The April 6 election will be a momentous one for Warren Township High School District 121, as voters will not only decide whether to approve a referendum calling for a limiting rate increase of .35% but also which four candidates will serve four-year terms on the district’s Board of Education.
There are five candidates for the school board on the ballot, from which voters will choose four.
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Paul Schulz serves as the board’s president, and is hoping to be elected to his second term next month. He has four children who attended Warren Township High School, and he said that the district did a good job at setting his children up for success in the future. Schulz added that he wanted to help ensure that same quality of education for other students.
He said that one of the biggest issues that the district faces is getting students back into the classroom in a “safe environment,” adding that he believes the safeguards that the district has in place are “really good” and that the “kids can be back in the classroom.”
The other issue is, of course, the referendum.
“We’ve done a lot to reduce our expenses, but when it comes down to it most of our expenses are payroll, and that’s what we’re really going to have to impact if we’re going to reduce our expenses,” Schulz said.
– Original Credit: News-Sun
John Anderson is also running to secure another term on the school board, on which he has served since 2005. He said that his 16 years on the board have been his “way of giving back.”
Anderson said that the district has had financial problems for at least as long as he’s been on the board, and it’s a problem that he hopes is aided by the passing of the referendum on April 6.
“There’s no question that money is the biggest problem in the district right now,” Anderson said. “We are way underfunded by comparison to our comparable districts in Lake County. We’ve struggled with it since I’ve been on the board. We’re trying, but you can’t just gut the district to save money. This referendum is extremely important.”
– Original Credit: News-Sun
If elected, this would be Kathy Blair’s first full term. She’s been on the board since November, serving an interim term for a member who left the board early.
Blair currently owns Nothing Bundt Cakes, a bakery in Gurnee, and previously worked as a middle school science teacher. She said that joining the board was a way for her to be involved in education again.
For as long as she’s been on the school board the district has been facing the pandemic, and Blair said that it will be interesting to see what the district is like once COVID is no longer the focus of concern at the school. She said her primary concern if elected to another term would be, “reacclimating the students.”
“The return is probably going to take some time,” Blair said, adding that she also hopes to see the district’s financial issues “settled” with the referendum.
– Original Credit: News-Sun
First-time candidate Blake Thomas first started considering joining the school board around 2015, when former District 121 Board of Education member Liz Biondi said she did not want the district to hire a gay superintendent, but he said he ultimately missed the deadline to be placed on the next ballot and his plate was “already pretty full.” The COVID-19 pandemic prompted him to again consider a run.
One of his primary issues with how the district is functioning is that the district began to allow students, teachers and staff back into school too early, according to Thomas.
“Sending students, teachers and staff back to school [in January] was frankly putting the community at risk, and yet [the board] voted unanimously to return to in-person learning,” Thomas said. “Don’t get me wrong, I think that the social-emotional learning aspect of students is incredibly impactful. However I think that the disregard for the health and safety of students, staff and teachers was shortsighted at best.”
Natalia Alvarez Martinez did not respond to a request for an interview, but according to a post on the Warren Township D121 Board of Education Election Facebook page Martinez said that she is a mother of two children, one is a current Warren Township High School student, and the other is a graduate of the school.
She also said that one of her primary concerns, if elected, would be getting students back into school during the upcoming school year.
“I myself have a daughter in high school who has struggled with the social and emotional consequences of this pandemic,” Martinez said in the Facebook post. “The negative impacts of e-learning ranges from academic stress, social-economic status, family dynamics and damaging psychological issues, including increased anxieties, due to current pandemic issues. It is imperative to get back to school, safely and effectively.”
Early voting began March 14.