TOWN
is a proud recipient of the Points of Light presidential citation
Waukegan School Board Candidates 2005 "Community Organizing for School Leadership Accountability" (not a TOWN group)
"Community Organizing for School Leadership Accountability" - a grass-roots
organization - is forming to try and promote improvement in the operation
of the District 60 School Board and administration. This organization is
NOT a part of T.O.W.N., but we are making recordings of its meetings
available here since the schools are a vital part of Waukegan. The positions
of the candidates that ran in 2005 are available on this same page.
Click picture to listen
February 8, 2006. The public meeting
of COSLA was held in the Bradbury room at the Waukegan Public Library
and was standing-room only. The superintendent-elect of School District
60, Dr. Donaldo Batiste, made a presentation to COSLA about his background
and educational philosophy. Quite a few written questions from the
audience were then read, covering a wide variety of subjects, and
Dr. Batiste responded to them.
16.6MB
Click picture to listen
November 10, 2005. Terri Mutchler from
the Illinois Attorney General's office gave an excellent training
session on the Open Meetings Act. In addition to explaining the basics
of the Act, she also fielded many questions and explained how her
office works to bring open government to the people of Illinois. Some
useful links and contact information:
September 28th, 2005. The 2nd meeting of the grassroots school watchdog group was again held
in the Bradbury room of the Waukegan Public Library, attended by about 40 people on a cold, rainy night.
14.6MB
Click picture to listen
July 27th, 2005. The inaugural meeting
of the grassroots school watchdog group was held in the Bradbury room
of the Waukegan Public Library, attended by 40-50 people.
14MB
The Waukegan School Board elections are being held on April 5th.
12 candidates are running for 4 seats.
We requested input from the public on issues that were important to them.
Our education committee chose the 6 most significant issues, and these are the questions that were presented to each of the candidates.
TOWN would like to thank Cribb Foods and Delight Donuts for providing the refreshments for our candidates to
enjoy while the interviews were in progress.
Each of the candidates was asked the following questions:
BILINGUAL EDUCATION: Apart from what ever governmental mandates must be followed with regard to bilingual education, what is your personal view about the wisdom of bilingual education as a policy or approach?
Is English immersion preferable- why or why not?
Would you encourage parents to exercise their right to waive their students' enrollment in the bilingual program in favor of the sheltered immersion program?
TEST SCORES/ACCOUNTABILITY: According to the 2003-2004 School Report Cards, we have 9 schools on Academic Watch Status and 5 schools on Early Academic Warning Status.
Low-income families, large class sizes, limited English speaking skills and lack of funding are usually blamed.
In spite of these obstacles, what can the District do to improve academic achievement?
SECURITY: Security and safety issues are becoming more prevalent in too many of our schools.
With an ever-present security staff in place, what needs to be done to improve their effectiveness and reduce the need for "Code White" lock downs and a police presence usually consisting of numerous squad cars, which is especially common at dismissal time?
TEACHER RECRUITMENT/RETENTION: There are many schools in our district where classes are not being taught by highly qualified teachers - the worst example being the case of North Elementary School where this situation exists in 43.5% of its classes.
What can District #60 do to attract and retain highly qualified teachers?
PROMOTION/IMAGE PERCEPTION: When middle-class families with children are considering a move into a community, they often look at the test scores of the local community to ensure their children will receive a high quality, college-track education.
In light of our rather low test scores, and to attract more middle class families to Waukegan, would you be willing to publish not only the schoolwide results of the standardized tests as required by the state, but also the more focused test results from the students in our gifted program and college-track programs?
Why or why not?
TOP 3: What are the top 3 issues facing District #60 and what do you propose to do to address them?
Click picture to listen
William Anderson -
Anderson is a Waukegan attorney who has served on the school board for two years since he was elected as a write-in candidate in 2003. The lifelong Waukegan resident is also a member of the Waukegan Library Board and was vice president of the Waukegan Jaycees. "The first issue was to balance the books and make sure that we had a long-term plan in place for ensuring that the school district remains solvent," Anderson said. "The biggest problem always for Waukegan is the huge funding disparity between Waukegan and other North Shore communities. We spend $5,000 to $6,000 per student. Some of these communities have double or triple what we have to spend."
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Margaret Padilla Carrasco - Carrasco
was appointed to serve an unexpired term on the school board from
1992-93 and was elected to a two-year term in 1995. She comes from
a family of educators and has taught part-time for the past 20 years.
Besides violence in school and the dropout rate, she said her biggest
concern is reforming how schools are funded in the state. "It's all
related to property taxes. That's why they have all these subsequent
problems. The financing of our education system is totally wrong,"
Carrasco said.
