Frederic Hutchinson: 2025 candidate for Lake Zurich Unit District 95 board

Bio

Office Sought: Lake Zurich Community Unit District 95 board (Vote for 4)

City: Hawthorn Woods

Age: 55

Occupation: Professor of sociology

Previous offices held: None

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

Passionate

My passion for education grew out of my childhood experiences watching my late mother quit her home day care job to study education at my hometown community college and state university.

Inspiring Dreams

My mother’s journey inspired me to dream of becoming an educator. Following her footsteps, I began my education career as a fifth-grade teacher in Washington, D.C. public schools and, currently, I have served as a full-time sociology faculty member at the College of Lake County for nearly 23 years. As a school board member, I will inspire other children to dream.

Strengthen Families & Communities

One of the best ways to strengthen families and communities is by strengthening our schools. I witnessed how education transformed my mother’s and our family’s life. Access to high quality public education strengthens individuals and their families, but it also strengthens communities by positioning residents to contribute to their economic health and viability.

Building on Our Successes & Building a Better Future

District 95 is award-winning, but we can build on our successes by expanding access to the most rigorous academic and career and technical education courses.

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

Curriculum Partnership

Although the local school board plays a vital role in setting and monitoring the curriculum, it is primarily as a curriculum partner. Much of the day-to-day implementation of the curriculum and monitoring is performed by paid district and site administrators, as well as teachers whose job calls them to plan lessons and bring the curriculum to life for our students in a meaningful way.

Respecting Diverse Viewpoints

School board members clearly play an oversight role in the district, help set a positive tone around implementation of the curriculum and monitor trends with key student performance indicators to ensure the continued success of our students with meeting learning objectives. In doing so, the school board must consider the viewpoints of all constituent groups, including teachers and students, community members and families, school administrators and education experts, such as educational researchers.

Respecting the voices of district parents and families can be achieved while also paying attention to knowledge derived through evidence-based inquiry.

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

Expanding Access to Rigorous Training

Expanding access to the most academically rigorous offerings in our curriculum ensures that no child will be pushed into classes that do not challenge them to the full extent of their academic capabilities.

There is some opportunity to expand capacity through dual credit course offerings. As a full-time College of Lake County faculty member, I have staffed dual credit courses as a department chair and taught dual credit students from various school districts.

An expansion of these classes will enhance the academic rigor of the district curriculum while increasing the affordability of college for district families since they are offered to high school students on a tuition-free basis.

Similarly, the district could expand opportunities in career and technical education by working with our educational partners like the College of Lake County and potential career partners, for instance in the pharmaceutical and health care industries, to create innovative training pathways that will lead to career and technical certifications (e.g., pharmacy tech certification) while career and technical education students are enrolled in our high school.

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 school district leaders, we have an obligation to carefully research policy or curriculum controversies to ensure that we are as knowledgeable as we can be about the foundation of the problem, its consequences, how it impacts various groups, and what possible solutions may be used to solve the controversy and continue moving the district forward.

With all controversies, including both policy and curriculum, there are going to be people on both sides of the issue making claims about the problem. Sometimes the claims are based on facts, but often on political considerations and raw emotions.

As a board member and as a school board, we must always do what is in the best interest of our learners, not what is the most popular or most expedient. In order to do what is best, we must hear all sides of the issue and make decisions in as objective a manner possible, which may put us at odds with constituents and/or state authorities.

What is required is that we have a clearly defined and transparent decision-making process. That is the type of leadership I will bring to the school board.

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.

Given my lengthy career in education, I have had many opportunities to work in a group setting to determine policy that is germane to this office of school board member.

In my current career at the College of Lake County, I have served on the Faculty Senate, which examines any policy proposals that the college considers, seeking input from the faculty across the college, and represents the faculty members as it engages with the college administration to determine policy directions.

I have also served on the full-time Faculty Union Executive Committee and as a member of the contract negotiating team. Monthly we meet to discuss policy and other issues impacting full-time faculty, and as former member of the faculty union negotiating team, all policies addressed in our contract were subject to review between the negotiating team representing the faculty union and the administration.

Recently, as the immediate past chair of the NAACP, Lake County Branch, Criminal Justice Committee, I was invited by the Waukegan school superintendent, following an on-campus student arrest, to join a team rewriting outdated policies related to detentions and arrests of students on school campuses.

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.

I am aware of the school district’s diversity and equity efforts because my daughter, a high school senior, has participated on the Student Success Council at the district level and the Diversity & Equity Committee at the high school. We often discuss her experiences with these groups and her experiences as an underrepresented student in the district since fourth grade.

The school board has made some efforts, but there is opportunity for growth. We must ensure that District 95 provides a curriculum and educational environment that is culturally-affirming for all district schoolchildren.

Determining why even the highest performing students sometimes leave our schools feeling that they lack affirmation from their school experiences should be a priority for district leaders.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

My passion for education and calling to serve, as well as the diverse perspective I will add to the board make me the best candidate for this position. I also have a demonstrated commitment to education work, as indicated by my long career and extensive volunteer experiences in education.

Finally, as a district parent I have watched and helped my daughter as she progressed from elementary school to her senior year at the high school, so my family has experienced the impact of current and past board vision, policies, and decision-making, which provides an invaluable perspective and insight for the board’s future work.

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

As I mentioned earlier, expanding opportunities for the most academically rigorous parts of the curriculum and expanding career and technical education do not always receive attention. As an award-winning district, it may be difficult to identify opportunities for improvement, but they exist.