“We’re very proactive in addressing the financial situation we’re in now so we’re not behind the eight ball, said Tran, who is a member of the financial advisory task force.

The group, comprised of administrators, teachers, parents and others has been meeting since November to find ways to cut spending or increase revenues to offset a projected deficit of $1.5 million to $2 million for 2011-12.

He added his analytical skills as an engineer translate well to the school board and that with his past experience, he has “gotten that learning curve out of the way.”

Bard, who also is a financial task force member, said he voted against the 2008-09 budget because it represented the first time the district had engaged in deficit spending. He said he also opposed spending $900,000 on a maintenance building.

“I was willing to make some unpopular choices but it was always with an eye to the taxpayer,” he said.

He said the district has exhibited good transparency and that all documents are available on the website. He noted issues that used to be discussed by separate board committees are now considered by the body as a whole.

Napierkowski has lived in Vernon Hills for three years and has first and sixth graders in district schools. He said he has volunteered in the classroom and with the parent teacher group. While acknowledging the board has done a “great job”, he felt his fresh perspective as a relative newcomer with two children in district schools is important.

“We’ll be invested for awhile and I want to help. We’ve got major changes coming on being proposed at the state level,” he said.

Nolan, said he wants to increase teacher accountability, saying the current contract doesn’t “have any mechanism for holding teachers accountable.”

“I’m a student myself,” he said. “My primary goal would be to represent the students and their best interests.”

He said his top campaign issue is to make sure tax dollars being allocated for education are spent to improve services and opportunities for students.