District 115 Candidates Debate Issues

Five candidates for four seats on the Lake Forest High School District 115 Board of Education in the April 9 election made their case to more than 90 people during a League of Women Voters forum Sunday at the Lake Forest Public Library.

answered questions from a moderator and made a direct plea to voters in opening and closing statements. Burgener is the only incumbent seeking reelection.

Get local news in a daily email from Patch. It's like getting a free newspaper. Learn more. 

All five candidates stressed communication with administration, teachers and the public as reasons to give them a vote. They were specifically questioned about teacher evaluations and the strike that brought school to a halt in September.

“A lot of what went on had to do with relationships between administrators and teachers,” Reimer said. He would consider the use of professional negotiators the next time a labor contract is before the Board.

Moorman felt the strike indicated a failure in the Board-teacher relationship. Future negotiations will be more successful if the Board treats the teachers as the professionals they are," he said.

Schreiber wants to make sure teacher pay is competitive with other North Shore schools. Powers felt teachers and administrators were concerned. “They both felt they were doing the right thing,” he said.

Burgener, who was part of the District’s negotiating team during the talks and the work stoppage, felt it was important for the Board to hold the line. “We could have acquiesced and we would not have had a viable solution,” he said. “At the end of the day we had a deal we could have had before.”

Readers can view the candidates’ closing statements on the Patch videos accompanying this article. The entire 30-minute debate can be seen on the League’s website.

For more Lake Forest News, like" us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.