Jim Andresen - Mokena 159 School Board Candidate

Jim and his wife, Jaymie, have lived in Mokena since 2007, raising their three children in District 159 schools. A Mokena native and graduate of Mokena Jr. High and Lincoln-Way, Jim earned his Communications degree from Eastern Illinois University. He works as a Financial Representative with Country Financial and has served the community as past President of the Mokena Lions Club, current President of the Mokena Burros, and both President and Vice President of the Mokena School District 159 Board of Education. Now, he's running for his 4th term on the school board. 

Our website and YouTube channel has all of our candidate interviews and election updates. Be sure to vote on or by April 1st!

Chapters

• 0:10 Local Leader Discusses Community Involvement
• 6:05 Community Involvement and School Leadership
• 17:48 Choose New Superintendent With Community Input
• 25:28 School District Financial Transparency and Safety
• 34:49 Community Involvement in School Leadership
• 47:40 Supporting Community Through Youth Opportunities

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Considering we don't have like a little local town newspaper like we used to years ago, this is a nice way so people can try to get a better idea of what's going on.

Speaker 2: 0:20

Jim, I really appreciate you sitting down and talking with me. You got it. You know I think this is a down and talking with me. You got it. I think this is a good opportunity for people to get to know the candidates a little more as well, as you've been a board member for quite a while now, so a good opportunity for people that might not know you to get to know you. Sure, maybe just tell us a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 1: 0:43

Okay, I grew up here in town. I lived here almost my entire life, went to all the Mokina schools growing up, including local preschools, and then up through high school and absolutely loved it here and it gave me a great foundation where I went off to college and that went incredibly well. I met my wife there and Jamie's awesome. We just had our 20th anniversary Congratulations, thank you. We have three great kids and even back then, when we were dating at Eastern, I was told it was important to me to raise my family around here, and we did. And when Alex was very little, we bought a nice home here in town and we're still there and we like it. And then we had two great girls, katie and Vivian, join us. And along the way I've been a president of the Lions Club and that's been a wonderful experience, and I've been parts of other groups as well.

Speaker 2: 1:36

I mean just try to jump in and out. Tell us professionally what you do.

Speaker 1: 1:40

So I've been an insurance and financial advisor for about 22 years now. I started my practice right out of college and it's been going incredibly well and most of my clients all can meet through referrals. Because you try to do a real good job for people and just like professionally, but also with the school, I really just try to listen and help where I'm able to, and sometimes that's just listening, sometimes that is trying to identify problems and try to see what proactive steps can be taken to deal with them. You know it's all part of the game. What can we do to try to make things a little better?

Speaker 2: 2:15

Tell us a little bit about how you have fun, what your hobbies are.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Well, I've been coaching for a long time. I played rugby in college, at Eastern, and then one of my friends started a rugby program when Alex was in fourth grade, and I've been coaching his team ever since he was in fifth grade, so for quite a while now he's a senior now.

Speaker 2: 2:34

Rugby's a little different. Like it's, it's is it kind of finding a niche kind of, but not a lot of people are doing it. How did you find your way into playing rugby? Well, I played football.

Speaker 1: 2:44

Growing up, football was a big part of my life in high school. I absolutely loved it. I went off to college and I saw other people playing rugby, which is kind of a combination of soccer and wrestling more than anything and I fell in love with it and I played it for four years there. I was an officer in the club for two and a half years as a treasurer, and I absolutely loved it.

Speaker 2: 3:07

So you gave up. You swapped out football for rugby at college.

Speaker 1: 3:11

Yeah, and then ultimately, when? My friend started the program and he was looking to grow it. Once Alex was old enough and Alex was interested, he played football growing up with the Mokena Burroughs and those kind of things and he wanted to get more involved doing that. So I've been coaching for a long time and I've coached high school boys, high school girls, the elementary grades etc. And I absolutely love it. All three of my children play and they all do incredibly well. They've won major championships in the state of Illinois and it's great.

Speaker 2: 3:42

Tell me a little bit about the Cobra organization that you're involved with. Yeah, so my buddy.

Speaker 1: 3:46

Rocky started this program about 11-12 years ago. By now I'm the vice president of it and it's really more about giving kids an opportunity to try a new sport and it's growing. We have the largest rugby program in the entire state, partly because we start in fourth grade and go all the way up through high school and it gives kids a chance to try something new and we've got some kids. They do it for years and some of them try it for a season or two, but they have the ability to try something new. And when you get a lot of bigger guys like us who want to be able to pick up the ball and run and score instead of just being linemen all the time, it opens up some more doors for a little bit more fun and that's part of all of this.

