District 113 School Board Candidate Q&A: Marjie Sandlow

Background: Marjie Sandlow is currently the vice president of the District 113 School Board. She joined the board four and a half years ago and is one of four candidates that is .

Highland Park Patch: Why run for the school board?

Marjie Sandlow: I was extremely active in the PTO and other school committees. I have an MBA from Harvard, I worked in marketing/consulting for many years, which is really analysis of problems and coming up with recommendations for how to go forward, and I really see that as a direct link to the schools. I feel like I'm constantly doing research -- I'm an extremely active school board member -- I go to plays, to music events, booster club meetings, athletic events. They're all enjoyable, but they're research, too. I took that analysis from my work background as a way to apply it to the schools. 

HP Patch: What are some of the things you would like to see change if elected?

Sandlow: We have an extremely challenging budget, but we've had fabulous outcomes. We're one of only a handful of high school districts in the state to have a AAA bond rating, which will directly correlate to getting the very best bond rates. Our budgets have been extremely constrained. Forty percent of our budget is things we cannot control, it's federal mandate, special education. Those costs go up a lot every year. The other 60 percent, those costs that go up for everybody. Over the past three years, we've cut $6 million out of our budget. We've done that without cutting any classroom teachers, so we are delivering the same excellent education at a very constrained budget. Every year we're going to have to cut a $1 million to $2 million out of our budget in order to continue to perform financially. We have to be very creative in how we cut.

HP Patch: Given the state of the economy, some residents feel that the school districts are wasting too much money on programs, pensions and the cost of each student to the district is too high. How do you feel about the current state of the district’s financials? How do you plan to vote regarding funding distribution in the coming years?

Sandlow: When I got on the board four and a half years ago, the district was already cutting costs. We were already looking at every retiree and seeing if their job could be performed by other people so that they were not replaced. There was already a consortium that we were part of to purchase paper. Since I've been on the board we've joined energy consortiums; some are with the other schools in the area, and some are with whoever signs up with the consortium. We go out every couple of years to one of the service providers that we have and look to see if we can get the same service or better for even less money. We're just constantly looking for ways to control costs.

HP Patch: Talk about the future of the high schools — should District 113’s referendum for funding to improve the high schools pass, do you feel the tax payer’s money will be well spent? How will you communicate with residents that are opposed?

Sandlow: I support the referendum, and I believe that everything that has been put into this proposal is a necessity for the school in terms of both maintenance, infrastructure, all the needs, and I believe it's the only way that we can keep our schools up to date and continue to have the excellence in schools that we currently have. I believe that it will improve our property values in addition to providing needs for our students, there are needs in terms of technology where our schools are right now. We're not competitive with other schools in the area. Although our schools our outstanding, there are some areas  we need to improve.

HP Patch: District 113 has Academic Watch Status by the standards of No Child Left Behind. What are some things the school board can do to help the schools meet these standards?

Sandlow: There are very few high schools in the state that aren't on Academic Watch. if a school has a subgroup of a certain number of kids, it has to report it separately, so we had a subgroup of special education kids in reading who did not meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). We're analyzing why they didn't meet it and we're developing programs to help them meet it. But really, we're number 10 in the state, you'll find many other public schools on the watch list. It's a program that I believe needs to be revised.

HP Patch: Highland Park High School students have begun the planning process for a teen center. While this planning process is completely independent of the schools, what are some things the school board can do to provide and endorse safe places for students and teens to go after school?

Sandlow: I think it's a fabulous idea. The whole is a joint venture between the school district and the city and that has been a tremendous program. Eighty percent of the kids are a part of sports and activities, so I think that's probably the biggest thing we do to keep them occupied after school. The Homework Club is where different teachers come and provide tutoring and they have pizza, so it's fun and it helps with their academics.

HP Patch: District 113 has students that come from low income and non-native English speaking families. How will the school board reach out to these families to involve them in their neighborhood schools and children’s education?

Sandlow: There are specific programs for the parents of English as a Second Language students (ESL). We have a series of meetings every year to help them get more involved in the schools and help them understand the school system in the United States. There are student groups for non-native English speakers. There are a lot of scholarships that low-income students receive. Certain students qualify for free and reduced lunch and books. Academically, there's the Transitional Program of Instruction (TPI), a three-year program where each student will start at the level of English where they are and move up each year. That's a huge way we support those kids acclimating to the United States. I actually had a foreign exchange student from Italy and she started out in the TPI program and then she went into regular classes. 

HP Patch: How will the school board promote partnerships between all parents, teachers and the board?

Sandlow: If we need a committee then we'll organize a committee. With the referendum we organized a committee of community members early on with the leadership team that I was a member of. So that was a group organized to work on a specific issue regarding the needs of the schools. We have teacher representatives to the board who come to every board meeting, that's one of the ways the board members become informed. I'm liaison to the booster club at Highland Park High School, so I think it's really good for them to know what's going on and, if they have an issue, I can go back to the administration and say, "Hey, we need to work on this." I go to all the PTO meetings, I go to both schools, so I feel like I personally have a handle on a lot of it.