Gerald McCluskey: 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: Mount ProspectWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Mount Prospect District 57 School Board Age: 50Family: Wife - RobynChildren- Erin and RyanOccupation: Vice President, Business DevelopmentEducation: BS in Accounting from DePaul Univ.MBA in Finance from Univ. Of ChicagoCivic involvement: Parishioner of St. Raymond Catholic Church Cub Scouts Pack 154 Den Leader (2013 to 2015)Coach for Central Youth Baseball in DesPlaines (2010 and 2011)Elected offices held: District 57 School Board Member since June 2015. Appointed to fill a vacancy.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 am not running due to a specific issue. I am running because I believe that the district deserves full and active representation. Whether you have kids in the schools or not, all benefit from good schools which make our community a more desirable place to live. Full board representation ensures that issues are evaluated with as many points of view as possible. On the horizon we will have many important issues facing our district which will place financial stress on the community. These range from currently identified items to meet operational and structural needs to unknown factors generated by the actions of our congressional leadership in Springfield. Having strong representation on our board will be essential to keeping district 57 in good health for the benefit of our community.What do you think about the process for measuring student success in your district? Is it adequate? What changes, if any, do you propose?I believe that district 57 has implemented appropriate standardized tools for measuring student success. Additionally, data is shared and discussed with the board in open meetings which allows for the establishment of goals to drive improvement in areas of opportunity.However, these tools generally measure success after the fact. The first line measurement is the teacher in the classroom and their assessment of individual student needs during the school day. In order to maximize the effectiveness of this form of measurement, our district will need to maintain the lowest feasible student to teacher ratio.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?Setting specific curriculum is the role of the administration. The board influences this through strategic oversight and setting goals for the administration. Through this oversight, the board can set appropriate goals that drive the administration to implement curriculum in line with such goals.One recent example is increasing math instructional minutes at Lincoln. The board felt that this was an area of need for the district and established a goal for administration to accomplish this. Recently, administration provided a plan to execute on this goal for board approval.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?District 57 faces some significant financial challenges in the near future. These are both due to operational financial shortfalls and the need to update aging facilities. These challenges will lead to critical decisions in the next 1 to 2 years. As I see it, there are 3 potential paths including raising revenue (tax increases), cutting expenses or consolidation of districts. Personally, I believe that the best path forward is first an increase in revenue balanced with appropriate cost controls. District 57 has already gone through a significant cost reduction exercise in the past 10 years which does not leave a great deal of room for further cuts without sacrifices in performance. As a result, the great balance will likely be required through increased taxes. While district consolidation is a possibility, this may not be the best choice for the community. Given the favorable performance of our district to date, consolidation introduces a significant risk of performance dilution if the partner district has lower performance. This would not only negatively impact our students, but also could have a negative impact on home values.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?Personally, I am in favor of choice as a matter of principal. However, I do not see providing the portability of 100% of the school taxes paid to fund the choice. A high performing school district is a benefit to all homeowners regardless of whether they have students attending the schools. For this reason, pulling out too drastic of an amount would result in potentially compromised school performance.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?A significant reason for moving to district 57 is because of the excellent reputation of the schools. I would like to see more active community involvement on school issues as a normal course beyond elections. Many times we have board meetings with no community members in attendance. The schools belong to all of us in the community and we should all make our voices heard in decisions regarding them.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Pope Francis. He is a powerful yet humble leader who practices what he believes. He is a model of honesty and integrity.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Integrity is essential to success. This applies in both a professional and personal life.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would have opted not to finish high school early. Many times in life we rush to move forward and forget to enjoy each moment.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Math. I have always been better with numbers which led to my later education in accounting. This has driven much of my subsequent career path.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Be open to the views of others. This applies whether you agree or disagree with them. Each interaction is an opportunity to learn from others.