Speaker 2: 4:30

It's a good time, but it gives people a good opportunity Are you seeing kids come out of these programs now and have opportunities in college and high school in that?

Speaker 1: 4:40

Yeah, so one of our players I'm not going to name him because we're all in this. His name's Johnny. He knows who he is. He played with us for a long time. Great guy, he's one of our captains, one of our leaders, and he got a ride to college, wow. So he is playing for a college team in the New York area and they're doing incredibly well. They just went 9-0 for their fall season. We just put it on our club's Facebook page today, actually. So Johnny is doing incredibly well and I'm very happy for him. He's a good guy. One of our other guys who's also named John he got a full ride to the Naval Academy and he's playing rugby as a freshman in the Naval Academy and he's going to be completing his training up to, and becoming, an officer and he's got his own designs on what he wants to do inside that program. But it's a great opportunity. And we have other players. We have another female player who also is in the process of going to the Naval Academy, which is absolutely amazing.

Speaker 2: 5:41

Sounds like you get a lot of tough people coming through there.

Speaker 1: 5:43

You know they'll turn into one after a while it takes a special breed to try to do some of this stuff and if this is something they're interested in and I can try to be a good part of their support and their journey, then I try to do it and I wish them well and try to help them out where I can Talk about any other you mentioned.

Speaker 2: 6:05

you're a former, you're a Lion and you're a past president from the Lions, but what else are you involved with locally?

Speaker 1: 6:11

Yeah, I've been in the Lions for about 15 years. I went up through the ranks, including president. It was a wonderful opportunity and I'm glad I'm still part of the club. But you learn a lot by dealing with people and trying to have projects together and what we can do. And one of the best things about it is they're raising money to give it away, and whether we're delivering food at the major holidays or we're helping children with vision and hearing problems, there's people in this town that are better off because we were able to help support them. And then I've been with the Mokena Burroughs, the football and cheerleading group. I've been with them for oh, probably 11 years by now. I've been the vice president for 10. And I'm going to be voted on being the president next week and it's all good.

Speaker 2: 6:58

So thank you, yeah that's great, and tell us a little bit about how you first ended up running for school board or getting on the school board.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Sure. So, like I said, I grew up in this town, I wanted to raise my family here and shortly after we moved back, which was it was about November of 2007. And as Alex was getting older and he was going to preschool and we're making connections in town, my wife Jamie started noticing a few things and at a certain time she's asking me why did we move here? Because there were some things going on. There was a group of people involved that they had differences of opinions and I think that they were trying to cut programs and supposedly save money to try to help people save money on their property taxes, and it wasn't in the best interest of kids or our community. And I was highly encouraged about 12 years ago to try to get in there and do what I could do, and I'm a busy guy. I have a very demanding job, I enjoy coaching, I enjoy doing other things. There's only so much time in the day, but this has been one of the most rewarding things I could do and I enjoy doing. In fact, today I turned in my papers to run again, but there were things going on that they weren't in the best interest of kids or our community and I got in there and I'm glad I did, because we were able to make positive choices that helped the kids.

Speaker 1: 8:34

We were able to bring back full-day kindergarten because, alex, being in preschool, there's only so much time in the day and when I had teachers telling me there's only so many minutes, they're describing their whole morning in minutes and what they're trying to do and there's not enough time, and they weren't able to do what they really needed to do. And there was a lot of other communities that were doing full-day kindergarten and I had a lot of parents saying that's something we should do and everybody can have an opinion and that's fine, but is it a big enough ask that it makes sense to explore? And it did so. We had the money to do it, we had the space to do it, it was something our teachers were asking for and our families were asking for. So we did and that's only one, for instance.

Speaker 1: 9:19

But I got involved because I was asked to, but because there were legitimate concerns at that time. Thankfully those concerns, and there always will. Because I was asked to, but because there were legitimate concerns at that time, thankfully those concerns, and there always will be some kind of concerns, but the district's in a better place now, not only financially, but the kids are doing well. They're going to Lincoln where they're succeeding. All this is about trying to give the kids a good opportunity moving forward and that's why, if I can be a small part of that success as silly as that may sound that's what I'm really trying to do, because I'm trying to make it better than when I found it.

Speaker 2: 9:52

And when did you first run for?

Speaker 1: 9:53

school board I first ran 12 years ago, so yeah, yeah, wow, okay yeah, this will be my fourth term.

Speaker 2: 10:02

And what do you see as the biggest challenges for the school district currently?