Click picture to listen
Alfred "Al" Clark -
Clark, 61, is a retired educator with 25 years teaching experience in North Chicago schools and five
years of experience as a principal in Chicago. He coached football in North Chicago and coached semi-pro
football for 16 years in Lake County. He's also a retired Army officer and veteran of the Vietnam War.
"After 30 years of being child-focused I felt I had something to offer," Clark said.
Click picture to listen
Lucy Santiago Copado -
Copado, 32, is a closer at Majestic Mortgage in Mundelein and is a member of the St. Martin de Porres
High School parent association. Two of her three children attend Waukegan public schools. She said she's
in favor of school uniforms and against year-round school.
"I'm very interested in making a difference and trying to be a voice for the parents who don't have the
time to attend the meetings or don't speak the language," Copado said.
Click picture to listen
Pat Foley -
Foley is the current school board president and has served 16 years on the board. She's a retired math
teacher and has co-chaired the Kids 1st Health Fair for 12 years. She is also a member of the Waukegan
Schools Foundation which raises money for district schools. She is in favor of dual-language schools
starting at the elementary level and monitoring and assessing student progress.
Click picture to listen
Anita Hanna - Hanna, 48, is currently
vice president of the school board and has served a total of eight
years on the board. She's a family educator for Kids Hope United in
Waukegan which is a transitional living program for young people and
helps them receive their GED. She is also a former ESL instructor
for the College of Lake County. "We have a lot of work today in terms
of our increasing student population and how we are going to safely
house and educate the number of students in our district," Hanna said.
"I would prefer to work on neighborhood schools versus year-round
schools."
(Note: we had technical problems with the original recording that
caused some people to be unable to listen to the interview. If you
had problems, please listen again.)
Click picture to listen
Michael Hohf -
Hohf, 56, is an architect in Waukegan and while his kids were in school he was a member of the Cooke
Magnet School PTO, Abbott Middle School PTO and the Waukegan High School Band Boosters. He is also a
member of the Waukegan Historic Preservation Commission and member of Friends of the Genesee Theatre. He
said image and security are two problems facing the district that influenced his decision to run for the
board.
"I just started realizing that no matter how much you fix up Waukegan, if you don't fix up the school
system you're not going to bring new families here unless the schools improve," Hohf said.
Click picture to listen
Patricia Jones -
Jones, 40, is the PTO president of Daniel Webster Middle School where her son is a student. She was the
president at Carman-Buckner Elementary School PTO from 1998-2001. She is also the drill team dance coach
and assistant to the cheerleading coach at Waukegan High School.
Click picture to listen
June Maguire -
Maguire, 67, has served on the board for 23 1/2 years and works as a legal assistant in Highland Park.
When her children were going through the schools she served on PTOs. She said some of the biggest
concerns during the next two years will be finding enough space for all the students and searching for a
new superintendent before current Superintendent Richard Olson retires in June 2006. "One of the things
that is unique about me is that I have no relatives that work for the district. I can be very independent
in my decision making," Maguire said.
Click picture to listen
Max Murrillo -
Murrillo, 27, is a legal assistant in Gurnee and a graduate of Waukegan schools. He's a youth group
leader at First Latin Baptist Church and served in an artillery battery of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry
Division in Kuwait. He was born in Honduras and moved to Waukegan when he was three.
He said the biggest issue is funding. "We have to reconcile where we're going to get our funding. I'm
interested in mobilizing the community," Murillo said. "I know there are businesses out there that are
waiting to be asked."
Click picture to listen
Michael Rodriguez -
Rodriguez, 58, is the co-owner of Northeast Illinois Heating and Air Conditioning in Waukegan. He serves
on the board of directors of SER-Jobs for Progress, Waukegan Renaissance Commission, Waukegan Historical
Preservation Commission and the Waukegan Business Association. Two of his nine children currently attend
Waukegan public schools. "I'm concerned about the issue of safety in the schools. That's a concern with a
lot of parents," Rodriguez said. "Some serious thought needs to be addressed to the issue to change the
environment to make it more conducive to education."
Click picture to listen
Rita Wilkins -
Wilkins is a senior business analyst for Pace Suburban Bus Co. in Arlington Heights. She is a board
member-at-large of Pro-Change International and a parent advisory board member of the Northeastern
Illinois Jr. Golf Association.
She said she would like better benefits for teachers and no more service cuts. She also said she would
like schools to be safer and more concentrated on preparing students for college.
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