D34 School Board Candidate Jack Murphy

John "Jack" Murphy

Age: 63
Family: Two children in Glenview school district 34 schools
Education: Law School Graduate
Occupation: Lawyer
Previous Elected or Appointed Offices: Board member School District 34 Board of Education (2005 – present)
Other community involvement: Glenview Community Church Nursery School, Compensation committee (2002), Board member of Prevention Partnership - a drug, alcohol, and HIV prevention program based in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood (1985 – 2003), AYSO coach, Various legal bar associations
Position Sought: Board member, School 34 Board of Education
Campaign E-mail Address: candidates@votekidsD34.org
Campaign committee: No committee.
Campaign Websites, Facebook or Twitter: http://www.votekidsd34.org/

Why are you running?

I have lived in Glenview for ten years and have two children in District 34schools. I believe that our future is directly related to our ability to provide meaningful and sound education for our children. I have been on the Board of Education for eight years. As a homeowner, taxpayer, and parent I want to continue to be part of the team that helps District 34 face the challenge of balancing its budget while maintaining its excellent schools. The Board must provide fair, enlightened, and intelligent leadership to steer the District through our current demanding times.

In what ways would the community benefit from your service?

I have been a member of the Board of Education for eight years. I now have the second longest tenure on the Board. I believe that my experience puts me in a position to provide meaningful insight both as to our past practices as well as guidance as to a preferred future based on where we have been and where we want to go. As a member of a law firm that represents school districts in our metropolitan area, I have a wealth of experience to draw upon in addressing the wide range of issues that face our School District.Those issues include budget and revenue concerns, labor and employment concerns, teacher and administrator evaluations and compensation, and student learning and achievement. As an attorney specializing in school law I deal with these issues on a daily basis in my law practice. I believe my experience as a school attorney combined with my eight years on the School Board puts me in a unique position to anticipate, understand, and help resolve the difficult problems and issues that face District 34 as we move forward to embrace our preferred future.

What is the biggest challenge the School Board faces and what should be done to address it?

 We must maintain and build upon our excellent schools. We must continue to make prudent financial decisions while never wavering from our primary mission of educating our children. We cannot have everything we want,so we must make the right choices in exercising our judgment as to how to spend our resources. The School Board must be mindful that education is a cooperative and collaborative process. We must listen and learn from our community

What do you think the School Board does well?

We listen to the community in arriving at decisions as to how to steward our schools – whether the issue is how and where to make budget cuts or how to best to achieve our preferred future.

What should be some of the School Board’s priorities be over the next four years?

Over the last three years, the Board of Education has cut $3.1 million from the District’s budget. The budget cuts were made after many public meetings through which the Board sought and received community input as to both where the cuts should be made as well as how extensive the cuts should be. As a result of this Board stewardship, the District financial future is in the black. Challenges such as reduced state aide and proposed legislation that shifts pension costs to school districts still loom on the horizon, so the Board must be ever vigilant as to District spending. We must continue to provide this leadership on the spending of our resources and making intelligent decisions on how best to educate our children.

What else would you like voters to know?

District 34 has traveled through enormous changes during the course of the past several years. The current challenge to the Board of Education is twofold:the Board needs to continue to respond to change in a fair, thoughtful, and appropriate manner; and the Board needs to incorporate present economic realities in shaping its response so that the District spends within its means.Change cannot cost more than the District brings in.

The changes have included a new superintendent and new administrators in such key positions as curriculum, student services, building principals, business, and buildings & grounds. Revenue loss due to low CPI’s and reduced state aid coupled with increased costs as a result of almost 500 new students coming to our District caused theDistrict’s expenditures to outpace its revenues, with the consequence that the District was deficit spending. In short - the District was “in the red.”

After months of planning and public meetings, to address the budgetary shortfall, the Board of Education cut $1.8 million from the District’s budget. Asa result of these efforts, the District will be “in the black” going forward.

New contracts for both the teachers and the support staff are being negotiated at the current time, putting further strain on financial resources and causing uneasiness with staff.

Recent legislation now mandates evaluations for both principals and teachers include components based on student learning.

Recent legislation has also taken away some teacher seniority rights that have long been part of the environment for teachers in Illinois. Anticipated legislation is expected to push more of the cost of funding teachers’ retirement pensions to school districts.

After months of discussion, and input from all stakeholders, the District has adopted a new Strategic Plan. The District’s curriculum is changing and will now be based on the Common Core. These changes – dramatic, expansive, and far-reaching - have affected, and will continue to affect, our District in many ways.

• The District lost experience and institutional memory when virtually its entire administrative staff turned over in a two year span.
• Budget cuts caused uncertainty with the teachers, support staff, and the community as class sizes were increased and staff positions eliminated.
• Projections as to our local and national economies indicate that budgetary issues are not temporary or transitive and that further budget reductions may be necessary.
• The new contracts for the teachers and support staff must be fair and reflect the District’s and the community’s appreciation for their efforts; however, despite that goal, monetary aspects of the contracts are constrained by financial realities.
• The unprecedented evaluation of teachers and principals based, in part, on student performance will, understandably, cause angst with staff and create challenges as to its fair implementation.
• The District must prepare itself financially to deal with increased pension costs.
• The District must be sensitive to the needs of increased minority and low income population and respond appropriately.

The Board of Education has the responsibility to provide the appropriate response to these challenges. The Board must provide fair, enlightened,and intelligent leadership to steer the District through these demanding times. The Board must work with the District’s administration, teachers,and support staff as well as the community, to insure that our future is solid,stable, and caring. In shaping its response, the Board must never waver from understanding the District’s mission is to provide for the education of our children.