Marc Willensky: 2025 candidate for Naperville Unit District 203 board

Bio

Office sought: Naperville Unit District 203 board (Vote for 4)

City: Naperville

Age: 61

Occupation: Retired

Previous offices held: No elected offices

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

I want to devote my time to giving back to the community that has given my daughter and I so much. I’ve worked in finance for 30-plus years at Fortune 500 companies and was a former CPA at Arthur Andersen.

I am originally from New York and relocated for work and lived in Europe and then Nashville. When I relocated to Illinois, my family was encouraged to move to Naperville because of the schools and the community.

I’ve lived in Naperville for the last 12 years and my daughter attended 203 schools. She was inspired by her teachers to go into education and she recently graduated from Illinois State University and is a substitute teacher in District 204.

As a school board member, I am able to leverage my professional skills and experience to provide the necessary oversight of the budget, audit, contract management, policy, and using metrics to drive accountability.

I also volunteer my time on the board of local environmental organizations — Accelerate Climate Solutions and the River Prairie Group of the Sierra Club. I’m passionate about getting students involved in environmental issues and providing them with the opportunities and resources to achieve life long success.

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

The school board approves the curriculum that is recommended by the superintendent and aligned with the standards set by the Illinois State Board of Education.

It is important to note that teachers play a key role in planning, developing, professional learning, and implementing the curriculum. The school board also has responsibility for hiring and evaluating the superintendent, setting policies, approving the budget, and monitoring student performance.

These responsibilities give the school board additional tools by ensuring that there is alignment between the superintendent and school board on the curriculum, there are robust processes in place to develop the curriculum, that key areas are funded, and there are objective measures in place to determine if students are successful in achieving the goals of the curriculum.

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

We have a very successful school district and I do not have any significant issues with the current curriculum. I have heard from parents concerns about how we teach reading and the long-term impact that may have on students' college success.

The district should continually monitor student performance, receive feedback from the 203 community, and identify evidence based ways of learning to update and improve our curriculum as needed. We also need to stay ahead of the curve with new technologies that are creating jobs that did not exist a few years ago.

It is important that we encourage the Illinois State Board of Education and the 203 superintendent to ensure that the curriculum is future focused and reflects what the students need to be successful in school and in their future careers.

One issue that is important to address is the achievement goal disparities identified with some of our student demographics.

As a board, we have to ask the administration to provide more clarity on the causes of these disparities and how we can better address them. I’m glad that the district has identified this issue and I welcome input from the community.

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?

It is important that the school board gets the facts and listens to what parents, teachers, and staff, have to say, whether you personally agree or not.

The board is tasked with making decisions that are in the best interest of the students and that needs to be each member’s North Star. Sometimes decisions may not be popular, but it is then the job of the school board to provide leadership to the community to explain and support the decision.

Other times, we have to listen to our community and stand up for the concerns they have. A good example of this is the Innovative School Day recommendations. While there is a rationale as to how this would benefit our schools and students, there have been very serious concerns raised by parents, teachers, and staff.

I agree with the board’s decision to wait on deciding to act on this proposal until we have the answers to address these concerns.

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.

I believe working collaboratively with fellow board members, school administrators, teachers, staff, and parents is the best way to reach an agreement and manage school district policy. The reason we have multiple people on a board is to share different ideas and points of view that will create the best possible solution for our school district.

Many times in my career I had to establish policies that impacted organizations locally and internationally. I had to do this in environments that were a mix of different business cultures, nationalities, experiences, and interests.

The most important steps are to have facts, be clear on the expected benefits, and give stakeholders the opportunity to provide feedback and comments because they can offer you key insights into the pros and cons of the suggested policy.

By creating a collaborative atmosphere of mutual respect, together, we can make the best decisions for the district.

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 203 is comprised of many diverse communities so diversity, equity, and inclusion programs should be enhanced and encouraged. While some people may be apprehensive about these programs, DE&I is about providing equal opportunity for everyone.

This impacts both our students and staff. For students, DE&I can address educational achievement gaps, and also provide basic accommodations such as ramps for children with mobility needs.

For staff, this allows greater connections to a wider range of students. I have lived and traveled extensively overseas and appreciate cultural diversity, which is one of the reasons I chose to move to Naperville 12 years ago.

Our students will be entering a global economy and their colleagues will reflect that diversity. The ability to engage and respect a diverse world is a critical skill.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

My career experiences and vision make me uniquely qualified for a position on the school board. As a retired finance executive with 30-plus years of experience and a former CPA I understand budgets, audits, contracts, policy, and the use of metrics to drive accountability. This is a significant part of what the board has oversight of and I have the know-how to get it done.

As someone who has lived and traveled extensively around the world I appreciate the diversity in Naperville and I am passionate for every student to succeed. I want every student to be welcomed and given the support they need to be successful in school and life.

Every student is a member of our community and we should enable them to achieve their full potential.

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

As elected representatives we have an obligation to the community to be accessible, answer questions, and hear their feedback. I am a fan of listening tours where the board can hear directly from members of the community on critical topics.

I believe this can be done within the framework of the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Of course if there are specific student concerns a parent will be directed to their student’s school or the district administration.

I would like to see how we can make our 203 website easier to navigate so community members and stakeholders can easily find information about policies, board meetings, and decisions that are made by the board.

I believe for some of our projects, such as the Carbon Action Plan, if approved by the current board, would benefit from our community having a visible timeline of short term and long term goals as well as consistently updated information about each project.

The community needs to understand how the board routinely checks in and evaluates our ongoing programs to ensure they are meeting their targets and what changes are made if issues arise.