In Avoca School District 37, six candidates who are competing for four seats on the School Board in the April 1 Cook County Consolidated Election attended a League of Women Voters candidate forum earlier in March.
The list includes three incumbents seeking reelection —President Dan Seals, Vice President Gil Gibori and Member Yoav Sharon — and newcomers Jared Branahl, Carolyn Cole, and Lauren Rivera-Haire.
In his opening statement at the March 1 forum, held at Wilmette Village Hall, Gibori listed the accomplishments of the School Board during the two terms he has served on it.
“We’ve gotten Avoca from a fiscal crisis because of years of deficit spending and dangerously low reserves to a surplus budget,” he said. “We navigated the pandemic. We recruited two outstanding superintendents. We negotiated a remarkable union contract.”
Seals added, “We’ve had three years of budget surplus in a row and we’re on track for a fourth, and we did that without sacrificing academic quality.”
The candidates were first questioned about whether they would raise teacher salaries to be competitive, and if they would be willing to cut school programs or raise taxes to meet these
higher salaries.
Cole said, “One of the things that I have discovered during my time at Avoca is that teachers are absolutely the strength of the school. They are so supportive of our children. They certainly
deserve to make a living wage.”
She added that she is looking forward to discussing the options
with the other board members.
“Avoca has remained very competitive, both in the salaries and what we offer in compensation,” Gibori said. “Avoca has the most training time for teachers than any district in America.”
“They do deserve a higher pay,” Rivera-Haire said, then added, “You do have to look at the market.”
“I think compensation has to be competitive if you want to keep your best teachers,” Seals said. “And Avoca has some of the best teachers. It’s important to look at their wages and how they
compare with other teachers.”
He noted that “It’s not all about wages. Teachers need adequate time for planning and adequate time off.”
Sharon added that teachers are helped by a lower student-teacher ratio. In terms of the issue of raising taxes, he indicated that before he’d consider that, he would look for other cost-
saving possibilities.
Branahl said, “I think our teacher retention rate on the last report card was up around 90%, which is very strong. That means the board has been doing a good job of putting out a contract that has a salary that is attractive to teachers and has teachers wanting to stay in our district.”
The candidates were also asked for their recommendation regarding building upgrades since a 2024 bond issue referendum didn’t pass.
“The process was flawed,” Gibori said. “We ended up with an option that was so counter to what the community wanted. We need to improve engagement.”
Rivera-Haire concurred that it’s important to get everybody engaged and “on the same page.”
Seals said, “I don’t support having a referendum this year. There’s an issue with trust right now. I think it’s important that we rebuild that trust.”
The district has already started doing that through holding focus groups and putting out a communication survey, Seals added.
Candidates were also asked to describe how they would improve communications between the Board and the community.
Rivera-Haire suggested holding a quarterly “State of the Schools.”
Seals said they are already having networking events but need to figure out how the community members want to receive information and what information they want to receive.
Sharon suggested using social media to engage the community.
Branahl concurred with the suggestion of social media as well as emails.
Regular meetings with the community for face-to-face connection was the suggestion of Cole.
Gibori believes that they need to encourage the community to attend board meetings.
For detailed biographies of the candidates, visit lwvwilmette.org.
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
