Stephen Durante: 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: ItascaWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Medinah District 11 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 54Family: Married, 2 childrenOccupation: ElectricianEducation: High SchoolCivic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Medinah School District 11Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: Candidate did not respond.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Maintaining the highest level of education for all students in the district. The administration, staff and the board have done a great job in establishing and maintaining an extremely high quality of education in Medinah #11. This is especially true considering the changing demographics within the District and its high mobility rate. As a Board member, I continue to commit my support towards the development and implementation of abest practice? curriculum designed to address these changing demographics. In addition, as a Board and under my leadership, we have worked closely with the Administration and staff to establish and maintain a continuing high level of trust and moral in the district. I am running again to continue the success District #11 has had during my time on the Board, while the District has also worked within a budget that is and remains, in the black. I applaud this Board of Education, Administration and the staff for their continued great work on behalf of a great school district.Key Issue 2 Fiscal stability for the district. We must juggle our finances to maximize the needs of our students and staff, while still maintaining a safe, secure and healthy environment in which they can learn. We, as a Board, will continue to do this work within the budgetary parameters and realities we?ve been given by the State. Namely, the ongoing struggle caused by unfunded mandates from the state and federal government, loss of State-generated revenue (State aid, reductions in Transportation and grant programs, etc.), and the ongoing shift of traditionally State-held costs, to our local district.Key Issue 3 Candidate did not respond.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?We need to have a common core standard to hold everyone involved in the district to a high level of standards. Our District has and will continue to address the Common Core initiative with enthusiasm! We have done quite a bit to date in this area and will continue to address We as a board must work to give the tools for the Administration and Staff to develop the best environment and curriculum for the ever changing environment of public education. The BOE is there to lead through the Superintendent, Administration and Staff. They are there day to day and truly understand the needs of the students. Medinah Mission statement:In order for students to achieve the required competencies, the district will implement a curriculum that integrates process and content. Our curricular, instructional and assessment processes have been and will continue to be adopted in a broad-based participatory decision-making environment based upon research, best practices and accountability.?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 am very satisfied that District #11 gives all the necessary tools to prepare the students for the next stage of life (high school). Our #1 job is to prepare them educationally for high school. Our staff development programs continue to give teachers the education to improve and implement the best curriculum for the students. The changes we need to continue are to improve technology in our district. Medinah Vision statement: Medinah District #11 accepts the challenge to produce confident, competent citizens who are academically, socially, physically and emotionally prepared to shape the future of a global and interdependent society.?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?I don't believe at this time that there will be a need to make cuts; we worked hard with the Administration to reduce expenses without cutting programs. The budget is the one thing the board must contend with on a monthly basis and properly allocate funds through the Superintendents? recommendation that best suits our district. The latest budget issue is the CPI of 1.7%. We will continue to make adjustments as our costs rise at the same time revenue increases don't keep up. I do not support a tax increase; the community is continued to ask for more via increasing taxes within local assessments, while incomes and property values are decreasing. As a BOE member, I am aware of this and strongly oppose favoring anything that would cause this situation to be worse!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?The economy continues to limp along as do our District revenue increases. As a result and considering that we will soon initiate negotiations with our local teacher bargaining unit, we do so with both the utmost respect for our employees but also with a general awareness of where our District is financially. The negotiating team will work with the BOE and Staff to educate everyone as to where our finances might allow us to make the good decisions in allocating future revenues. The BOE owes a debt of gratitude to the Administration and the Staff for their continued effort toward fiscal discipline and maintenance of a balanced budget.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?No, this is the exact reason the state has put themselves in the budget crisis they are in, having committed to obligations we can't afford.