Julie Lee: 2025 candidate for Round Lake Unit District 116 board

Bio

Office sought: Round Lake Unit District 116 board (Vote for 3)

City: Round Lake Beach

Age: 53

Occupation: Registered nurse

Previous offices held: Round Lake District 116 board

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

I have lived in the community for nearly 25 years. I am a mother to three boys, one who still attends Round Lake schools. As a parent, I am passionate about ensuring every child receives a quality public education with equitable access to resources that help inspire and empower students to construct a thriving future.

As a current school board member of four years, I am committed to addressing the following: elevating student achievement and educational rigor, improving chronic absenteeism rates and improvement of overall district communication.

I currently co-chair the community engagement committee and I am highly motivated to improve community involvement and engagement. I am dedicated to ensuring financial stability in the district and promoting fiscal responsibility so we can continue to be good stewards of the taxpayer’s money.

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

As a board, we establish the academic standards and goals for the district. The board works with administration on curriculum selection to ensure the curriculum aligns with those standards and goals. The board is responsible for the formal approval of the curriculum, allocating funds for educational materials, textbooks and professional development for teachers. The board regularly reviews progress as it relates to student achievement.

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

The board addresses curriculum by setting academic standards and goals to meet the needs of the district’s students. Round Lake is a unit district serving students from early childhood programming through high school.

The curriculum is reviewed on a regular cadence. This cadence allows the board to review and engage in dialogue regarding student achievement data, mandates and state assessment data.

This provides opportunity to address any change in course for curriculum, course offerings, along with development to stay aligned with state mandates and state testing.

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?

In my current role as a school board member, it is imperative I listen to all perspectives from our diverse community and foster open conversations to ensure all voices are being heard.

As a leader in the community, it is important to me that I build a culture of trust, respect and understanding even when my views differ from some constituents. Helping to guide community members through complicated or controversial issues in an empathetic, open, fair and inclusive manner leads to mutual respect and understanding, as well as improved community engagement and involvement.

As a current board member, I value the needs of our community members and their concerns while also respecting state authorities and believe that finding a balance is essential to our community members feeling valued and heard. Open dialogue and engagement are key to successful community relationships.

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.

As a current member of the board of education, as well as in my professional life, learning to work together in a group setting to find common ground while determining policy is essential. In group collaboration, we must consider the long-term outcomes and the greater good.

My style in a group setting is to actively listen rather than listen to respond, clear and concise communication and respect for each member of the group.

As one of seven members, it is important to be open, transparent and flexible. It is important that we build policies that align with the district’s mission and values while using data driven, evidence-based practice to build a consensus leading to the best possible outcomes for 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 strongly support our district’s diversity and equity efforts. Embracing and investing in diversity is built into our strategic plan. Diversity is a valued asset that enriches our entire community. Research has shown that fostering an environment that values diversity and inclusion benefits all students as they are more engaged, achieve better academic outcomes, improved leadership skills and exhibit enhanced critical thinking and empathy.

The Round Lake Community is rich in diversity. It is important as a board member, that we recognize that we are not a “one size fits all” district.

Our community consists of a vast array of people from various ethnic, educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. It is imperative that we ensure all students have access to resources, educational opportunities and extracurricular activities regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status or disability. District 116 has strong and supportive relationships with programs in the community such as Mano a Mano and BPAC.

What makes you the best candidate for the job?

I am committed to continuing the work of promoting a positive and inclusive learning environment with a focus on elevating student achievement while remaining fiscally responsible and transparent.

As a parent and current board member, I am deeply committed to building a strong educational foundation to enable students to be successful in their chosen career paths. I believe in continuing to provide opportunities for students and staff to not only grow and achieve but thrive. I have served on the board for 4 years with a proven track record of successfully achieving the following:

• Secured a collective bargaining agreement for RLAS until 2025

• Implementation of the 1:Wonder Technology Program which gave all students K-12 iPads

• Restructuring the existing elementary grade 1-5 school model to a Partner School model effective fall 2024 and return of students from Pleviak in the fall of 2024

• RLAS earned the Certificate of Excellence in Financial Reporting Award fiscal year 2021

• Securing funding for the EEC Expansion Project

• RLHS baseball and softball construction of new fields to begin summer of 2025

• Purchase of warehouse used to service the Operations and Transportation Departments

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

In the winter of the 2023-24 school year, the board developed the district’s strategic plan in collaboration with administration, staff, students, parents, union leadership and community members.

In this process we created the district mission along with the portrait of a graduate. The strategic plan outlines the educational goals and processes to implement to achieve them.

We have provided opportunities for the community to come together to share their ideas to help develop a strategic plan that mirrors the needs and goals of our students, and to make sure the curriculum aligns with varying student career paths.

A Stakeholder Advisory Group was developed to consist of parent focus groups to gain insight into the root cause of absenteeism from a parent perspective, with the goal of developing an action plan based on feedback. This group met in February and plans to meet again in April. Securing input and feedback from students and parents is a key factor to help ensure student success.