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mark collins's avatar

Thanks, Maria, for your interest in serving on the school board -no doubt a very public, demanding and complex job. All Evanstonians should be thankful that so many citizens are willing to take on this position.

A question I have for you:

What is the purpose of a school?

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Maria Forres Opdycke's avatar

Hi Mark! I’ve been waiting for you all morning! But now I’m in the car heading down to Champaign to cheer on the wild kits and I get pretty car sick reading in the car. Do you mind if I answer this tomorrow am?

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mark collins's avatar

Hi Maria,

Wow! I didn't realize I was so popular😀!

Sure, take your time answering - tomorrow is fine or the next day...or the next. Whenever you get a chance. BTW I'd delay too if I was going the see the Wild Kits play - what a great event.

As you might have read in a couple of my other posts with other candidates I recently taught for many years and whenever school issues came up (no matter the topic) opinions always seemed to be driven by people's (unspoken but deep) feelings around this question.

Also, BTW, I don't have a perfect answer myself nor am I expecting any board candidate to have one either. It's a valuable exercise, however.

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Maria Forres Opdycke's avatar

Hi Mark, Disappointing loss last night. Buckets weren't falling for our boys as they have in the past. Great season though!

The purpose of a school... There have been some great answers here from other candidates, but I want to answer authentically and without all the jargon. To me the purpose of a school is to create opportunities for children to learn about the world around them (science, math, literacy, social studies, physical health, the arts) and to learn to work with one another.

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mark collins's avatar

Thank you, Maria, for your thoughtful reply.

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