Five residents of Avoca School District 37 are running for four open four-year terms. Rich Zelinsky is an incumbent, while four others – Gil Gibori, Jun Yoshitani, Jamie Taylor, and Dan Garbis – are newcomers. Gibori, Yoshitani, Taylor and Garbis are endorsed by the Avoca School District 37 caucus. Garbis, Zelinsky and Gibori are campaigning together.
The candidates agreed that the district must make a major decision about the fate of Avoca Center, the former Avoca Central school, but are divided on whether the district should raze the building and keep the land, sell the land for residential development, or examine other options. They also concur that the district and new board must do a better job communicating with parents and other residents. The candidates share concerns about maintaining and improving the district’s educational standards and about the district’s recently completed strategic plan.
Dan Garbis
Garbis, 43, is an attorney who specializes in commercial litigation. He also has a background in accounting. He and his family have lived in the Wilmette section of District 37 for 14 years; three of his four children are in the district, and he is a member of the district’s communication committee. He said he is running because he has a vested interest in maintaining the district’s high education standards: “I believe that in recent years, our school district has slipped somewhat … I believe that with four vacant board positions, right now our district is in the crossroads.”
Garbis said the three most important district issues are Avoca Center, vertical alignment of curriculum, and making a decision on the superintendent position, since Superintendent Kevin Jauch’s contract will be up for consideration in the near future.
“A strong superintendent is needed to maintain our high educational standards. As a future board member, I’ll hold our superintendent accountable for the performance of our students,” he said.
He does not support immediately selling Avoca Center’s land: “Selling public land as a quick fix would not benefit the district in future years.” However, he does believe the building is past its useful life and says the future board must decide among the several options.
Gil Gibori
Gibori, 44, and his wife have lived in Winnetka for six years and have four children in Avoca schools. He and his wife own an educational services company; Gibori said education is his passion and he now wants to volunteer where he can have the most impact on the district. He has served on several district advisory committees, including the strategic planning committee and the communication and engagement committee.
He said he has prepared himself for the past year by attending school board meetings, meeting with district administrators, teachers, parents, and other stakeholders. He also believes his educational expertise could help the board.
He said there are strong arguments for and against keeping the Avoca Center property, “but I think razing the building is probably a minimum. That doesn’t force us to decide what to do with (the land) right away. It gives us time to look at different options, beyond selling it or keeping it.
“We can energize the community to do something really creative with it, but ultimately no one who isn’t on the board knows everything about the property, so the future board will have to make the decision,” Gibori said.
He said he believes District 37 is coming out of tumultuous times with changes in its administration and curriculum changes, “but I’m excited. I think Avoca’s coming out of that and hitting its groove.”
Jamie Taylor
Taylor, 43, is from Winnetka and has lived in District 37 for more than 11 years. Her family has three children in the district. She is currently a stay-at-home parent, but previously worked in commercial banking and investment, and has an undergraduate degree in architecture. She served on the district’s strategic planning committee.
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She said her priorities are improving the district’s vertical alignment of curriculum, making the district’s math curriculum more rigorous, and improving its educational intervention systems to help students. She also wants to improve district communication, and favors investment in the district’s two aging school buildings.
Taylor said she brings financial and accounting expertise to the board: “I’m very comfortable with building design and construction. My finance, accounting and strategy background will help because I understand debt and bonds and balance sheets.”
Taylor wants to sell Avoca Center and says that, while keeping the property as green space would be ideal, “realistically that’s not going to happen. Let’s sell it lock, stock and barrel and make sure we have some control over what comes in, assuring an ongoing stream of revenue via taxes.”
Jun Yoshitani
Yoshitani, 50, lives in Wilmette with his wife and four children, all of whom are in the district. He has worked in financial planning and analysis for a Chicago area industrial manufacturer. He said he believes his career skills can help bring “a little more corporate rigor to some of the district’s processes,” and said he believes he could bring a sense of urgency and focus to the administration to help it execute near and long-term goals.
Yoshitani echoes other candidates in saying he believes there has been a slight decline in Avoca’s education standards: “As I’ve talked to parents, there’s just a feeling we’re not as good as we could be.”
He said his experience in assessing financial risks will be valuable as the district faces challenges that could come from the state legislature, including potential changes to teacher pension mandates and property tax freezes. He says the district needs to clearly communicate its financial picture to district residents.
Yoshitani said he believes the Avoca Center property should be sold, “with the caveat that it’s a carefully thought out process, with controls in place so we don’t sell to a developer who goes bankrupt.”
Rick Zelinsky
Zelinsky, of Northfield, 48, has been on the board since 2009 and is currently its vice president. He and his family have lived in the district for 17 years. He is vice president of a technology company providing software for real estate businesses.
He said he is running for a third term because he wants to see the strategic plan implemented, because he wants to be part of an effort to improve the district’s educational technology, and because he wants to be part of any decision on Avoca Center.
“I’ve been passionate about Avoca Center, and I think I ultimately convinced the current board that we couldn’t wait on this issue any longer. The next board will make a decision, and I want to participate in that,” he said. He said the district can no longer be a landlord, but hasn’t decided whether to support selling the property, keeping the land as green space or forging property use agreements with another government, such as the Wilmette Park District.
He said he brings leadership skills and institutional knowledge to the next board and, as someone without children at the district, understands that it must communicate and take input from what he said are the 70 to 80 percent of residents who also have no students at the district’s two schools: “It’s something we recognize we have to improve. I think we’ve communicated with parents, but outside that group it hasn’t been adequate.”
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy