Lake County Gazette

Jonathan Silver said Deerfield School District 109 made a bad situation worse with its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

"I think the district handled the pandemic quite poorly," Silver, a school board candidate from the ABC Deerfield slate, told Patch.com. "I will say that they ensured the physical safety of our children, but the damage that was caused both social-emotionally and academically by the decision to overwhelmingly utilize remote learning far outweighed that."

Silver, who has spent five years as a dean of students and another five as an instructor, said the ABC slate is all about making the changes the group feels are so desperately needed.

"The fact that surrounding districts have safely spent the majority of the school year in-person, whether full-time or hybrid, reflects the failure here," he said. "Research has shown that schools are not super spreaders. As a matter of fact, schools tend to have lower transmission than community spread. It would have been more than possible to keep our students and staff physically, intellectually and emotionally safe."

As one of eight candidates vying for four seats, Silver said his focus is on doing whatever it takes to uplift students.

"I believe the most pressing issue facing our community is not only to address learning loss and to ensure a continued and safe full-in person model it is also to remedy the division that has been created and to unite as one with the common goal of doing everything in our collective power to help our kids," he said. "The seeds of discord were planted well before the pandemic, and I believe that the past year only served to highlight the deficiencies in our district."

Silver is convinced his 15 years as an educator give him a perspective few of his rivals can match.

"I have had the honor to work with students each and every day I step foot in my building since my first day in the classroom," he said. "I was exhausted from the blood, sweat, and tears spilled watching my kindergartener shop on Zoom daily. It broke my heart. I decided I was running for this office early in the fall. I told myself that if students returned to school in a timely fashion that I would consider dropping out. It was not merely the fact that this did not happen that pained me. I have seen cracks in the foundation in so many other areas that I cannot walk away from this work."

Silver said all the members of the A BC Deerfield slate share the same commitment and vision.

"What I appreciate the most about running with them, other than our shared love for our children and our teachers, is that we disagree with each other on certain items, and we are comfortable engaging in healthy discourse," he said.

The 38-year-old Silver resides in Deerfield with his wife, a fourth-grade teacher and two young daughters.