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Stephan Schlesinger: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Stephan Schlesinger

City: Elmhurst

Office sought: School Board Member

Age: 35

Family: Wife, three children (8,6,4)

Occupation: Banking (Director within Risk Management)

Education: Finance and Banking Undergraduate from Appalachian State University and MBA from Wake Forest University

Civic involvement: No specific reoccurring activities. Supportive of the community and would enjoy the opportunity to be involved with the District 205 School District.

Previous elected offices held: None

Incumbent? No If yes, when were you first elected?

Website: Schlesinger205.com

Issue questions

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

Across the nation, an important issue is security. Specific to our district, there are inconsistent security capabilities, which need to be addressed quickly. Given the recent referendum was successful; I would like to see significant momentum in driving consistent leading practices within our school district. Building new schools would enable leading practices to be incorporated but existing structures need to be assessed and retrofitted which is currently being actioned. In addition, I was surprised to learn of certain reactionary responses to important factors that have material impacts to academic excellence, such as large classroom sizes. There are numerous debates on what constitutes a large class room size but in general when you see classes approaching 30+ in K-3, there needs to be a strategic solution rather than breaking up a class midyear, which has occurred. This practice is disruptive and could be avoided through strategic planning for "hot spots" when they occur going forward. In speaking with the superintendent last year, there were about half dozen different strategies highlighted and I would like pursue further to limit reactionary responses.

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 currently have two children in the 205 district with another that will start Kindergarten in 2021. Regarding my eldest who is in 3rd grade, I have seen significant improvement over the last few years in reading and mathematics, giving me a lot of comfort of the efforts to prepare students. The educators are thoughtful in their assessments and I feel the values of the educators are aligned with mine in raising our children, focusing on academic excellence. Over the past few years, numerous curriculum enhancements have been deployed which I am in favor to achieve leading practices. In any environment as you change dynamics or strive to improve, you need to be able to measure the impacts ensuring desired outcomes are achieved. Given these changes directly impact children, mistakes cannot be tolerated and I want to ensure thoughtful consideration is undertaken to ensure a sustainable environment is achieved.

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.

Based on community support for needed enhancements to state of the art learning environments, security and maintenance across the Elmhurst district, the recent referendum was successful. This was a strong show of support to make forward looking investments in facilities as well as addressing security concerns consistently across the district. Given perceptions of the 2006 referendum not fully achieving desired outcomes, this poses a challenge to ensure the newly passed referendum accomplishes the numerous desires by the community. I believe my background within Banking positions me well in assessing budgetary considerations going forward. One specific area I would like to focus is the need to address "hot spots" of larger class room sizes in elementary education. Today's stance is too reactionary and significant thought should be placed on coming up with options that can be proactive. The significant budget and redesign of facilities could be part of a solution I would like to investigate.

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? Neither I, nor any member of my family is employed by the 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 has a fiscal responsibility to the community as well as ensuring educators are valued. There needs to be a mutual respect and balance when discussing these types of matters across all parties. Ultimately, I believe there are shared values orienting around what's best for the kids.

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?

If the intent to increase pay was solely based on a desire to "boost pension benefits", I would not be in favor. Any change in compensation should orient around merit and performance based considerations. That being said "pay for performance" structures within education are complicated and hard to predict.

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