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Cathy Piehl
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Cathy Piehl was an at-large representative on the Indian Prairie School District 204 school board in Illinois. First appointed in 2008, Raczak won a new term in the at-large general election on April 4, 2017.
Piehl participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2017
Four seats on the Indian Prairie School District 204 Board of Education were up for at-large general election on April 4, 2017. Incumbents Michael Raczak and Cathy Piehl were re-elected. Newcomers Laurie Donahue and Susan Taylor-Demming also won seats on the board. Candidates Vasavi Chakka, Renata Sliva, Marland Brazier, and J. Randy Sidio were defeated in the race.[1]
Results
| Indian Prairie School District 204, At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Cathy Piehl Incumbent |
17.39% | 5,291 |
| Michael Raczak Incumbent |
17.09% | 5,199 |
| Susan Taylor-Demming |
16.85% | 5,126 |
| Laurie Donahue |
16.40% | 4,990 |
| Vasavi Chakka | 10.27% | 3,123 |
| J. Randy Sidio | 8.92% | 2,714 |
| Renata Sliva | 8.84% | 2,690 |
| Marland Brazier | 4.24% | 1,290 |
| Total Votes | 30,423 | |
| Source: DuPage County, Illinois, "Election Summary Report," accessed May 1, 2017Will County, Illinois, Clerk, "April 4, 2017 Consolidated Election," accessed May 1, 2017 | ||
Funding
School board candidates in Illinois were required to file campaign finance reports if they did one or both of the following:[2]
- Accepted contributions or made disbursements in an aggregate amount of more than $5,000 during the calendar year
- Accepted contributions or made disbursements in an aggregate amount of more than $5,000 during the calendar year for communication via television, radio, or internet in support of or in opposition to a candidate, political party, or public policy
The first campaign finance deadline was February 27, 2017, and the second campaign finance deadline was April 3, 2017.[3]
Piehl reported no contributions or expenditures to the Illinois State Board of Elections in the election.[4]
Endorsements
Piehl was endorsed by the Daily Herald.[5]
2013
| Indian Prairie School District 204, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Cathy Piehl Incumbent |
20.7% | 3,224 | |
| Nonpartisan | Michael Raczak |
19.4% | 3,028 | |
| Nonpartisan | Benjamin M. White |
17% | 2,650 | |
| Nonpartisan | Maria Curry |
13.1% | 2,048 | |
| Nonpartisan | Krishna Bansal | 12.2% | 1,908 | |
| Nonpartisan | Sotiria Kapsis | 6.6% | 1,035 | |
| Nonpartisan | Vasavi Chakka | 6.5% | 1,015 | |
| Nonpartisan | Jazmin Santillan | 4.5% | 698 | |
| Total Votes | 15,606 | |||
| Source: DuPage County Clerk, "Election Results," accessed March 12, 2015 | ||||
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Cathy Piehl participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[6] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on March 27, 2017:
| “ | Four major issues we face are the budget, building maintenance, possible boundary adjustments, and student achievement. All these issues are intertwined with how well we communicate with the community. We have a great deal at stake, and it will be our collective responsibility to ensure our community will embrace the need to ensure excellence in our students’ education. Measuring our goal for academic achievement has been difficult with the many moving parts of curriculum and testing changes over the years. These discussions have caused us to consider an approach that will look at the “whole” child. We want to adopt alternative ways that consider ‘authentic learning’ when we measure college and career readiness. A final issue I intend to continue to pursue is legislation that will eliminate the presence of students in our schools that are utilized as polling locations. It is an unnecessary risk we should not have to make.[7][8] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Illinois. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | I support choice within our schools. Our Arts programs are superior, so I do not see a need to put additional resources there.[8] | ” |
| —Cathy Piehl (March 27, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. I would not support a typical charter school that is run as a for-profit agency, as the public funds are given to the charter. There is little evidence that charter schools are more effective than public schools. Our schools out perform the average for state schools, so it would be unlikely a charter could do better. However, we are a part of a collaboration with businesses, Aurora University and 3 other school districts. This has allowed us to offer a STEM school for k-8. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should be involved in the district routinely. Districts need to held accountable. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. We are in discussions of how we will begin to develop measurements that more accurately measure student learning. Redefining Ready, is an initiative we are closely following, which has begun to put some factors together that may be more reflective of what makes a student college and career ready. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Daniel Pink has done a great deal of research in the area of motivation. Merit pay does not motivate. Climate motivates. Currently we have a very healthy climate for our staff. However, salary has to meet the needs of the employee. We work to stay competitive. We need to continue to evaluate where we are in this area. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. The state needs to fully support public schools. The erosion of funds from public to private is hurting our public schools, and causing our society to revert to a "separate but equal" approach. Unfortunately, as in the past, it is not equal, since we are dwindling funds from the public sector. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| We use expulsion for extreme cases of violence or threats of violence. We offer outplacement to all students who are up for expulsion. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers I would add teacher - student relationship is the most important factor. Parent involvement increases the likelihood that the student is ready to learn. |
See also
External links
- Indian Prarie School District 204
- Office website
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Twitter account
- LinkedIn profile
Footnotes
- ↑ DuPage County, Illinois, "Election Summary Report," accessed April 5, 2017
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "A Guide to Campaign Finance Disclosure," accessed January 5, 2017
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Election and Campaign Finance Calendar 2017," accessed January 5, 2017
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate Disclosure Search," accessed April 4, 2017
- ↑ Daily Herald, "Endorsements: Donahue, Piehl, Raczak, Taylor-Demming for Indian Prairie Unit District 204 Board of Education," March 19, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Cathy Piehl's responses," March 27, 2017
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Indian Prairie School District 204 elections in 2017 | |
| DuPage County, Illinois and Will County, Illinois | |
| Election date: | April 4, 2017 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Cathy Piehl • Incumbent, Michael Raczak • Marland Brazier • Vasavi Chakka • Laurie Donahue • J. Randy Sidio • Renata Sliva • Susan Taylor-Demming |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines |
