Candidate for Geneva School District 304 - Jessica Breugelmans

Name: Jessica Lynn Breugelmans

Age: 37 (for a couple more weeks at least!)

Town of residence: Geneva (Mill Creek)

Office sought: Geneva District 304 Board of Education Member

Website: www.BreugelmansForBoard.com

Civic involvement and volunteer work: 

Regular attendee at Geneva Board of Education meetings for 2 years

Board member Geneva Academic Foundation

Scholarship committee member Community Foundation of the Fox River Valley

Kane County ROE Educator of the Year selection committee member

Rosary High School Candlelight Ball committee member

Rosary High School Veritas Society

Board member Water Street Studios

Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra annual contributor

Previous elected offices held: 

None

1. Why are you the best candidate for this office?

In general I believe that most of the candidates running for school board have very similar platforms focused mainly on collaboration and communication like myself.

Three things sets me apart: Committed, capable and conscientious.

I have shown commitment to children and to education over the course of the last 10 years in a number of ways.

Capable

Having a MA in Teaching Certified Elementary Education coupled with a BS in Business Management and Administration with a concentration in accounting, provides me a combination of knowledge and skills that makes me uniquely qualified.

I have worked in traditional business settings, taught in multiple school districts, ran my own tutoring businesses and presently am the education coordinator for the Chicago Steel hockey team.

Conscientious

I have been attending meetings, researching and learning all that I can regarding the district over the last 2 years, and have always been one to continuously stay abreast the most current best practices in education.

2. What are the biggest challenges facing the office you seek?

First, we need to continue our efforts towards fiscal responsibility while still allowing room for growth. We need to continue trying to find that perfect balance between spending too little and spending too much and adjust as necessary where needed.

Being one of the best districts in the state, we need to ensure that we are staying at the forefront of education.

3. What issues would you like to address should you be elected?

• Standardized test scores are trending down year-over-year

• The achievement gap for certain student groups grew 2015-2018

• Math metrics documented by ISBE indicate that we might consider placing more students into an accelerated math program beginning with 8th grade Algebra 1.

I would rely on a collaborative team lead by our administration to develop action plans as needed.