East Aurora School District 131 elections (2015)
2017 →
|
 |
Method of election Elections What was at stake? Key deadlines Additional elections External links |
East Aurora School District 131 DuPage County, Illinois ballot measures Local ballot measures, Illinois |
 |
Four seats on the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education were up for general election on April 7, 2015.
Only two incumbents, Raymond Hull and Mary Louise Peryea, ran for re-election. They faced the following seven candidates: Alex Arroyo, Kenneth Darby, Julie Garofalo, Mary Garza, Kimberly Hatchett, John Laesch and Anita Lewis.[1] Arroyo, Darby, Hatchett and Laesch won seats on the board.[2]
Challenger Kenneth Darby participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read his responses, check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section.
All nine candidates in this race participated in a candidate forum hosted by the DuPage County NAACP prior to the election. They discussed their future goals for the district, the need for more staff diversity and discipline and safety issues.
About the district
East Aurora School District 131 is located in Kane County in northeastern Illinois. The county seat of Kane County is Geneva. Kane County was home to 523,643 residents in 2013, according to the United States Census Bureau.[3] During the 2011-2012 school year, East Aurora School District 131 was the 12th-largest school district by enrollment in Illinois and served 14,502 students.[4]
Demographics
Kane County outperformed the rest of Illinois in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 31.7 percent of Kane County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 31.4 percent for Illinois as a whole. The median household income for Kane County was $69,530, while it was $56,797 for the entire state. The poverty rate in Kane County was 11.1 percent compared to 14.1 percent statewide.[3]
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.
Voter and candidate information
The East Aurora Board of Education consists of seven members elected at-large to four-year terms on a staggered basis every odd-numbered year.[6] A general election was held on April 7, 2015. Three full-term seats were up for election in 2013, and four seats were up for election in 2015.[7]
To get on the ballot, school board candidates had to file a notarized statement of candidacy and notarized nominating petitions with the Kane County Clerk's Office during the filing period. The filing period began December 15, 2014, and ended December 22, 2014. The nominating petitions had to include the signatures of 50 voters residing in the school district and could not be circulated until September 23, 2014.[8]
To vote in this election, voters had to register with the Kane County Clerk's Office by March 10, 2015. Early voting was available for registered voters starting March 23, 2015, and ending April 4, 2015.[8]
Elections
2015
Candidates
At-large
|
|
Election results
| East Aurora School District 131, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Alex Arroyo |
18.6% | 1,336 | |
| Nonpartisan | Kenneth Darby |
13.1% | 937 | |
| Nonpartisan | Kimberly Hatchett |
12.4% | 893 | |
| Nonpartisan | John Laesch |
11.7% | 837 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mary Garza | 10.6% | 764 | |
| Nonpartisan | Raymond Hull Incumbent | 10.5% | 751 | |
| Nonpartisan | Anita Lewis | 9% | 643 | |
| Nonpartisan | Mary Louise Peryea Incumbent | 7.5% | 537 | |
| Nonpartisan | Julie Garofalo | 6.7% | 479 | |
| Total Votes | 7,177 | |||
| Source: Aurora Election Commission, "2015 Consolidated Election April 7, 2015 Results," accessed April 28, 2015, Kane County Clerk, "2015 Consolidated Election Contest Results," accessed April 28, 2015 | ||||
Endorsements
No candidate received an official endorsement for this election.
Campaign finance
School board candidates in Illinois are only required to file campaign finance reports if they accept contributions or make expenditures in excess of $5,000 in a 12-month period.[9]
No contributions or expenditures were reported during the election, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.[10]
Past elections
Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013
2011
2009
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What was at stake?
2015
Issues in the election
Candidate forum
All nine candidates who ran for a seat on the East Aurora School District 131 Board of Education attended a candidate forum hosted by the DuPage County NAACP on March 17, 2015. The candidates discussed future goals for the school board, the need for more staff diversity and discipline and safety issues.[11]
Future goals
When asked what their main goals would be if elected to the board, incumbents Raymond Hull and Mary Louise Peryea and challenger Mary Garza discussed plans to improve school board relations. Hull said he was proud to serve on a board that makes informed decisions without making assumptions. He said he helped bring "decorum" to the school board and made sure all members were allowed to share their opinions.[11]
Peryea said her main goal was to make sure all school board members embrace their roles. Garza's goal was to make sure the board works together with open minds. She also said she would like to bring "professionalism" into board discussions.[11]
Challenger Kimberly Hatchett spoke on money-saving techniques. She said her goal would be to improve the district's contract and vendor negotiation process to save money. She said the money saved could then be invested in the students.[11]
Challengers Anita Lewis, Kenneth Darby and Alex Arroyo all mentioned goals related to improving dialogue within in the district. Lewis said she would improve trust with teachers and students by listening to what they need. Darby said he wanted to see a "role model effect" in the district, and Arroyo said he wanted to get the board involved with school counselors to help teachers understand what their students' home lives are like.[11]
The focus for challengers Julie Garofalo and John Laesch was on communication between the district and the community. Garofalo wanted to implement a communication plan so the district can share its work with the community. Laesch suggested the district hold more forums in order to let the community know the issues affecting the district.[11]
Staff diversity needs
One in five teachers in the East Aurora School District 131 was black or Hispanic in the 2013-2014 school year, compared to nine in ten students. Candidates discussed this fact at the forum, and many said the district should hire more teachers and administrators that reflect the student population.[11]
Hatchett said it was important for students to see role models who look like them. Arroyo and Darby suggested the district set up an incentive program to bring in new teachers or to bring students back to the district as teachers after they have graduated college.[11]
