Tony Bruno

For Unit 4 School Board

Tony, his wife Cynthia, and their three kids

“Exceptional schools make exceptional communities. Ours should be the envy of this state.

I’m running to help get us there.”

- Tony Bruno

Anthony “Tony” Bruno is a proud graduate of Unit 4 schools.

Tony is a managing partner at Bruno Law Offices. His practice is exclusively Illinois and federal criminal defense.

Tony has traveled around the country serving in the American Bar Association and is an active member of the Illinois State Bar Association. He is a past Sixth Judicial Circuit representative on the ISBA’s governing assembly and has served for many years on the Criminal Justice Section Council improving draft criminal legislation.

In his free time, Tony enjoys traveling with his family, eating spicy food, and working with his hands.

Tony began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity with his dad when he was ten years old and went on to become a construction crew leader in college. He was elected president of the Indiana University Habitat chapter and served on the board of directors of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, Indiana.

Tony spent ten years volunteering with Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County and now serves on the United Way’s Community Impact Committee. He is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician and has been the chair of the Champaign Board of Fire and Police Commissioners for more than a decade.

Tony lives near downtown Champaign with his wife Cynthia and their three kids, ages 9, 7 and 5.

Issues

These are some of the issues I’m thinking about.

  • Our students are not living up to their potential. The test scores are undeniable.

    We can’t blame the students. This is on us. What we are doing has not worked, and we need to fix it.

    Improving academic performance will be my guiding light.

  • I believe the first responsibility of the new school board will be to replace the current superintendent.

    We should double the salary to make the position competitive with the top superintendent jobs in our state. Without delay, we should begin a nationwide search for top talent.

    Getting a truly great leader will be money well spent.

  • The district must improve the way it communicates with families and the public. Communication must be clear, timely, and respectful.

    The district must be more transparent with the public. The guiding ethos should be to tell the public more, not less.

    If the district receives a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request, it should be complied with promptly. If the request gives rise to a meritorious objection, the district should clearly and politely articulate the objection to the requesting party without delay. All efforts should tend toward compliance rather than denial.

  • The district’s single most valuable asset. We should pay our teachers well and do what it takes to maintain an environment in the classroom that allows nothing to interrupt teaching.

    Our kids, our community and our businesses will benefit. These professionals hold our future in their hands.

  • Traditional discipline measures of the past like after-school detentions and Saturday school have been replaced with such soft-touch gentleness that today’s discipline no longer deters bad behavior, a somewhat important consideration when evaluating discipline.

    The pendulum has simply swung too far.

    The well-behaved many are suffering the consequences of a system designed to avoid ostracizing the few troublemakers. The lack of meaningful discipline in our high schools has given rise to an environment of unchecked disrespect and disruption.

    If we want to attract good teachers, we need to create a safe, respectful workplace where teachers can expect to focus on teaching.

    But it’s not just the teachers and well-behaved students I’m worried about. I’m also very worried about the students who break the rules without fear of consequence. When we fail to correct bad behavior like tardiness in high school, we send these children into the real world without the skills they’ll need to become successful adults. And then it becomes everyone’s problem.

    Every child—anywhere on Earth—benefits from some amount of discipline. It’s how humans teach boundaries to the next generation. We are failing our children when we refuse to impose discipline for bad behavior. And by this omission, we rob all our students of a quality education.

  • We should swiftly correct issues identified in the ongoing Special Education audit. We should spare no expense in doing this.

    The cost of potential litigation would eclipse the preventative costs associated with addressing these problems now.

    We should launch a targeted hiring campaign for Special Education teachers and aides.

  • Elected representatives must not become too dependent on staff for decision-making. Nothing is a spending priority if everything is a spending priority. I will take a broad view of our mission, and weigh large expenditures carefully.

    I will be a champion for students, staff, and the taxpayer. No one likes wasteful spending. We have an obligation to invest in the future, but we should do so wisely.

    Only by demonstrating good stewardship of taxpayer dollars can we expect public support for future spending referenda.

  • We should hire in-house counsel. This person would attend all meetings of the board and be immediately available to advise the board during its deliberations.

    So much time, energy and goodwill has been wasted over the last two years fighting about what is or is not legally advisable. Having a district lawyer in the room would provide an opportunity for members to elicit an independent legal opinion on the spot before casting their vote. Many other governing bodies rely on having in-house counsel on hand for this exact purpose.

