Judith Zapf

Judith Zapf

Education

Bachelor's

Ithaca College

Personal

Religion

Christian: Catholic

Contact

Personal website

Judith Zapf was a candidate seeking an at-large seat on the Community Unit School District 200 Board of Education in Illinois. She ran against two incumbents and two fellow challengers in the general election on April 7, 2015. She lost the election.

Biography

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Zapf has worked as a realtor with Coldwell-Banker since 2013. She has previously worked in public relations, media relations, advertising and as a freelance copywriter. She served as a PTA officer for six terms in the Community Unit School District 200 and received the DuPage West Region’s Outstanding Leadership Award.

Zapf is a member of St. Michael Catholic Church, where she serves as a religious education teacher. She is also a parent volunteer for Cub Scout Pack 63 Den 9. She and her husband have one son who attends school in the district. Zapf earned her bachelor's degree in communications management from Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y.

Elections

2015

See also: Community Unit School District 200 elections (2015)

Three of the seven at-large seats on the Community Unit School District 200 Board of Education were up for general election on April 7, 2015. The seats of incumbents James A. Vroman, Jim Gambaiani and Rosemary Swanson were on the ballot. Swanson did not file to run for re-election, leaving Vroman and Gambaiani to run against three candidates, Chris Crabtree, Gary Tonn and Judith Zapf. Vroman and Gambaiani won re-election to the board, along with newcomer Crabtree.

Results

Community Unit School District 200, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Chris Crabtree	24.1%	5,308
	Nonpartisan	Jim Gambaiani Incumbent	23.1%	5,091
	Nonpartisan	James A. Vroman Incumbent	18.8%	4,138
	Nonpartisan	Judith Zapf	17.7%	3,891
	Nonpartisan	Gary Tonn	16.3%	3,585
Total Votes				22,013
Source: DuPage County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report: 2015 Consolidated General," accessed April 22, 2015

Funding

Zapf reported no contributions or expenditures to the Illinois State Board of Elections in this election.

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.

Endorsements

Zapf received endorsements from the Wheaton Warrenville Education Association and from CUSD 200 former board member Rosemary Swanson.

Campaign themes

2015

Zapf highlighted the following goals on her campaign website:

“	As a school board member, I believe it’s an enormous honor to be elected by one's neighbors to represent the interests of all our students and all our community members. It is the board member’s role to develop a thorough understanding of the issues and collaborate to ensure the direction of our schools is reflective of our community. Should I be elected to the CUSD200 School Board, my goals include: Collaborate with the Community One of the reasons I decided to run for school board was as a result of my experience as a member of the Engage 200 Facilitating Team. It was a great experience and what I believe is an excellent model for community relations. The format of sharing information, providing framework for small group discussion and distilling that information into a basis for action is effective. It can be used for understanding our community’s priorities and taking action that is reflective of their wants and needs. The biggest disadvantage is that many of the decisions that need to be made are extremely complicated and require decision-makers to be committed to doing what it takes to gain a thorough understanding of both the decision and all the factors that provide the context for it. I believe it’s the job of a school board member to be a community educator dedicated to helping others understand both the decisions to be made and the factors that influence them. Balance Fiscal Responsibility with the Needs of Our Students If elected, I am committed to prudent financial management, to thoughtful consideration of all our options and to cost-effectively meeting the needs of our students. Our budget is tight and on track to grow increasingly tighter. It disappoints me to know that CUSD200 has the 2nd lowest per pupil spending compared to our benchmark districts and that Illinois contributes a smaller share to public education funding than any other state. Our budgeting process requires thoughtful decisions that make the very most of the funds available to us and working diligently to increase that funding. Our Community, through Engage 200, has asked that we explore and exhaust any and all alternative funding resources. I support those efforts with the understanding that, given the nature of this type of funding, we cannot count on it to fund a significant portion of the education our students deserve. I believe that we should aggressively pursue increased state funding for education. Despite our state’s financial woes, there truly has to be something we can learn from any of the other 49 states doing a better job of funding education. Lastly, I can appreciate that no one wants increased taxes; however, should our efforts toward grants and increased state funding prove unsuccessful, I would encourage collaboration with our stake-holders to determine a course of action that would appropriately fund the schools we want for our community. Address the Needs of our Youngest Students I remain steadfast in my beliefs that CUSD200 needs to do a much better job of meeting the needs of our youngest students attending Jefferson Early Childhood Center. I was actively involved in campaigning to pass the 2013 Jefferson Referendum and was disappointed when it was rejected by voters. I now know it was not the right solution at the right time. I am very excited about the Facilities Master Plan Approach the School Board is now taking. Its three focus areas -- Necessary Maintenance; a solution for Jefferson; and the Learning Environments in all of our schools -- should deliver the information the community has requested and provides a basis for action. I am very hopeful that the solutions that come from this approach will be ones our community can enthusiastically embrace. Seek to Ensure ALL D200 5th Graders Transition to Middle School with the Entirety of their Elementary School Classmates As one of the families impacted the Washington Redistricting in 2011-2013, I remain committed to the belief that 5th Grade Students should move with their entire 5th Grade Class to the same middle school. They should not face the challenges of middle school separated from the established friendships developed during their elementary school years. Currently, the majority of our 5th graders transition with all their elementary school classmates to the same middle school. Unfortunately, small groups of 5th Graders at Whittier and at Washington do not. I am hopeful that the Facilities Master Plan Approach the School Board is now taking will identify how we can deliver this important middle school transitioning advantage to all D200 students. Reach out to members of our CUSD200 Community without Children Currently Attending our Schools I believe we can do more to involve members of our community who do not currently have children in our schools. A large portion of our tax base has no children in our schools; and can frequently feel like they only hear from D200 at tax time or when it’s time for a referendum. I’d like to see D200 make outreach to this population a priority so that when there comes a time to make important decisions we have a well-informed and involved electorate making them.	”
—Judith Zapf's campaign website (2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Judith Zapf Community Unit School District 200. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Judith Zapf - Google News

See also

• Community Unit School District 200, Illinois
• Community Unit School District 200 elections (2015)
• Hot tub Gatorade, turnout in Peoria and the Wisconsin state budget... (April 8, 2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• Community Unit School District 200
• Campaign website
• Personal website
• Twitter page