Meet Summit Hill D161 Board Of Ed Candidate: Katie Campbell

FRANKFORT, IL — Katie Campbell is one of eight candidates running for four open positions on the Summit Hill District 161 Board of Education. Campbell is a teacher, and has a Master's degree in Physical Education.

Campbell recently filled out the Patch candidate survey, and her answers can be found below:

If you are a candidate for the April election, and would like to answer our Patch candidate questionnaire, please email andrea.earnest@patch.com.

Name: Katie Campbell

Age (as of Election Day): 49

Town/city of residence: Tinley Park

School district:

Summit Hill District #161

Family:

Husband, Chris
Daughters
Macie - 11
Ellie - 9

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Education:

Bachelor’s Degree in Education- Northern Illinois University Physical Education Master’s Degree in Education Administration - Eastern Illinois University Master’s Degree in Physical Education - Chicago State University Teaching Endorsements in Health, Driver’s Education, Special Education

Occupation:

Teacher - Physical Education and Health, 27 total years, 11 years as Physical Education Department Supervisor for Bremen High School District #228

Campaign website: Can be found here.

Previous or current elected or appointed office:

None.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

A month ago my answer would have been different. Today my answer is transparency. I have watched over the last few years as certain pieces of information, once available to the public through the district/school board website, became no longer available except by FOIA. Public packets that contain public versions of the Board Book (listing everything except confidential information) are no longer provided for the community. The Superintendent's “Board Briefs” are often edited for content (ex. recent expansion of the school lunch program to include all students was omitted). Is the district in compliance with what they provide the public? Yes, but why is the information the bare minimum? I encourage you to look at our website compared to neighboring district pages and ask why.

At a recent meeting it was mentioned that there was a Forensic Audit of the district with no other information provided. Anyone who has lived in the district for a while certainly remembers the words “Forensic Audit” as it applied to the Lincoln-Way 210 scandal. In that same meeting, the bills for a Storm Construction were pulled from the bills list and left unpaid. Are these 2 things connected? I recently FOIA’d the Summit Hill School District 161 List of Contracts in Excess of $25,000 for the past 10 years (multiple years were previously posted online; now the documents have to be FOIA’d). Why have they been removed from the webpage? When I receive the FOIA response, I will post the documents on my campaign webpage.

In the past 6 weeks at least one person was terminated and several others have resigned (Director of Business/FOIA officer, Head of Buildings and Grounds and others). Are any of these related to the forensic audit? The superintendent, who oversees all of these people remains in place. Is there any involvement or lack of job performance, by her, connected to any of this?

In the past, I have FOIA’d items, such as Board Audio, for board meetings where I was present and had spoken. The district’s response was, “No items exist,” or “the recording device wasn’t working.”

Most recently I went to the board meeting archives and nothing outside of this current year had any links that were working. I had to notify the superintendent that nothing was working on her board of education website. They have since been reactivated, however, I continue to ask why were the links not working?

Total transparency and all board meeting documents will be readily available online for all community members to access at any time. This will be restored and reflective of what other districts do, and with the capabilities of the “Board Books” platform.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

My involvement with the district started prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic. I have been involved prior to 2020 actively working to keep the community informed. I’ve questioned policies, called to question data from surveys, compiled and put forth testing data as it compares to other Lincoln-Way 210 feeder Schools, just to name a few. I will continue to serve the community and our district families regardless of the outcome of the election, as I have done for the past 4 years. I am committed to the children in our schools, the community as a whole, fiscal responsibility, and the whole truth. I am committed to treating all community members with respect and dignity, regardless of my opinion or beliefs. Additionally, I am committed to high performing schools, to fiscal responsibility, to continue to build relationships with all community interests, most importantly, improved district leadership.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community or district?

The negative treatment of the public, the bullying, the intimidation, the verbal confrontation, that has been allowed to occur, and continues to occur at board meetings by certain board members, is something I have been working to bring attention to for 4 years. This behavior did not begin with the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic. It has been happening for years. This has to change.

The lack of total transparency and the lack of accountability from the highest level of district leadership, which the current board majority continues to support, is something that would change on day one, should I be elected.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform:

Academic growth for all of our children. There have been some interventions put in place in the past 2 years to move students forward academically. Considering the year we have all had, it will be of utmost importance to continue to provide as much support as we can to our students and families. We have to not only account for the decline we have experienced in our district in the past 10 years, but to account for the slide that is certain to have happened in this unique educational year.