Speaker 1: 10:07

Well, like anything else, there's always the possibility of unfunded mandates coming from the state. There is always certain things that might pop up that might require money. That, for the most part, is really budgeted out pretty diligently. At the end of the day, the taxpayers are trusting us with a certain amount of money money and you want to make sure you're allocating it correctly, and that's always my biggest concern is are there going to be unfunded mandates that come in that are going to start tapping into that, such as we have a fair amount of, I will say, english language learners, which are people that do not speak English as their primary language, and when you have enough of those students in any one building, you have to teach in their native language.

Speaker 1: 10:50

That's a law, while there's a cost to doing that. Then you have to deal with the space, the logistics and if we have to, we will. That's absolutely fine. But that's about meeting the needs of our students. But there's always going to be financial concerns, but we have the right people in place to help us forecast what those are and deal with it accordingly, partly because we have a very detailed mission and vision for the district and helps outline what the goals are and what really needs the attention, so the money can be allocated appropriately.

Speaker 2: 11:23

So the money can be allocated appropriately. How do you feel that, or how can the Board of Education best communicate with constituents or the public?

Speaker 1: 11:32

That is always the million-dollar question, because we have a lot of people in our community that don't have kids. In our school we have around numbers, about 1,550 students all in and we've got a community of approximately 20,000 these days. I mean, it used to be three, but I think now it's around 20. And if they don't have a kid in the district, how do they know? Do they want to know? And there's information on the website that's public facing. Anybody can see it.

Speaker 1: 12:03

One of the ideas I have had, which we're in the process of trying to think through, is the villages sending out their monthly water bills, and I've always thought if we can have a small portion of that, it doesn't have to be all that often, but it goes to everybody. They're trying to fill the space anyway. But could that be a way so people that don't have kids in the district can still have a rough idea how things are going? And that's an idea that we're exploring but it's not finished yet. But trying to effectively communicate to everybody. Yeah, they can go to the website, that's absolutely true, but you try to meet them where they're at, and that's why I came up with the water bill idea, because everybody gets it, you know.

Speaker 2: 12:45

So talking about kind of the wider constituency and, like you said, not everybody has a kid in school, absolutely. You kind of hear the argument every now and then People will say, hey, I don't have kids in the school, why should I keep paying property taxes? Good question.

Speaker 1: 13:02

And there's two parts to it. For starters, whether people know it or not, we all have a very positive vested interest in the school succeeding, because if the school does well, so do the property values. If the school is not doing so well, people aren't going to want to move here and that's going to have a big impact on their property values and the ability to sell their home. I want the school to do well, I want the families to have a good experience, but I want everybody to have a little share of the win through their property values, because it really is a symbiotic relationship. It absolutely is. Now you won't be good stewards of their money a 100% but I think getting everybody at the table is important.

Speaker 1: 13:50

We had a gentleman Mike Everett used to be mayor in this town for a while. He was on the board for a number of years with us and I wanted that. When we had to fill a position, when our friend joined the Lincoln Way board and he was able to join us and then he was able to run again, I thought that was a positive thing because he didn't have any kids in the district. His kids were much, much older and I thought that was a positive thing. So it wasn't only parents sitting at that table. I wanted that voice too. That was important to me, but at the end of the day, everybody has a vested interest in the schools doing well because of their property values.

Speaker 2: 14:26

Simple as that and talk a little bit about, maybe tell people what the actual time requirements are being a board member, Besides just going to a meeting. What's the requirement.

Speaker 1: 14:39

Last night I was up there. We were having professional development, because that's important. You want to make sure you're keeping up on the new trends. You're trying to make sure everything is being communicated effectively, what people can do better, etc. So I worked all day and I was up at the elementary school from 6 to 9 last night. Then I got up early and went back up to work and here I am with you.

Speaker 1: 15:03

In an average month you get the board packet on a Friday, approximately 300 pages, and some of it is the same things you're going to see month in, month out, like the budget, like the bills that correspond to the budget, and they're all tied into the strategic plan. So you know where it's going to go for the most part, and you're going to spend a fair amount of time reading that, thinking about it, asking questions about it, dealing with the follow-up. So, in addition to the meeting, which can be approximately you know, call it three hours roughly starts at seven every once in a while it'll be done before 10. There's plenty of times it doesn't get done till after 11. Plus the reading of the packet, plus all the other time it takes to do things. Yeah, it's a fair amount of time, but in my opinion it's time well spent, because you want to make sure you're looking at things correctly, you're listening to people, you're trying to make sure you're paying attention to the right things, so you're doing the right things.

Speaker 1: 16:02

Right it is. It is a time commitment and it's one that, if I'm being honest, I don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about as I'm going through it, because I I spend enough time thinking about time. Otherwise, like we're at practice for two hours, we got an hour until we got to be somewhere because of something. This is it's it's borderline of labor. I love that you don't. You don't really want to think about too much how much time you're putting into it, because it adds up quick. And then you're walking through Burkotts or Meyer and people want to talk to you, and that's part of the game too. That's okay.

