Jennifer Manski: Candidate Profile

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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: Green OaksWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Twitter: Candidate did not respond.Facebook: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Oak Grove District 68 School Board Age: 50Family: My husband is Rich Manski. We have three children. Ben is 19 and attends Illinois Wesleyan University. Morgan is 17 and she attends Libertyville High School. Erin is 12 and attends Oak Grove School. All three of our children attended Oak Grove.Occupation: Chief of Staff, Affiliate Safety and Compliance ExcellenceEducation: Mathematics and Chemistry major from Lake Forest CollegeMasters of Business Administration from Keller Graduate School of ManagementCivic involvement: I have been a member of the Oak Grove School Board for two 4-year terms beginning in 2008Elected offices held: School Board Secretary 2008-2010School Board President 2010-presentQuestions Answers Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is it?I am passionate about supporting public education and ensuring that our students have a diverse and fun school to attend. I am running for re-election for school board to continue to support Oak Grove School.What do you think about the process for measuring student success in your district? Is it adequate? What changes, if any, do you propose?The process for measuring student success is in its evolution due to changes with core curriculum and the journey to implement updated assessments and measures. These changes have made progression to a targeted student growth model longer.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?The board's role is to establish the direction for curriculum representing the collective interests of the community as best as possible. This means providing a foundational and diverse curriculum within the financial means of the district.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 or fee increases?Our district has a broad curriculum which includes art, music, PE, foreign language, technology. We also are in the last year of a large facility improvement and maintenance needed program. I support an approach to balance the budget by finding expense offsets to first keep budget flat less inflation.What role can and should school choice play in your district? If Congress or the state approves a voucher system or other means giving students broader choices among public and private schools, how will that affect your district? What is the appropriate response for the board of education of a public school system?It is my opinion that should school choice be approved, Oak Grove will be a school of choice. This will challenge our district due to our physical student capacity. Our capacity will limit the number of students that we can accommodate.What other issues, if any, are important to you as a candidate for this office?It is important to me that we refresh and align the community and school on a refreshed strategic plan to ensure that our students have the curriculum opportunities available to them and our school produced advanced student learning.Please name one current leader who most inspires you.Candidate did not respond.What is the biggest lesson you learned at home growing up?I learned that there is a solution to every problem, you just need to ask help from others and work through it.If life gave you one do-over, what would you spend it on?I would focus on relationships and having a better balance of school, work, and relationships right from the start.What was your favorite subject in school and how did it help you in later life?Math was my favorite subject. The study of math has given me the skills to think logically to problem solve through chaos.If you could give your children only one piece of advice, what would it be?Be Kind.