Comments on: Letter: Supporting Tony Valente for Kaneland School Board

By: RM

RM — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:55:05 +0000

I didn’t see him being attacked but there was clearly a difference of opinion of subject mastery vs. teaching to pass tests. Mr. Valente was clearly hostile in his defense of emphasizing test scores and aggressive towards the board members who believed differently. This doesn’t strike me as someone who would work very well with the rest of the board and I seriously question his motives since he is a high school principal in another district. How many high school principals do you suppose are serving on the school board on a different district in which they work? I’m sure he could contribute a lot because of his background but I think I’ll pass.

By: 302peep

302peep — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 13:04:12 +0000

If you look at the video again, you can see Mr. Valente gets attacked by the 2 current board members. Just present your views and let the people decide. Tell me the voter how you stand up above the rest. This is a volunteer position and the fact that people are willing to step and put in their time to make our children’s education better is great. This while using our taxes wisely. There are 7 board members and they all need to be held accountable and responsible. In my view,a board members should be currently active and in touch with the community.

By: RM

RM — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 22:13:42 +0000

I never had any experience with Mr. Valente when he was principal at KHS. It’s always good, though, to hear when you needed someone in that position, they were professional and supportive. That’s what we deserve and should expect from our administrators. That wasn’t so much what I saw from the middle school presentation for school board candidates. I was disappointed in how Mr. Valente seemed to go after another board member and he believes strongly that we need to teach to improve test scores. I believe this is absolutely the wrong approach and that is why schools are doing poorly. We need to stop worrying about tests and teach subject mastery – period. If we can teach kids to think and master the material, they’ll do well on tests. Life is not a box where if you check the right one, you’re a winner.