| What is the importance of District #116 School Board to your constituents? |
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| Felipe Menanteau |
| "Social and Racial Justice. We believe that a community like Urbana could be the model of equitable schooling which honors each child and their cultural heritage, and works diligently to create an environment which nurtures our children into being healthy community members of a democracy." |
| Paul Poulosky |
| "Having a school system that can give each child the ability to achieve their own personal greatness is the core mission of the school district. The Board's importance to the citizens of the district is to ensure the mission is met for all of its students. It needs to provide every student that walks through its doors the tools not only to learn, or to have a pathway to a career, but also to live and thrive in an increasingly multicultural world." |
| Why are you qualified to be on the School Board? |
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| Felipe Menanteau |
| "I have been PTA board member (vice-president Leal), local organizer, advocate for equity and one of the leaders for the ”Cena y Ciencias” program that brings science in Spanish to the Latino students in the district. I am also a scientist and a academic. I am a Research Professor of Astronomy and a Research Scientist at NCSA at the University of Illinois. I work on Observational Cosmology and building the next generation of surveys is astronomy. I plan to bring the critical thinking, skepticism, patience and collaborative work that I use everyday as scientist into the board." |
| Paul Poulosky |
| "I have been fortunate to have been elected to the board for the past eight years. In that time, I have taken professional development concerning state and federal regulations, racial equity, and tax policy. In addition, the experience of being on the board has allowed me to establish relationships with many teachers, staff members, and community leaders which greatly assist in being an effective board member. " |
| If elected, what is something you want to accomplish on the School Board, and how long will it take? |
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| Felipe Menanteau |
| "Karie Brown-Tess (D-4) and I have developed a platform that includes input from our community and seeks to open a dialogue to make the board more transparent, engaged and fair to all groups in our community. It has three pillars: 1) Social and Racial Justice, 2) Accountability and 3) Transparency. Visit my website for more details on our platform." |
| Paul Poulosky |
| "We will select a new superintendent in the district in a collaborative, open process in June. I want to add dedicated spots on the board's agenda to provide opportunity for Student Government, Teacher's Union, and PTA leaders to bring issues to the board. This can be done in the next year. I want to make a commitment to finish the the elementary upgrades to Wiley and Thomas Paine in the next year. The district can implement an anonymous survey of its staff members to better hear their concerns. It will also measure the climate and culture of the district, and can be used in the performance evaluations of its administrators." |
| Is there anything else you would like to say to an undecided voter? |
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| Felipe Menanteau |
| "The school board has acted as a private board on many levels for too many years. School Board Members have been silent in crucial decisions. I pledge to push our board members to openly and appropriately express their agreement or dissent in decision-making." |
| Paul Poulosky |
| "I would love to hear from you personally. Please feel free to contact me at paul.poulosky@gmail.com, or call me at 217 344 2649. I will be happy to take your questions and hear your concerns." |