Taso Triantafillos: 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: AddisonWebsite: www.taso4dist4.comOffice sought: Addison District 4 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 36Family: Married, 4 children Occupation: Senior Vice President of Global Information Security, Bank of AmericaEducation: Bachelor of Science (BS), Master of Business Administration (MBA)Civic involvement: Higher Education, Athletic Coaching. President of DeVry Chicago Chapter Alumni AssociationElected offices held: None.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Create manageable and efficient classroom sizes for students and teachers in order to enhance the education experience. Well performing classrooms and schools benefit our community.Key Issue 2 Help modernize education and emphasize the use of technology, innovation, and creativity through consistent monitoring and development of effective and successful programs.Key Issue 3 Emphasize, drive, and deliver collaboration, transparency, and accountability to all levels. With the appropriate transparency and conservative controls we can improve the districts budgetary challenges, and improve investments made within the district, and our focus on successful education programs.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?The Common Core Standards are designed to help prepare students become successful in their journey. There are several effective ways for students to demonstrate their development and progress, and at times some communities will require ad-hoc methodologies to handle unique challenges. The Board of Education should be able and willing to help parents and teachers maximize the student's opportunity for success, and should leverage teachers in designing curriculums that are effective in each diverse school in order to achieve higher standards in education. Our teachers and parents are instrumental in our success.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?As a father of four children, two attending District 4, I believe the school has performed fair in recent years in their preparation. However, as a committed and involved parent we always strive to improve the experience and keep our children challenged by continuing to raise the expectations. I believe we can continue to improve our schools through a collective collaboration between our parents, teachers, and community leaders.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? As most communities throughout this country we continue to face difficult financial challenges with critical decisions to be made in our districts. With full transparency, our community should be given the opportunity to understand what our present situation is and which programs are at risk. Only then can we make cognizant decisions on short and long-term financial decisions, tax, and program changes. We will also need to leverage our relationships with Local, State, and Federal representatives that can help alleviate imposed state education legislature.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?Like many employment agreements, contract negotiations by default are sensitive conversations for both the employer and its employees. They must be dealt with extreme sensitivity, facts, and a clear understanding in achieving the core objectives, so conscious decisions can be made between all parties involved during the negotiation. However, asking employees to absorb costs with no increase is difficult and challenging. At the same time the employer must work through an effective collaboration effort to find solutions that addresses the financial challenges without an increase in tax or impacting its education programs.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? We need to understand the effects any time we consider changing benefits for individuals. A change in benefits could have an adverse effect on the district's budget and present more undesired challenges that we are not prepared to handle. Understanding who, what, and why could elevate the issues in full transparency, and help make educated decisions.