Jim Kalember, school board member, leaving Oak Park

Will teach at Indian reservation


Jim Kalember

Jim Kalember


By Sophia Fischer  sfischer@theacorn.com

After serving two decades on the Oak Park Unified School District Board of Education, Jim Kalember is not only resigning his seat, he is also leaving Oak Park. Kalember, who has served on the board longer than any other member, is moving to Arizona to teach eighth-grade social studies in an isolated corner of the Navajo/Hopi reservation.

He made the announcement at the Oct. 16 board meeting; the resignation is effective Dec. 7. Since his term does not expire until December 2008, the board will appoint a provisional replacement.

Interested residents may apply by obtaining an application from Linda Sheridan at (818) 735-3206. Applications must be returned to the superintendent’s office before 5 p.m. Mon., Nov. 5.

Candidates must be at least 18 years old, a resident of Oak Park and registered to vote. School employees are not eligible.

The board will interview applicants at a public special meeting at 4 p.m. Wed., Nov. 7, then will deliberate and select the new member in public at the regular meeting Tues., Nov. 13. The new member will be sworn in at the organizational board meeting Dec. 11.

“Throughout Jim’s term of service to the school district, he has always asked what is best for the kids when making decisions,” said board President Marie Panec. “The school board is a volunteer position, and after almost 20 years of service, there are few in the community of Oak Park who can match his contribution and efforts towards improving our collective future. It has been my pleasure and privilege to serve with an individual as committed to and passionate about public education as Jim.”

“Jim has been a wonderful board member and so many people have been touched by his leadership and caring manner,” Oak Park Unified School District Superintendent Tony Knight said. “We will all miss him very much.”

With his two children grown Kalember decided he wanted to go back to his first love, teaching.

“I’ve been hatching this plot for a while,” Kalember said. “I’m a climber and a backpacker so I’m out in a part of the world where I’m in heaven.”

“It’s very different there–a different outlook on the world and a different set of problems,” Kalember said. “It’s things kids are facing in minority areas–poverty and drugs.”

In the early 1980s, when Kalember and his family came to Oak Park, it was a small, tight-knit community that included Brookside Elementary, Oak View Continuation School and Oak Park High School. Kalember described the school board during that period as hierarchical, antagonistic and controversial. The superintendent had laid off many teaching assistants and created hard feelings.

“There was turmoil in the leadership and management of the district. It was very small, so the politics were magnified,” Kalember said.

Things changed when a new superintendent, Sue Hearn, began moving the district into a collaborative, site-based model, according to Kalember. Subsequent superintendents also kept issues from becoming districtwide.

He sees the district’s financial viability as the biggest challenge now facing the board “We have to have federal and state support. There has to be a larger funding mechanism for public education,” Kalember said. “The whole property tax mechanism is going to have to be revised.”

“You have to pay your teachers a decent salary or we
won’t be able to provide the program we have,” Kalember said. “I hope we will
sustain enrollment so we can pay for programs; otherwise we might see
pay-for-service. There’s no choice.”



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