D90 Martire Questionnaire RiverForest

8/9/2019 D90 Martire Questionnaire RiverForest

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CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE - RIVER FOREST SCHOOL BOARD - DISTRICT 90

Wednesday Journal

April 2015

Name: Ralph M. Martire

Address: 1028 Monroe Avenue, River Forest, IL 60305

Age: 55

Profession: Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a bipartisan think tank that works on fiscal,

education, economic development and health/human service policy

Years in River Forest: 14

Are you a District 90 graduate? No

Do you have children who have, are or will be attending District 91 schools? What are their ages? Yes. I have a daughter who is

12 in the 7th grade at Roosevelt Middle School, and a son who is 16 and a junior at OPRF high school, who graduated from

Roosevelt Middle School. Both of my children completed their grade school at Willard.

Have you ever run for or served in a local political office before? If so, when and which office? I am currently an elected member

of the D90 school board, in the last year of my first term. In 1996 I ran for the County Board, coming in second in a fie ld of five.

Why did you decide to run for the school board? There are numerous reasons I desire to remain a School Board Member.

First, my wife and I moved to River Forest specifically because of the quality of the public schools—which is something I

care passionately about maintaining. To accomplish this, I will work to ensure D90 Board discussions:

- Are informed by best practices and are evidence based;

- Are focused on the needs of the whole child-academic, social and emotional; and

- Create an environment that encourages life-long learning.

And my commitment to these principles is not just election speak. Since I have been on the board I have consistently taken

actions which confirm that commitment. For instance, I believe we can’t expect our students to develop an interest in

lifelong learning if we do not set an example. Hence, taking my board responsibilities seriously, I earned “Master Board

Member” status in September of 2013, for participating in 60 hours of school board member professional development

(as both a presenter/instructor as well as attendee) work, certified by the Illinois School Board Association.

To ensure that District 90 satisfies its commitment to educating the whole child, I have consistently supported investing

resources into District 90’s RTI programs and differentiation efforts. After all, it isn’t possible to meet the diverse needs of

the children attending our schools if we do not actually know in great and granular detail, what those needs are. If a child

is very gifted in a particular academic discipline, it is our duty to discover that and develop materials to challenge and

engage that child. On the other hand, if a child requires additional support to master a subject area, or to meet social or

emotional needs, District 90 has to have the capacity to provide that support as well.

I have similarly supported enhancing collaboration among teachers who teach similar subjects (e.g. math teachers) but at

different levels. This type of collaboration has been proven out as an international best practice that builds the ski lls of

teachers, while helping seamlessly articulate academic offerings across grade levels, which is crucial if Common Core is tobe well-implemented.

Second, I believe I do add some value to school board discussions because of the significant time my day job requires me

to spend on issues involving education policy generally and education finance particularly. For instance, I have designed

and taught masters classes on education finance for the University of Illinois, a doctoral class on the politics of education

for Illinois State University, and various masters level classes on public budgeting, fiscal policy and economics for Roosevel

University, Benedictine University, ISU and the U of I. I also regularly guest lecture on education finance in numerous

undergraduate and masters level programs across Illinois—including those taught at Concordia University by Professor

Michelle Mangan. I currently serve as the appointed technical advisor on education policy to numerous elected officials in

Illinois and nationally, and serve a similar role for various community-based, and other independent organizations. I even



served on a national education policy commission under the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Education

(detailed below).

This background has helped me contribute to D90’s tradition of sound fiscal management. For instance, during my tenure

as chair of the D90 Finance Committee, District 90 was one of less than 10 districts statewide that actually reduced its

property tax levy—despite the fact that state and federal funding for District 90 declined over each of the prior three

years.

Meanwhile, this responsible stewardship of the District’s finances did not come at the expense of educational quality. So,

despite actually reducing our levy, and spending less in inflation-adjusted terms every year during my tenure, District 90

simultaneously:

-

Maintained a high quality public education (Roosevelt actually was recognized as a “national Blue Ribbon” schoo

during this period);

- Budgeted for decreased funding from the state of Illinois;

- Budgeted for devolution of the primary responsibility to fund the normal cost of teachers’ retirement benefits

from the state to District 90;

-

Factored in the estimated cost of the newly signed contract with the River Forest Education Association (the

union that represents our teachers), which was executed in June 2014;

- Invested in the professional development needed to implement the Common Core effectively; and

- Implemented a comprehensive technology roll-out involving iPads, creating a one-to-one device-to student ratio

5th through 8th grade.

Indeed, in each of the three years I have served as chair of finance, District 90’s actual educational fund expenditures

came in below the amount budgeted for that year. Throughout my tenure, District 90’s average operating expense per

child has remained just below the average operating expense per child for similar, high performing districts.

To communicate better with parents and the community at large, I worked with the administration to produce a more

user-friendly summary of the District’s finances that is available online through the District’s website. This new report

eliminates jargon, includes more graphic illustrations of the District’s finances that make the data more accessible (e.g.,

through use of bar graphs and pie charts) and includes historic comparisons so budgetary trends are easy to see.

Over the next few years, as District 90 implements the Common Core, adjusts to the new PARCC exams, utilizes a new,

controversial but legislatively mandated teacher evaluation system, and works to eliminate the statistically meaningful

achievement gap between the district’s white and African American students, I feel my knowledge of educational best

practices and trends, as well as direct involvement in education policy development at the state and federal levels, will be

helpful to the school board.

Third, the correlation between educational attainment and economic competitiveness has been increasing over time—somuch so that both wages and unemployment rates are tied directly to educational attainment. Hence, the quality of

education a child receives during his or her K-12 years will dramatically impact that child’s future economic viability.

Moreover, the rapidly evolving nature of the modern economy is such that today’s children need an education that not

only helps them develop appropriate numeracy, literacy, scientific, technological, critical thinking, and other academic skil

sets, but also encourages them to become lifelong learners. To promote lifelong learning and ensure a bright future for ou

children, I will continue to work to ensure that River Forest public schools have the capacity to implement pedagogy,

academic content, enrichment, professional development and other programming competitive with the best public and

private schools worldwide.

What talents and skills would you bring to bear to improve the system? In addition to the aforementioned roles I’ve played in

education-related academia, I have had a number of experiences in the field of education that will allow me to bring some relevantexpertise to the D90 Board, which are summarized below:

2011-2013: Commissioner, Federal Equity and Excellence in Education Commission. Appointed as a full voting

commissioner to the Congressionally-established “Equity and Excellence in Education Commission,” under the administration of the

Federal Department of Education’s Civil Rights Division. The Commission was charged by Congress to review public education

systems and systems of education finance at the national and state levels in the U.S., to identify whether any problems inherent in

those systems contributed to either inequities in access to educational opportunities or creation of achievement gaps, and/or

otherwise established barriers to educational excellence for any children.

The Commission completed its work with the issuance of the “For Each and Every Child” report in February of 2013. The report,

which reviewed the importance of education to both the U.S. economy and its democracy and contained numerous

recommendations to create an equitable and excellent education for all children, was issued on a unanimous basis and is available



online at For Each and Every Child . I co-authored the first section of the report, which made recommendations regarding the fiscal

and education funding policies required at the state and federal levels to provide an excellent education to every child, rich or poor

white, black, Latino or other minority. I was the principal author of the federal recommendations in Section 1. I was also the sole

author of Appendix C to the “For each and Every Child ” report, available online at Appendix C: Compendium—7 other

Commissioners signed on to said Appendix.

Since the issuance of the “For Each and Every Child” report, I have been appointed by Congressman Mike Honda of California to

serve as technical advisor to the House Appropriations Committee on Education policy. In that role, I have drafted legislation to

implement the changes to federal education policy set forth in “For Each and Every Child,” which Congressman Honda currently

intends to introduce at some point during this legislative session. Moreover, the Federal Department of Education has taken a

number of actions based on the Report’s recommendations, including the investment of some $400 million more in early

childhood education and the issuance of an enforcement advisory notifying school districts nationally that questions involving

equitable resource allocation are now a legitimate basis for filing a complaint with the Department of Education’s Civil Rights

Division.

