D65 Meet the Candidate: Christopher DeNardo
Post two in a 10 day series on District 65 Candidates for Office
This is a post in a series that will run from March 7 to March 17th where I’ve given District 65 Board Candidates the option to post whatever they want on the blog. I gave them no limitations, except to follow the standard comment section rules and I do no editing, beyond formatting.
If you have questions for the candidates, please also follow the rules on the comment section.
Thank you to Tom for giving the candidates this opportunity to address your readers directly. Over the last year or so I’ve relied on this blog to fill in critical gaps in my knowledge of the district from before my children were students. I looked back and found my very first comment on Substack, on a FOIA Gras article from February 21, 2024, concerning one of Dr. Horton’s staff members departing for Dekalb, GA: “Thanks for posting these Mr. Hayden. I'm a Bessie Rhodes parent and I've been reading some of your past articles to get some context on the whole situation in the district. I hope you continue this project in some capacity. I also hope that we get a couple new school board members, either from the newly mobilized BR community or the comments section here.” It looks like my candidacy got its start in this very comment section.
A lot has happened since February of 2024, much of it documented in this Substack. The District 65 school board campaign has been crowded by both candidates and events. I, along with my fellow candidates, have filled out numerous questionnaires from concerned organizations all over this city, as well as conducted interviews with the Evanston Roundtable and Daily Northwestern. I’ll be putting links to as many examples of my writing as I can on my website this week, assuming I can find the time to do so.
There is already so much that has been written about and by the school board candidates. Instead I want to talk about the voters, and what I see their role being in this election. With 12 candidates for 4 open seats and no incumbents being challenged, voters will have to act more like coaches during the NBA draft, as opposed to consumers selecting a product. This election is not so much a referendum on the current board as it is the first act in an Ocean’s Eleven movie. We are putting a team together. We will have to weigh candidates’ strengths and weaknesses against one another, make judgments about who will work well together, instead of just selecting the four candidates who most align with our views. This means more work for the voter, yes, but I trust it will also make for a stronger, more versatile school board.
In the interest of time, I want to keep this brief. As far as specific positions on the challenges facing the district, I have addressed a lot of that in other publications that are easily accessible. I will also be submitting answers to the FOIA Gras District 65 candidate questionnaire. I will also be in the comments of this post today (3/10) until about 1:00pm trying to do an Ask Me Anything style conversation and respond to any specific questions from readers. I’ll try to hop back in the comments in the evening between 7-10pm but I won’t be able to respond as fast.
Thank you for reading,
Christopher DeNardo
Hi Christoper, this question was asked of Brandon and I’d like to get your take as well:
One of the key jobs of the board is to hire a superintendent. After decades of conducting open searches where finalists were announced to the public and the district held open meetings with finalists, the current board conducted searches entirely in the dark, without public input.
Would you vote to continue this practice? Or go back to a public-facing superintendent search for the next vacancy?
I have two questions:
What do you see as the three biggest drivers of the current financial crisis and what controls will you put in place to prevent similar overspending in the future?
When schools are closed/consolidated (including BR) what are your plans for addressing the feelings of hurt, abandonment, and disenfranchisement of the students, families, and teachers? In other words, how will you show that community that they are still valued members of the district worth more than the price of their school's land?
Thank you for making yourself available for questions!