Speaker 2: 16:39

Funny, though, how you find the time to fit the things in your life that you're passionate about, and that is major takeaway.

Speaker 1: 16:46

I mean, you and I are roughly the same age when we were growing up. There was a phrase I'm sure it's still out there when there's a will, there's a way. And the truth is, when I got volunteered voluntold whatever to get involved in this, you start wondering how am I going to make time for that? How am I going to do it? How am I going to do it? And I'm of the opinion if you really want to figure out something in life, chances are you're going to figure out a way to do it, and if you don't, then any excuse will cut it. But yeah, it's definitely a process, but it's one I like.

Speaker 2: 17:21

One of the things going on right now that is extremely important to the community is the process of finding a new permanent superintendent. Yes, so talk a little bit about what that process is like and the things that you want to see when you're looking at candidates for superintendent. That's fine.

Speaker 1: 17:37

So some of this because we're actively going through the process. Some of this is closed session material.

Speaker 2: 17:42

And you can keep it in generalities. Yeah, and I will.

Speaker 1: 17:45

I will, but in short order. We hired a professional search firm to help us find and vet candidates. And that search firm has a very wide pull because they are listening not only to the board. They're listening to the admin, they're listening to the teachers, but they're also listening to the community members, because that was important to me and others I'm not trying to say it was just me it was important to a lot of people on the board to make sure we had community input. Now all those groups come together and they help work with the search firm to have an idea of what would a successful superintendent look like in Mokena. And that's a process right there Now, from there, and essentially they're going out, they're searching, they're talking about our community, they are trying to show people why they should be here.

Speaker 1: 18:36

But we're also trying to understand who we're really looking for to be here. We're not looking for a brand new person. We're looking for someone with more experience, someone that has an idea of really what's going on in a K-8 district, which is what we have of really what's going on in a K-8 district, which is what we have, and then from there we're going to have about six candidates and then the board's going to interview them. There is going to be and that'll be, two rounds right there, three and three, and then we're going to be having the community involved in one of those interview processes, because I care about what they think as well.

Speaker 1: 19:14

I'm always of the opinion, even if I think I've got a really good idea, chance are it can get a little bit better. So let's figure that out too. But then from there we're going to narrow it down to the final two and, from what I understand, we might have something to share approximately December, january, without going into too many details. But in all honesty it's a fluid situation. When we're at the board meeting in November, whenever people are watching this, that's when we're going to be learning more about who the potential candidates are and what their strengths are, and trying to figure out who could be the best fit for our community, based upon what our community is really looking for.

Speaker 2: 19:59

And one of the issues is the fact that we're looking for another superintendent. Dr Cohen was only here for four years. I think the expectation was that he would be here longer. And Don White before him also had a shorter term, I think, maybe than was expected or hoped for, but I know there were other issues.

Speaker 1: 20:25

Well, no, there's no secrets here. I'll tell you what's going on, because this is not privileged or confidential.

Speaker 2: 20:30

Yeah, so that's what I like to you know what's going on, what changes need to be made so that we can have a superintendent in place that's going to be in for a longer period of time.

Speaker 1: 20:41

I'm looking for someone that can build into longevity. I want someone that'll make a long-term commitment to our community, because I think that's important. I'm not looking for a bridge, I'm not looking for a three-year deal. I'm looking for someone that wants to come in see where we're at and can always help improve things and can try to do what's in the best interest of kids in our community. Now, as far as Don is concerned, he's a great guy. He is.

Speaker 1: 21:11

I'll tell you guys that first off, originally, it was going to be a three-year deal and, quite honestly, we were lucky to have him. It's kind of like getting a Mercedes on a Ford budget. He's a good person and ultimately, when it came time to his retirement plans, certain things came up and he had to leave us in year two. Quite honestly, we knew we would have to be looking at the next steps and it was part of the game it is. There will always be change and you have to be able to adapt. The Merck situation, quite honestly, was surprising and I like him as a person. I think he did a lot of good things for our community, but it was a surprise when I found out through an email on a Monday night. I was not anticipating that. He had a contract, he was being paid, he was doing a lot of good things and then, ultimately, he made a decision that he thought was in his best interest. And I don't pretend to know the ins and outs of exactly why he did what he did, other than, in my opinion, it wasn't necessary, and I think he's a good person. I think he did a lot of good things for our community and from there you know, like anything else, you have to adapt. You know things happen in life, so we're going through the appropriate steps, thankfully, when we needed an interim Steve Stein is a good guy.