1999 – Present: Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) , a bipartisan IRS

501(c)(3) think tank committed to ensuring that state, federal and local workforce, education, fiscal, economic and budget policies

are fair and just, and promote opportunity for all, but focusing on disadvantaged and working class families, as well as

government's capacity to deliver essential services.

As part of my work for CTBA, I have been actively engaged in reforming various aspects of public education policy in

Illinois. This work has included:

- Serving as technical advisor to the bipartisan, bicameral Education Legislative Caucus in the Illinois General Assembly.

-

Drafting model tax and school funding reform legislation at the request of then State Senator Meeks (the current chair ofthe Illinois State Board of Education), which was introduced as SB 750.

- Currently working as technical advisor to Senators Kimberly Lightford and Toi Hutchinson on similar, comprehensive tax

policy and education funding reform legislation.

-

Successfully developing coalitions with other organizations to work on state education, healthcare, economic

development, tax and fiscal policy.

- Regular columnist for the Springfield State-Journal Register, and The Daily Herald on education and fiscal policy

specifically, as well as good government generally.

In addition, much of my community service has centered on public education, as the following indicates:

- Elected to the District 90 School Board in 2011, where I serve as chair of the F inance Committee and District liaison to the

Illinois Association of School Boards and the “Ed-Red” Coalition. During my tenure, I was appointed to and continue to

serve on the West Suburban School District Board, which is the regional division of the Illinois School Board Association to

which D90 belongs.

- I served as an advisor to the school funding formula reform task force of the state’s Education Funding Advisory Board,

where I identified evidence-based reforms to the state’s basic foundation level of funding and its poverty grant, to ensure

that grant is sufficient to overcome educational problems associated with poverty;

- I also served as an appointed technical advisor on education policy and funding to the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus;

- Based on my work on education policy and funding reform in Illinois and five other states over the last decade, I was

honored to receive the 2007 “Champion of Freedom” award from the Rainbow Push Coalition, presented to individuals

who carry out Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s commitment to equal educational opportunities throug h their professional and

personal activism;

-

I also received the 2004 Ben C. Hubbard Leadership Award from Illinois State University for “leadership that has

significantly benefited public education in Illinois” (prior winners include Former Republican Governors Jim Edgar and Jim

Thompson). I received similar awards from the Illinois PTA and Illinois Education Association.

I have also served our community in the very child-focused (or at least should be) volunteer activity of coaching various youth

sports (both boys and girls) over the past 10 years, which has given me great insight into both the children and parents in our

community.

I currently serve on the education advisory board of the Chicago Urban League.

I also served as president of the Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy, 2010-2012; and on the advisory board to the Applied

Research Center focusing on issues of racial justice in fields of education, economic development and healthcare.

http://ctbaonline.org/reports/each-and-every-child-strategy-education-equity-and-excellence


http://ctbaonline.org/sites/default/files/reports/ctbaonline.org/node/add/repository-report/1425062045/For%20Each%20and%20Every%20Child%20-%20Compendium.pdf






What do you see as the role of a school board member? A school board member has five primary responsibilities: (i) first, he or

she is responsible to ensure that District 90 has the capacity to perform at the highest levels academically; (ii) second, he or she

must ensure District 90 is being managed in a fiscally responsible fashion, both in any given current fiscal year and from a long-

term budgeting perspective; (iii) third, he or she must play a major role promoting partnerships by and among educators, students,

parents (including parent organizations like the PTOs and PIMA) and the community at large; (iv) fourth, he or she has to be a

problem solver, playing the role of honest broker among the occasionally competing interests of the different constituencies

involved in education; and (v) fifth, he or she has to remain diligent in performing broad oversight obligations—but avoid delving

into micro-management of administrative and staff responsibilities.

A board member should perform all these roles with one, guiding principle—creation of a positive learning environment that

promotes lifelong learning and has the capacity to: (i) provide every child in our community with the type of high quality,

meaningful educational opportunity that child requires to succeed academically, socially and emotionally, based on her or his

needs; (ii) deliver rich and rigorous academic programing that promotes critical thinking and problem solving and helps students

become college and career ready, while developing the skills needed to be active participants in our nation’s democracy; (iii) create

meaningful enrichment experiences for our children covering the arts, sports, music, theater, language, technology, and other

areas; and (iv) engage parents and guardians in the education of their children.

