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Ron Rechenmacher: Candidate Profile

Batavia Unit District 101 School Board

Back to Batavia Unit District 101 School Board

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:BioQA Bio City: BataviaWebsite: grobatavia.orgOffice sought: Batavia Unit District 101 School Board Age: 53Family: Married, two children: son, AJ, in high school, daughter, Corinne, in college.Occupation: EngineerEducation: Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, University of Iowa, 1985Civic involvement: Knights of Columbus, Hesed House volunteerElected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers How satisfied are you that your school district is adequately 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'm personally satisfied with the transitions my children experienced. From conversations I've had with other parents, and from Internet research, it seems that a majority of parents are generally satisfied with the transitions between the various levels. Based on discussions during the latest Citizen's Advisory Committee, there should be renewed emphasis in the general area of soft skills, at all levels, but especially for the transition from high school to college or the workforce. It is imperative that our students be prepared to conduct themselves professionally.What budgetary issues will your district have to confront during the next four years and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, be specific about programs and expenses that should be considered for reduction or elimination. On the income side, do you support any tax increases for local schools? Again, be specific.The administrative, teacher, and support staff contracts will be renegotiated in the next 4 years. Please see the answer to the question below. In addition, the district recently presented its Comprehensive Capital Improvement Plan, which covers the next four years totaling approximately $23.4 million. It outlined many maintenance issues along with approximately $12 million for BHS athletic fields improvements. Because my desire would be to freeze property taxes, I would push for a postponement of much of this site work. I would push for the district to detail "essential maintenance" and then present several schedules for implementing the "non-essential" capital improvement items in stages. The current turbulent climate in Springfield may also end up shifting significant costs to local districts, e.g., pension costs and some offshoot of SB16. So it would be prudent for the district to be more fiscally conservative, especially for the next few years.Are you currently employed by or retired from a school district, if so, which one? Is any member of your direct family - spouse, child or child-in-law - employed by the school district where you are seeking a school board seat?No, but my wife Gretchen is a former Naperville District 204 middle school teacher, and she is currently an academic tutor in Elgin. I am very proud of that fact, and my wife keeps me abreast of all the challenges that teachers face in the classroom.As contract talks come up with various school employee groups -- teachers, support staff, etc. -- what posture should the school board take? 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?I believe the past few years of district employee costs should be looked at along with the current economic health of the core of the community (the "owners" of the district). My initial position is that, (again, given past history and current economic health,) employee costs should not go up more than the cost of living for a good portion of the next contract period. Being reasonable about the cost of education for the community would be the goal.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. I do not believe that was ever the intent when the system was put into place. I do not think that would be fair and I do not think that would be reasonable given the poor economic health of the retirement system.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?The issues that I believe are important are: - The rate of significant changes in the education environment, and the stress associated with it. - Giving teachers, students and parents time to learn about the changes and help them adjust. Educating parents about Common Core would be particularly helpful. The use of technology will eventually bring completely new processes into the education arena. - The necessity of keeping our district one of the best, if not the best, in the area while maintaining an economically healthy community. - Transparency commensurate with the 21st century -- much more information and making sure all the information is maximally useful (i.e. making sure all pdf files are searchable, provide numeric data in Excel format, etc) - General respect for the whole community -- meetings at more amenable times and allowing more time for public comment.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.I am inspired by Fr. Patrick's Sunday homilies.What's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?"Offer it up." In a different form: "quit complaining." This lesson stems from my parents' tremendous work ethic and deep Christian faith.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I'm happy. I believe I've seen God working in my life and I feel blessed. Therefore, no thank you -- no do-over desired.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Math, especially Geometry, but starting near the end of high school, computer programming gave the mathematics serious competition. It led to being a Fermilab engineer.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?The only way to make life easy is to like the hard, and while you're "liking the hard", be thankful and count your blessings.