Cristopher Nolan: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: MundeleinWebsite: http://www.crisnolan.comOffice sought: Hawthorn Elementary D73Age: 32Family: Married, two children.Occupation: Currently a full time student in law-school.Education: 2006 - Associate of Arts - College of Lake County2008 - Bachelor of Arts - Political Science/History - Lake Forest CollegeCurrently a 2L student a John Marshall Law School in Chicago, IL. Civic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Democratic Precinct Committeeman Libertyville #187 - Elected 2008/Appointed 2010Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: Candidate did not respond.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Making sure that the tax dollars we allocate for education are actually being spent on improving services and opportunities for students.Key Issue 2 Candidate did not respond.Key Issue 3 Candidate did not respond.Questions Answers How satisfied are you that your district is preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?Hawthorn is a great school district, but there are always areas we could improve.What budget issues will the district have to confront? What measures do you support to address them? If cuts are needed, be specific about programs and expenses that should be reduced or eliminated. Do you support any tax increases for local schools?The district is facing some tough financial decisions in the weeks and months ahead, such as the need to close a projected $2 million gap in the 2010-2011 budget. Recommendations from the financial advisory task force should offer some guidance as to where the different stakeholders are at on this issue going forward, but I think it#146;s fairly obvious that with employee salaries and benefits comprising over 60% of the district#146;s expenditures on education, it stands to reason that we will have to look at future bargaining agreements to ensure that our money is being spent wisely.Is experience as a teacher or support from a union valuable because it suggests educational insights or detrimental because it creates pro-teacher bias? Please clarify whether you have such experience or would accept union support.I think that the views of teachers should always be given valuable consideration in the context of deciding the best way forward for a school district, and I would seek out opinions from the teaching community on a regular basis. I don#146;t have teaching experience, but would value the opinions of those that do.As contract talks come up with various employee groups, what posture should the board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?The only group I#146;d like to see immune from concessions are students. Contracts will have to be evaluated - line by line - to ensure that the benefits being paid out are commensurate with value being received by students.If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?No. We need to make sure that the money our school district spends on instruction provides, at the very least, some level of direct benefit to the students. When administrators take money out of the general instruction fund simply to boost pension benefits, or to provide a teacher with some other kind of benefit that the children of District #73 are unlikely to see a return on, the money is essentially wasted.