Do you think that the Caucus system is an appropriate way to select school board candidates? Yes, I think the Caucus system is

appropriate for a number of reasons. First, it allows a broad cross-section of the community to raise relevant questions for

potential candidates to consider. Second, it forces candidates to respond on the merits of the questions raised. This elevates the

public dialogue and helps make the election more issue and skill focused rather than being a matter of personal popularity. Third,

because candidates are required to provide detailed answers on specific issues, the process helps candidates be more focused on

the actual needs and concerns of the children who attend and the families who live in District 90.

What are your views about the Roosevelt Exterior project? Do you support it or are against it and why? What would you do to

improve it? If a lawsuit were filed over this, as a school board member, how would you respond to it? Would you support it or

remain neutral. Be specific and be constructive. We have gone so far down this road that many forget the initial communications

between the D90 Board and other stakeholders, like the Library, Village and Park District, were positive and encouraging. Indeed,

the project itself grew from a simple premise—the North parking lot will have to be dug-up to install a permanent fix to Roosevelt’s

water management issues. So, should the D90 Board dig it up and put it back as-is—or should we improve the campus, and do

something better. And to be clear, by “better”, the D90 Board meant safer, with enhanced, year-round outdoor recess availability,

enhanced, outdoor learning and social interaction space, and enhanced environmentally friendly cooling for the school building,

and environmentally friendly pavers, etc. for the lot area. Moreover, according to the research, creating a better, more welcoming,

more child-focused physical environment for students, gets them excited about attending school and helps generate improved

academic performance.

The D90 Board—including me—voted in favor of researching what it would take to do something better, rather than simply

defaulting to the status quo ante. This in turn involved retaining various experts in engineering, campus design, water

management, traffic patterns, and traffic safety. It also required community involvement and so a stakeholder advisory committee

was established. During this research phase, the Board, the independent experts and stakeholder committee reviewed utilization

rates of the lot—by D90 and our neighbors, the Library, Park District and Tennis Club. Input was solicited from representatives of

said entities. Over time a plan was developed from the process. And while no plan nor process is perfect, and I certainly had nits I

could raise with aspects of both the process and plan—some of which involving cost I did raise and were resolved—I believed that

the overall plan achieved the goal of doing something “better” for the children who attend Roosevelt, while accommodating the

reasonable interests of our neighbors.

Therefore, I voted in favor of the Roosevelt project, and continue to support it. As indicated previously, this project was initiated to

enhance student safety, provide more year-round, outdoor activity space for students, create environmentally-friendly ways to coothe building in hot months, and enhance the campus outdoor learning environment, while redressing water control issues that

impacted both the interior and exterior of Roosevelt School. As the D90 Board discussed the project, however, i t became a

somewhat divisive issue in the community. In recognition of this, I consistently voted in favor of D90 following all relevant approval

requisites at the Vil lage level, and voted in favor of extending the process to attain maximum input from the community. Now a

version of the project—approved by a 6-0 vote in September of 2014—has moved through the Village’s various approval processes

resulting in a recommendation by the Village that approved much of the plan passed by D90, but also differs in some material

ways.

As for future litigation, I will quote former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld here, as that is an “unknown -unknown.” Since my

response to any proposed litigation would very much be driven by the merits thereof, it is impossible for me to stake out a position

at this juncture. I point out, however, that it is the responsibility of a board member to support the official actions of the board,

whether or not the board member in question voted in favor of said action. So, it would be inappropriate for me as a sitting board



member to voice anything but support for the decision taken by the 6-0 vote of the board on this matter. Consistent with the

aforesaid responsibility of a board member, I support the modification of the Plan—specifically the addition of eight more parking

spaces in the newly designed lot on Lathrop Avenue—which the D90 Board also approved by unanimous vote.

