Jeffrey Tarala
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As a teacher at Lincoln-Way Central High School for more than 15 years, I am invested in bringing a unique perspective to the District 157-C Board of Education. I am a proud parent of two current and three future District 157-C students. My wife. Kerry, and I have resided in Frankfort for the past ten years, but I have lived in the Lincoln-Way community since I was a junior high student. I am passionate about looking at school board matters not only from a parent perspective, but also a classroom perspective to ensure decisions will positively impact students in all aspects of their learning. I am also the varsity girls softball and assistant boys basketball coach for the Knights, and when I am not at school, spending time with my wife and kids, you can find me in my lawn because I am an avid lawn care enthusiast.
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Questions | Answers
According to the Illinois Association of School Boards, one crucial characteristic of a school board member is the ability to represent the entire community and not special interest or partisan groups. What will you do to support the needs of the diverse population within our community?
With over 15 years of teaching experience, I have taught a diverse population of students. Within a diverse population comes many different needs. I have dedicated my teaching career to serving these needs. I teach social science, more specifically, economics and civics. I see students as citizens, with the goal in mind of producing responsible citizens regardless of their personal or individual differences, and ironically also because of individuality and difference. Because that is what responsible citizens do: they hold respect for community as well as self. As a board member, I would enjoy expanding my reach to help build responsible citizens in all of Frankfort 157c schools.
How would you address the increasing concerns surrounding mental health and bullying within schools? Please be specific with changes you would like to see or additions you would recommend.
Schools and parents need to be partners in education. Students that have experienced mental health or bullying issues should be supported and provided support by the school. At the same time, schools and parents can form a partnership to better equip students with skills needed to alleviate the pressures they are facing. These pressures are not simply due to “school” related issues; therefore, it is imperative that parents are active in also providing their children with the skills needed to navigate the pressures their students are facing outside of school. In forming this partnership and providing students with these skills, students can gain something that they will need throughout their entire life, resiliency.
As for specifics, students today face many social and emotional challenges—countless studies indicate that social media is a significant contributing factor to these challenges with students. Careful, fair, but necessary regulations of social media is definitely something schools should be actively partnering with parents to achieve.
Do you feel it is a conflict of interest to have financial investments with any companies that our district contracts with? Why or why not?
If financial investments pre-date a board member’s tenure, I do not feel these investments would be a conflict of interest. However, if these investments do not pre-date a board member’s tenure, a simple solution could be a recusal from voting on anything regarding the company(ies) in question.
With over 15 years of teaching experience, I have taught a diverse population of students. Within a diverse population comes many different needs. I have dedicated my teaching career to serving these needs. I teach social science, more specifically, economics and civics. I see students as citizens, with the goal in mind of producing responsible citizens regardless of their personal or individual differences, and ironically also because of individuality and difference. Because that is what responsible citizens do: they hold respect for community as well as self. As a board member, I would enjoy expanding my reach to help build responsible citizens in all of Frankfort 157c schools.
How would you address the increasing concerns surrounding mental health and bullying within schools? Please be specific with changes you would like to see or additions you would recommend.
Schools and parents need to be partners in education. Students that have experienced mental health or bullying issues should be supported and provided support by the school. At the same time, schools and parents can form a partnership to better equip students with skills needed to alleviate the pressures they are facing. These pressures are not simply due to “school” related issues; therefore, it is imperative that parents are active in also providing their children with the skills needed to navigate the pressures their students are facing outside of school. In forming this partnership and providing students with these skills, students can gain something that they will need throughout their entire life, resiliency.
As for specifics, students today face many social and emotional challenges—countless studies indicate that social media is a significant contributing factor to these challenges with students. Careful, fair, but necessary regulations of social media is definitely something schools should be actively partnering with parents to achieve.
Do you feel it is a conflict of interest to have financial investments with any companies that our district contracts with? Why or why not?
If financial investments pre-date a board member’s tenure, I do not feel these investments would be a conflict of interest. However, if these investments do not pre-date a board member’s tenure, a simple solution could be a recusal from voting on anything regarding the company(ies) in question.
