Andrea Wittig: 2025 candidate for Lake Park High School District 108 board

Bio

Office sought: Lake Park High School District 108 board (Vote for 4)

City: Roselle

Age: 45

Occupation: Trauma sensitive yoga instructor

Previous offices held: None

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

Lake Park is a great school! As the mom of a current Lancer and two future Lancers, it is important to me that Lake Park continues to be a great school for all students. Honestly, I never thought I would run for school board but some friends of mine, who know me and know how much I care about our community, told me about the need for strong candidates for school board. I thought about it and realized how important it is to see Lake Park continue to be a place where all students can thrive, so I decided to run.

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

The school board is the highest level of leadership over the curriculum. That means that the school board needs to set direction, ensure the right leaders are hired and ultimately hold accountable the administration for having a curriculum that delivers results for our students and prepares them for their lives after high school. Along the way, the school board gets to gather perspectives, collaborate with the administration and teachers and cheer on progress and improvements.

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

The district is in the middle of a multiyear curriculum review that is being headed by Assistant Superintendent Doyle. This review is really ensuring that every departments’ curriculum not only exceeds standards but is taught in a way that enables our students to grasp the key concepts, retain essential knowledge and excel. The school board needs to continue to support this important effort.

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?

The school board plays a crucial role when there are controversies around policy or curriculum. First and foremost, we have to ensure that Lake Park remains in line with state policies so there are no consequences to our district or our funding.

Beyond that, we need to listen to and understand why people feel passionately about the issue. After all of this, we the school board needs to collaborate together and lead, even if it is unpopular, on the path that will be most beneficial to all of our 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.

As someone who has never held a government office before, I do not have formal policy experience. However, I have worked with broad groups of people that need to come together. When I am in those situations, listening is one of my super powers. I genuinely seek to hear from people and understand and then from this understanding I help people to come together.

Lake Park has a strong vision that serves our district well. As we listen to and understand one another, it will be much easier to guide policy to ensure our vision continues to be the experience of our students.

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.

The most important thing for our school district is to prepare all of our students to live up to their potential. Unfortunately, anything even remotely associated with diversity or equity has become polarizing to the point of being unconstructive.

Our district should continue to make common sense decisions that hold the tension between what is feasible and what is helpful, so that as many students as possible are able to focus on their learning and development.

Neither extreme in this current political debate seems most helpful for our students but instead having the willingness to wade into the nuance of any given situation with the focus being on all of our students thriving is most important.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

My experience has uniquely prepared me for this job. I am a former high school teacher. I am a mother of students in the district. I am a small-business owner in the community. All of these things converge to make me someone who cares deeply about seeing every student reach their potential, while understanding what it takes for a school to thrive and how to make the hard decisions to do so.

I am not coming with some grand agenda, but with a genuine desire to serve our community to see it thrive in even greater ways.

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

The school board has a powerful opportunity to listen to and encourage the three main groups in our district — the administrators, the teachers and the community. We can help each of these groups to be heard and we can encourage each of these groups for the work they are doing to support our students.

By being great listeners and strong encouragers, we will create the collaboration necessary for our district to continue living its vision and mission to empower all of our students to live up to their potential once they graduate.