Going forward, it is unclear how this process will resolve itself, but one thing is clear, our community needs to heal and move

forward in a positive and professional way. I feel that leaving the board without working to facilitate that healing process—while

seeing the Roosevelt exterior project through to whatever its final completion ultimately is—would simply not be right. I believe it

is incumbent on me to remain, and work with both opponents and proponents of the Roosevelt exterior project, answer questions

be accountable for my vote and hopefully promote the healing.

What is your understanding of Common Core? Common Core State Standards (Common Core) is a national education initiative

intended to:

(i) Outline quantifiable benchmarks in English-Language Arts and Math across all K-12 grade levels;

(ii) Stress attaining literacy and college or career readiness no later than the completion of high school;

(iii)

Create a common set of rigorous standards permitting national comparisons and generating nationally congruent

data sets for said comparisons; and

(iv) Create standards that in large part will define content, and focus on deeper learning, critical thinking, problem

solving, and ski ll development over rote memorization of subject matter.

The English-Language Arts” component of Common Core features five essential elements:

-

Reading;

- Writing;

-

Speaking/Listening Skills;

- Language and Media Technology Skills; and

-

Keyboarding.

The Math component of Common Core has eight essential principles focused on getting children to:

-

Understand problems and persevere in solving them;

- Reason quantitatively and abstractly;

- Develop viable math-based arguments and thoughtfully critique the reasoning of others

- Perform math-based modeling;

- Use tools strategically

- Be precise;

- Look for and use structure; and

-

Identify and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Currently 43 states have adopted the Common Core—including Illinois. Three states—Indiana, Oklahoma, and South Carolina—

previously adopted Common Core but have since pulled out . Minnesota has only adopted the English-Language Arts component of

Common Core, not the Math.

In a departure from prior pedagogical practice, Common Core requires deep articulation between grade levels. That means a third

grade Math teacher has to know what her or his students will be doing in math in eighth grade, while all math teachers along the

grade scale continuum have to provide instruction in a similar fashion. This is intended to promote skill development, rather than

simply getting the answer right. It is also supposed to promote critical thinking and problem solving.

What would you do to continue integrating into the system? During my tenure on the D90 Board, significant steps have been

taken to implement Common Core standards. For instance, we have invested in best practice professional development for our

teaching and administrative staff, embedding professional development consultants in the classroom. We have supported theteaching staff ’s very significant effort to develop Common Core compliant curriculum—and articulate that curriculum and

associated pedagogy within subject matter, and both by and across grade levels. Indeed, curriculum development is one of the

significant challenges presented by the adoption of Common Core, given that there are precious few—if any—fully Common Core

compliant materials available. That is particularly the case in math. So, to enhance that development by our faculty, the D90 Board

has approved modest, additional teacher compensation for curriculum work and articulation. This recognizes that teachers are

being asked to develop curriculum—which is above and beyond their traditional in-classroom obligations.

Over the next few years it is crucial that the D90 Board continue to monitor the success—or failure—to integrate the Common Core

standards seamlessly in our classrooms, K-8, while also monitoring how Common Core is implemented at OPRF high school, to

ensure our children have every opportunity to continue achieving academically as they proceed through high school.



Do you think it is a good vehicle to educate children? Well, as with most complex initiatives, the answer is mixed. Certainly, the

focus on building skills and promoting critical thinking and problem solving is laudable—as is the desire to help all students be

college or career ready upon completion of 12th grade. Having nationally comparable data sets is also desirable, as it will allow for a

quantitative analysis of what seems to work—as well as what doesn’t, to allow for reform of practice as implementation proceeds.

All that said, enhanced standards have never been a driver of enhanced student performance in any OECD nation. Instead,

“capacity building” of the education system, to ensure it can meet the educational, social and emotional needs of every child who

enters a school’s front door, has been the ticket to enhanced student performance, at least as measured by the international “PISA”

exams, which compare student performance in the various OECD nations.