Questions & Answers

Community questions and my answers published by the News-Gazette

“How are you going to build trust between the Champaign Unit 4 School Board and our community? How are you going to ensure you hear voices and perspectives from families of different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic groups, including our families who speak languages other than English at home?”

Trust is earned. To win the public’s trust, we have to change the culture in our school district. It is going to start—as it must—with the school board. 

When a citizen comes to a school board meeting and speaks into the microphone, they are motivated by something. It’s not usually to mention that everything’s great. People have struggles, and fears, and concerns that deserve respect and attention. And when they come to share an idea or ask for help, they should not be made to feel like they are bothering someone. 

Speaking up is even more difficult for those community members who hail from far off places and for whom English is not the native tongue. These are welcome friends who enrich the diverse fabric of our community and whose children will grow up to become the next generation of leaders.  

As we work to hear from all perspectives, the District’s 2,000 employees would be a pretty obvious place to start. But, they need to know the District has their back. When the staff feels respected and supported, the customers (our 10,000 students and their families) will know it. They will feel it. Our teachers and staff see first what our leaders may only eventually see. They know what our kids need. We should listen to them. I will talk with anyone. I know the best ideas emerge through collaboration and debate. We need more of it. Change is coming, and it’s going to be for the better.

“Our district is currently being sued for retaliation and discrimination [related to the dismantling of BTW].

As a board member, do you think you have a role in preventing these problems from occurring in the first place or intervening when they are repeatedly brought to the board’s attention?”

Absolutely. The duty of any board is to the organization, never to the CEO. The CEO is but a conduit through which the board executes its vision. It would appear some of our friends believe otherwise.

While the superintendent had the idea to dismantle BTW, the board let it happen. That was a massive mistake. Parents came out of the woodwork, filled school board meetings for months, and said so. They begged the board to fix it. They gave grace and opportunity for face-saving. All of it was ignored, with a grin.

We have people running a school district who you wouldn’t trust to run a bake sale. When a governing body becomes the object of ridicule, the talented people who might otherwise have run for office decide not to. Those seats then get filled with people who need more direction than they offer.

When did the superintendent start sitting at the head of the table during board meetings? Isn’t that strange? Why is she seated in an eighth board seat instead of with the staff? Who’s giving direction to whom?

While the board’s infighting has been an embarrassing disservice to our superintendent, like a moth to a flame, she just can’t resist that juicy chaos. The board should have never allowed an employee to participate in its dysfunction, but a pro wouldn’t have wanted to.

The chance for another BTW-level catastrophe is on the ballot. If you want new leadership, you have five votes, and a message to send.

“As a school board member, how would you evaluate School of Choice and its effectiveness in meeting the needs of students and families? Would you support looking into another elementary school assignment system?”

Our school assignment system can and must be improved. The uncertainty has even driven some new families away from our community. New home buyers have no idea where their kids will go to school. It’s a problem.

For readers unfamiliar with our ‘Schools of Choice’ system, here’s what you need to know: During kindergarten registration, families rank the 12 elementary schools in order of preference. You must rank all 12. The District then uses an algorithm to assign your kindergartener to a particular school. With rare exception, siblings receive the same assignment. Little can be done if you don’t get the school you hoped for. In this regard, ‘Schools of Choice’ is something of a misnomer.

Imagine a family with three kids moving to a home in Garden Hills and getting assigned to Carrie Busey in Savoy. The consequences of that assignment are extraordinary. The family might have a child in elementary school every year for the next decade. Driving or bussing to Savoy and back instead of walking across the street would be an immense burden.

Alas, an obvious alternative to our current system remains elusive.

I know this much: 1) people hate uncertainty and we should minimize it; 2) to the greatest extent possible, parents should decide where their kids go to school; 3) any proposal to improve the system should be debated openly with a meaningful opportunity for public input; and 4) I will never vote to uproot students from one school and put them in another.

“What steps would you take to ensure an environment that attracts and retains high-quality talent (teaching, administrative and classified)?”

I would immediately replace the CEO. Our students and staff are suffering through a painful chapter of failed leadership. Meanwhile, the superintendent tells us not to trust our lying eyes. 

The era of smug incompetence must end. It has had disastrous consequences for our students, our schools, and our community. Teachers are jumping ship. Affluent families are siphoning their kids off to private schools. New families are choosing Mahomet, St. Joseph, and Monticello for the schools.

