Katherine Frye: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Katherine Frye

City: Geneva

Office sought: District 304 School Board

Age: 33

Family: Tom (Husband), Isabella, Olivia, Lila (Daughters), Thomas (Son)

Occupation: Former High School Teacher and now stay-at-home mom

Education: Bachelor of Science in Social Sciences, with a minor is Secondary Education from Illinois State University

Civic involvement: NA

Previous elected offices held: NA

Facebook: Katherine Frye for District 304 Board of Education

Issue questions

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

Currently, I believe the most important issues facing our district is trust, and transparency. My goal if elected to the board would to ask the board, teachers and community to identify: strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats that are relevant to our system. I believe that if we can self evaluate and discuss these items within our groups and with each other, we will begin to rebuild and create a positive working environment between all parties.

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?

My husband and I moved our family from the far northern suburbs to the Geneva area for their school system. We are firm believers in quality education and based on our research we found that Geneva was going to provide our children with incredible opportunities. We have lived in the area for about 18 months, with that being said we are still learning what this district is offering and will offer our students. I am very pleased with the quality of teachers, after school activities and the sense of community that our elementary school provides. If elected to the board, I will continue to explore the district and offer suggestions to improve on areas that may need to be refined and allow our district to grow as a leader in education.

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.

Being new to the town of Geneva, I am still learning the specifics to the budgets and other financial questions/issues. I do believe that it is crucial, when dealing with tax payers money that we are transparent and have open and honest conversation. The current school board has been very diligent ensuring that our school system has a reserve. With that said, we must work to keep a reasonable reserve but also provide our students, teachers, staff and buildings with adequate budgets for materials/technology/security and incentives for continuing education for our teachers.

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?

As we know, Geneva just went through a very lengthy contact negotiation. I believe that it is in the best interest of the board to be supportive of all parties involved. As a board, it is it their responsibility to listen, evaluate and negation in reasonable and respectful manner. It is vital that we are conscious of the standard living, cost of continuing education and percentage of benefits paid by employee and district. I do believe that a district should ask for concessions from its employees if they are not willing to take concessions themselves.

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?

No, I could not support this type of decision. This type of pay increase takes away from our teachers, our students, our buildings and our community. It create a financial burden on our tax payers, and it allows for no future growth or progress to be made within the district.