The good news is that the primary elements of successful capacity building—enhanced collaboration among teachers; high-end,

embedded professional development of faculty and administrators; incorporation of social/emotional learning in all disciplines;

availability of art, sports, music, theater and other crucial enrichment programs; student differentiation to ensure all needs are

met; rich and rigorous academic programs coupled with high expectations, well designed and thoughtfully implemented RTI

programs—are all currently policy at D90. That said, modifying extant practice to satisfy Common Core is a significant challenge,

and will require constant monitoring and adjustment over the next few years.

Do you feel the district should continue it? If yes, why? If no, why? Be specific. In a way, this is the easiest query in your

questionnaire. Yes, D90 should continue implementation of Common Core, because it is mandated by state law. Even if it wasn’t,

however, certain aspects of Common Core—the focus on ski ll development, articulation, etc., I mentioned previously, should

always be a crucial part of how D90 educates students.

The district is becoming more diverse. How would you make students - and parents - feel more welcome in their schools?

Test scores are showing that children of color, particularly African-Americans, are not doing as well on standardized tests as theirwhite counterparts. How can you insure that students receive an equal education? What would you do? Be specif ic.

I am combining these two questions because they are intimately related. Yes, the district is getting more diverse—and this in and o

itself is a huge positive. Indeed, the data show that integrated and diverse student bodies help children think critically and problem

solve better, while becoming more culturally aware. Unfortunately, D90’s own data show that there is a statistically meaningful

achievement gap between our white and Asian students on the one hand, and our children of color on the other. Given that reality

there are a number of issues to consider and viable courses to pursue.

First, since the District is becoming more diverse, it is incumbent on D90 to be welcoming of that diversity. For this very reason, as

a current member of the D90 school board, I voted in favor of creating an “Inclusiveness Committee”, which became District policy

this year. That committee, which includes two D90 board members, as well as a racially and ethnically mixed representation of

parents, guardians, educators and community members, is charged with ensuring that D90 is not only sensitive to its growing

diversity, but also putting into practice processes that fully engage and welcome all members of the D90 community—regardless of

race, gender or ethnicity.Obviously, this is just a first step, and represents a mere start to eliminating the aforesaid achievement gap.

One concern which may be contributing to this gap, is lack of African American and other minority presence in our faculty and

Administration. Individual students, who don’t see teachers and/or administrators who look like them in the classroom and

hallways, will naturally feel a sense of isolation. This can only be addressed going forward if D90 becomes more intentional in trying

to attract highly qualified minority candidates to faculty and administrative positions.

A less obvious but just as serious concern involves unintentional discrimination along racial or ethnic lines. Indeed, recent research

shows that when screening resumes, candidates with white-sounding names are five to eight times more likely to receive an

interview than are candidates with African American sounding names, even when the African American candidates have equal or

slightly better credentials. This type of unintentional, implicit bias could be impacting D90, as a predominately white faculty may

subconsciously have lesser expectations of minority than white students. Indeed, over my three years on the board, there have

even been a few instances where minority students have felt that academic material was presented in a culturally insensitive way.

Which raises some concerns but also helps point to a course of action. D90 should look into enhanced professional developmentfocused on cultural sensitivity, to mitigate the chance that this type of unintentional bias—whether in how material is presented,

how student work is graded or what level of expectation is held for student performance—is occurring. Over time, such training

should help both mitigate achievement gaps and engender a more welcoming atmosphere.

In addition, one other course of action would be helpful: incorporating some “Project-Based” learning in D90 pedagogy. “Project-

Based” learning has been shown to reduce white-minority achievement gaps nationwide. Under this pedagogical approach, a

number of core curriculum—say math, science and social studies, for instance—are taught in the context of a project, which a

team of students have to work on together to create. The enhanced sense of teamwork in a Project-Based setting promotes a

feeling of “belonging” for otherwise isolated minorities, while the academic work promotes deeper leaning aligned with the

Common Core, as the students apply their academics to solve real world problems.



Would you revisit the idea of all-day kindergarten? Please explain your answer. Yes, but there would need to be a compelling

reason to do so. Consider that the data say that full-day kindergarten is absolutely crucial in low-income communities, particularly

those that lack quality early childhood programs. That describes many communities in Illinois—but it doesn’t describe D90. The

cost of moving to full-day kindergarten is very high, requiring some $2-$4 million in capital costs to reconfigure our grade schools—

particularly Willard—with another say $500,000 or so in annual salary costs, that of course would grow over time.