Speaker 1: 22:39

He's got a good background when I started with the I almost call it the firm when I started with the school, he was a superintendent at that time and he did the onboarding for myself and the other three board members at that time, and he did the onboarding for myself and the other three board members at that time, one of which is Anna Briscoe and she's running again and she's a great person. We're lucky to have her too, but Steve's a good guy and I've kept in contact with him over the years. I would see him at the annual conference that we're getting ready to go to later this month and it was always a very pleasant thing. So when we knew Mark was leaving, and on rather short notice, we needed to find a interim superintendent that could give us that bridge for a year, so we were not rushing into a decision that would have major impacts on our community and our students.

Speaker 1: 23:27

I don't like rushing things. I generally think taking a measured approach is a better way to do it. But Steve's a great person and we're lucky to have him and he's going to help give us just that steady hand to get things going for the next year and then the next superintendent whoever that person is will have a nice, solid foundation. And because they've got good people around Kristen Johnson is a wonderful assistant superintendent, terry Shaw is a great financial person on our district and we have a lot of other good people as well Because ultimately I want a good team that is going to succeed for the best interests of kids and I want that longevity Because I think it's going to succeed for the best interests of kids and I want that longevity because I think it's important.

Speaker 1: 24:14

I'm not looking to be a stepping stone up to a high school career because in all fairness, I can understand people wanting to extend their careers. I totally get that. That's part of the game too but I'm really looking to find someone that will have some longevity here. That's one of my goals, and it's a goal shared by a lot of people in that room, to be honest.

Speaker 2: 24:40

So do you think you're able to address what the issue was? Do you feel there's an issue at the board that would cause him to leave, or do you just feel it was a personal decision and so be it?

Speaker 1: 24:59

Well, the answer is I can't tell you exactly why he did what he did, because I didn't know he was doing it. He didn't consult me, didn't ask me. I got an email on a Monday night about it. So, whatever the potential issue was if there was one never talked to me about it, never talked to the rest of us about it. For all I know, he was here and he had a different opportunity that came along and that's what he decided to do. I would hope that it was not because of some kind of internal issue. I would hope that it was not because of some kind of internal issue. I would really hope that's not the case.

Speaker 1: 25:37

I can tell you I always had good experiences with him. He's a decent guy. He's in the Lions Club, you know. I would see him, I would talk with him outside of the school setting and he always had good things to do for these kids and I liked that when we had the pancake breakfast and he's out there working, kids would come up and want to talk to him. I think that's a good sign of something.

Speaker 1: 26:02

So, yeah, this was unforeseen and it's not what I expected, and I'm not going to tell you I'm happy about it. I'm not going to infer anything beyond that because, quite honestly, it had nothing to do with me. I went in there the day after I got that email and I went into the school that morning and I shook his hand and I wished him well because I thought that was the class act to do, regardless of my personal feelings. You know, at the end of the day, people are going to do what they choose to do because they think it's in their best interest and we have to understand that is part of the game.

Speaker 2: 26:35

Yeah, well, it's a hugely uh important search, so I hope that goes well for the board and the right person comes forward to fill dr cohen's uh shoes, because he, uh he played a very big role and was a very large figure in multiple ways in the school district, so he is definitely missed. So good luck in that whole process. I only wish him the best. Same here the school district accounts for me for about 35% of my property tax bill. Yeah, so tell me and tell us how can taxpayers be sure that the school district is spending their tax dollars in the most efficient way possible?

Speaker 1: 27:23

Well, and that's a real good question, because if you look at the state of Illinois and if you look at specifically our community, the school is largely paid for by the Mokena taxing residents they are. We get very little money from the state and very little money from the Fed. So ultimately, I am beholden to everybody I'm walking around town talking to at Burkotts and every place else, and I want to be a good steward of their tax money. So how do we do that? For starters, I believe in transparency. People can see the budget, people can see where money is spent. When the referendum was passed a couple years ago, part of that process that was very important to me was to clearly communicate why we're doing it, which was to keep the buildings warm, safe and dry. What are the issues? So we have before and after pictures so people can see exactly what's, which was to keep the buildings warm, safe and dry. What are the issues? So we have before and after pictures so we can see exactly what's going on.

