Plainfield School District 202 candidates weigh in on Common Core

PLAINFIELD – All four candidates for three seats on the Plainfield School District 202 Board have a unique perspective of what they hope to bring to the district if elected.

Incumbents Gregory Nichols and Kevin Kirberg are running for three, four-year terms along with CAPE board member Heather Drake and CCSD 168 school administrator Sharlyne Williams.

All the candidates said the district can improve on implementation of the Common Core state standards.

Sharlyne Williams

“I think Common Core has some validity,” Williams said. “The implementation was not as good as it should have been. There needs to be decreased emphasis in testing and more emphasis on student learning.”

Williams said she is focusing on decreasing the district’s achievement gap and improving learning opportunities for all students.

That includes looking at the number of student suspensions or discipline records and cross-referencing them with academic performance.

“I would like to see the relationship between discipline and performance. There is usually a correlation,” Williams said.

She also wants to help education funding reform, influencing the legislative process in the district by improving connections to legislators and residents.

“The responsibility of school boards has been expanding from administrative to a more involved legislative outreach process,” Williams said.

Kevin Kirberg

Kirberg wants to continue his leadership role in applied learning and technology on the board. He chairs the Applied Learning and Technology Committee.

“We have begun solid work moving forward with elementary, middle and high school curriculum,” he said.

Kirberg mentioned several initiatives he would like to see implemented in his next term if elected, including full-day kindergarten, adding foreign language to the middle school curriculum and adding an eighth period in high schools.

Funding always is an issue, Kirberg said, adding that the district needs to do whatever it can at the state level to support education funding.

Kirberg said Common Core curriculum is state law, but school control for curriculum needs to remain.

“That’s why local school boards exist in Illinois,” he said. “PARCC has some issues. ... Kids are conditioned to not take the assessments seriously because they are assessed too much.”

Heather Drake

Drake said she understands the premise of Common Core, but she said the district, and the nation, may not have been ready for implementation and testing.

“They’re still changing what they want to mandate,” Drake said. “High school kids were taken out of regular school day. Some missed reviews or tests.”

A way to help students deal with the new standards and provide more revenue for the district, Drake said, is to enter into a sponsorship for technology and get local companies to advertise for fees or assistance, such as laptops for common core preparedness.

She also supports bringing back IT staff cut during the recession.

One of Drake’s main goals is giving high school students more elective class opportunities by reducing classes from seven, 56-minute periods to six, 49-minute and two, 48-minute periods, adding an eighth period to the school day.

Greg Nichols

Nichols said most of the discussion about Common Core was overblown because of political motives. But the most important factor for him is making sure local school boards retain control.

As secretary for the board, Nichols said he has seen how small percentage cuts in funding from the state can affect the district, the fourth largest in the state by enrollment.

“In my first term, we worked to rebuild some of the fund balance after we got hit hard by the recession,” he said.

Nichols wants to continue the fiscal path the board has laid out over his four-year term.

His personal goals include moving his focus to the district’s curriculum, including an all-day kindergarten.

“Others have it, and we’re falling behind,” he said. “It’s becoming a standard.”

–––––

CANDIDATE BIOS

Name: Heather Drake

Age: 45

Family: Husband Tim, two children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Political experience: CAPE board member (four years), committee chair for Eagle Point and Heritage Grove parent-teacher organizations, superintendent search committee for Plainfield 202.

Career: Real estate broker for Baird and Warner, Realty Executives Success, worked at developmentally disabled workshops in Palatine and Arizona.

Name: Kevin Kirberg

Age: 42

Family: Wife Jennifer, one child

Education: Bachelor’s degree in history from Western Illinois University.

Political experience: School Board member (2011-2015), Illinois Fatherhood Initiative Board (six years).

Career: Conference center manager for American Society of Anesthesiologists (one year), campus administrator for DePaul University (13 years) and Lewis University (five years).

Name: Greg Nichols

Age: 50

Family: Wife Lucia, four children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from University of Wisconsin, MBA from Cardinal Stritch University.

Political experience: School Board member (2011-2015), registered Republican, Wheatland Township Republican organization events, election judge for precinct 29 Wheatland Township.

Career: Owner, The Automation Technology Network LLC (14 years), Dahlstrom (three years), Giddings & Lewis (11 years).

Name: Sharlyne Williams

Age: 58

Family: Husband Edward, three children, five grandchildren

Education: Bachelor’s degree from University of Memphis, MBA from Benedictine University, master’s degree in education from Northern Illinois University.

Political experience: None

Career: Chief business official at CCSD 168 (five years), undisclosed school district (five years), teaching for Chicago Public Schools and Valley View School District 365U, 15-20 years at Deloit, SBC Telecommunications.