Part 2: DeKalb School District 428 board hopefuls talk student success

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DeKALB – Three of the 10 DeKalb School District 428 board hopefuls vying for three full terms took time to express their views and interests during a recent forum put on by Shaw Local News Network.

In attendance to make their campaign pitch to voters were Jose Jaques, James Mitchell and Twangie Smith. This was part two of a Daily Chronicle virtual forum, which invited school board candidates to share their views.

School board hopefuls who participated in part one of the virtual forum were Nick Atwood, Kristin Bailey, Brandon Elion, Erin Grych, Marilyn Parker, Derek Shaw and Howard Solomon.

DeKalb resident Mark Charvat, who is running unopposed for a two-year, unexpired term, was not in attendance.

During the forum, candidates were asked what the greatest barrier to student success in DeKalb schools is and how would they address it.

[ How would DeKalb school board hopefuls address academic achievement? ]

The consolidated election is April 1.

Candidates’ responses, listed in alphabetical order, have been edited in length for print. To check out their full responses from the recent forum, see the video or listen to the podcast at shawlocal.com/daily-chronicle/election.

Jaques

Jaques is a retired military colonel and DeKalb police officer who previously worked as a school resource officer and security manager for District 428.

Response to student success question: “The greatest barrier is class size. It affects a few different things, but having 28-plus students in a class starting in elementary school is not conducive to learning. It’s not conducive to having students being able to express themselves, it’s not conducive to having a safe culture, and students need to feel safe in order to learn properly [and] in order to participate.

“If you have 28 kids in the class, yeah, you may know them, but do you really know them all? And I’m talking student-to-student perspective. And then that rolls into being uncomfortable to answer a question. [...] That also runs into more teachers and more effective assistants. Our assistants are working hard. They are hard workers for very little money. I think we could probably get more of them if we paid them a little bit more.”

Mitchell

Mitchell grew up in Decatur and previously served on the District 428 board. He said he’s running again in part because he has two stepchildren and a grandson.

Response to student success question: “There [are] a bunch of factors with that. And everything plugs into the student – moms and dads, teachers, administrators, the common man, the police, the fire department, everybody the student will run into during the day – even the janitors at these schools – will influence these schools to either excel or to not excel. That’s why the way to fix it, the way to do it is, I think, is to get everybody on the same page. We want our children to excel. We want all of our children to excel, but we don’t have to adhere anymore to ‘No Child Left Behind,’ thankfully. Thank God we don’t have to hear that nonsense anymore. During that time – and still today – not every kid is meant for college. Not every kid is meant to get degrees. I always say the world needs ditch diggers, too. And it does. [...] We need to push our kids or not push them, whichever way they want to go. If they want to go to work with their hands as a diesel mechanic, let them go learn to be a diesel mechanic. If the kids wants to go join the service, let them go join the service."

Smith

Smith worked as a substitute in many school districts in Illinois for multiple years. She said her faith is important to her and believes in serving others. She said she’s been volunteering in the community since age 18.

Response to student success question: “I, as well, think that it’s multifaceted what the barriers are. And the students, of course, are individuals and individual learners. Being able to ... have more adult bodies, teachers, teachers’ assistants in the classroom is going to help identify what those barriers are in the classroom. Polling, surveying each individual student to find out what their strengths and weaknesses are to help them succeed is one of the major keys to finding out what is going on. It could be something going on at home. It could be something in the way their cognitive functions, the way that these students are learning. Starting to identify with the students on a personal level as to what their barriers are is going to be key for their success in our educational system. [...] Every student is not college bound.”