Wendie Ferron: 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: Raising Expectations Lisle 202Office sought: Lisle Unit District 202 School Board Age: Candidate did not respond.Family: My husband and I have called Lisle our home for 10 years. We have 2 children that attend Tate Woods (2nd grade) and Schiesher (4th grade).Occupation: I currently work for a marketing firm and at the Community Park Fitness Center.Education: Bachelors degree from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL.Civic involvement: I serve on the Lisle 202 Calendar Committee, attend LEHSO and Board of Education meetings and have been an active volunteer in the district since my oldest (4th grader) was in kindergarten. Currently, I am on the Teacher Appreciation Committee and LEHSO Clothing/Toy Resale Committee (our biggest school fund raiser). I currently chair the Tate Woods and Schiesher Book Exchange and regularly volunteer at the school in the LRCs (libraries), during school parties, running club, and end of the year celebrations.I have also been a volunteer at Villa St. Benedict in Lisle.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?I believe in high quality public education for our current and future Lisle 202 students and have a personal interest in improving the quality of our school district. Currently, I have a 2nd and 4th grader in the district.As a school board member, I will be instrumental in achieving, but not limited to, the following from our school board:*Ensuring our students get the best education for our tax dollars while protecting the interest of our taxpayers*Establishing student focused decision making*Developing specific and attainable goals to increase student achievement, proficiency and growth for all students*Supporting an environment that is responsive and receptive to parents, staff, students and constituents/community through open communication and transparencyLisle 202 is a good school district that has many great qualities and strengths (small class size, hard working and compassionate teachers/administrators/staff, solid finances, etc.) but with strong, forward thinking, accountable leadership and an effective action plan, it can become an even better district. This means we need board members that will do research and ask the hard, challenging questions while always considering the best interest of the students first.What do you think about the process for measuring student success in your district? Is it adequate? What changes, if any, do you propose?To improve district performance there needs to be a systematic approach to performance monitoring to generate optimum results. Student proficiency and growth need to be measured. I propose the district adopts the best practices of using SMART or SMARTER goals when goal setting and action planning (Specific/Measurable/Attainable/Realistic/Timely/Evaluated/Reviewed). These goals should be defined and presented no later than the beginning of the school year, vs. the current mid year.Once these are determined and implemented, the board should receive status updates through regular and timely progress reports.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?The board has an important leadership role with ensuring that the curriculum and educational policies adopted, align to the district's goals, philosophy and mission.Ongoing, the board should receive reports and have an open dialogue with administration on pertinent issues such as:*making sure there is continuity in curriculum between grade levels*what tools are used for assessments*post assessments, how is curriculum being improved or tailored to meet needs*should the current curriculum be continued or changed based on results and feedback *what will be the staff development needs*how will teacher collaboration needs be met while balancing and maximizing student-teacher instructional timeIn regards to curriculum material, I would like to see the initiative taken to provide students with tangible common core math study guides/workbooks since there are no longer math text books. This material would support and supplement at home learning, student self directed study and online resources.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?Lisle 202 is financially strong at this time. However, I think there is always opportunity to be better stewards of taxpayer money. For example, our operational cost per student is over $18,000. This is thousands of dollars more than what most our neighboring districts spend per student (many of these districts are outperforming us academically). I think an analysis is needed to determine if this spending per student is commensurate with the benefits and outcomes received.The building of the new elementary school and the administrative costs associated with it is the districts biggest financial challenge. The board will need to be fiscally responsible and consider the interest of the taxpayers with the building of the new school, staffing, and decisions about what to do with the current schools (Tate Woods and Schiesher). The board will need to be diligent about staying within budget and meeting deadlines. Regarding taxes, I would like to look into a property tax rebate or tax freeze for a period of time if we continue to have excess fund balances as we have had for years.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?I believe every student has the right to a high quality public education. Our district is surrounded by many good, high performing districts. Lisle 202 has small school advantages, therefore, raising expectations and putting measures in place to better our district and achievement scores would potentially deter students from leaving our district to attend another.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?The loss of instructional time on our school calendar is a concern. For example, full calendar days are being replaced by half days for staff meetings (one half day is considered or counted as 1 full calendar day). Not only is teacher-student instructional time being lost, this lost classroom time is not being made up and half days are extremely taxing on working parents. Neighboring districts have eliminated or greatly reduced half days because they have found them to be ineffective for student learning and for staff meetings, and too challenging for working parents; this was teacher driven. Because of this, these districts have come up with creative ways to minimize the loss of instructional time while still finding time to collaborate. One common best practice these districts have adopted is turning 2 half days into 1 full day. Teachers need collaboration time and students need effective didactic time, therefore, there needs to be a balance, not just a blatant take away of classroom time. I would like to see our district adopt the best practices of our surrounding districts to maximize the amount of instructional time on our school calendar. Student growth and academic progress at the junior high and high school level could be better. Our students need to be college ready when they graduate and there is room for improvement in these areas.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.I am inspired all the time by people in my daily life.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Be present and in the moment and take accountability and responsibility for your actions.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I probably would have traveled more post college, pre career and family life. But there's always time...What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Anything business related which I applied to my 15 year career in benefits administration as a client facing, project and people manager.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Be kind and compassionate and always view the glass as half full (find the positives in every situation).