Renata Sliva

Renata Sliva

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Renata Sliva was a candidate for at-large representative on the Indian Prairie School District 204 school board in Illinois. Sliva was defeated in the at-large general election on April 4, 2017.

Sliva previously ran for a seat on the board. She was defeated in the general election on April 7, 2015.

Biography

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Sliva was born and raised in the former Czechoslovakia. She and her husband received political asylum in the United States after leaving Czechoslovakia for religious and political freedom in 1982. They have lived in Naperville since 1986. Their eight children all attended Indian Prairie School District 204.

Elections

2017

See also: Indian Prairie School District 204 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.

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

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017

School board candidates in Illinois were required to file campaign finance reports if they did one or both of the following:

• 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.

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

Endorsements

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2015

See also: Indian Prairie School District 204 elections (2015)

Three of the seven at-large seats on the Indian Prairie School District 204 Board of Education were up for general election on April 7, 2015. Incumbents Lori Price, Justin J. Karubas and Mark Rising are up for re-election. They faced one challenger, Renata Sliva. All three incumbents successfully won another term on the board.

Results

Indian Prairie School District 204, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Lori Price Incumbent	31%	6,455
	Nonpartisan	Mark Rising Incumbent	28.4%	5,915
	Nonpartisan	Justin J. Karubas Incumbent	24%	4,990
	Nonpartisan	Renata Sliva	16.6%	3,454
Total Votes				20,814
Source: DuPage County Election Commission, "Election Summary Report: 2015 Consolidated General," accessed April 22, 2015, Will County Clerk, "April 7 Consolidated Election," 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.

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

Endorsements

Sliva did not receive any official endorsements for this election.

Campaign themes

2015

Sliva highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:

“	COMMON CORE Common Core State Standards (CCSS), despite the name, are actually a federal takeover of education. They were adopted by Illinois before they were written. I believe that our district was potentially in a bargaining position not to go along with untested standards when state owes us money. While not recognizing CCSS for what it is, our district also participated in Helmsley Project [...] where it actively supported what turns out to be an ideological federal tool. Among many CCSS problems: It is unfunded. With the goal to make all schools “equal”, it will result in redistribution of all resources, beginning with tax $$. Yielding power to federal government, every decision will eventually be made at the top and thus leading to the elimination of the local school boards. It will stall any innovation. It will take away any freedom left in our schools. As colleges and all tests align with CCSS it will force private schools and homeschoolers to do CCSS too, eventually leading to elimination of both. Massive data gathering have people questioning how these will be used. Teaching to the tests takes true meaning of teaching out of schools. It is opposed by students and teachers alike. “Rigorous” CCSS education means that by the end of high school students are ready for a 2-year community college, not a 4-year college. As we have witnessed in our district, it leads to an exodus of (good) teachers. Atheistic ideology is heavily reflected in social/political agenda, environmentalism, demoralization of students, history.	”
—Renata Sliva's campaign website (2015)

“	ATHEISM IN OUR HIGH SCHOOLS In the fall of 2012 I protested the talk of young atheist, Jessica A., who came all the way from Rhode Island for the Constitutional Day to our high school to promote her case. She was successful in making her high school take down a prayer hanging on the wall. I am not sure if the students understood her dialectical materialism when she claimed that by taking away their right she is protecting their rights. She also started to agitate for her opinion – before she was stopped, perhaps because of my presence – that the word God should not be in the Pledge of Allegiance. I demanded that if the school brings an atheist to present her misuse of 1st amendment then next time they should bring someone who truly defends freedom of speech and freedom of religion. That has not happened yet. Another disturbing aspect of this is that the permission slip stated only date, place and sponsoring department, other fields were blank. I demanded that any future communication with parents requiring the signature had to have detailed information. To my knowledge this issue has not been addressed.	”
—Renata Sliva's campaign website (2015)

“	AMERICAN HOLIDAYS AT OUR SCHOOLS Around 2011 our school district began slowly to discourage the celebrations of Valentine day and Halloween and replace them with all sorts of other celebrations. Many people may think this will hurt no-one. I don’t think so. Which holiday will be next? Holidays reflect the soul of the nation and often its history. I oppose this as it resembles a practice held by communists, the purpose was to take away the identity of the nation and install communist holidays. I think that especially for immigrant children it is important to keep the celebrations of traditional holidays at schools because it helps the students and their families to learn about American culture, way of life and also the history. It helps assimilation.	”
—Renata Sliva's campaign website (2015)

“	PRO-LIFE STUDENTS In the past few years the pro-life students have not been treated the same way as other students. For example, the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity held in October 2014 was treated differently than other students’ events: As usually, the approval of the flyer for this pro-life event was delayed. Sometimes these are defaced and sometimes taken down. This school year the term “pro-life” had to be removed from the poster, even after this poster had been originally approved. The rights of pro-life students need to be protected.	”
—Renata Sliva's campaign website (2015)

“	Sex, language and violence in school curriculum books List of books that are part of English curriculum include the likes of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon http://youtu.be/UgScUrrOLAo and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Such books would be great if the goal would be to morally corrupt young people. Yet, it is interesting that in Policy under Publications by the Students there is prohibition of “text that is libelous, obscene, vulgar, lewd, invades the privacy of others, conflicts with the basic educational mission of the school, is socially inappropriate, is inappropriate due to the maturity of the students”. Texts from some curriculum books could not be quoted in these student publications. It is time to label classroom material when it includes sex, language and violence and notify parents when their children are to read this kind of literature.	”
—Renata Sliva's campaign website (2015)

“	THE AIR CONDITIONING In 1979 the district approved the first school to be built without air-conditioning. Despite complaints of the students and teachers, they continued to build 19 more schools without A/C and only built the last two with A/C. Every year during hot summer days, the sitting school board feels the heat too. The situation of the air conditioning in elementary schools is a classic example of consequences of one unfortunate decision, the refusal to admit it, and insisting on doing the same mistake over and over again in the name of sameness. I support air conditioning for elementary schools without increasing our taxes.	”
—Renata Sliva's campaign website (2015)

See also

• Indian Prairie School District 204, Illinois
• Indian Prairie School District 204 elections (2017)
• Indian Prairie School District 204 elections (2015)
• Hot tub Gatorade, turnout in Peoria and the Wisconsin state budget... (April 8, 2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• Indian Prairie School District 204
• Campaign website