About me
***Ian
Chafee***
Candidate for Board of Education
North Palos School District #117
www.chafee.net
ian@chafee.net
708-599-9288

I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce myself and
hopefully help you learn more about myself and North Palos School
District #117 as we head into April’s election for the school board.
Along with Dr. Tom Kostes, I am running for re-election to the Board
and hope that I can count on your vote on April 5th. It is my firm
belief that the teachers, staff & administration of the District are
doing excellent work for our children, parents and community, and I
would like the opportunity to help them continue that work. My
contact info is at the bottom of this page; if you have any
questions or comments I urge you to check out my web site or get in
touch with me.
Personal
- 2 years service on District 117’s Board of Education
- Resident of Hickory Hills for 12 years
- 2 daughters who attend District #117 schools (ages 9 & 5)
- 10 years professional experience working in the technology
department of an elementary school district
- Volunteer technical support for the Children’s Museum in Oak
Lawn
- Member of the Illinois Patriot Guard Riders, a support group
that provides honor guards, escorts and assistance to the
families of fallen soldiers and veterans.
- Room parent for daughters’ classrooms at Quin, Dorn and Glen
Oaks.
- Volunteer webmaster for the Rehabilitation Institute of
Chicago Sky, a women’s wheelchair basketball team.
As a Board member:
- District 117 is ranked among the top performing academic
Districts in the State of Illinois.
- Winner of the 2010 Lincoln Award for Performance Excellence,
the only Elementary School District in Illinois to receive this
honor & the first since 2007.
- 96 % of District students achieved at the Meets Expectations
or Exceeds Expectations level on the Illinois Standards
Achievement Test.
- All 3 eligible schools (Glen Oaks, Oak Ridge & Conrady Jr.
High) received the Academic Excellence Award, the highest honor
given by the Illinois State Board of Education. This is the
second consecutive year that all three schools have earned this
award.
- Recognized by the National School board for the
implementation of a “Best Practice” program to be included in
the Magna Best Practices Database. This program was one of only
83 programs selected nationally from the 334 nominations
received this year.
- District 117 received the highest level of Financial
Recognition by the Illinois State Board of Education.
- Balanced or surplus budgets my entire term on the board with
projections for balanced or surplus budgets for the next 5
years.
- District 117 spends $1000 less per student than state
average and $2500 less per student than the Cook County average,
yet ranks at or near the top of both the county and state in
student achievement.