Meet Your Candidates: John Phelan, District 200 Board Member

John Phelan, 45, has a strong personal connection to OPRF High School. He and wife Amy have two children currently attending there, and four more on the way soon at younger grades.

Phelan is aiming for a spot on the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 school board, comprised of seven members serving four-year terms. This year, six candidates — Phelan, , John Bokum Jr. and incumbents Ralph H. Lee, John C. Allen IV and Sharon Patchak Lyman — are looking to fill three vacant spots. (Editor's note: Bokum, Lee, Allen and Patchak Lyman were all sent candidate questionnaires; only Lattner Skiver and Phelan returned them.)

Professionally, he's been a labor lawyer for about 20 years, currently working for AT&T. He's also served for six years on the board of directors for the Way Back Inn, Inc., which provides treatment for adults suffering from addiction.

He has also been trained as an intervener for the Lawyers Assistance Program, currently works in the Constitutional Rights Foundation's Lawyers in the Classroom program, and has served on the board of directors of the Oak Park Youth Football program.

Patch: What are your thoughts on the existing policy of an open campus at OPRF?

John Phelan: I believe it is an option that should be available to the administration at a time  when drug and alcohol abuse proliferate in the school and spawn related criminal  activity in the surrounding community, threatening the safety of our young people. 

However, I am worried about the logistic, economic and developmental implications of this movement, and I am concerned that it doesn’t address the problems that many who support it are trying to solve – specifically the problem of drug and alcohol abuse by District 200 students. 

Thoreau said that “for every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root.”  I think closing the campus would hack at the leaves of evil, and there is nothing wrong with that.  However, because of the potential logistical, economic and evelopmental side effects of closing the campus, I would prefer to strike at the root.

What in your background makes you an ideal candidate?

My professional experience as a labor lawyer will provide technical skill for labor
contract negotiations, problem solving skills for daily challenges and people
skills for building consensus among diverse interests.  My charitable experience with the Way Back Inn, Inc. and the Lawyers Assistance Program provide insight to the drug and alcohol problems facing the school. 

My experience as a coach and board member in the Oak Park youth football program will provide an understanding of our children and the positive impact co-curricular sponsors, theater directors, music directors and coaches can have on the lives of our young people.  My lifetime connection to our community and District 200 provide a broad  understanding of the interests of our school and our community, and my current  experience as a father of six children in the district makes all of that experience intensely personal.

Is there any particular reform of the district that you believe is necessary in the near future?

I believe District 200 has a serious problem with drugs and alcohol that is affecting all aspects of its success and is endangering the futures, and the lives, of its children.  I believe the reform most needed at this point in time is the implementation of a drug testing program and a student assistance program.
Current district policy recognizes chemical dependency as a treatable illness, but threatens to suspend and expel our children for using chemicals. 

We wouldn’t discipline students for having diabetes or heart disease – we would diagnose the problem and provide treatment.  A voluntary opt-in drug testing policy would identify students making poor choices and a student assistance program would provide the treatment that they need.  Together, they provide an appropriate response for the high school’s drug and alcohol problems which our deterrent policies have been unable to address for many decades.  It would also rid the school of the market for illegal drugs, and so would remove the incentive for criminal elements to prey upon our children and infect our community.  It has worked for other schools and it can work for us.

Are standardized tests the best measure of the success of a school district?

Standardized test scores are, perhaps, the most objective measures of student knowledge, but they are not the best measures of the success of a school district. 

A successful school district keeps its students safe and healthy, teaches them to think, solve problems and navigate issues in a mature way, and it imparts knowledge.  Standardized tests assess how well we have imparted knowledge in a way that our children can absorb it, but they are not well suited to measure the creativity and innovation that separates our country from its competitors in the world, nor does it test the maturity or safety of our students.  Thus, while standardized tests serve a very useful purpose, they cannot serve as a complete measure of the success of a school district.

What are some of the best characteristics in the district that you would like to see preserved?

The top characteristic of our district that compelled my wife and me to return here  to raise our children is the combination of exceptional academic opportunities in a climate of great diversity in all respects.  The exceptional academic opportunities available at OPRF prepare our children to compete in the world, and the delivery of those opportunities in a racially, ethnically, culturally and intellectually diverse climate helps to prepare our children to succeed in the real world.

Of the many famous alumni that attended OPRF, do you have a favorite?

My favorite would be Michael Feinberg, co-founder of the KIPP schools. 

Michael’s good heart, selfless work ethic and tremendous contributions to the future of our country through the methods he helped to pioneer in education leave me in awe, and his tremendous sense of humor is the envy of those who know him. I also have a great number of favorite alumni who are possibly not what you might consider “famous.”