Speaker 1: 28:20

But any of those processes are always put out for bid once there's enough money and if I tell you, I believe the state required number is $35,000, I believe I'm correct but, quite honestly, once we're looking to make any major expenditure. We're not just going through the motions. We have a whole sealed bid process because we have an objective and I want to make sure if somebody comes in and wants to look at things, they can feel good about that. And when we just passed our audit, which they came and talked to us at our October board meeting we just passed our audit, which they came and talked to us at our October board meeting we got the best rating you could possibly have, which is on a scale of one to four, four being the best, and that's what we got. They looked through our internal controls, they looked through how we were doing things and they gave our people a great grade. And to me that's important, because when you're dealing with other people's money, you better have enough courage to make sure it's spent correctly. Now we may have a difference of opinion on what that means about a certain topic, but for the most part, you want to make sure you're using other people's money wisely, because I think that's important. I think that's why the bidding process is important, because you want to make sure the money is being spent wisely, because I'm paying it too. You're sending in two checks a year. I'm not telling you to feel good about spending it, but our community is actively supporting our district and to me that trust needs to be rewarded and it is because when you send our students to Lincoln Way, the students are doing well, they're succeeding, they're thriving, they're doing we are doing the right things right. So these kids are getting taken care of and that is really the biggest testament on how.

Speaker 1: 30:09

If we were having audit issues which we're not different story. But the audits are routinely clean, the internal controls are doing just fine and you want to make sure the money is being spent wisely. And if there's questions, come talk to us. That's okay. The community can submit questions, whether they're at the meeting or not, and the budget is always on display for 30 days at a minimum and honestly, it's on display twice, because there is an original budget in the fall and then there's an amended budget in the spring, because by then you have a better idea of the real tax money dollars are coming in and you have some a better idea on what the expenses are and you try to true that up. You make sure you're doing the right things right, because to me that's very important. With my financial background. I think it's important that people have trust that the money is spent wisely, and that's just very important to me. It's real.

Speaker 2: 31:07

Another very important thing for all parents is safety. Yes, so talk about how can parents be sure, when they send their kids to school, that they're going to be safe.

Speaker 1: 31:22

That is a great question and there are certain things that I can share here and certain things I think everybody can understand. I will not be sharing and I keep that very close to the chest because to me safety is important.

Speaker 1: 31:36

I want the children to be safe. I want the families to understand that there are things in place to help maintain the safety of the schools at every level. That is very important to me. That is very important to me. I can tell you that we have input from all the local departments that you would think we'd have input with. We have a detailed plan on how to handle certain situations, knowing it's always going to be a fluid situation and when certain things happen. If you have a general guide and the right people involved to try to maintain safety and so on, then you've got a higher likelihood of success, because we're talking about kids and we're talking about the plans of the school. But I will tell you there are detailed plans in place to try to keep these kids safe and how to deal with certain challenges as they present themselves and and those plant, and that strategy has worked out pretty well.

Speaker 1: 32:47

Nothing is ever perfect, but safety is very important to me and I will tell you that the right people are involved to help make sure our schools are safe so the kids can learn the way they should be without worrying about so many of these crises in the outside world. I want the schools to be safe so the kids can focus on learning. They can focus on being around their friends and trying to make the best out of their school day. I don't want them worried about safety and security issues. Quite honestly, that's our job.

Speaker 2: 33:21

What do you feel is the role of the board when it comes to curriculum?

Speaker 1: 33:27

At a certain point, our job as board members. To give you an analogy, let's look at it like this the board's objective is to supply the mission and the vision to the district. It's up to the district to supply how they're going to meet those goals. They are a response for the ends of getting the job done. It's almost like if we were going to fly somewhere. I don't care where it is, it's our job to pick the destination. It's our job to think of those kind of things. I am not the pilot flying the plane and I am not the engineer making sure everything's running correctly, nor am I the other parts of those components. So how do we handle curriculum? We hire the right people and we put them in place and we make sure that they have the right backgrounds, the right pedigrees to understand not only is what's in the best interest of kids, but where are our challenges and what can be done to make it better? So is Jim picking out the next science curriculum? Not really, because that's not what the board does. We can be asked about it and consulted about it, especially if we're thinking about making a major purchase to expand a curriculum or to change something. But if we're looking at one textbook versus another. Quite honestly, that's Kristen Johnson's job and she does a really good job doing it.

Speaker 1: 34:49

Part of the challenge with all of these things is complacency is an ugly creature and it doesn't work. So you'll always have to be evolving. There is always new things to learn. There's always new materials, strategies, tactics, etc. Because the teachers have the techniques, they have the talents.

Speaker 1: 35:08

In my opinion, it's the school board, through the administration team, to give them the tools to succeed.

Speaker 1: 35:15

So Chris and Johnson and the staff are actively working on evolving the curriculum and trying to make it better curriculum or an English language arts curriculum, because ultimately our state scores are important, not that you're teaching to a test, but there is a measuring effect and if there's things that we can do better, our team is already looking at those and trying to figure out what can they do to help. So it's a fairly detailed answer, but the quick and dirty of it is if you put the right people in place to do their jobs. That is what their job is. I am not going to micromanage those kind of things because that's not really what the board does. I don't get involved at that granular level. To me, it's more about putting the right people in place who have those designations that can help take care of these kids and support the teachers through things like professional development and the additional curriculum supplies they need, etc. So ultimately the kids get the experience they should be having.

