Lake County Gazette

John Venson, a resident of Lake Forest for more than 30 years, is running for the District 115 School Board.

Venson said during a recent forum hosted by the League of Women Voters that both his children had attended school in Lake Forest from kindergarten through high school.

"I have held several educational leadership positions throughout my career, including 10 years as dean of the California School of Podiatric Medicine in Oakland, California," Venson said during the forum. "I'm very excited about having the opportunity to serve this community with my experience as a member of District 115."

Venson said the school board deserves kudos for navigating the community through the financial impact of COVID.

"I think that our biggest concern long-term ... is going to be the change all of our students are going through," Venson said. "We need to look at how we're going to spend our money to prepare students to be ready for that world, whether that's increased use of technology, whether that's a digital world that has much more virtual learning than it did. So I think we need to look very carefully to prepare for a post-COVID existence that could be very different from what we had before 2019."

Venson said as an educational leader, he has listened to students all of his life for their educational input and he will continue to do so.

"I think the important thing is not just that we need to listen to the student, but we need to develop the avenues and opportunities for both reaching out to them and having them reach out to us," Venson said. "They're all individuals, they will have different needs and different issues. The bottom line is, yes, it needs to be a great year for the students who are coming back, whether it's a freshman returning or seniors."

Venson said both of his children went to Lake Forest High School.

"They both went on to college and both met their spouses there," Venson said. "My son, when he was in the first semester of junior year told us that he didn't want to go back for his second semester because he wanted to accept a job offer in California in the golf industry."

Venson said he and his family really struggled with that, but they decided to allow him to do it because it was this passion.

"I did ask him, however, how he was going to pursue finishing his college career and his words to me were, 'Dad, I learned everything I really need at Lake Forest High School,'" Venson said. "That has stuck with me over all these years. He did well in his job, he, three years ago, opened his own company. He's doing very well now and we couldn't be more proud of him. The point of the story really is that high school education is much more than academic."

Venson said if elected he pledged to make sure all students had the tools, skills and confidence needed.