The fish rots from the head. The deliberate dismantling of Booker T. Washington has been an unmitigated disaster. And for what? What have we gained? Judgment calls like this combined with the late-night food fight board meetings over the last couple years make us look small-time. The high-quality talent is watching, and they’re going elsewhere.

We are in an “emperor has no clothes” moment right now at Unit 4. Academic performance remains abysmal. Yet, the superintendent starts every school board meeting with the aggressively out-of-touch affirmation that “It’s a great day in Unit 4!” For who? And nothing has had the meaning more thoroughly beaten out of it than the prideful refrain, “WE are doing the work." Unfortunately, this isn’t a speak-it-into-being affair. The plan is either working, or it isn’t. It isn’t.

Better days can soon be at hand. We have an opportunity to fix this. A responsibility. If elected, I will bring a motion to terminate the superintendent’s employment contract, double the salary, and begin a nationwide search for top talent.

“Since no additional permanent seats were added to the existing three middle schools in the last referendum, do you have a plan for adding capacity to the middle schools without placing portables on school grounds? Would you be in favor of building a fourth middle school and, if so, where? How would you propose paying for such a facility?”

Our schools are monuments to our values. We should be building cathedrals to education. Few investments can make a greater impact on the future health of our community.

As our community grows, we’ll need to build additional capacity. That’s a good thing. Some cities don’t have that problem, and you can tell when you drive through.

I am a likely supporter of any properly vetted long-term capital improvement project. We need additional middle school capacity, and we need to fix what’s been neglected. Some of our buildings not touched by the 2016 referendum are falling apart. All solutions will cost money, and building a new middle school will almost certainly require the issuance of bonds. The location of any new building must account for where the population lives now and where we expect it to grow.

Many readers will remember the corrugated sheet metal version of the Champaign Public Library. The community wrestled with what the next version should look like and ultimately chose to build a state-of-the-art facility to last the next hundred years. Who among us, now 17 years on, believes that was a mistake? Who goes to the library and thinks, ‘We should have done the cheap version.’?

The buildings in which our children spend their childhood should be designed to inspire a sense of awe. Students attending class in trailers is an indictment on our past vision. We should learn from these mistakes and do better for the next generation. We’ll need steady leaders for this work.

“Previously, the administration reviewed plans in an attempt to balance socioeconomic status with a focus on making major changes for all the elementary schools. There were four plans offered up by the consulting firm. If these plans were to be revisited today, which of the four plans would you favor?”

I will never vote to uproot students. 

The consultants delivered plans pursuant to the goals they were given by the board. Because those goals were so flawed, I am inclined to simply answer, ‘None of them.’ 

But I’ll take the hypothetical. Of the four misguided plans, I believe the model we ended up with—Scenario 4—is the least dumb. There was some merit in rebalancing the middle schools.

But here’s the rub—that whole tone-deaf asinine charade was, at bottom, really about optics, and never about student achievement. We should have aimed higher.

They picked the least moldy slice of bread and decided it was time to make some toast. No thank you.

“Do you believe students should be taught how to use AI and have you used AI, including ChatGPT, in your profession or in answering the voter questions?”

Students all over the world are already using artificial intelligence in the classroom and in their personal lives. This same question could have been asked in the early 1990s about whether to teach students how to use the Internet. The answer is of course we should be teaching them how to harness the power of AI.

I made a ChatGPT account a couple years ago, soon after it launched. I’ve found it to be a valuable addition to traditional online research. While I don’t use AI routinely in my law practice, that day is coming. We are starting to see AI-generated police reports derived from bodycam videos. Every industry is working to take advantage of AI’s potential.

Ignoring AI will be this generation’s version of not having an email address. The whole world is realizing its benefits, and our students should be on the bleeding edge of AI adoption. These are the kinds of competitive advantages we need to be thinking about in Unit 4.

Competitive districts have bold visions for the future and are always working to see around corners. That requires a willingness to look within and adjust course as the landscape changes. Mastering AI tools and the basics of personal finance and investing might do more for a modern student than some of the traditional curricula of the last 30 years.

The whole point of public education is to equip young humans with the tools and lessons they will need to build happy, prosperous lives.

Our students will leave high school to compete for jobs and university admission against graduates from other districts. Our community has the talent, the ideas, and the capacity to produce the most competitive graduates in this state. We deserve leaders who believe that.

I have not used AI or ChatGPT to answer any of the questions in this series.

“Champaign Unit 4 school district is undergoing a special education audit. The results of the audit are expected to be released at the beginning of March. What do you see is the school board's role in ensuring that the audit's recommendations are implemented in a sustainable manner?”

