Bremen District 228 Candidates Answer: What Areas Within the District Could Use Work?

With just over a week until elections, Patch wants to help you prepare before you head to the polls April 5. Patch will provide you with Bremen High School District 228 candidates' answers to a different questions that deal with the financial and educational issues facing school districts statewide.

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Today's question:

What areas do you think the district can afford to strengthen? Which can stand a little less attention?

We cannot afford not to strengthen our program, our offerings, our standards, our opportunities, our support for challenged students as well as for the gifted, and our ongoing efforts to do more with less.  We could give less attention to buildings and grounds maintenance and improvement, but a clean and safe learning environment is critical.  Neglect now will cost more later!  We cannot afford to “squeeze” our children through school and then only hope for their future!

We must always continue to strengthen our programs to provide best quality education for our students. We could possibly give less attention to keeping up our infrastructure; but as we all know that is a situation, where you pay me now or paid me later with buildings start to deteriorate.

I would like to see more extensive use of technology in the District’s classrooms since this can have a very positive direct impact on student achievement. Recently, we have put significant focus on building repairs, replacing drafty windows, aging boilers, leaky roofs, and inefficient electrical fixtures. These projects were absolutely necessary, but fewer “big ticket” projects should occur in the near future. Consistent, routine maintenance will help avoid major repairs down the road.

The main area the district can afford to strengthen is in its academic excellence.  I believe that every area is important and we should never categorize any area as giving it a little less attention. All issues should be prioritized and addressed one by one.