Dist. 54 candidates debate need for change
Joseph Wein, a candidate for the Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 school board, says democracy isn't served by continuing to rely on old perspectives, even though he agrees the district is academically and financially strong.
Wein and Johannes Laun are seeking to take seats away from current board members Bill Harper, Barbara Hengels or Mary Kay Prusnick. Three board members will be elected April 7 from among the five candidates. Early voting starts March 23.
"I believe in the spirit of democracy, in the American way, which says that there should be more than one candidate running for a position," Wein said. "There's no possibility for anybody to drive any sort of change when elected-position incumbents run unopposed. I put my hat in the ring as an alternative. Quite a few people want an alternative."
Laun agrees and says the board's preparedness for future challenges could use a little shake-up in its personnel.
"The reason I'm running is I see challenges for our youth coming up in the future in terms of both employment and the technical challenges that they're facing," Laun said. "I want to see that our school systems are adequately meeting those future needs. I think too few people are recognizing the changes that are coming up in the future and they're not properly preparing the students for those needs."
Harper, the current board president and a member since 2001, said he and his colleagues have played a pivotal role in making District 54 debt-free in 2011 and in continuing a 17-year tradition of balanced budgets.
Though the availability and amount of state funding is very uncertain right now, he said the current board has done all it could to prepare for whatever happens next.
"Not to sound like we're doing really well, but we don't have a lot of challenges, luckily," Harper said. "We will keep cuts as far away from the students as possible. We would look at administrators, we would look at building costs. We would not jump at looking at programs or anything (to cut)."
Hengels, who has been on the board since 1997, said she has found ways to ensure her own perspective stays fresh.
"I will often look at what comes to us as what it would have done for my children because they're all so wonderfully different from one another," she said. "And then I have four grandsons, and knowing that each of them is so incredibly different from each other, what effect it would have on them and their learning styles and behaviors."
Though Hengels says she trusts the administration and its proposals, she does her own research of each new proposal.
"You usually know exactly where I stand on something," she said. "I don't hesitate to speak my mind. And sometimes it's different from everyone else, and I'm OK with that."
Prusnick was elected to the board four years ago, hoping to bring a new perspective just as this year's challengers do.
"I saw the school board had all these experienced, wonderful people but nobody had a current student in District 54," Prusnick said. "I think the youngest of anybody's kids is in their early 20s now.
"I sort of thought the perspective of a current parent is a voice that needs to be heard," she continued. "When we make a decision about curriculum, that comes to roost at my kitchen table. I get to see exactly what that means for our students."
Prusnick added that her experience on the board has been close to what she anticipated four years ago, being both hard work and very rewarding.
Wein said part of his interest is also driven by having a child currently in the district, while Laun said he deliberately waited until all three of his children were out of elementary school in order to ensure he had an objective perspective while on the board.