The last time D90 considered this issue, we found that only a handful, 3-5 children, in our district would actually benefit from full-

day kindergarten. So the board made the decision to hire the teachers and aides needed to provide those children with all the

supports they needed, at a fraction of the cost of going to full-day kindergarten.

Moving forward, D90 should take the steps necessary to monitor the needs of our incoming kindergarteners, through enhanced

collaboration with early childhood providers used by our families. If through this collaboration it becomes apparent that the

number or children who would actually benefit from full-day kindergarten merited the capital and other investments needed to

make that a reality, then D90 should by all means pursue it.

The village is moving ahead to create tax increment finance districts on Madison and North Avenue. What is your understanding

of TIFS, how they work and the impact on the schools? Would you back them? Tax increment financing is a matter that will come

to the D90 board in the near future. At its most fundamental level, once a “TIF” district is created, the amount of property taxes

paid from properties within that district to independent taxing authorities—like D90—is frozen. All future growth in value from

that TIF goes to the TIF District fund, to be spent on developing the infrastructure needed to generate the desired economic

development.

From D90’s perspective, this means a loss of property tax revenue growth from the properties in the TIF district for the duration of

the TIF. Since D90 is about 83% funded by local property taxes, that loss of revenue will be meaningful. Especially given the

continued decline in state and federal funding for D90.That said, the merits of whether or not a TIF has to be established to promote economic growth in River Forest is a decision for the

Village Trustees to make. So long a reasonable intergovernmental agreement concerning said TIF can be reached between D90 and

the Village, I do not feel it would be appropriate for a school board member to substitute his or her judgment for that of the

Village Trustees, who were elected to decide such issues.

What is your understanding of the use of technology in the district? Should it be improved or expanded, and if so, what should i

be doing? Would continue to support, or oppose, the use of technology and why. Be specific. I am proud that during my Board

tenure, D90 has been a leader in implementing a thoughtful and productive utilization of technology in the classroom. That

utilization includes everything from internet accessible smart boards, to going to a one-to-one iPad device ratio for all 5th through

8th students.

And in this case, being ahead of the curve really mattered. That is because the new PARCC assessments, which are being

implemented to test student achievement under the Common Core, are designed to be primarily device-based tests. So, if D90 hadnot been ahead of the curve moving to incorporate more sophisticated technology into daily instruction, then in addition to having

to master Common Core content, our children would have to learn how to use a device to take a test, trouble shoot, etc. That

would be a nightmare. Indeed, D90’s tech-staff has already conducted a “stress test” of the capacity of the district’s technology

infrastructure to handle the PARCC assessments (think, lots of children, all logging in at once, and staying online for an extended

period)—and passed with flying colors. We also pre-identified numerous error messages generated by the state ’s technology which

we are working to rectify prior to going live with the exam.

By phasing in our one-to-one devise program, D90 was able to ensure that its technology utilization was maximized from an

academic standpoint. We surveyed student performance after the first iPad roll-out, and discovered—to our relief, frankly—that

students were performing better academically post roll-out. The reasons for this are varied, but in essence boil down to one, core

cause: children enjoy using technology generally, and hence using the iPad for school work makes academics more fun. And the

truth is, the more leaning is made enjoyable for children, the more eager they are to learn.

Moving forward, D90 is taking steps to ensure that the District’s use of technology is complimentary to (not a replacement of) allacademic and enrichment programming, stimulates learning, and doesn’t tie students to a particular device. Indeed, while D90 has

selected the iPad as its preferred platform, our collaboration on tech with OPRF high school makes it clear that they will use a

different platform. Which is great—because the D90 focus isn’t to teach children how to us the iPad, but instead how to be tech

savvy, and utilize technology in different platforms as a tool to enhance their learning and their production of school-related

materials. And given today ’s economy, the more tech savvy our children become, the better positioned they are for success.

Documents

D90 Martire Questionnaire RiverForest