Ben Zulauf: 2023 Candidate for Elmhurst Unit District 205 School Board

Bio

Town: Elmhurst

Age on Election Day: 36

Occupation: Literacy Director

Employer: Cicero SD 99

Previous offices held: None

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?

A: I'm running for school board because I want to be able to use the experience I have in education to help D205 move forward in any way that I can. According to the National Council of Teacher Quality, only 41% of teacher preparation programs in the state of Illinois actually teach what we know from reading research. This means that school districts need to provide quality professional development to address gaps in understanding. In addition to this, the most widely used literacy programs across the country don't align with reading research according to EdWeek. It's not a board member's role to get involved in curricular and professional development decisions; however, it is our responsibility to ask questions and push back when the answers aren't sufficient. This is how I can best assist the school board.

Q: What is the role of the school board in setting and monitoring curriculum?

A: Our role is one of asking questions. But to ask the right questions, one has to know the research. The role of background knowledge in reading comprehension is well established, so we need to ask why students don't have science and social studies every day. We have model school systems across the country who have seen drastic improvements in academic scores after ensuring students write across the curriculum, so we need to ask if this is happening. The authors of the literacy common core standards have said themselves that we can't teach and assess standards in isolation, so we need to ask why that's occurring. More practices exist that need to be examined, but in order to do so, you have to know the research.

Q: Are there curriculum issues within the district that you feel need particular attention from the board?

A: There are two. First, leaving programs in place that received the lowest rating possible from EdReports at Conrad Fischer. While there are certainly differences between English and Spanish, both languages follow the alphabetic principle, which means the foundational skills develop similarly, and you need language comprehension in both English and Spanish to comprehend what you decode. There are curriculums available to teach both languages simultaneously. Second, purchasing a curriculum that doesn't have a dual language component means that teachers at Conrad Fischer will have an incredibly difficult time collaborating with other teachers across the district.

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

A: When it's available, I plan to use research to inform my decisions. I think sticking to the research makes it easier to provide leadership, even when the decision is unpopular. That said, there are instances where the research isn't clear or it's unavailable. In those instances, it's very important to hear differing viewpoints from the community and read anything that's informing those views.

Q: Concerns are growing regarding a new resurgence of the pandemic. If another massive outbreak of infectious disease occurs, what have we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic that will guide your decision making?

A: Having been a part of the team that determined how to initially respond to COVID, I can tell you that there is no handbook for pandemics and that every school did the best they could with the available information. I will also say that at times, our hands were tied because of decisions that the state made. Knowing what we know now, I think that we would need to explore every available possibility to keep schools open. We would need to look to districts in other states that remained open or opened sooner than we did and kept cases down to see what mitigation practices they used. In 2019, we had no data, but now we do, so we need to use that to inform our decisions.

Q: Describe your experience working in a group setting to determine policy. What is your style in such a setting to reach agreement and manage school district policy? Explain how you think that will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions of your school board.

A: Working in school administration means that I'm constantly working in a group setting, and I do my best to adhere to our agreed upon norms: assume positive intent; make a commitment to side with research - not what's familiar and comfortable; remain objective - not subjective; keep an open mind; actively participant; and be solution oriented. I've never left a meeting following these norms in which I didn't feel the decision the group reached effective actions and decisions because we're always using the best possible data we have to inform our decisions.

Q: What makes you the best candidate for the job?

A: I believe my background in education makes me the best candidate for the job. We need a well-rounded board, and I don't believe that any one person will be an expert in everything (budgeting, safety, education, etc.). While there's more to serving on a school board than academics, one of if not the most important jobs of schools is to educate our students. I bring a greater depth and understanding of the research in education to the board than any other candidate.

Q: What's one good idea you have to better your district that no one is talking about yet?

A: I think I'm the only candidate who has discussed research-based strategies that have actually been shown to improve academics. Everyone has discussed the importance of increasing scores and providing a quality education, but I'm not sure if anyone else has discussed how we can actually do this. Why might some students have SEL issues? Because they struggle to read. Why might some students not want to come to school? Because it's incredibly challenging for them. Improving academic success won't solve everything, but it's certainly a step in the right direction.