Terry C. Moons: Candidate profile
Bio
Name: Terry C. Moons
City: Lincolnshire
Office Sought: Board of Education, Trustee
Age: 76
Family: Husband, three sons, eight grandchildren
Occupation: Retired
Education: B.A. American History, University of Minnesota; M.A. Urban Studies, Loyola University, Chicago
Civic Involvement: South Lake Advisory Committee, College of Lake County; Equity, Race, Diversity Steering Committee, Stevenson High School; Member Buffalo Grove Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce
Previous elected offices: None
Incumbent: Yes. If yes, when first elected: First Appointed to Board 1985
Website: N/A
Facebook: N/A
Twitter: N/A
Issue questions
What are the most important issues facing your district and how do you intend to address them?
The important issues facing Stevenson High School are increasing student enrollment, inadequate teaching space and unknown funding from the state of Illinois. The Board has contracted with a demographer to do yearly studies predicting student growth allowing for changes to be made for hiring instructors. The Board has continued to reuse space thereby adding more teaching stations. The Board monitors state activity very closely and belong to Ed-Red which lobbies on behalf for suburban districts.
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?
I am never fully satisfied that Stevenson High School is adequately preparing our students. There is always more that can be done. Stevenson has expanded the STEM offerings, increased classes in World Languages, and expanded opportunities for leadership through co-curricular activities. The Board highly supports these and other efforts to prepare graduates for a full life after graduation.
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? Be specific.
I believe that the Board, along with the Administrative Team, has been very aggressive in planning for budgetary issues. The Board has issues its own debt to control interest costs, hires cautiously, reduces low incidence classes and remodels spaces to be used for teaching stations. I do not believe there will be cuts to programs or expenses in the future. I do not believe in a tax increase.
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?
I have never been employed by any school district nor do I plan to be. No member of my family has ever been employed by any school district.
As 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?
The Board believes in a Win-Win solution to contract negotiation. Give some, get some is the spirit. There will be increases and there will be some cuts. There are no contracts at this time.
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?
There are no administrators nearing retirement age at this time. The Board handles the pay increases on an individual basis. There is no set procedure for salary boosts.