Eileen Kowalczyk: 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: Mount ProspectWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Mount Prospect District 57 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 41Family: Married with five childrenOccupation: Stay at home momEducation: Bachelor degree in Liberal Arts from University of Illinois at Chicago, 1989Civic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 My number one issue is to make sure the schools in the district are working to the benefit of the children and the taxpayers.Key Issue 2 Candidate did not respond.Key Issue 3 Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers What do you think about the shift to the common core standards? 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 common core standards seem to be a good way to go to prepare our children for college and careers. The Board should be able to take input from advisors within the administration and parents to assist with some of the curriculum. An idea I have is for foreign languages to be a part of curriculum. The kids were very interested in a before school program but because of space constraints there had to be a lottery. If it was part of curriculum that would not be an issue.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?I am pretty satisfied with our districts performance. Due to the economy we have had to make cuts and I hope that the future might bring programs back.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 increases?I believe technological changes and upgrades are going to be issues that the Board will have to address in the coming years. We have made many cuts already and I hope we won't have to make anymore but we have to be financially responsible to the taxpayers and give the best education we can to our children. I believe we have to maintain communication with the community to show that if we do need a referendum that it benefits not only the children's education but that it keeps their property values up and that District 57 is a desirable community to live in and raise a family.As contract talks come up with various school employee groups, do you believe the district should ask for concessions from its employees, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?I believe in concessions to a point but we can't keep asking year after year for people to give more and get paid less. I look forward to approaching talks with an open mind and listening to both sides.If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?No I would not support a substantial increase in pay because that has been a huge factor in the problem we have today of these unfounded pensions. If that person is retiring it is no benefit to our school district to give a huge pay increase if that person is leaving.