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The New Lenox Patriot | October 13, 2016 | 5
Area resident declares intention to run for D210 School Board
Ben Yomtoob talks
experience as school
board member,
plans for D210
F. Amanda Tugade
Assistant Editor
On Twitter, Ben Yomtoob’s
bio is
short, simple
and catchy:
HR technology
consultant,
dad,
husband and
“self-declared Yomtoob
jack of all
trades.” Like many social
media users, Yomtoob uses
his account as a way to communicate
his expertise, his
thoughts and his opinions
with other companies, colleagues
and professionals.
Yomtoob, 52, of Mokena,
said he aims to combine his
professional and personal
experiences to become a
member of the Lincoln-Way
Community High School
District 210 Board of Education,
and he recently filled
out a petition packet for the
April 4, 2017 election. The
Will County Clerk’s Office
marked Sept. 20 as the first
day to circulate petitions for
those interested in running for
a position in various school
districts across the county.
The New Lenox Patriot
interviewed Yomtoob, who
shared his goals of rebuilding
trust between community
members and District 210,
and what he looks forward to
as a hopeful candidate.
Editor’s Note: Answers have
been trimmed for purposes of
space only.
What motivated you to run
for a position on District
210’s school board?
Public education is a real
passion of mine. I come
from a family of educators.
My dad has been a superintendent,
my sister has been
an elementary school and
special education teacher.
And I’ve moved to the community
just a little less than
a year ago.
Before that I was up in the
Lincolnshire area and was
on the Lincolnshire-Prairie
View School Board [for District
103] for eight years. So
in addition to the passion, I
come equipped with a lot of
experience.
I feel like [District 210] is
in a tough place, and I feel
like a fresh pair of eyes coming
in can help the district
move to where it needs to
more quickly, and most importantly
begin to rebuild
trust in the community.
That’s what I see is the biggest
challenge right now.
What was your experience
like serving as a school
board member for District
103?
I think what I would point
to is that it was kind of an
opportunity to change the
culture of the board and
school district relationship.
I came into a situation
there with a couple of other
board members where the
history had been that the
school board was really just
oftentimes a rubber stamp
for the superintendent and
didn’t really get involved
… That to me is kind of
the heart of a good school
board/superintendent relationship,
is that the superintendent
is able to use the
board as literally a sounding
board to help improve the
quality of decisions.
So, I would say that the
impact made over the time
that I was there, we were
really able to improve the
quality of decisions that
the school district made by
getting involved, and helping
out the superintendent
and administrators was one
of our biggest accomplishments.
What made you move to
the Lincoln-Way area?
My wife and I were empty
nesters, and we lived in
Lake County for about 15
years.
And we have family in
Michigan, so this put us an
hour closer to our family
in Michigan. As we looked
around, we really liked Mokena;
we thought it was a
great community, and we
couldn’t be happier living
here. We think it’s a great
place to live.
What are some of the
things you’d like to change
if elected as a D210 School
Board member?
Number one goal – like I
mentioned earlier – is building
trust. The district’s is to
start undergoing a strategic
planning process that involves
the community, and I
think that’s a great first step.
And I want to build on that
by doing other things we can
to do to help build trust in
the community.
I know one of the challenges
the administration
has had, as an example, is
the number of FOIA requests
that they get from members
of the community. My goal
would be to bring that number
down to zero by making
sure that as a school district,
the School Board is providing
so much information and
making it so accessible to
people that there is no need
to come and ask us for it because
these things they can
access on their own.
I think it’s doing a lot more
communication; I think it’s
going on the offense in terms
of public relations.
One of the things I’m disappointed
by is it feels like
the board and the superintendent
are so in the position to
react to what somebody else
is saying rather than having
their own communication
agenda and being on offense
and telling a story of what
the district is doing and how
it’s trying to improve what
it’s done in the past, how it’s
changing.
Election Day is many
months away. What are
your priorities as you begin
to petition and learn more
about the community’s and
the School Board’s needs?
I would say I’m not as
ready as I will be when I
actually take the office.
You’re right that it’s early,
and I’m out there talking
with people and trying to
learn and understand much
of what’s going on. It’s a
preparation process.
One of the things about
being a School Board
member that I don’t think
a lot of people appreciate
very much is that you’re
one of seven people. An
individual board member
on their own can only be
as successful as they can
with understanding and
working with the six other
people on the board.
One of the things that I’m
going to be doing is talking
with the current board
members, be talking with
other people that emerge as
candidates because I want
to figure out how to, as a
group, be effective as possible
and what role I can
play in that rather than any
sort of personal agenda.
If elected, what would you
look forward to most about
being a board member?
It’s very much of a group
process, but what I’m excited
by is because there [are
five board positions up for
I can
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election] I think it’s an opportunity
to change the culture
very quickly and start
moving in a different direction
– as opposed to a situation
where there might be
only one or two people entering
the board and [those]
people kind of have to play
within the boundaries of
how the incumbent board
members have operated and
how they’ve done things
instead of trying to change
things. If the right group
of people get in, there’s an
opportunity to start really
making the cultural transformation
that needs to happen
very quickly.
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