Mark Pos: 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: GurneeWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Gurnee District 56 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 51Family: Married with three childrenOccupation: Athletic DirectorEducation: Bachelor of Science in Health Education, Western Ill. Unv, 1983 Master of Science in Sports Medicine, Indiana Universtiy, 1984 Masters in Curiculum and Instruction,National Louis University, 2001Civic involvement: Coaching for Gurnee Youth Baseball for three years Board of Director for Lakeside Congregation in Highland Park, ILElected offices held: This is my first time running for a public office.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: I have never been arrested or convicted of a crime.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 To help District 56 continue to provide the outstanding educational opportunity for the students in our school community.I feel our students have great opportunities to be successful and prepare to go to the next level of learning.I hope as a member of the Board of Education I can help those opportunities to increase using all my years in education.Key Issue 2 It is my hope we can continue to keep the quality educators and adminstrators in our district. I feel we have some of the best educators and administrators in the state. If needed during my tenure, make sure we hire quality educators and adminstrators to continue to lead our district to the high standards expected by our parents and communityKey Issue 3 The help this district continue to maintain the fiscal stability during troubling times for our state while still offering educational opportunities for our students.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 feel the shift to common core standards has been one of the most important educational shift I have seen in my 28 years in education. Educators have always been in the business of preparing students for the future, so these standards will allow us to prepare them even better than we have done in the past. I think our role is to support our adminstrators and educators as they implement these standards as they would have more expertise then many board members. It would be my hope that on a yearly basis each core area would present to the board about the standards in their area and the success of meeting them. I can honestly say my knowledge of the curriculum is based on information I receive from my two children who attend River Trail, and I have been very impressed in the changes that have been made to date. I have certainly found things to be more challenging for them compared to my oldest when she attended Viking. I look forward to gaining more knowledge on the curriculum in our district.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?Having a daughter who is a junior at Warren, I have been very impressed in the preparation she was given by District 56. I have also noticed as my role as athletic director at Warren that the overall GPA of the athletes have improved over the last four years and I think both of our feeder schools have improved the quality of preparation of our students both for high school and eventually college. I really believe our district is challenging students like we have never seen before and my goal if elected to continue the successes.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 think like every district in our state, the lack of state funding and the on-going pension challenges will force our district to evaluate expenses and revenue. If the district needs to make some financial related cuts, I would hope to increase revenue by increasing user fees all across the board. To cut programs reduces opportunity for kids, and the last time I checked that is what schools are all about.I realize increasing fees scares parents, but I feel that our district has done a great job leaving within their means for a long time and cutting things could hurt the many positive things that have happened over the past five years. I feel all other measures need to be looked at before the district would ask the community for increase in property taxes. From what I have heard, our district is in solid financial shape and increases taxes does not seem to part of any discussion.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 number one goal of our district is to provide a quality education for all of our students. I would never support a increase that would force the district to cut programs that we offer to our students and would hope if it would come to that we could getting a working agreement with our staff. I would hope through up front communication by each group, a compromise could be worked out so we could have a win win situation. Finally, the key in tough financial times is not only look at the immediate concerns, but look at the future as a possible way of bridging possible disagreements. If employees offer concession now then maybe we can help them down the road when ecomomic times are better.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?As mentioned, I always believe a district needs to live within their means and long term planning is critical. I feel if a district is going to have retirement plan for their teaching staff, then that plan should be exactly same for the administrators and superinendent...nothing special for superintendents and administrators. Finally, during contract negotiations, those types of deals for all district employees should be reviewed and changes should be made if the district has to charge more fees to balance our budget.