Stephen Flint: Candidate Profile

Back to Lombard District 44 School Board

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:BioQA Bio City: LOMBARDWebsite: NoneOffice sought: Lombard District 44 School Board Age: 57Family: Wife Diana Son Chad Daughter Elizabeth Grandson AidenOccupation: ArchitectEducation: Bachelor of Architectural Degree, University of Illinois Chicago Associate of Applied Science in Architectural Technology, Southern Illinois UniversityCivic involvement: Vice President of Lombard SD 44. Vice Chair of the Village of Lombard Planning Commission. Chair of the Village of Lombard Board of Building Appeals Committee. Member and Board Member of Rotary Club of Lombard. Member and Ambassador of the Lombard Area Chamber of Commerce.Elected offices held: NoneQuestions Answers How satisfied are you that your school district is adequately 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?Lombard SD 44 continues to use testing data. We are above average and still need to continually improve that every student learns. With the roll out of technology devices, we should see a steady improvement. Also, the new standards for teacher evaluations, we will continually retain the excellent teachers. Lombard SD 44 needs to keep the student to teacher ratio low to make sure all students learn.What budgetary issues will your district have to confront during the next four years and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, be specific about programs and expenses that should be considered for reduction or elimination. On the income side, do you support any tax increases for local schools? Again, be specific.We will have the pension cost reform and state funding reform from the state of Illinois. We will need to make reducing in spending that hopefully does not directly affect the classroom. At some point there might be a need for a referendum, but that would be a last resort since a education fund referendum was passed in 2004.Are you currently employed by or retired from a school district, if so, which one? Is any member of your direct family - spouse, child or child-in-law - employed by the school district where you are seeking a school board seat?NoAs contract talks come up with various school employee groups -- teachers, support staff, etc. -- what posture should the school board take? 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?Lombard SD 44 understands that in order to attract the best teachers, you need to compensate fairly. We currently are paying our teachers above the average pay scale with other surrounding school districts. I feel we should to continue with fair pay raises to the teachers, but maybe tie it to the cost of living that we as a school district are limited to increasing revenue.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?Our past Superintend just retired and we just hired a new Superintendent. His salary is very competitive with the surround school districts. I do not support a boost in salary at the end of his term. We did not do that with our last Superintendent.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?Communication is a key. From the Superintendent with the Board to his cabinet and staff, teachers down to the community. Communication is so imporntant.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Bill GatesWhat's the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?Try the best you can. Good better best never let it rest until your god is better and the better is best.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?Traveling more to see the history of this countryWhat was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Science. I enjoy studying the universeIf you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Stay true to yourself