Loubna Kiliouine: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Loubna Kiliouine

City: Libertyville

Office sought: Board Member for Community High School District 128

Age: 43

Family: Married, 2 daughters (15 and 12)

Occupation: Project Manager

Education: Bachelor in MIS (Management Information System) and Master's in computer Science from DePaul. PMP certified.

Civic involvement: NA

Previous elected offices held: NA

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? No

Website: NA

Facebook: @LoubnaForD128

Twitter:

What are the most important issues facing your district and how do you intend to address them?

Kiliouine: a-Effective communications: School boards are here to serve the community and to make decisions keeping the students' and community's best interests at heart. Without effective communications with everyone involved, these goals are likely to be missed. Although I think the district is trying their best in being as effective as possible when it comes to communication, I still believe there is a gap there which can be addressed through many ways including but not limited to surveys, referendum when applicable, media coverage, social media and more.

b-Diversity: Although D128 adequately prepares students for college, the lack of diversity produces students that are less prepared to connect with others from different backgrounds. I would encourage the district to introduce more curriculum/programs about social dynamics outside of the student current environment.

c-Managing a sustainable budget: D128 has always been proud of having enough reserves which kept it secure, but now that we have used a big portion of it on building the new pool, we have to really be careful and examine our budget and how it is projected for the next few years to come. We need to make sure we always balance our budget so that our reserves are not touched, and as a project manager for CVS, I can definitely be of value to the board based on my experience with similar tasks.

How satisfied are you that your school district is adequately 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?

Kiliouine: I believe in continuous improvement but so far I'm satisfied with what the district offers and how it's preparing students for College and beyond. Since my daughter who is attending LHS is still a sophomore, I had the chance to discuss this with others who already graduated from LHS and VHHS. Most responses I got were positive. To prepare students for the future, teaching critical thinking, analytic skills, creative questioning are essential to the students' future and D128 is doing just that. I also think that the "DARING" mission of the district will not be 100 percent accomplished without broadening the opportunities for all students.

Changes I would like to introduce will include but are not limited to:

a-Introduce more programs that emphasize vocational education; D128 is not offering as many as they could. Many Tech jobs currently remain unfilled because there is not enough preparation for students to pursue these fields.

b-I'd like to encourage the staff/faculty to provide hands-on experiences to students in practical fields.

What budgetary issues will your district have to confront during the next four years and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, be specific about programs and expenses that should be considered for reduction or elimination. On the income side, do you support any tax increases? Be specific.

Kiliouine: Fiscal stability should be the top priority of the school district as budgetary issues are always a concern in all school district. The board will have to examine the long-term financial projection and try to adjust as needed. While I'm not a big fan of cutting programs, if necessary, the programs need to be evaluated with input from all stakeholders (Staff, teachers, students and parents … etc.)

As far as tax increase, I believe D128 residents are already paying the highest taxes in Illinois. I don't support tax increases, I prefer to use current fund efficiently before considering tax increase. That would be an absolute last resort and, with sound financial management, should never be necessary.

I have concerns about the district's future financial stability as D128 might be using more than 50M of their reserves to build the new pool and with the new VHHS expansion project, which might cost about 26M, is even more alarming. We cannot spend money we do not have.

Are you currently employed by or retired from a school district, if so, which one? Is any member of your direct family - spouse, child or child-in-law - employed by the school district where you are seeking a school board seat?

Kiliouine: No

As contract talks come up with various school employee groups - teachers, support staff, etc. - what posture should the school board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions from its employees, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?

Kiliouine: I respect all those who work in the public school system and I'm all for providing competitive salaries and benefits to attract and retain the best staff. That's what differentiates between one school district and another. We need to ensure that fair compensation is offered and we need to make sure we offer rewards for outstanding performance. However we do realize that benefit cost is always on the rise and this is a huge concern to the financial stability of the district. The district needs to negotiate with the teachers union to find a way to sustainable model for teachers' salaries. The teachers' contracts need to be examined and improved with a goal in mind to attract highly qualified teachers and staff.

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?

Kiliouine: I believe increases should be based on merit, so I will have to say no to this question. I don't believe it's a good practice to inflate salaries to account for retirement benefits administrators. We could hire and pay lot more teachers for the amount of a giveaway that accompanies these pension sweeteners.