ACTIVIST TOOLKIT VOTER GUIDE: FOREST PARK

District 91 school board, 4 year term (3 open seats)

Monica Angelo | Shannon Wood | Monique Cotton Yancy


SHANNON WOOD

candidate for 2023 dISTRICT 91 SCHOOL BOARD


Shannon Wood has not submitted answers to the Activist Toolkit questionnaire.

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1. What motivates you to seek this office? What makes you qualified to serve? What metrics of success do you plan on holding yourself accountable to?

2. How do you make decisions? 

3. How will you work to ensure that District 91 provides an excellent educational experience for all its students? What metrics of success do you plan on holding yourself accountable to?

4. How would you approach the budgeting process?

5. What would you say to voters who are worried about the tax burden?

6. Special education is mandated by federal law. How can District 91 better work to provide an excellent education for students in need of special education?

7. What barriers do you see for stakeholders who wish to engage with District 209? How would you work to reduce or eliminate those barriers?  

8. How do you define equity? Have recent events and discussions in the larger community informed or changed your thinking? 

9. Recently D91 has moved to consolidate schools due to declining enrollment. What is the “right size” for D91? How do you think D91 can better retain students from K - 8?

10. What uses do you foresee for property owned by D91?

11. What approach should District 91 take towards intergovernmental cooperation initiatives with District 209? Are there specific initiatives that you would like to implement or expand upon?

12. What approach should District 91 take towards intermunicipal cooperation with neighboring communities? Are there specific initiatives that you would like to implement or expand upon?

13. There has been a lot of discussion locally and nationally about the presence of police in school buildings. What is your vision for a safe school environment? How do police officers in the schools relate to that vision?

14. What lessons learned from the pandemic’s early years do you believe will continue to be applicable to the ways that schools operate?

15. The School Board’s primary responsibility is oversight of the Superintendent. What criteria will you use to evaluate the success of District 91’s Superintendent? 

16. Public schools have been faced with deciding whether or not to remove books from their shelves if a parent or group of parents deem the content to be inappropriate, too controversial or objectionable. How would you handle this issue and how should District 91 handle this question?

17. Do you see a role for the Board in ensuring that the climate at District 91 schools is welcoming to students in minority populations, whether racial, religious identity, LGBTQ, etc.? How are the schools assessing the experience of students now? What specific actions or policies would you propose?

18. A new report issued by the Centers of Disease and Control found that in 2021, very large numbers of students experienced poor mental health. Twenty-two percent of students seriously considered attempting suicide and ten percent attempted suicide. These feelings were found to be more common among LGBQ+ students, female students, and students across racial and ethnic groups. What can D91 do to address this trend?

19. For those who are currently serving on the D91 Board: What vote are you most proud of, and what vote do you most regret? Why?