FAq'S
Why are you running?
I decided to run for the school board after watching many, many board meetings where there were hardly any questions asked, zero debate, and every vote was unanimous. I do not believe I have all of the answers but I think the best way to achieve the best results is by asking questions. I do not have an agenda for the board, I do think I can bring a level of professionalism with my board experience on how to have constructive discourse. My willingness to engage with the community and not shy away from criticism will be helpful. All of the Winnetka taxing bodies are lucky to have devoted, volunteer board members. I wouldn't volunteer for a position unless I felt I could give it the level of attention and effort that is required for such an important cause.
Caucus Involvement
Following the 2023 school board election I vowed to stay involved in the community. I feel pride in giving back through volunteerism. I joined the 2024 Winnetka Caucus Council and was placed on the Village Platform committee where eventually I was chosen by my committee to be Chair and was placed on the Executive Committee.
My committee was responsible for the annual survey and my committee had completed all of our responsibilities. As the Caucus transitioned to focusing on candidates, I was informed the school board incumbents were not going to run for another term and there would not be enough applicants for the school board. I weighed where I could contribute to the greater-good, staying on the Caucus or as a school board member. According the the Caucus Bylaws I had to resign in order to run, which is why I resigned from the Caucus on a good note - after I had completed all of my responsibilities.
Running "Against" the Caucus
I am not running against anyone – caucus or any other candidate. There are 4 candidates for 3 positions but I am not running against anyone, and believe I would work well with the existing board members and whoever else is elected in this election.
Books
I am completely against book banning. Full stop.
A rumor has circulated that I am a "book banner". Context is always important – years back, my wife emailed a group of moms asking for feedback about some books that were being introduced in our kindergartener's class. She was seeking mom advice as we had two very different kindergarten experiences back-to-back. This was also at a time when the district and school board were not giving a clear answer about adding sex-ed into the kindergarten curriculum, and a question of if the books were related to that. Some of those moms gave her constructive feedback and had a conversation. However, one of those moms decided to screenshot parts, with losing context, and share it widely creating a narrative that wasn't true and vilifying her for asking a question.
It is also important to note that she emailed moms that knew our family and her hope was they knew this wasn’t coming from a family that would have issues with these subject matters but instead had questions as to how they were being introduced in kindergarten. Unfortunately this was not the case.
To be very clear my wife did not send this email to the school board or any news sources. She sent it to other moms asking for feedback, prior to an upcoming meeting that was set up. A news source received this email, not from my family, and wrote an article.
We all acknowledge mistakes were made. No one was at their best during the pandemic. The hardest part of the fallout from this is being labeled something that we are not. We are kind, we are inclusive. A mistake was made but the attacks on our family’s reputation have gone above and beyond what is fair for asking a question, which is something we should all have the freedom to do.
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