Speaker 2: 36:32

So ultimately, the kids get the experience they should be having. What do you feel is the best way to address differences of opinions between board members, as well as differences between the board members and administration?

Speaker 1: 36:45

I think that there's two things you can do right off the top. Part of it is to understand your role in this dance, and when I was brought onto this, steve Stein and this is very common in the education world think of a high school dance, like when we were all kids. You got the kids down there having fun or at least trying to talk to somebody, and, if they got a little bit of courage and then you've got the other people standing in the balcony keeping an eye on what's going on. The board members are designed to stay in the balcony. They have a basic idea of what's going on and they're trying to pay attention to things, but they're not involved in the minutia of the details and understanding. That helps compartmentalize.

Speaker 1: 37:34

Whose job is it to do different things?

Speaker 1: 37:36

Because if there's some kind of an overstep one way or the other, that can lead to friction and beyond that, generally people may not always agree, and that's okay.

Speaker 1: 37:48

But if people talk honestly and openly about what's really going on, they they may still not agree, but they might understand more about why somebody thinks the way they do, and that I've always been of the opinion. If people had three quarters of the information they think they need. They can get the other quarter by listening to others and trying to bridge that gap. So if you and I were having a discussion on something, chances are we're both going to come at it from different angles, but we're going to have different insight on it and the hope is at the end of that conversation, no matter what it is, we're both better off for it and we can work the problem. You want to be soft on people, but you want to focus on the job at hand and usually if you're really focusing on what are we really trying to accomplish and we're both being open and honest on how to deal with it, even if we have a difference of opinion, hopefully we can figure out something on how to deal with it.

Speaker 2: 38:47

So right now it looks like there are going to be eight candidates for 159 school district. Yep. Tell us why we should vote for you.

Speaker 1: 38:58

Well, I grew up here. I moved my entire family back here because to me that's important. I like the community. I wanted my kids to have a good, solid education and I got involved because I thought it was just that important and we've made positive strides along the way. The full-day kindergarten that was a great thing for the community. There has been other things over the years that people have brought up to me and I've tried to listen and help and to me that's why I want to keep doing this, because I have more to give.

Speaker 1: 39:31

I enjoy the work. Some people will say this is a thankless job. The truth is I get more positive feedback than anything because of how I'm trying to approach it and I like doing it. And sometimes that's dealing with challenging situations and challenging people and that's part of the game too, but I enjoy the work.

Speaker 1: 39:51

I think our school district is better off because we have that solid financial backing, because we are being responsible with other people's money and because we are doing what's in the best interest of kids. And as long as we follow those basic things, we're going to be on the right path. And there are some people and I'm not going to say anything about anybody, because it's not my style. I'm not going to do it, but I can tell you that I enjoy the work. I know that the fellow board members that are running along with me Lisa Zielinski, anna Briscoe and Eric Bush have put a lot of time and have a very vested interest in seeing our community succeed, and they also are running with us because we all turned in our packets this morning and are you running as a slate together unofficial slate or what?

Speaker 1: 40:41

You know that is that's more for for trying to figure out things in the spring, and that's not any. We haven't really had that discussion. To tell you true, at this point my biggest question was do I want to keep doing this? Because it is a large time commitment, but the kids are better off because of it and I've been of the opinion that if I do a good job for others, it's going to work out for more people just fine. I mean, I'll always remember when I was board president a couple years ago, there was this, this young lady. She came up and she started talking to us at the board meet and that takes a lot of courage. And she's standing there at the microphone with her piece of paper and she's like you know, we got baseball teams, we got all these teams. We don't have a real softball team and i'm'm like you're right, we don't.

Speaker 1: 41:30

And I'm looking over at Dr Olenaitis, I was looking over our previous superintendent or chief financial person. I'm like okay, guys, if this is interesting, what does it take to get off the ground? Well, do we have enough kids that want to do it? We did. Do we have the financial backing to do it? Do we have a teacher that wants to get involved? Do we have a coach? We have all of these things we do and they did, and they built that team and they did well.

Speaker 1: 41:56

And the reason any of this makes a difference is because I am involved in other operations and I like that. And one of the fringe benefits of all of this is I have gone up to Lincoln Way on scholarship night and whether it's the Mokena Burroughs, whether it's the Illinois Junior Celtics, whether it's the Mokena Lions, I've given away a whole bunch of money to help these kids and I love that. But she came up to me and looked at me like you probably don't remember me. I'm like, yeah, I do. You're the reason we got softball to junior high and I got to be a small part of that success and then she got a full ride off to college to play softball, which was really awesome, and she had that opportunity.

