Marina Kosak: 2021 candidate for Indian Prairie District 204 board

Challenger Marina Kosak, one of 11 candidates running for four, 4-year terms in Indian Prairie Unit District 204, responds to the Daily Herald candidate questionnaire for the April 6, 2021, local election.

The candidates are: incumbents Laurie Donahue of Naperville and Susan Taylor-Demming of Naperville; and challengers Shannon Adcock of Naperville, Allison Fosdick of Naperville, Saba Haider of Aurora, Robert O. Harris of Naperville, Supna C. Jain of Naperville, Marina Kosak of Naperville, Yanmei May Liang of Naperville, Rajesh Narayan of Naperville, and Kader Sakkaria of Naperville.

In-person early voting with paper ballots is now available at DuPage County Fairgrounds Building 5, 2015 Manchester Road, Wheaton. In-person early voting with touch-screen voting begins March 22 at locations throughout the county. Learn more at www.dupageco.org/earlyvoting/.

Bio

City: Naperville

Age: 51

Occupation: High school administrator (dean) at Oswego East High School

Civic involvement: Worked with the Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry in Aurora as well as the Northern Illinois Food Bank

Q&A

Q: Why are you running for this office, whether for reelection or election the first time? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is it?

A: I am passionate about helping kids. This passion has fueled my career for the past 25 years. I have worked with hundreds of educational personnel and worked for thousands of kids in the role of teacher, dean, assistant principal and principal. I would like to bring what I have learned throughout my career and my passion for seeing kids succeed to my Indian Prairie District 204 community.

Q: How would you grade the current school board on its response to the pandemic? Why?

A: I would give them a C- in their response to the pandemic. I understand that these have not been easy waters to navigate. However, District 204 has always been the award-winning "trend setter" so to speak, but for the past few months they have really lowered the bar on what they have settled for. There are communities, both near to us and around the country, that have found safe ways to be in school full-time while providing a remote plan that is equitable so that parents truly have a choice for what is best for their child. It is late February and District 204 still has not announced a plan for more in-person learning nor a plan for our remote by choice learners to have more "live" time with their teachers.

Q: How do you view your role in confronting the pandemic: provide leadership even if unpopular, give a voice to constituents - even ones with whom you disagree, or defer to state authorities?

A: I believe that I can provide leadership while also giving a voice to constituents. In order for an organization to be successful we have to learn to respect others' opinions while collaborating to problem solve. While we always find people we disagree with it is important to keep in mind that they are advocating for their children. It is imperative that we find creative solutions to issues that arise by looking at all sides and collaborating to ensure that we are meeting the needs of ALL kids.

Q: Did your district continue to adequately serve students during the disruptions caused by the pandemic? If so, please cite an example of how it successfully adjusted to continue providing services. If not, please cite a specific example of what could have been done better.

A: The definition of adequate is sufficient. Adequate is not what we have come to expect from District 204. Our district has always been the leader and others often want to emulate what we do. However, during the pandemic I doubt that any district looked at District 204 and said that they wanted to be like us. In November, the hybrid plan for high school students was to return to in-person essentially one Monday per month. The new hybrid plan started on Jan. 25 for most of the students in District 204 (there were different starting dates based on grade levels) and one month later there have been no details as to where we are with possibly expanding in-person learning. As a parent, it would be nice to hear that they have plans for different phases that could occur throughout the spring semester to get us back to five days of in person learning.

Q: Do you have a plan on how to safely and effectively conduct classes in the spring? What have you learned from the fall semester that you would change in the spring?

A: First, it is important that we continue to offer a choice for our families. With some planning and creative thinking for second semester (that could have been started in the fall), I believe that each school could have looked to schedule teachers to teach to kids in-person or to teach to kids remotely and not have to do both at the same time. Our teachers have worked tremendously hard this year and having to teach so many different ways has not been easy. This idea comes from a person who did the master schedule in a school of almost 4,000 kids. It would have taken time and creativity on the part of the administrators but with the right amount of time to plan it could have been done.

Q: What is your position on allowing high school sports to continue during the pandemic? Be specific.

A: Sports plays an important role in the lives of many teenagers. For many the drive to do well in school is due to their involvement in athletics. We have seem from our neighboring states as well as across the country that with the right mitigations, sports and school can be conducted in a safe manner. However, in Illinois, we had to sit back and watch some of our kids slip into an unhealthy mental state or depression due to the isolation. I feel very fortunate that as a parent of an athlete his club put safety procedures in place that allows him to continue to be active in the sport he loves. This was a tremendous outlet for him away from the "screen time" and provided socialization that is so important for adolescents.