Name: Christine Birkett
Position for which you are a candidate: School District 300 Board
Why are you seeking this position?
I am seeking a position on the D300 board of education because of my sincere interest in public education and our community. As a parent of an elementary school student, I feel that I would provide representation on the school board for parents who are at the start of their child’s education and who have a vested interest in the district’s ability to evolve over time to offer students a quality education.
A single-issue focus is not driving my candidacy, but rather an interest in setting a wide range of goals and implementing strategies, initiatives, and policies that will ensure the success of all students in our district. Serving as a member of the board of education is an exciting opportunity for me to engage with our community – seeking to understand our community’s values, wishes, and challenges in order to make real change and improvement to our students’ learning experience. If elected, I would be an advocate for the educational needs of our community during the development of the 2021-2025 Five-Year Strategic Plan and would strive to, do my part, and hold the district to the plan.
What experience and background do you have which qualifies you for this position?
I attended D300 schools from elementary school through Dundee Crown High School. Now, as the parent of a D300 student, I’m witness to the changes the district has made over the years as it works to ensure that all students are college or career ready upon graduation. As a former student and parent to a young D300 student, I would be able to represent a subsection of our community that is not reflected in the makeup of our current board.
I have spent the past 20 years working in Educational Publishing. My work has instilled in me a drive to make the educational experience for students as engaging as possible with the goal of igniting a life-long passion for learning. While I’m not a trained educator, being involved in the development of educational materials for use in classrooms has given me insight into much of what goes into our children’s education such as: teaching methods, learning styles, curriculum, state standards and customizations, content delivery, and current trends. This insight along with the skills that I use daily in my role as a Creative Director: creative-thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration, would make me an effective board member.
In addition, I have been a very involved member of the community, including: serving as a part of the D300 Community Leadership Academy, former board member for Shared Harvest Food Co-op, youth soccer coach, Sleepy Hollow Elementary School PTC Committee Chair, and frequent volunteer at school events.
What will be your highest priorities if elected?
My most immediate priority would be continuing the work of meeting the needs of students, families, and teachers as we navigate through Covid-19. This includes planning for the return of students and teachers to full-time in-person learning as soon as safely possible given the logistics of our district while adhering to the state and local mandates. I also think it’s critical that we take a forward-thinking approach and start the work of assessing the scope and scale of pandemic-related learning loss and develop a plan to mitigate any deficits our students are facing as a result of the interruption to in-person learning caused by school closures.
Another top priority would be to increase awareness of, support for, and expansion of existing D300 academic programs such as: Dual-Language, AVID, Pathways Program, Dual Credit/Accelerate College Program.
An ongoing priority would be to ensure D300 strives for equity in education. District-wide we must ensure that every student has the same opportunity for a quality education.
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