Meet the Unit 4 School Board Candidates

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. (WAND) - Early voting began for local elections which take place April 4th, 2023. Seven candidates are running for a seat on the Unit 4 School Board: Jamar Brown, Amy Armstrong, Elizabeth "Besty" Holder, Mark Thies, Mark Holm, and Albert Zwettler.

Candidates publicly addressed their concerns and goals for the district during a forum hosted by local teachers and community groups. One controversial topic discussed was recent changes made to address racial disparities in learning throughout Unit 4 Schools.

Amy Armstrong currently serves as Unit 4 board president. She says focusing on responsive teaching is a start to improve the data she's been working closely with.

"Do we know our student population? We serve over 70 different languages in Unit 4 schools. And we need to be culturally responsive to who's in our classrooms," said Armstrong.

Life-long Champaign resident, Jeffrey Brownfield, says to make that successful, additional resources must be provided to educators.

"Potentially need to provide teachers additional resources to those schools, to the individual classrooms where kids are struggling. Maybe even directly to the individual kids," said Brownfield.

Champaign native, Mark Holm, says through his years of volunteering in Unit 4 Schools, teachers need support and additional resources to see improvements.

"Our teachers are there with excellent standards. And it's our job to support them with the resources they need in the areas that are most productive for our kids," said Holm.

However, some say it starts directly with the community. Champaign native, Jamar Brown, served on the Unit 4 School Board in 2011. He says connections with families and the community is the way to address the disparities.

"We need to educate our district staff of the differences of our communities. And what different education needs, different households, different backgrounds that they have," said Brown.

Albert Zwettler describes himself as a passionate social worker. With a goal of aiming to create more opportunities for communities in need.

"Our district and community are coming together to create opportunities. To offer things like midnight basketball, hopefully more things like that in the future. More opportunities lead to more success," said Zwettler.

A product of Unit 4 Schools and active community member, Betsy Holder, says teachers in low-performing communities must be addressed.

"But I also think it's asking the why from the teachers within the community where we have kids who are struggling the most," said Holder.

With his close ties to the community and Unit 4, Mark Thies says funds need to be better allocated to those in need.

"Budgeting that reflect equity. We need to improve funding and improve low performing schools. Increasing teachers and aid to reduce class size," said Thies.

To learn more about the candidates, visit here.