Lisa Hirsh and Melissa Itkin for NSSD112 Board: Letter

I strongly support Lisa Hirsh and Melissa Itkin for NSSD112 school board. They will both prove to be valuable voices for change and for the sustained success of our district, and they have shown their dedication and commitment during the past years. Our community has been frustrated by and has argued about everything from school closures to curriculum and to staffing, and while differences of opinion can further divide the community, our Board will benefit from having more smart people who can work with others, and who can respect those who disagree. Both Lisa and Melissa embody those values.

My reasons for supporting them stem from my own experience. After the failed referendum, I was asked by the District to serve on the launch team for the Reconfiguration 2.0 committee. I was then elected by that body as one of its leaders on the steering committee. The 2.0 process—in the wake of the referendum—was not easy. The community was polarized. The Board was not entirely supportive of the process. The former Superintendent was looking to make a move. The 2.0 process did not produce a successful recommendation for reconfiguration, but in another way, it proved very successful. 2.0 produced four of the current Board members. Those members, from both sides of the referendum debate, built a strong bond and have done their best to reset the district in the wake of so much community turmoil. Both Lisa and Melissa know how to work with others.

While Lisa Hirsh was not a member of 2.0, I often saw her in the audience. She was deeply engaged throughout that process and was asked to serve on the recent Long-Range Planning Committee because of her long-term commitment to helping the district. Her dedication to getting us past our current problems is evident in all of her advocacy work. Lisa not only served on the Planning Committee, but she was also a member of the Elm Place PTO Executive Board. She is a lifelong resident of Highland Park, and as many will remember, Lisa was also a candidate for the Board during the last election. It was not easy to run for office in the wake of the referendum, or, frankly, to do so a second time. The easiest thing would have been for Lisa to have stepped back after the last election; she did exactly the opposite, she leaned in.

And Lisa did so with the ability to learn and grow, and to admit when she has changed a previous position. In a world increasingly polarized and divided, we need more people like Lisa. She listens and makes her decisions in a thoughtful and deliberative manner. Further, Lisa brings a passion for keeping all children in the conversation. She is deeply conversant about the issues regarding our special needs programs, and she will represent that population at the Board level with her same characteristic intelligence and care. Lisa also knows our district is not only composed of students from privileged families. She is an advocate for working families, our dual language populations, our military families, and all of 112, including Highwood and Ft. Sheridan. Where many others merely see pieces—and some work to artificially set those pieces against each other—Lisa sees the whole picture. That is not meant as a platitude, where the easiest thing to say is that "we are one district so all district-level change is necessarily good.” Instead, Lisa understands that the strength of unified 112 comes from an understanding of its people, its history, and their partnerships. She will prove a thoughtful steward of the public trust.

Melissa Itkin served as one of the members of Reconfiguration 2.0, eventually becoming one of the Tri-chairs in the final leadership incarnation. Melissa worked tirelessly throughout the process to help build consensus, comity, and mutual understanding. Her significant graphic design skills also developed the visual look of the 2.0 materials, and she volunteered her time well beyond many others. Melissa and I had different positions during the referendum, but I immediately found her to be focused on the future. Melissa’s leadership skills were on display from the beginning of the process, and before she was elected as a Tri-Chair, she was chair of the Education sub-committee. In that role, Melissa led a thoughtful process to help the committee understand the issues, and to communicate the community’s issues to the 112 administration and the Board. She did this all with good humor, during what was a largely humorless time. She is fiercely intelligent and fiercely creative, and our district will benefit immensely from both of those qualities.

I have watched Lisa and Melissa speak in a public candidate forum, and I met them both again at a recent candidate coffee. I have been impressed on these occasions by their intelligence, acumen, and vitality. We often hear that candidates should not have an agenda, but I disagree. We need people who have an agenda to help 112 develop a successful and realistic vision for the future. We need people who have an agenda to keep working, even when it’s easier to quit, to retreat, and step away from a difficult problem. We need people who have an agenda that will allow them to face our problems with understanding and insight.

Lisa and Melissa have my vote because they share this agenda, and I hope you will vote for them as well.

By Davis Schneiderman