I proposed to Mrs. Rains and the school board last spring to push out a voluntary learning program for any interested students to continue with the E-Learning in the summer of 2020. We all made the shift very swiftly in the Spring of 2020 to a completely new “school setting” that was like no other. I proposed that teachers be paid a stipend to continue to push out lessons in math and English over the summer months, knowing that certain critical topics had not received the attention they needed. Students could have logged in voluntarily and when available to reinforce said curriculum items. I know, in my house, it would not have been voluntary. It took my youngest weeks to get acclimated to the E-Learning platform and was a daily struggle for her and for our whole family. Once we finally grasped the process, it was over. My thought was to consider pushing out a program to keep the children engaged. In a summer of no vacations, little to no sports and activities, I encouraged the superintendent to think outside the box and do something like no other district was doing. These are the types of programs/ideas we could implement to solve more than one problem.

I am also committed to the teachers of our district, who worked most of this school year without a contract. I would like to see a working relationship with the teachers that is respectful, honest, and trusting; where all parties feel heard, valued and appreciated. Good leaders listen and learn from those around them, have respectful and honest dialog with their team members, and lead, through open channels of communication

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

I have been a successful educator, district administrator, coach, for 28 years. My husband and I volunteer our time as coaches in the local community, working with young girls, not only to teach them the game of softball, but how to be a good teammate, and a respectful opponent. I can say that even when we win by a large margin or lose by a large margin, the girls on the team usually ask in the post game huddle, “Did we win?” My standard answer is, “You are always a winner on my team. If you did your best, you are always a winner.” These girls play for the fun, they play for the cheers, and they put their whole self into those games. The level of improvement we see over the course of a season is truly amazing. The level of confidence we see in the girls over the course of the season is the most rewarding. If they do something wrong, we teach them. If they do something right, we congratulate them.

It’s not about my successes. It’s about being a good wife, mother, coach, friend, community member, mentor, employee, neighbor, family member, etc. If you ask people who know me, they’ll likely tell you I am all of those things. That is my greatest accomplishment

Why should voters trust you?

I feel the answer to this question is detailed in my previous answers.

If you win this position, what accomplishment would make your term in office a success?

I feel the answer to this question is detailed in my previous answer.

What are your views on fiscal policy, government spending and the handling of taxpayer dollars in the office you are seeking?

I am committed to absolute transparency, trust, responsibility, and oversight. I’ve worked with district level budgets and spending and have a level of understanding of school funding that I will apply to my oversight of the district operations as it applies to taxpayer dollars. Having the same sticker shock that most community members have when receiving the property tax bills, I am committed to responsibly spending.

Do you support Black Lives Matter and what are your thoughts on the demonstrations held since the death of George Floyd and the shooting of Jacob Blake?

I support equality for all individuals. I support the First Amendment rights of all individuals guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States.

Do you think the current board has done enough to support racial equality, and if not, what specifically should be done to do so?

I think the work toward equality of all types is something that is constantly evolving. I look forward to a day where we can stop calling racial equality an initiative, a goal, a movement, and just have it be; a day where we don’t have to try to make things equal, they just are.

What are your thoughts on the district’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic? Are you in favor of remote learning, in-person learning or a hybrid of the two? Do you support a mask mandate for students and school staff, or mandatory coronavirus testing for both students and staff?

District’s handling of pandemic

It's easier to analyze and evaluate situations when we're looking back on them in the past, than when we're in the present moment. I think the district leadership worked hard to put plans into place with an ever changing set of rules. I think their ideas were often overruled and interfered with based on certain board member’s views/opinions and google searches. I think the leadership ultimately should have made a decision, sold their decision to the board, and the board should have supported that decision. It is the job of the district leadership to make said decisions.

I am in favor of in-person/remote learning parental choice for all students. I think, by now, we all know that schools can be in session, in person, and have a safe environment for students and teachers. Certain exceptions to in-person apply and we have to accommodate and provide the absolute best education for all of our students. I believe that we can implement a system that does just this.

Masks and testing
I support the recommendations of the CDC and the medical community.

When the vaccine is available to them, do you support mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for students and staff?

My hope is that people will follow the directives of their family physician. This is an evolving situation with new findings everyday. I urge people to listen to their medical professional and proceed accordingly

Is there any reason you would not serve your full term of office, other than those of health or family?

No.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

Sometimes your biggest life lessons come from your greatest mistakes.