District 107 Needs Fresh Perspective

Dear Editor:

I attended Wednesday night's Candidate’s Forum for Pleasantdale Schools and was pleased to see the fresh perspective from Doug Gilman, Steven Rockrohr & Gina Scaletta-Nelson. There were many questions from the audience and these candidates had very insightful responses.

Gilman, a V.P. for Aon who manages people globally, explained that other countries are "hungry for our jobs". The need to increase technology skills & resources are a must, as our children will be competing globally, not just locally; they need to learn to think critically and creatively to be successful against that global competition.

As far as accountability, our district paid a $132,000 penalty when an administrator retired early. Scaletta-Nelson, an adjunct professor at Northeastern University, said school districts in IL were notified to include verbiage in all contracts stating that employees who elect to participate in the early retirement option would be solely responsible for all employee contributions due to the TRS. Pleasantdale never did this and was required to pay the penalty.

Another interesting topic was regarding transparency & open communication via our board. The audience suggested videotaping all District meetings. Gilman, Rockrohr & Scaletta-Nelson were very supportive of making information available to the community 24/7.

There were several questions regarding Standards Based Grading, a new initiative piloted in D107 last fall with mixed reviews from the community. Rockrohr, explained that the district bought a program and we didn't do due diligence. As his role as a school administrator, he sees many programs aimed at improving education and “in the end, the only ones that are successful are those that have been properly researched to ensure that they fit the needs of the students they are intended for.”

Sincerely,
Kim Barker

Willow Springs