Deanna Stern: 2025 candidate for Barrington Unit District 220 board

Bio

Office sought: Barrington Unit District 220 board (Vote for 4)

City: South Barrington

Age: 50

Occupation: None full-time, occasional substitute teacher

Previous offices held: None

Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you?

I am running for D220 school board to provide a fresh perspective from not only being a current parent, but to being a former teacher as well.

I hope to ensure the successful implementation of programs that evolve from the current social media awareness focus group that stresses the negative impact that digital technology/social media can have on our students.

I will advocate for the positive future mental health of our student population to help ensure students can function both with and without technology in life after high school graduation.

In addition, I plan to ensure we are preparing our students for future careers of tomorrow, including those with special needs. As a former special education teacher, I hope to bring my prior expertise from working at one of the top rated high schools in the state of Illinois, Adlai E. Stevenson HS, to District 220.

I understand there are program shifts underway and would love to bring my experience to the decision making process. Lastly, I hope to assist in the effective implementation of our last referendum dollars (64K) so that the community may benefit from the new ADA compliant auditorium that will benefit all students.

What is the role of the school board in setting and monitoring the curriculum?

The role of the school board is to oversee and ensure the curriculum meets state and national standards. Boards members also need to represent the concerns of the community at large and to be their voice to administrators and the superintendent of the school district.

Our current school board is also responsible for overseeing the effective implementation of our Framework 220 which was derived from our strategic plan that included all stakeholders.

School board members are responsible for upholding school board policy when overseeing the curriculum. I do also believe school board members can bring an outside perspective to current curriculum, encouraging administration to make sure the curriculum is meeting all students’ needs across the board while ensuring that it addresses future evolving careers.

Are there curriculum issues within the district that you feel need particular attention from the board?

There are more so program concerns I am hearing about especially in the special education arena. I am hearing about a program possibly being dissolved. However, I don’t know all of the background information.

As a former special education teacher, I have experience in this realm that could provide an another perspective. Moreover, in the past, I have heard discussion around whether honors classes are necessary as regular level and AP could possibly be sufficient. Again, I am not 100% sure where the district landed on all of this decision making.

Another curriculum point of interest to me is having more classes that are relevant to life after school such as money management/budgeting and investing.

How do you view your role in confronting policy or curriculum controversies: provide leadership even if unpopular, give a voice to constituents — even ones with whom you disagree, or defer to state authorities?

If curriculum and/or policy is controversial, we need to talk about why people think it is controversial and come to an agreement about how we can best serve our students while protecting their innocence and creating a positive, academic environment.

I believe in age-appropriate material, and less device use. I believe in having curriculum that will provide an ample overview for many subject areas that cover many possible career choices. As far as deferring to state authorities, I believe school districts do need to take mandates into consideration.

However, according to the Illinois Association of School Boards, there are many financial and emotional tolls that emerge thus negatively effecting both staff and taxpayers. The board needs to take all these factors into consideration when faced with a new policy or curriculum recommendation.

Describe your experience working in a group setting to determine policy. What is your style in such a setting to reach an agreement and manage school district policy? Explain how you think that will be effective in producing effective actions and decisions for your school board.

I constantly work in group settings being on the educational foundation, as PTO co-president and as a teacher. My style is to hear all sides from all stakeholders such as students, parents and staff.

The group settings I have worked in are usually to garner support of new programs and to get funding. So rather than creating new policy, I have marketed new programs and upgrades to school systems.

For example, in support of the renovation of three fine art studios at the high school, I successfully marketed with my team, the funding of slightly over $300K.

We worked with students and BHS TV to effectively market the educational foundation programs and to convince donors to support upgrades of fine arts.

Most recently, I was also part of the referendum advisory committee. There we worked in groups to understand the benefits of creating additional upgraded spaces, such as the auditorium, and how to convince the public to support the referendum. In all areas, I would talk with parents, administrators, taxpayers, and students.

What is your assessment of the school district's diversity and equity efforts? Do you support the continuation or enhancement of such programs, of would you rather see them diminished. Please explain your reasoning.

I always support diversity and equity in all things, probably one of the main reasons I wanted to be a special-education teacher. I always wanted to help students that didn’t learn the same way as the mainstream. I understand that our school district has neighborhood schools because of proximity to homes.

However, we do have Chinese and Spanish immersion programs in which the school district buses students to the home-school that is providing the program for that year.

I do not think all of our elementary schools have an equitable, diverse student population. We are ignoring the elephant in the room maybe because it would be too costly, etc.

When our students get to middle school and high school, they have a complete diverse mixture of the student body. However, this is not the case in elementary school. If we truly want our school district to provide a diverse mixture of students starting from day one, then we might do a better job of mixing students from different neighborhoods equally into all of the seven elementary schools.

We have one elementary school that’s rated #1 in Illinois while other schools fall behind, including one that is just meeting average standards.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I have been involved in education for over 25 years, initially as a special-education teacher and then as parent, volunteer and lead fundraiser. Before having children, I was a tenured teacher at one of the top rated high schools in Illinois, Adlai E. Stevenson High School.

In addition, I obtained my master's degree in educational leadership completing an internship at Maine South High School. This degree qualifies me to be an administrator in public schools.

Currently, I am in my fifth year of being a trustee on the 220 Educational Foundation. In this role, we meet monthly with 220 administrators, including the superintendent. Prior to that, I was Barbara Rose PTO co- president and would meet bimonthly with other PTO leaders and administration.

Having worked for seven years in leadership roles already in the school district, this will be an easy transition for me to be on the school board. I commend everybody that sacrifices their time to serve on the school board.

However, I am more relevant as I currently still have children in the school district. I am affiliated with hundreds of community parents and I plan to be their voice.

What’s one good idea you have to better your district that no one is talking about yet?

Switch to laptops or chrome books at either middle school or high school so that students can learn how to type. Typing is a lifelong skill and many of our students don’t know how to type. They use the hunt and peck method or voice to text.

Many students and parents have expressed this concern. This is an easy fix. Of course I want to stay in budget as I realize laptops might be more expensive. We can consider Chromebooks or another alternative. I believe we had laptops or Chromebooks in the past.