Trak Patel: 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: LindenhurstWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Millburn District 24 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 38Family: Married, 1 daughterOccupation: Certified Public Accountant (CPA)Education: Bachelor of Science in Accountancy, NIU, 1996 Masters in Business Administration - Marketing, NIU 2002Civic involvement: NONEElected offices held: NONEHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NOCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 To help improve the finances of the school district.Key Issue 2 To maintain the high education standards of the 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?I think it's great that we are shifting to the common core standards. We need to be able to compete effectively with the world and we need to have higher standards if we want our future leaders to be able to compete effectively. The teachers are the experts at developing the curriculum and the board should be involved in providing guidance and not necessarily setting the curriculum.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 think we can always do a better job in preparing students for the next stage in lives. I think we do not do enough in getting students to understand and prepare for the business world. We should bring in more real life examples to the students so they can apply what they have learned more effectively.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?Our district has had budget issues for a few years and will have them from the upcoming few years based on what I have seen. There are only so many programs you can cut before you degrade the education system. We need to focus on programs that will improve the skills of the student to more effectively compete with the world. There needs to be a combination of methods used to increase income. That can come from increased fees for various activities to increase in taxes.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?Coming from a business background I believe that pay for performance should be the type of compensation plan that is in the benefit for all parties. It benefits the employees and the students.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?Pay increases should be based on performance and not because you want to boost someone's pension benefits. Like in business, people get compensated according to their performance. If the performance is great then the pay should go along with it. If the performance is not as expected then the pay should match that level of performance.