District 62 school board hopefuls talk diversity

Des Plaines Elementary District 62 school board hopefuls have different views about how well the district is accommodating the growing diversity within its student population.

Newcomer candidate Terry Lindsay said the district needs to do a better job of improving the test scores of some groups of minority students.

Lindsay, 45, an associate professor of diversity and intercultural programs at Chicago’s North Park University, joins three incumbents — Brenda Murphy, Sharon Lynch, and James Poskozim — vying for three, four-year seats on the board Tuesday.

“We need to do a better job of providing the resources and personnel to help these students perform better academically,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay said the district also could do more for students struggling behaviorally — an issue he could relate to because his son is an Algonquin Middle School student suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He is particularly interested in helping at-risk students.

Murphy, 48, a librarian, substitute teacher and current school board president, said district officials have been proactive about communicating with Hispanic parents.

“We went to a lot of work to put information out there (in English and Spanish) during the labor strike,” Murphy said, referring to a three-week construction workers’ strike last summer that halted projects and threatened the timely start of classes at Algonquin Middle School.

Murphy said she personally has reached out to bilingual parents at meetings and can communicate with them in Spanish.

“We have a very diverse community,” she said. “That’s something that our board truly celebrates.”

Poskozim said roughly 30 to 40 languages are spoken at home by people living in the district.

“We’ve been trying very hard to recognize the issues we have to confront and going ahead dealing with them,” said the 61-year-old attorney.

Lynch, 49, a Realtor, said the key to better communication is being seen in the community and reaching out to seniors, visiting churches and civic centers.

“We work hard to make sure that we’re out there,” she said.