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William Geheren: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: William Geheren

City: Huntley

Office sought: Board of Education - Huntley Community School District 158

Age: 50

Family: Married (Mia), children Michael (24), Thomas (14), Daniel (11)

Occupation: Marketing

Education: Bachelor's Degree - Saint Mary's University of Minnesota

Previous elected offices held: school board.

Incumbent? Yes If yes, when were you first elected? 2011

Website: www.linkedin.com/in/williamgeheren

Facebook: www.facebook.com/geheren99

Twitter: twitter.com/SirWilliam1015

Issue questions

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

My top three issues are: financial, academic and cultural. Finances will always be a top concern as long as our funding comes from property taxes and the state is unstable. Fortunately, our Board and Administration have been extremely fiscally responsible and we have been out in front of potential major financial pitfalls. I would continue down the path we have been on. Academically, we are always striving for higher test scores and more success from our graduating students. I would continue to support programs that help us achieve our academic goals. From a cultural perspective, we have been dealing with racial and bullying issues. This is clearly a high priority and one where all school districts face new challenges every day. My intentions here are to continue to ensure a safe education environment for every single student in the district. We can accomplish this through better communication with students and parents and our readiness to respond.

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?

Having been a member of this board for the past 8 years, I can confidentially say that we are way ahead of most others on this front. But we are not satisfied with the current programs we have created - blended learning, one-to-one throughout the entire district, academies in different areas of high need in the workplace, to name a few. We continue to grow our academies (which have been nationally recognized) and continue to grow our relationships with local businesses to help expose students to what employment after school looks like. The only change is that we need to continue to make sure we are meeting the needs and goals of every single student.

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.

Our main budgetary concern is the stability or lack of stability in the state. For the past six years, we have been unsure as to when or if we will receive our categorical payments from the state. In addition, the pension issue has been hanging over our heads for the past several years. I don't believe we need to cut any programs. Our district does a great job of evaluating programs each year to make sure they are viable and determine if they need to grow or students are not interested any more. In terms of a tax increase, I don't see it as a simple yes or no question. I general, I am not for increasing taxes as we have way too many residents that are already living check to check or on a fixed income. I would support a tax increase if the upside benefitted students, teachers, and residents of our district.

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?

This is a very loaded question and there is not an easy answer. Our main goal is to provide our students with the best possible education we can, while being financially responsible. In order to do that, we need the best teachers and staff that we can get. Their salaries, along with benefits (especially health care benefits), cost money. That is the major challenge every time we negotiate a new teachers contract. Because we have acted in a very fiscally responsible manner for several years, we have been able to meet our teachers at a fair place. I don't believe we ever want to be in a place where we ask for concessions from our employees. Over the past 8 years, we have become competitive with local schools and that is what is most important.

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, that is not how we operate in District 158. Instead, we hire excellent superintendents and administration, and pay them fair market value in the hopes that they will stay with us for a long time. We believe we have a fair starting point for those positions and we discuss an percentage increase each year depending on our finances for that year and future years.

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