Mark W. Rising: Candidate Profile

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:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: AuroraWebsite: http://www.rising204.comOffice sought: Indian Prairie Unit D204Age: 42Family: Married 14 years and have two daughters. Once daughter in 7th Grade and the other daughter in 1st Grade. We have lived in the Indian Prairie School District since 1998.Occupation: 20+ years business experience. Currently Sales Manager for a Software CompanyEducation: Bachelor Degree, Major in Speech Communications and Marketing, University of Wisconsin at Whitewater, 1991Civic involvement: I have regularly attended school board meetings since 2005.I have served the Indian Prairie Parents Council (IPPC) in the following capacities #8211; 2009-2010 IPPC Rep for Special Needs PTA, 2010-2011 IPPC Rep for Granger Middle School PTSA, 2009-2010 Legislative and Unity Committees 2009-2010. Special Needs PTA #8211; 2009-2010 1st Vice President, Current Granger Middle School Liaison Parents Diversity Advisory Council (PDAC) #8211; Current 2010-2011 Executive Board Member and Granger Liaison. Granger Parents Diversity Advisory Council #8211; Co-Founder and current Chairperson Spring 2010 #8211; 2011.Nancy Young Elementary PTA #8211; Involved and current member.Granger Middle School PTSA #8211; Involved and current member. Naperville Township Republican Organization #8211; Appointed and Elected Precinct Committeeman, Executive Committee Member as Precinct#146;s co-chair.Oakhurst North HOA Representative.Member of our Saviour#146;s Lutheran Church in Naperville.Elected offices held: Elected as Precinct Committeeman in 2009.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Finances and Fiscal Responsibility. I think with our current economy, rising state taxes, slowing of the housing market and the State of IL struggling to pay our public schools on time, we need to treat our fiduciary responsibility as members of the Board of Education as the number one priority. As a School Board Member we need to ensure we are doing the best job we can do to operate our schools, educate our students at a high level, pay our teachers and staff competitive salaries, and be responsible stewards to our taxpayers in the community. I believe the Administration and Board of Education have done a wonderful job addressing budgetary shortfalls due to the State#146;s lack of timely funding. I regularly compliment the Administration and Board on their efforts and hard work over the past 2 years on this topic. However, my concern is that our bond and loan debt this district has gone from $253 million in 2006 to $323 million in 2010; this is aside from the issue we face with delinquent payments from the State and it needs to be addressed. Given the debt that has been accumulated in our school district we must make better decisions in the future.Key Issue 2 My second priority is to continue to raise achievement for all students in Indian Prairie School District. I want to see all students reach their full academic potential. I have worked with the Special Needs PTA and also the Parents Diversity Advisory Council to help raise awareness among parents, teachers, administrators and school board members regarding the need to continue to explore ways to help not only those children who are struggling but also those children who are doing well but could be challenged to do even better. I am pleased the Board of Education and Administration has set goals to help all students improve academically. However, it is getting more difficult year-after-year to meet and exceed these goals and achieve adequate yearly progress which is what the federal government uses to measure our school district. We need to improve at working with administrators and teachers to get more parents involved to help each and every student. Key Issue 3 My third priority is to better engage our community. We are the third largest school district in Illinois with 29,500 students, yet when I go to a meeting I find only a handful of people in attendance. I understand that we have jobs (many people hold more than one job), obligations and commitments, but I believe even a slight increase in parental involvement will yield exponential results for our district. Involved and engaged parents have made this district what it is today. Many of us moved here for the same reason; the schools. There are amazing parents and residents in Indian Prairie School District that volunteer so much of their time and for that I thank you personally because you make this school district work . I hope to increase this involvement because nothing but amazing things can come of it. In the end our children win and we all win. Questions Answers Do you support retaining teacher tenure rules that make it nearly impossible to fire teachers?My short answer to this is #147;No.#148; I do not support tenure rules that make it nearly impossible to fire underperforming teachers. With that said, I do support a process to determine if the performance of an individual teacher can be improved to acceptable levels. I believe teaching should be like any other profession in that you should be evaluated on your merits and results. I believe that all teachers want to excel and see their students be successful. Performance evaluations can help identify areas where a teacher can improve or identify areas of excellence or best practices that can be shared within the school. This could be done through our already existing professional development Wednesday#146;s or through a mentoring program. Another solution might be peer evaluation for our teachers. If we take some of these steps we are being proactive in making our teachers, and our students, the best they can be. Do you support merit pay for teachers?Based on the data that I have seen, I do not support merit pay for teachers. Recently there was a study showing that teachers who received bonuses saw the same gains in student performance in the classroom as those teachers who received no incentive. Having said that, this was the only study done on the subject and I believe there needs to be additional studies to truly understand what opportunities may exist, if any. This is a topic the U.S. Department of Education is trying to address with the #147;Race to the Top#148; program Until more research is done I will take the side of the American Federation of Teachers. They believe teachers need other resources including professional development, training, time with other educators and administrators that support them.The district is trying to reconnect with the community and regain its trust through open communication and more transparency. Is that mission being accomplished?Yes, and I give that credit to Dr. Birkett our Superintendent. In the past I have been very critical of the communication by the Board of Education and our previous Superintendent. Since Dr. Birkett has been Superintendent I think that has changed dramatically. She has tried to be more proactive and communicate more openly with the community. However, I sometimes question the way in which certain decisions were, and are being, made. I think our Administration and Board of Education can still improve on explaining why there are different criteria for making important decisions.My goal as a member of the Indian Prairie School District Board of Education will be to make sure I stay informed about issues locally, at the state level, nationally and globally. It will be my job to represent all the taxpayers in the District and I will always listen, learn and understand public opinion to help me make the best policy decision I can make, without rushing to judgment and making sure I do my due diligence. What budget issues will the district have to confront? What measures do you support to address them? If cuts are needed, be specific about programs and expenses that should be reduced or eliminated. Do you support any tax increases for local schools?I believe I touched on this in my number one campaign issue response. First and foremost, we need to focus on what the State of Illinois is doing with funding for education. We need to continue to stay a step ahead of what we think might be happening in Springfield, and I believe we have done that for the past 6 months.I can honestly say I think our Administration has done a wonderful job in addressing the shortfall and delay in State education funding. This is not where my concerns lie.Here are my concerns. I am concerned about the bonds and loans we have taken out in the past and the $323 million we currently owe. We have reissued bonds which is good in the short term, because that won#146;t raise our taxes. Unfortunately, this may not be best long term solution unless we start to take steps now to address the debt. As we have grown our operating budget has stayed relatively flat. With the demands being placed on us, will this be sustainable with the amount of debt we#146;re carrying?I do not support a tax increase but I can#146;t change the situation we are in or decisions that have been in the past. I also know that we can#146;t rely on the economy and the housing industry to change tomorrow. We need to change our financial spending patterns of the past and make changes going forward. Through my more than 20 years of business experience, I believe I bring a level of financial diversity that has been missing from the Board of Education for a number of years. I have lived in this school district for 13 years and I want to continue to make it affordable for families currently here and families considering moving here. How satisfied are you that your district is 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?If you look at our student growth rates over the last 10 years and how our ACT scores have increased in that same timeframe then compare us to other school districts, I think we all can be very proud of the gains and achievements we have made. However there is always room for improvement and continued growth. I have spoken out on how to better prepare our students moving from elementary to middle and middle to high school. There are, unfortunately, still small gaps and we need to ensure our students are prepared. I have discussed my concerns with the Administration and I am confident they are taking the steps necessary to evaluate our students and best prepare them, challenge them and give them the tools they need to succeed. While we are required to take the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) and the Prairie State Achievement Examination (PASE) I believe Indian Prairie School District should always find new and unique ways to teach and measure our student learning and school performance.