Garofalo highlighted the need for training. She said teachers need the opportunity to improve their practice and training them to work with minority students would help with that. Hull supported lobbying at the state level to change how teachers are tested, as previous qualifying exams disproportionally affected teacher candidates who were minorities.[11]
Discipline and safety issues
On the subject of school safety, Hull asserted that the district's schools were safe.[11]
"There are some challenges, but they are safe," he said.[11]
Lewis disagreed. She suggested the district hire more staff to monitor the hallways, a suggestion that was also put to the board by a teacher in a March board meeting. Laesch agreed with Lewis and also suggested the district set up more uniform discipline policies at the middle school level. That way, students would be familiar with the rules before entering high school.[11]
Both Darby and Arroyo said the district should take a harder stance with students who do not cooperate. Darby said the district should not "babysit" students who do not want to be in school.[11]
"We need the kids who want to be there to have the environment that encourages them to learn and that can't happen if there's disruptions in class," said Darby.[11]
Garofalo and Hatchett spoke on the importance of understanding the problem before expelling a student. Garofalo said the district should focus on training teachers in classroom management and to make sure discipline policies are consistently enforced. Hatchett said there should be an alternate education program in the district that focuses on a student's behavior issues. She said real learning cannot happen until the heart of those issues are addressed.[11]
Hull and Peryea both agreed that zero tolerance policies were not the right answer to address the district's discipline problems.[11]
Issues in the district
New superintendent hired
The East Aurora School District 131 hired Dr. Michael Popp as its new superintendent in March 2015. Before accepting the position Popp served as the executive director for teaching and learning at the Indian Prairie School District 204. He replaced the district's former superintendent Dr. Jerome Roberts on April 1, 2015.[12]
Popp grew up on Chicago's south side. He earned his bachelor's degree in special studies from Cornell College in Iowa in 1988. He went on to earn both a master's degree in educational leadership and a doctoral degree in education from Aurora University. He began his career in education teaching English at St. Rita High School, where he graduated. He later worked as a dean and a principal before taking on other administrative roles.[12]
After Roberts announced his retirement, the board of education asked the community for input on selecting the new superintendent through surveys, forums and in-person interviews.[12]
Ballotpedia survey responses
Challenger Kenneth Darby participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display his responses to the survey questions.
Top priorities
When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Darby stated:
| “ | My first priority would be to establish fiscal responsibility and accountability. I would also seek to establish strong leadership on the board.[13] | ” |
| —Kenneth Darby (2015)[14] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays the candidates' rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||
|---|---|---|
| Issue | Darby's responses | |
| Expanding arts education | ||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||
| Improving college readiness | ||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||
| Expanding school choice options | ||
Positions on the issues
Darby was asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to his responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the East Aurora School District 131 election in 2015:[8]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| September 23, 2014 | First day to circulate petitions |
| December 15, 2014 | First day to file nominating papers |
| December 22, 2014 | Last day to file nominating papers |
| December 30, 2014 | Last day to file objections to nominating petitions |
| January 15, 2015 | First campaign finance report due |
| January 29, 2015 | Last day to withdraw as a candidate |
| February 5, 2015 | Last day to file as a write-in candidate |
| March 10, 2015 | Last day to register to vote |
| March 23, 2015 | First day early that voting is available |
| April 4, 2015 | Last day early that voting is available |
| April 6, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| April 7, 2015 | General Election Day |
| July 15, 2015 | Last campaign finance report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: Illinois elections, 2015
The East Aurora Board of Education election shared the ballot with Kane County municipal elections, including city offices, village trustees, library district trustees, park district commissioners and other school boards.[1]
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "East + Aurora + School + District + 131 + Illinois"
See also
| East Aurora School District 131 | Illinois | School Boards |
|---|---|---|
 |
 |
|
|
|
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Aurora Election Commission, "2015 Final Filings for School Board Members," accessed January 19, 2015
- ↑ Aurora Election Commission, "2015 Consolidated Election April 7, 2015 Unofficial Results," accessed April 7, 2015
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 United States Census Bureau, "Kane County, Illinois," accessed March 12, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 22, 2014
- ↑ Kane County Clerk, "Election Results," accessed March 12, 2015
- ↑ East Aurora School District 131, "BOARD OF EDUCATION POLICY MANUAL: SECTION 2 - BOARD OF EDUCATION," accessed March 12, 2015
- ↑ East Aurora School District 131, "East Aurora School District 131: 2015 ELECTION INFORMATION," accessed March 12, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Illinois State Board of Elections, "Election and Campaign Finance Calendar, 2015," accessed January 19, 2015
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "A Guide to Campaign Disclosure," accessed March 31, 2015
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections, "Candidate Disclosure Search," accessed April 3, 2015
- ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 11.12 11.13 11.14 11.15 Chicago Tribune, "At East Aurora candidates forum, diversity and discipline in spotlight," March 18, 2015
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chicago Tribune, "East Aurora School District 131 selects Dr. Michael Popp as Superintendent," March 12, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Kenneth Darby responses," March 28, 2015
| 2015 East Aurora School District 131 Elections | |
| DuPage County, Illinois | |
| Election date: | April 7, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Raymond Hull • Incumbent, Mary Louise Peryea • Alex Arroyo • Kenneth Darby • Julie Garofalo • Mary Garza • Kimberly Hatchett • John Laesch • Anita Lewis |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
