Politics & Government

D-15 Candidates Debate At Public Forum

District 15 school board candidates participated in a forum held by the Northwest Suburban Council of PTA/PTSA.

The six candidates vying for three seats on the District 15 school board squared off at a public forum Thursday.

The forum took place in the gymnasium of Walter Sundling Jr. High School. Early voting for the April 5 election already is underway. Registered voters can cast their ballot at the Palatine Village Hall, 200 E. Wood St.

The District 15 race includes three incumbents Gerald Chapman, James Ekeberg and Dave Seiffert. Chapman and Ekeberg were elected four years ago, Seiffert was appointed to the board to fill a vacant seat.

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The challengers—Scott Herr, Manjula Sriram and Gerard Iannuzzelli—are running as a slate.

The six candidates answered questions from the audience for more than an hour. Among the topics was what could be done to improve how board members work together.

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"Everyone has their opinion, but as a decision is made and finalized the board needs to come together and work together," Seiffert said. "Once a decision is made, get behind it and work for it. Take these things positively, and go forward as a team and try to cut out the dissension."

Iannuzzelli said that it was important for the board to try to reach a concensus.

"You can't just have...the majority voting same way all the time. You need to be able to work together and work out the issues," Iannuzzelli said. "I believe you need to have more discussion [than] 10 seconds on a specific subject."

Candidates also were asked how they would deal with District 15's projected budget deficits and whether they would increase property taxes.

"I...would not support a tax increase. Just like all the other families in the community we have to live within our means," Herr said. "This year the deficit will be $4 million, it grows over time so that over the next five years the total accumulated deficit will be $47 million. It's not a small problem."

Herr said he has posted a specific plan on his web site. He said the district needs a long-term capital plan that takes into account future building maintenance needs. He also said the district needs to look at salaries and benefits of employees which make up the bulk of district spending.

"This is an example of where I think the board really needs to have long-term discussions about every option that is available and they need to talk about the impact," Chapman said. "I'm open minded in terms of where we need to make the cuts and what we need to do to balance the budget."

Chapman said the board already has asked Superintendent Scott Thompson to bring the board options to reduce the deficit.

Board members also were asked about the district's curriculum and the academic performance of students.

"I think if you look at the statistics what you will see is that students we have had from kindergarten through eighth grade score extremely well on those tests as they move to high school and do extremely well in high school," Ekeberg said.

Ekeberg said the district is working to better meet the needs of students who do not begin their academic career in District 15. Ekeberg said the district is developing programs to get those students up to the same level as students who are in the district for nine years.

Sriram said District 15 is one of the top school districts in the state. She said the district still needs to look ahead. She said she had posted a white paper about District 15's curriculum on her campaign web site.

"Understand that children are individuals, we need to understand how each child works, and that's the key [to] us taking our education system forward," Sriram said. "Math and science needs focus, but we also need focus on extra curricular activities like music [and] art."


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