Earlier this month, the RoundTable partnered with the League of Women Voters of Evanston to record video interviews with all 12 candidates running for a seat on the Evanston/Skokie District 65 Board of Education in the upcoming April 1 municipal election.
Each interview was limited to 20 minutes or less and featured the same five questions — written collaboratively by the RoundTable and the League — about the district’s recent budget deficits, potential school closures, academic achievement, technology use in the classroom and why each candidate is running. The full video interviews will be shared on our elections page and in our daily newsletter in the coming days.
For readers’ convenience, we have also edited together each candidate’s response to individual questions into one video, and we’re starting off with their thoughts on the district’s budget woes. We asked each of them to spend a minute or two reflecting on the current board’s approval of $13.3 million in cuts for next school year, including the elimination of 73 full-time positions.
Below are their responses, in order of how they’ll appear on the ballot. You can also watch a full YouTube playlist of the videos here. RoundTable intern Sophia Jackson recorded each interview.
Andrew Wymer
Brandon Utter
Heather Vezner
Chris Van Nostrand
Christopher DeNardo
Lionel Gentle
Daniel Lyonsmith
Nichole Pinkard
Peter Bogira
Maria Opdycke
Patricia Anderson
Randy Steckman
Video: District 65 candidates give their budget takes is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.