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Lincoln-Way District 210 school board candidate Beth Janus-Doyle submitted this questionnaire, answering The Herald-News' questions about the 2017 board race.
Name: Beth Janus-Doyle
Political party: Political affiliation should have nothing to do with a school board campaign. In fact, politics should stay out of local public education. We should focus only on what's best for the students and the taxpayers.
Age: 38
Address:
Marital status: Married (14 years)
Significant other:
Profession: High School English Teacher (16 years)
Employer: Community High School District 218
Email address: beth.janusdoyle@gmail.com
Website: www.bethjanusdoyle.com
Children: 1 child, 7th grader at Mokena Junior High
Education: Bachelors of Arts in English and Secondary Ed
Masters of Arts in Teaching and Leadership
54 additional graduate credit hours in a variety of educational topics, including: ELL studies, differentiated discipline, curriculum, and overall, best practices in education.
Why are you running for the Lincoln-Way District 210 school board?
I am running because I thought, “if not me, then who”. I believe that as a long-time high school educator, I offer an “insider’s perspective” into the world of secondary education. Having a high school educator on a BOE is important, as they can often serve as a watchdog for: curriculum & instruction, what students need to be successful, and what might be both necessary and unnecessary for a school to function, properly and successfully.
What are your qualifications to serve as a board member?
I have been teaching high school for 16 years, and 8 of those years I have team-taught special education sections, along with my regular ed sections. I am a concerned citizen (I have lived in Mokena for 12 years), a mother of an upcoming high school student, and my parents live in Frankfort, pay a lot of property taxes, and have no children in school.
What are the greatest challenges the district is facing in the coming years?
Clearly, the biggest challenge for this district is the financial situation we find ourselves in.
If elected, what will be your top three priorities?
If elected, my priorities are to:
Work with the other 6 members to work out and work through all possibilities for making the district financially sound again.
Be the figure on the board who watches out to preserve 210’s academic integrity and overall reputation for excellence.
Work with the community PRIOR to making decisions, as opposed to pretending to take their input after decisions have already been made. We need to reach out to the wealth of experience in this district. There are so many people willing to lend a hand, it would be a shame not to make them part of the decision making process.
What steps should the school board take to make the district more financially stable?
There are so many ideas floating around to decrease spending and increase revenue. Any one of the candidates can tout idea after idea, plan after plan - but until each one is worked through to see if it is viable and will work, they are just that: ideas.
As a school board member, how will you work to regain public trust in the district after the many recent controversies?
On my website, I detail (3) steps for community involvement. There are things other BOEs do that we need to embrace because reestablishing communication and trust is vital to our future success.