Tina Garrett: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Tina Garrett

City: Des Plaines

Office sought: Community School District 62 Board of Education Member

Age: 42

Family: Two daughters, one husband, two dogs, an extremely large and close extended family, and a sprinkle of Safe Family children along the way.

Occupation: Managing Agent of TIPS Insurance Agency

Education: Some college, extended adult learning within Insurance Industry, Accredited Advisor of Insurance (AAI)

Civic involvement: Current, Iroquois Community School Parent Teacher Council (PTC), Board Member for Des Plaines Girls Softball Association, Safe Families Host, Member of Trinity Lutheran Church (TLC) of Des Plaines, currently organizing/starting Buddy Bins program out of TLC.

Previous elected offices held: In 2016, I stepped in for an open seat. This is my first election

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected?

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tina-Garrett-District-62-School-Board-Des-Plaines-IL-577104486047696/

Issue questions

What are the most important issues facing your district and how do you intend to address them?

Equity: In the 2017-2018 school year, a committee was formed to work on a five-year strategic plan for D62 The plan addresses the issue of equity within our district, and we are currently working on strategies to combat this growing concern. For example, we are currently struggling with a building usage issue. While some buildings are overcrowded and have limited space, others suffer from under enrollment and have an excess of space. Another area of concern is the availability of programs in the district, such as gifted programs and early intervention programs. Within the next year, the plan will address several of these issues by implementing new programs and addressing building issues. My intention for the next four years is to work with our team to ensure the strategic plan stays on course and evolves D62 to provide an elevated learning experience for our students.

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?

We work closely with D207 to collaborate on ways we can continue to work together to prepare our kids for high school. It was a benefit to our district to have D207 actively participate in the strategic plan, which also included current D207 students to lend a student perspective. With continuing a close relationship with the high school district, we have the ability to collect data that is a useful resource in refining our programs to ensure the students are meeting and exceeding expectations when entering the high school.

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 have served the board for almost two years and have just started to scratch the surface on understanding and analyzing our budget. I was fortunate enough to be on the board while we worked through union contracts and non-union employee contracts, which has given me greater insight into the process. Currently, I don't see that budgetary cuts are necessary. While there may be some areas of budgetary concern, I am confident that, at this time, we are in a good place. We need to ensure our future students and staff inherit a financially stable district, so continuous monitoring of our budget is a board responsibility not to be taken lightly.

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?

No

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?

With our last teacher's union contract negotiation, we did restructure our pay scale to increase starting pay for teachers in order to attract teachers entering the work force. As a board of education, we as a team review the presented contracts and inform our negotiating team of our expectations from a budgetary standpoint. Board representation is present during the negotiation process and reports back to the team. We then come to an agreement on what is best for the district. In the end, the best contract is one where both sides compromise and come to an agreement that benefits all involved.

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?

I am learning that this is a common practice in the public sector. Being from the private sector, this is still a subject I am in the process of doing research on and evaluating the benefits and disadvantages. If the school district is not in a financial position to do so, then the answer is a simple no, we shouldn't be making financially irresponsible decisions.