Mark Kelly: Candidate Profile

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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: LisleWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Lisle Unit District 202 School Board Age: 42Family: Married since 1998 to Brenna Kelly, Two sons (one High School, one Jr. High).Occupation: Mechanical EngineerEducation: BS Mechanical Engineering, University of Iowa,BS Civil/Environmental Engineering, University of IowaCivic involvement: I have coached Park Pistrict Youth Soccer for the last 5+ years.I was Involved with Lisle Vision 202 Facilitation Committee during the 2015-2016 year.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is it?The decision to run for Lisle District 202 School Board did not come lightly. With the district making plans to improve the physical school facilities, I wanted to get involved to help make sure that there was a high level of fiscal responsibility maintained in the process of designing and upgrading long term educational facilities. I have worked in the school design industry as a Professional Engineer for nearly 20 years and feel I have an expertise in this field that I can lend to the process. I believe that schools are one of the greatest assets a community has, and want to ensure that use of taxpayer dollars were being optimized while not compromising sustainability or educational impact of the institution. I have two students within the district for nearly 10 years, so I am also very much interested in helping to maintain the excellent educational standards that have already been implemented in the district. From the K-12 perspective, the district leadership also needs to make sure that we recognize that some areas of curriculum are virtually always evolving (for instance the push for improved STEM in scholastic programming) and this evolution may have an impact on budgets and staff.What do you think about the process for measuring student success in your district? Is it adequate? What changes, if any, do you propose?As far as measuring success, the district has just implemented a change to the grading scale. I have been in full support of this adoption. I have heard the arguments that this change only inflates grade averages for students, but It is my opinion this adoption will help the perception of student success for our district as compared with other surrounding districts that already utilize this scale. As long as secondary education facilities, grant reviews, scholarships, etc. utilize GPA as a measuring tool, I am in full support of a more level field for comparison between our students and those from different districts. I am of the mind to allow this revision to take hold and then to evaluate that impact of this change, as it relates to successes towards college placement, grants and scholarships, then evaluate if further changes are necessary.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?In my opinion, the local school board should be responsible for setting overall educational goals, assembling those professional educators who are willing and capable of translating the district goals to success in the classroom and for making sure the facilities are ample to serve the set curriculum. When it comes to setting those educational goals as it has to do with curriculum, the School Board should absolutely work with school administration to assess current curriculum and evaluate potential changes that are being suggested by our district's educators and those on the State / Federal levels.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 or fee increases?It is my understanding that Lisle 202 has been operating with a balanced budget and has been building fund balances for upcoming, necessary capital improvement projects. I have been involved with hundreds of school district capital improvement projects over the last 2 decades and feel that keeping projects within budget should be one of the chief goals of the process. As for specific budget cuts or program impacts, as a board member I would actively familiarize myself with those district needs and program costs that make up the budget, and work to make sure that tax dollars are being utilized as effectively as possible.What role can and should school choice play in your district? If Congress or the state approves a voucher system or other means giving students broader choices among public and private schools, how will that affect your district? What is the appropriate response for the board of education of a public school system?As a school board, it should be a focus to make the educational experience available through Lisle 202 as attractive as possible to our current students and perspective families, while keeping the cost per student as reasonable as possible. To me, this translates to maximizing facility use and impact within the community, providing a broad spectrum of student programs for students of all needs, cultivating interest in the Fine Arts, reinforcing participation in activities and athletics and maintaining a strong staff to support the district goals who ultimately want to be part of the community. Essentially, I feel that making our student experience as attractive as possible is the best counter to losing students if there were a push on the State or Federal levels towards a voucher system. I believe that each district will face its own issues if the voucher system is brought to Illinois, especially since there will be parents and students who will chose other schools, no matter what their local district has to offer.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Candidate did not respond.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Candidate did not respond.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Work hard and focus on your goals to be successful.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Realizing that I had more to offer the community than I thought, and putting that into practice earlier in my adulthood than I did.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Mathematics, I still use the basics and complex concepts in my career and they help with my understanding of how the world works.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?All of the greatness that they will ever achieve will come from within.