Kai Rush

Kai Rush

Education

Bachelor's

University of North Florida

Graduate

Northern Illinois University

Personal

Profession

Educator

Contact

Personal website

Kai Rush was a candidate seeking an at-large, two-year term seat on the School District U-46 Board of Education in Illinois in the general election on April 7, 2015. He lost the election.

Biography

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Rush graduated from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida. He now lives in Elgin. He has worked as a teacher in a number of different capacities and in a number of different districts. Rush earned his bachelor's degree in science education from the University of North Florida and his master's degree in instructional technology from Northern Illinois University. At the time of his candidacy, Rush was working on a doctoral degree in instructional technology. He and his wife have two sons.

Elections

2015

See also: School District U-46 elections (2015)

Five of the seven at-large seats on the School District U-46 Board of Education were up for general election on April 7, 2015. Four of the seats were up for election to four-year terms. One was up for election to a two-year term.

The seats of incumbents Maria Bidelman, Amy Kerber, Linda Campos-Moreira, Traci D. Ellis and Jennifer Shroder were on the ballot. Bidelman, Kerber and Campos-Moreira did not file to run for re-election. The race for the four four-year term seats featured incumbents Ellis and Shroder and the following six candidates: Lawrence "Larry" Bury, Phil A. Costello, Susan E. Kerr, Ed Novak, Arisleyda Taylor and Jeanette Ward. Two candidates, Cody Holt and Kai Rush, ran for the two-year term seat. Brian Sauvageau filed to run for a four-year term seat but withdrew his candidacy in February 2015. Because of this, his name did not appear on the ballot.

Ellis won re-election to a four-year term. Challengers Ward, Kerr and Costello also won four-year term seats. Holt defeated Rush to win the two-year term.

Results

School District U-46, At-Large Special Election, 2-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Cody Holt	55.6%	6,399
	Nonpartisan	Kai Rush	44.4%	5,100
Total Votes				11,499
Source: Kane County Clerk, "2015 Consolidated Election Contest Results," accessed April 22, 2015, DuPage County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report: 2015 Consolidated General," accessed April 22, 2015, Cook County Clerk, "Suburban Cook County Election Results," accessed April 22, 2015

Funding

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.

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

Endorsements

Rush was endorsed by the Daily Herald. He was also endorsed by incumbent Jennifer Shroder.

Campaign themes

2015

Rush highlighted the following platform on his campaign website:

“	Kai Rush’s Platform I want to be a school board member that represents you! I will not claim that I have all the answers, but I have been an intricate part of the public school system since I was 17 years old. By being positive, developing creative solutions and building relationships with all stakeholders, we will be able to conquer any problems. I am asking you to believe in me! There are five seats available on April 7, 2015 and with your help, I can fill one of those seats! I love kids, I love my community and I love education! Let me be your representative on the school board! Be Positive Look for positive solutions- As a school district, we must be positive about our strategies, solutions and outcomes. In the end, it is about the students of U-46. Every decision we (school board) make affect students. I became a teacher, because I love students and teaching. I will do everything in my power for a child to be successful. If elected, I will be faced with many different situations that bring hard challenges. Again, the end result is picking what is best for all students of U-46. Before I make any decision for U-46, I will ask myself three questions: How does this decision affect all students of U-46? Teachers? The surrounding community? All stakeholders? How does this decision affect the highest student achievement? How can we find the most positive solution to this problem? Building U-46’s image- U-46 must put in place initiatives to create a positive image. I believe U-46 is one of the best school systems in Illinois, but we must build up our image to the our own community and make all residents and future residents believers in our school system. We have a lot of awards, an outstanding personnel and a wonderful community support system, but we need to let the world know how great we are. Low staff morale- From the U-46 teachers I have spoken with, U-46 has a very low morale among teachers. I want to find out why morale is so low. If we want students to succeed, we must have a teaching staff that loves their district, their jobs and their students. Be Creative Instructional technology movement- U-46’s schools, as a whole, are “very behind” other school districts. I had the pleasure of visiting 21 school districts over my 5 years in Illinois. Also, I have visited many school districts across this nation and was a part of the paper reduction task force in the State of Florida. I have learned various creative solutions to integrate a 21st century curriculum in every classroom. For example, one school district increased its attendance rate, which allowed them to have more funding. They used the extra funding to buy a laptop for every child in the district. Another district turned every classroom into a 21st century environment through diverting textbook money into teacher-created lessons, paid with a teacher stipend, and new tools for the classrooms. Creative solutions- There are many positive creative solutions to help us with our financial, curriculum, budgeting and image status. For example, are we investing enough effort and human resources to apply for federal, state and private grants? That may be an area we can explore. Before I decide on a drastic budget cut or raising the levy, I will ask: What options have we explored? Is there wasteful spending that we can cut? What solutions will help us achieve our highest student achievement and self-efficacy? How will this affect the students? Build Relationships Working together- Many people believe that most parties can not work together. I believe we can work together, especially when those most impacted are our children. Every child U-46 schools produce may open a business, become a CEO, fix your computer system, take my blood pressure at the doctor’s office and/or protect us every day, as a soldier, police officer or firefighter. A public school systems’ job is to provide every child a top notch education to become a successful, productive American citizen. There are many initiatives that surrounding districts and local business leaders can offer us to help educate our students with the best 2st century skills. Work with our surrounding districts- Most of the districts that are surrounding our district are very affluent. One of the biggest faults of having 882 school districts in Illinois is that most try to work alone instead of together. Many times, our school districts can share curriculum, volume purchase computers together, provide professional development across districts and/or share ideas. The end result saves U-46 money, allows us to build our education network and a network of free support from other school districts. Customer Service oriented- I am a man, who believes in customer service. I want every parent, community member, U-46 staff member and most of all, our students, to feel welcomed, appreciated and well-educated by our district’s schools. I love Disney, because of its customer service model. I remember trying to find my family, after getting a drink at Disney World. The staff knew exactly where my family was in a crowd of 5,000 people ready for a Disney show. I want every parent to feel great about their child’s education and where their child is going.	”
—Kai Rush's campaign website (2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Kai Rush School District U-46. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Kai Rush - Google News

See also

• School District U-46, Illinois
• School District U-46 elections (2015)
• Hot tub Gatorade, turnout in Peoria and the Wisconsin state budget... (April 8, 2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• School District U-46
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page
• Twitter page
• YouTube Channel