Lake County Gazette

All four members of the ABC Deerfield slate fell short in their run for the Deerfield Public Schools District 109 School Board on Tuesday night.

With eight candidates in the field vying for four seats, Patch.com reported Dana Blumberg ranked as the top ABC vote-getter with 8.79% of the vote. Blumberg was followed by fellow slate members Jonathan Silver (7.87%), James D’Angelo (7.60%) and Valerie Hays (7.55%).

Sari Montgomery, Kelly Jakymiw, Maureen Wener and Andrew Morrison finished in the top four spots.

Throughout the campaign, ABC built its platform around a return to in-person learning, arguing that the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant loss for students. If elected, slate members had vowed to push for a plan that placed “a high priority on making up the lost instruction by working with the administration to ensure District 109 resources are allocated accordingly.”

Among the adjustments said to be under consideration as part of the plan were conducting a needs assessment for all students to determine highest areas of need; offering extended school days, after-school programs, and/or summer school options; providing teachers with professional development opportunities focused on strategies for helping students overcome learning loss and ensuring funds were properly allocated so that programs are fully and equitably implemented.

“Planning now for the implementation of programs to address our students’ learning loss is necessary to ensure that they fully realize their academic potential,” the group posted on its website. To simply reduce the standards and expectations for them would be doing them a disservice.”