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Patrick Riley: Candidate Profile

Fox River Grove Consolidated District 3 School Board (4-year Terms)

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: Fox River GroveWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Fox River Grove Consolidated District 3 School Board (4-year Terms)Age: 40Family: Married, 3 boys (12 yr old twins, 9 yr old)Occupation: SalesEducation: Bachelor of Business Administration, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater, 1994Civic involvement: President - Fox River Grove Recreation Council (2009-2013)Elected offices held: This is my first election.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NoCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Ensuring academic excellenceKey Issue 2 Maintaining fiscal solvencyKey Issue 3 Preparing the district for future educational opportunitiesQuestions 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?New common core standards will better prepare students for what they will face after high school. In order to meet and exceed these new standards, changes to the current curriculum will be required. While the board of education should be given the opportunity to question changes, the administration should play the decisive role in determining the curriculum.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?Our district does a very good job preparing our students for high school. While our district is small and cannot offer every program available at larger districts, it does seek to provide students a wide range of academic, fine art, and athletic opportunities. I would seek to review current programs and evaluate new alternatives that could provide students superior experiences.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?Fortunately our district has done a spectacular job managing its finances during turbulent times. I would seek to continue the approach and philosophies historically employed.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?I would seek to provide the best possible benefits while maintaining a conservative fiscal approach to long term commitments.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?If presented with this scenario I would not support the approach described. Artificially boosting pension benefits creates strain on the entire system, endangering the sustainability of the program for all retirees.