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Matthew Vassar: Candidate Profile

Bensenville District 2 School Board (4-year Terms) (Democrat)

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: BensenvilleWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Bensenville District 2 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 41Family: Married with 2 children.Occupation: Client Service Manager for Unisys Computer CorporationEducation: Candidate did not respond.Civic 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 Ensuring that the decisions made at the District 2 level have the vision of the parents who are affected by them. Being a parent of a 3rd grader Kindergartner in District 2, some decisions made are done for the wrong reason. Sound decisions are to be made for the children.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?I feel that the Common Core Standards adopted by District 2 is in the best interest of our children the way 21st Century Learning is upon us here in Bensenville. My ONLY concern is that the High School that will receive a majority of the District 2 children, they DO NOT currently adhere to the same Common Core guidelines. I feel this will cause a serious learning rift between district, eventually onto college. A collaboration needs to be addressed immediately.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 feel that the District is doing an EXCELLENT job with the new Common Core teaching. The transition has been seamless to the kids the District should get praise for what they have since accomplished.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?The completion of the current District schools Tioga Johnson Schools phase. Many Change Orders for contractor concerns hit for the initial project, causing overage in the project budget. I feel that the new contract/s should have appropriate clauses in them for penalties associated with budget as well as timing of completion. That was NOT in the first phase for Tioga or Johnson Schools.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?Being an employee that has received a 1.5 percent pay increase in the past 5 years with insurance costs increasing a total of 3 percent of my wage (in toll losing wage within this same period), feel that review of ANY concession or increase discussion needs to be properly reviewed in FULL with the employee/s and/or groups affected.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! In my eyes this is an unfortunate practice state wide that needs to STOP. Rubber-stamping something such as this does nothing but increase the ability of my taxes to increase along with the thousands of others I plan on representing within district 2.