Jill Sagi (Butler): Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: RoselleWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Roselle District 12 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 42Family: 2 daughters, ages 10 and 12 at the time of the election one will be a student at SHS and one at RMS.Occupation: Accountant/AnalystEducation: BS Accouting, Northern Illinois University - May 1992 AA, College of DuPage - June 1990Civic involvement: AIMS - Adults in Mentoring Students 2007-2012 Roselle/Bloomingdale Member at Large Unit of the League of Women Voters 2012 - CurrentElected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 I would like to get more people involved in understanding the District's involvement in education and the levels of government administration above and/or below District 12 by identifying where the Educational Standards District 12 is accountable for come from and how they are enforced. In addition, I would like to see an "Invite A Block" invitation format in addition to the open door policy meetings currently have.Key Issue 2 Given the current Illinois Pension crisis affecting teachers, Judges and certain other municipal employees if elected I will do my best to find ways to ensure our quality of education is not affected while maintaining our fiscal responsibility to the community in bridging any financial gaps State changes could potentially create.Key Issue 3 The District has acknowledged a weakness in the Technology of the School Buildings and has a plan over the next few years to create safe infrastructure to correct this problem. I would like to be part of the Board to ensure that this long term plan is carried out and if possible improved with any technological advancements the market may introduce that would have great cost/benefit to the District.Questions Answers What do you think about the shift to the common core standards? How big a role do you think the board of education should play in setting the curriculum for students and what ideas do you have for changes to the current curriculum?I believe the Superintendent representing Dist 12, Dr. Bein, represents taxpayers, teachers/staff, and the Community by being knowledgeable of changes in requirements, actively gathering information to improve our schools and supporting action plans to keep the District in compliance with these requirements. If elected some ideas I would like to work with the Board to accomplish would be: 1. Eliminate the Roller Skating program at SHS and substitute with another activity that does not require as much parent involvement and gear to get the kids moving. Roller skating is offered as an elective at Lake Park if kids have not been exposed and want to learn. 2. Help Dr. Bein and other Community Leadership revive a meeting of various Public service entitites to educate each other of the services they offer and where there is potential for synergy working to achieve additonal benefits and/or save costs. Possiblities might include finding a way for RMS to work with the Park District so students could have swim lessons in the milder weather given the proximity of the school and the current lack of another venue for swimming in the District. 3. Research and investigate Union rules and District policies to see if teachers teaching certain grades might not benefit themselves and students by limiting the number of years they teach one grade.How satisfied are you that your district is preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?I believe that with the upgrades in Technology planned the District will be in a sound position to start phasing out printed books and utilizing electronic means such as a Kindle or I Pad type device instead. I would like to be part of the long term research and development for beginning the planning for this type of transition. I would also advocate for more funding of foreign language programs for elemenatary through middle school students including but not limited to using add in software in Office products to translate documents. Although many countries have made English a common language I believe our students would be better prepared for a Global Economy if students can effectively utilize these types of tools. If these tools are introduced it may also encourage further learning of non English languages by the students. Maybe there is an opportunity for ESL and English speaking students to learn and teach each other. From smoking cessation, not taking drugs, and anti bullying campaigns I have seen the school continuing to reinforce those core programs but also leading another Societal challenge transitioning additonal effort and resources from those causes to the Get Fit and Healthy eating campaigns to reduce the obesity trends we are seeing locally and nationally.What budget issues will your district have to confront and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, what programs and expenses should be reduced or eliminated? On the income side, do you support any tax increases?It is my belief that the teachers, who represent the greatest number of Union membership in Illinois affected by the underfunding of their retirement plan, will constitute the largest increase in costs that will require fiscal attention. It is my hope that the Union that represents the teachers can work with the State to develop plans to allow the system to viably operate. As mentioned above, there is the potential that some of that financial burden may fall to the districts and that is where the challenges will lie as Dist 12 tries to balance fiscal prudence and quality education for the community serviced.As contract talks come up with various school employee groups, do you believe the district should ask for concessions from its employees, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?I believe the District should look at the average salaries of teachers and staff within District 12, what the comps in similar Districts are, and what the census compensation packages taxpayers in our Community are receiving. Based on those findings a determination of potential changes to pay and other compensation including benefit cost contributions, hours worked, and aid from support staff could be better assessed and negotiated. Other statistics I have seen and believe are realistic indicators of establishing pay would be the average cost per student and the average test score rankings.If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?I would not support this type of intentional administrator pay increase solely to boost pension benefits. However I would consider if a succession plan is not in place to ensure a smooth transition of responsibilities to a replacement or spread among current administrators negotiating a severance or incentive to facilitate the transition to ensure leadership is in place would be a better alternative to just increasing pay.