Junaid ‘J’ Afeef: 2025 candidate for Central Unit District 301 board (2-year term)

Bio

Office sought: Central Unit District 301 board (2-year term)

City: Elgin

Age: 55

Occupation: Law

Previous offices held: District 301 board member since 2021

Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you?

I stepped up to serve four years ago because public education is essential, and I wanted to contribute to sustaining strong, viable public education in my community. I’m running for reelection because I have more to give, and there is a great need for strong leadership during this tumultuous time in District 301.

In 2021, when I first ran and earned a seat on the board, I was largely satisfied with the education my children were receiving, so there was not an “ax to grind,” so to speak, driving me to public service.

We must turn a corner in District 301 and create a more inclusive, collaborative culture between the community, the administration, and the board. I played an important role in holding people accountable for their roles in preventing inclusion and collaboration, and I have a duty to continue serving as we make the next evolution in our development.

What is the role of the school board in setting and monitoring the curriculum?

The school board plays a vital role in ensuring that the students receive an education that meets their individual needs and prepares them to excel in their adult lives.

State law mandates what must be taught and creates guardrails to prevent the violation of individual constitutional rights. The school board must ensure that these laws are fully implemented and that personal liberties are safeguarded.

The school board develops general policies to guide curriculum design and reviews and approves recommended curricula from administrators and educators. The school board must ensure the local curricula meet ISBE standards and legislative requirements.

Additionally, the school board acts as a bridge between the school district and the community. Ideally, the school board would solicit input from parents, teachers, and students to shape curriculum decisions.

The school board approves funding for curriculum materials, teacher training, and educational programs. It reviews student performance data to assess the impact of curriculum decisions. In collaboration with school administrators, the board may require revisions to underperforming programs.

Are there curriculum issues within the district that you feel need particular attention from the board?

The district is doing a good job regarding curriculum issues overall. The legal requirements around teaching on topics such as consent, sex education, gender and sexual identity, and a more accurate and fulsome teaching of American history with the myriad contributions made by a diverse population have raised concerns by some community members.

I hear these concerns, and when I learn what is being taught, I feel satisfied that it is appropriate. There are issues that have been raised vis-à-vis special education, English language learners, and the need for more advanced (accelerated, honors, gifted, AP) courses as well as greater opportunities for CTE, which continue to be addressed.

How do you view your role in confronting policy or curriculum controversies: provide leadership even if unpopular, give a voice to constituents — even ones with whom you disagree, or defer to state authorities?

As an elected official, it is necessary to give voice to constituents. We have failed miserably at this, largely because the past leadership (former superintendents and past presidents) felt that board members should not engage individually with the community on issues confronting the district.

This has led to mistrust, which compounds disagreements on our various issues. Keeping an open mind, even to those with whom we disagree, is important. Their views should be part of the data upon which decisions are made.

Other factors are the legal authorities that dictate policies and curriculum requirements. When there is a need for discretionary decision-making, it is up to individual board members to process the feedback from constituents while balancing the legal requirements to reach decisions that will serve the best interests of the students.

Describe your experience working in a group setting to determine policy. What is your style in such a setting to reach an agreement and manage school district policy? Explain how you think that will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions for your school board.

Three failed referenda provide an excellent learning tool. We spent too little time engaging the community to identify possible solutions and too much time attempting to sell versions of a solution crafted by a smaller group of people. When mistakes are made, we are responsible for owning them. Addressing the need for additional space was a policy decision, and we made it very poorly.

Policy decisions should be made in collaboration with all stakeholders: teachers, staff, students, parents, administrators, taxpayers, and board members.

During my first four years, the prevailing policy was that board members should not engage with the community on “board” issues. The superintendents and senior board members aggressively foisted this (incorrect) interpretation of board policy on the board.

It took an infusion of new board members to create an opportunity to correct this wrongheaded mindset finally.

We needed to gather facts, including from professionals, sketch out multiple possible solutions, and then hold town halls where people for and against various proposals were platformed. Board members needed to actively engage in this process rather than limit it to administrators.

What is your assessment of the school district's diversity and equity efforts? Do you support the continuation or enhancement of such programs, or would you rather see them diminished. Please explain your reasoning.

District 301 is becoming more diverse. The number of instances where the N-word has been a matter of student discipline, a racist prom proposal, a failure to accommodate a student’s disability needs, and a myriad of bias incidents that are not subjected to any kind of accountability (because students and families choose to keep the incidents private) are examples of why we need to continue working on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

The school district is doing a good job of addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion; we can do even better.

After the racist prom proposal in 2022, students at Central High School wanted to rename the “diversity club” something more empowering. One suggestion was to create a “minority student union,” bringing together marginalized students with allies. However, the administration vetoed this idea, saying it might make some students feel bad. Still, the club was reinvigorated, and through it, the district has held multiple successful “Culture Blast” events. We can continue building on this.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are all important. We need to continue working on all three.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I possess skills and experience critical in leading District 301 in the coming years. My legal experience is valuable in navigating our district's future evolution. In the past several months, we’ve discovered what happens when board members and administrators do not know how to ask the right questions of our legal advisors and when our leaders cannot distinguish legal advice from policy advice.

I joined the board knowing very little about education law. Over the past four years, I have learned quite a bit about the school code, federal policies, the legalities surrounding public schools and civil liberties, curriculum mandates, labor negotiations, and administrator contracts.

This additional legal knowledge is valuable when engaging with our legal counsel (whose specialized understanding of education law is indispensable). These skills do not lend themselves to an outside volunteer; it is most valuable when serving on the school board.

My 12 years of experience as a parent in the district, four years on the school board, and strong record of volunteering within the school community also distinguish me from others in the field.

What’s one good idea you have to better your district that no one is talking about yet?

We should engage an organization to gather information/feedback from all stakeholders in the district on key issues periodically (at least every few years). For example, our former superintendent’s feedback differed significantly from the feedback of the CEA.

When it comes time to review the superintendent's performance, the board has few, if any, independent sources of information on which to base its assessments; all of the information is provided mainly by the superintendent’s self-assessment.

Engaging an outside consultant with expertise in surveys within a public education setting, which can assure anonymity for respondents to promote frank feedback, would give the board better information to guide its work, evaluate the superintendent, and understand what is happening in the district.

The results of such an assessment would be made public so that all stakeholders work from the same set of feedback and information.

Using this, we can better tackle low teacher retention and its underlying causes, assess areas within our programming that need our attention, highlight our strengths, and do all of this professionally, independently, and reliably.