Voters have five candidates to choose from in the April 6 election to fill four open seats on the Morton Grove School District 70 Board of Education. They are incumbents Paul Torres and Mark Thannert and new candidates Kristey Michalak Chalabi, Pamela Alper, and Jeremy Wilson. District 70 has one school, Park View Elementary.
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Paul Torres
Torres, who seeking re-election to the school board, graduated from Niles West High School. He and his wife have two children in the school district. He has a master’s degree in Curriculum from National Louis University.
Torres has taught U.S. History, Modern World History, and AP Psychology at Niles North High School since 2003. He also coaches swimming at the high school, and this summer will coach swimming for the Morton Grove Park District. He recently played an active role in passing the referendum to renovate Harrer Pool.
Torres said in the short term, dealing with the pandemic remains a top priority for the district.
“The decision to send your child to school or keep them in remote learning is a personal one for the time being… However, we need to constantly be making plans and reevaluating the circumstances, reviewing updated guidelines with the expectation that this pandemic will be coming to an end very soon. All teachers, staff, parents, and students want to get back to a full day of education. It should be our intention to keep moving in that direction and get there as soon as possible,” he said.
Long-term, Torres said the district’s biggest challenge is developing an integrated curriculum across all grade levels so that teachers can collaborate.
“I have been very pleased (with) how the administration has continued to implement this plan over the last few years. But, over the next few years, this will be especially challenging,” he said.
Pamela Alper
Alper, a special education teacher for Maine Township High School District 207, has an M.Ed in Differentiated Instruction from the American College of Education. She grew up in the Morton Grove area and participates in the Park View PTO.
She said the school district’s top priorities should be:
Hiring the best candidates for open positions and providing growth opportunities and experiences for veteran staff
Making data-driven decisions for the district and ensuring the district is fiscally responsible with tax dollars
Continuing to provide a curriculum scope that prepares students for success in high school
She said the pandemic continues to provide the district with challenges and ensuring a safe return to school for staff and students will be a focal point in the coming months.
“We are proud members of the Park View community. We have two sons in Park View currently (K and 2nd) and a 10-month-old future warrior daughter. Because of this, I am invested in the long-term growth and success of our school district,” Alper said.
Jeremy Wilson
Wilson, a Senior Enterprise Analytics Manager for an environmental services company, said his career has been focused on helping companies improve their performance by gaining better visibility into their data assets. Wilson said he volunteers at his church and serves on the Morton Grove Baseball and Softball Association board. He also has coached girls’ softball for two years.
“I have always felt a calling to serve in my community, and nothing could be more important than serving our children’s needs,” Wilson said.
Wilson said the school board and administration did an “outstanding job” dealing with the pandemic; he still felt more could have been done for remote learners.
“The return-to-learn plan that was established for District 70 was one of the best that I have seen. Students attending school in-person had small class sizes where they could safely maintain distance and received a great amount of attention,” he said. “However class sizes for remote learning for some grades were unacceptably large. While the negative impact of this is not easily noticeable because standardized test scores did not fall considerably, the student engagement and support from teachers has suffered dramatically in these cases.”
He said ensuring the safe return of in-person learning for students, ensuring equitable learning opportunities for students whether they are in-person or remote, and planning for future growth, including the possible impact of Sawmill Station, should be the district’s top priorities. He also said the district should prioritize maintaining consistency in administrative leadership.
“I am running for the school board for one reason: to help the families of our district, like mine, have access to the best education possible for their children,” he said.
Kristy Michalak Chalabi
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Chalabi is a physical therapist assistant and a certified restorative yoga instructor. She also is a wellness advocate with Doterra, a company which produces essential oils, and teaches Family Yoga at the Morton Grove Public Library. Chalabi has three children, including a first and fourth-grader at Park View. She has volunteered as a room parent and also has been involved with the PTO.
“I feel the top priority for District 70 is to improve testing scores at Park View. Many children are able to raise scores at an individual level, but when you have a large population, the growths are harder to display. Our children deserve the best, and I believe Park View strives for that daily,” she said.
“I believe our teachers and administration deserve the best resources to improve the success of our children.”
Mark Thannert
Thannert first joined the school board in 2015 when the board appointed him to fill a vacant seat. He has been a Park View parent since 2008. Thannert has a master’s degree in Information Technology from Northwestern University. He works as an IT professional.
Thannert said the biggest immediate priority for the district is getting students back in school. “I think the district has handled the pandemic well. The hybrid option was well received and I think most of the residents realized it was a safety issue we were dealing with.”
Long-term, Thannert said the district needs to remain fiscally strong and fiscally responsible. He said one area of focus for the district should be to make sure Park View is aligned with Niles West High School. He said working with the high school and aligning curriculum to make sure students are prepared for high school is a top priority for the district.