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Mark Hineman: Candidate Profile

Northwest High School District 214 School Board (4-year Terms)

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: Mount ProspectWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Northwest High School District 214 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 59Family: Married, 3 childrenOccupation: EngineerEducation: BS, Engineering, University of Illinois, Chicago, 1976Civic involvement: YMCA, swim team coach,Elected offices held: Township High School District 214 Board of EducationHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Maintaining fiscal responsibility in educationKey Issue 2 Keeping District 214's broad range of opportunities for students and Community EducationKey Issue 3 Continued improvement in the education and safety of the District's studentsQuestions 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 role of the Board is to review and approve the curriculum, not set it. The administration and teachers should keep the common core in mind during any changes to the curriculumHow 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?Based on the experience of my own 3 children and comments from D214 alumni and parents, I am satisfied with how we are preparing students to become citizens and valuable participants in our society. D214 provides excellent programs for students whether they are going on to university, 2-year college, military, or directly into the work force.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?Like all Illinois schools, we have continuing budget challenges. Over the last 4 years, there have been significant cuts made at all of our schools without impact to educational programs. We have in-place, outstanding long term replacement/repair plans that keep our facilities up to date without significant surprises or emergencies. We also have used community partnerships to improve the school facilities at a reduction in cost to the District (and community).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?We have co-operative and open relationships with our employee groups. We have received concessions from them in the past. We would expect any future negotiations to be similarly responsive to the economic conditions at the time and in foreseeable future.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?It does not seem fair to me to substantially increase pay to exclusively provide higher pension benefits that adds costs to all of us.