Lake County Gazette

Lake Forest Elementary School District 67 board member Carl Kirar is seeking a second term.

Kirar said he currently has two children in the district. He's originally from northern Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in civil engineering.

Kirar said he wants to prioritize academic growth for all students, as well as trust and transparency in the district's actions, decisions and responsibilities.

"We really need academic achievement with social-emotional health and that can only occur when there is trust built between parents, teachers and students," Kirar said. "So, we need to refocus our efforts on our children's ability to learn." 

Kirar said the board needs to be more open and inclusive while working through problems.

"This is why I completely support the newly-formed committee of parents and staff," Kirar said. "Tapping into local talent is the key to reopening our schools and really improving the education of all our schools."

Kirar said he believes measuring student achievement is dependent on students' individual goals, which, he says, goes beyond test scores and grades.

"This past year has placed a really incredible amount of stress on our children and has led to the impacted ability to learn at all levels," Kirar said. "The schools (are) on track with their test scores and established educational standards. But, one thing that really isn't measured is the social-emotional health of the students."

Kirar said the most pressing issue we have as a board is reopening the schools and getting back to as normal of a school year as possible.

"The administration developed a hybrid full-remote model to meet all the students' educational needs or at least come as close as we could," Kirar said. "AVA has been an incredible success, the feedback we've gotten from parents has been incredible — all positive — the hybrid provided in-person learning while maintaining the social distance measures as directed by the CDC, IDHP and Lake County Health Department."

Kirar said while the hybrid model failed to satisfy the bulk of those involved, it did continue to provide a good education for kids.

"So, short-term is to make sure to be taking any actions necessary to get our kids back into school," Kirar said. "Mitigation strategies are there, testing is being discussed and we’ll have to make sure we balance that against other fiscal responsibilities and needs."

Kirar said long-term, the board has a great opportunity in front of it to bring new ideas, goals, and philosophy to the table.