Speaker 1: 42:41

And all of this is about giving these kids an opportunity and I think that that's incredibly important and that's why I want to keep going, because I like the work and because we're doing good things for kids and the community. So I enjoy it and I want to keep doing it if people want me to and I can tell you, I had a lot of people that reached out that wanted me to do it. I got more signatures on my petition and I had more great people helping me out, and when there's a lot of things going on in life and you got a lot of people pulling for you, it makes a difference. So, yeah, yeah, I absolutely love it. We've got a lot of good people and a lot of good things going on and I like being part of that. I like trying to help where I'm able to.

Speaker 2: 43:23

So one of the things that's important to any leader is the next group of people that come up behind you, and getting good people to take the reins.

Speaker 1: 43:34

What is something that you?

Speaker 2: 43:35

would say to people that would consider running in the future for a school board or other boards? What would you tell people?

Speaker 1: 43:44

Whether they're running for school or they're running for another position, whether it be the community board or the park district, et cetera, you're always going to need good people and there's always reasons not to do it because it's hard. It's hard to get up there and have the courage. It's hard to get up there and listen to everything that's going on, because sometimes you might have a very vocal minority, and sometimes you might have a very vocal minority and sometimes you might have a real problem and you're trying to figure it out. It takes courage to get involved and that's hard If you're trying to do what's in the best interest of the community, and by that I mean what if you're with the park district or the school or anything else?

Speaker 1: 44:25

What are our ultimate goals? What are our systems in place to get that done and what does it really take to succeed? I want there to be that success. I want people to come along after me and they will ultimately see this is what we did. Not that they have to recreate that, but this is a good, solid foundation that they could grow on, and one of the best things they can do, in my opinion, as simple as it sounds is try to listen and help. That is so important to me and how I do things. Because if they're really listening and that can be hard sometimes if they're really listening to what the community is telling them, that should help guide their efforts. Sometimes people want to get in and they think they can take on the world and they think this is a one-person show. It's not. I am one voice of seven, and arrogance and self-awareness do not go hand in hand. But if you try to do what's in the best interest of the community, chances are you're going to be just fine?

Speaker 1: 45:30

because you always need good people that'll step up and that will always be a challenge, because there's a million other things I could be doing with my time, but I like this. It's been a good thing and I'm happy to keep doing it, but I want it to continue to exist, to succeed, long after any of us are onto something else.

Speaker 2: 45:51

Well, I appreciate you talking to me and I appreciate the years of service to our community. Just give you an opportunity if there's anything else you want to share or say as we wrap up.

Speaker 1: 46:03

Well, thanks for doing this. I've never done something like this before. It's different. I mean, you got the lights and everything it it's fun. But I think this is a good thing because I want our community to be able to hear from us, and they don't need to come sit at the board meeting, they don't need to watch the live stream. But what people do matters and the the impacts people have when they vote matters, and I'm here because it does matter. It matters enough that I want to keep going. It matters enough that I want to be part of that success for a while longer. And it matters to me because I got a lot of good people telling me we want you to keep going. So I'm going to, and if that's what people would like me to do, please support me. And that's wonderful and, and I'm of the opinion, a good idea can come from almost anywhere within reason, because a lot of the big ideas we've worked on were not.

Speaker 1: 47:01

Jim had a great idea about softball. We had parents talking about kindergarten, we had people trying to do what's in the kids best interest and ultimately, that's what I've tried to do. I mean, years ago when I got involved, it was so expensive for families to do sports. It was almost $250 for kids to play junior high basketball and I thought that was ridiculous. I don't care if the family's got money. I wanted the kid to have the opportunity and everybody's got to pay something no one needs for free, but it's a flat fee of 50 bucks and I had people coming up to me at Halloween Hollow shortly after it happened going.

Speaker 1: 47:40

My kid can do volleyball and cross country and all this, to me, is about giving kids an opportunity and I like being part of that success. So that's about as simple as I can make it. You try to do the right things right to help kids and help our community, and it's about that simple, really. But anybody's welcome to talk to me. You know whether they see me on town, whether they you know what they want to email me. Well, whatever, be my guest and we read them all. When people email the board, we read them all because you're trying to make sure you are listening to people and truly understanding what's going on.

Speaker 2: 48:18

So thank you for listening to me. Well, thank you very much, jim. I appreciate it. Be sure to check out our website, subscribe to our YouTube page. You can check out all of the candidate interviews. And be sure to vote on April 1st. Thank you.