Melissa Kelley Black is running for the Naperville Community Unit School District 203 Board in the 2023 Naperville Consolidated Election.
A little background on Melissa Kelley Black
Like many people in my community, I decided to move to Naperville School District 203 because I wanted my children to have a higher quality education, more opportunities, and a brighter future.
As a former educator with a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education, I understand the practical implications of policies upon individual learners and the learning community. My children are unique learners with both above-average abilities as well as disabilities.
I have experience acting as a teacher advocating for students as well as being a parent seeking effective services for her children. Besides my formal education, I have attended educational conferences at MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. I’ve worked with educational and medical professionals from Lurie’s Children’s Hospital, Rush Medical Center, and Northwestern University.
Since my children started at Naperville 203 in 2005, I have seen the implementation of policies and practices that have resulted in lower learner expectations and outcomes.
According to state testing, Naperville 203 has experienced yearly declines in student achievement and proficiency since 2015. Additional issues include significant achievement gaps between schools and different student groups as well as large class sizes that negatively affect student learning.
Why is Melissa Kelley Black running for the Naperville 203 School Board?
I decided to run for Naperville 203 school board because we need school board members that understand education and learning, are willing to advocate for the best interests of the community members, and can logically analyze as well as implement effective policies.
From NCTV17
The video was produced by NCTV17 as part of our Meet the Candidates programming. All candidates in the 2023 Naperville Consolidated Election were interviewed using the same question format.
The placement of this interview on our website does not represent an endorsement of the candidate.
Naperville Community Television is a 501c3 nonprofit organization committed to creating an informed, connected, and engaged community.