The school board gives direction. The superintendent executes. To the extent the board adopts recommendations from this audit, it will be the superintendent’s job to implement them. That’s why I believe our first responsibility will be to replace the superintendent.

I wish that were not the case. I wish all our focus could be on improving what is already working. But of course, this audit only exists because things are not working. The stories our SPED families are telling are simply shocking. The risks we have been taking with these children would make you think we’re on a three-day bender in Vegas. 

The district remains exposed to potential litigation in so many ways. We need to stop making the kind of unforced errors that led to this audit. When our district gets sued, it costs the taxpayer. The buck stops with someone. Regrettably, after years on the job, the current superintendent has failed to mitigate our risk exposure. The board has a duty to hire someone who will. 

We have big challenges, and to meet them we need leaders who can execute on big plans. We need a superintendent who will inspire. A CEO who will lead Unit 4 back to where it belongs. We need someone who is comfortable in the arena. We need a clear communicator. A truth-teller. A pro. Only then will we be able to look our SPED families in the eye and promise them that things will get better.

“How will you work to build transparency with the community and Unit 4 staff?”

I take this question like, ‘How will you work to be truthful?’ It’s a character trait, not a project.

Transparency signals strength. When leaders are reluctant to reveal what’s going on behind the curtain, I ask myself why that might be. We need leaders who will shine a light on our problems and take the action necessary to correct them.

For ten weeks in a row, the candidates have been given an opportunity here to answer the public’s questions. Which candidates have been telling you what they really think, and which have been answering with meaningless gobbledygook?

Who is being transparent? Do you know by now which candidates are prepared to extend the superintendent’s employment contract and which of us will vote to terminate it? Each candidate knows what they will do. How can you ask the public to vote for you without telling them what you stand for?

There are eleven candidates vying for five open seats in this election. Who will perpetuate the current brand of insecurity, secrecy, and incompetence? Who will do everything required to change it?

The five winners will be making decisions that affect our entire community, our collective reputation, and our businesses. There may not be time to run the issues through ChatGPT before forming an opinion.

And they will be expected to answer legitimate criticisms when they come. And they will come. And they will be legitimate. That’s when transparency will matter most.

We must do better. And I believe we soon will.

“Why do you want to serve on the school board?”

I want to make us more competitive. Our graduating seniors should feel like their Unit 4 education gave them an advantage over students from most other communities. We are sending our kids to compete on a global playing field. I think we owe them more than what they’ve been getting. We should intervene earlier with our youngest learners and better prepare our college-bound students for the rigors of a university education.

For too long, the question in Unit 4 has been, “How can we justify what’s going on?” I will always be asking, “How can we do better?”

I think with the right people on the board, we can dramatically improve the culture in our district. Right away we can start signaling to our staff and the public that the days of secrecy and disorder are being supplanted by transparency and competence.  

If elected, I look forward to explaining my thoughts and decisions on the record. I have been frustrated with how little explanation often accompanies board members’ votes. The idea that the public is on a need-to-know basis is anathema to me. The people want to hear leaders talk about the issues, not each other.

I want to help streamline our meetings. Let’s cut the fluff. Lose the slideshows. Move the 40-minute presentations online. Board meetings should be for carrying out the important business of the board, and little else. There will be another school board election in two years. Talented people won’t want to run for those seats if it looks like their time is going to be wasted. I want to make changes to address this dynamic.

I want to empower our staff to shine a light on our problems without fear of retribution, because that’s what healthy institutions do. I want them to know again that we have their backs.

Brighter days are just around the corner.

“The last few union negotiations came very close to a strike. In what ways will you support the development of a contract with the teachers union that best meets the needs of the teachers and the community?”

The people who win this election will be in the room negotiating on behalf of the taxpayer.

The current CFT contract expires June 30. Negotiations on the next one will begin as soon as the new school board is seated in late April. We need calm, competent professionals at the table to execute this important task.

The teachers are likely to demand an agreement that 1) increases their pay and benefits; 2) improves teacher recruitment and retention; 3) requires the district to hire more special education teachers; 4) modifies or shortens the school day; and 5) provides a meaningful opportunity for professional development.

In the past, these negotiations have included threats to strike. While I would hope to avoid that, authorizing a strike is a powerful negotiating tactic, and the board should be prepared for CFT to do it again this time. That’s okay. Both parties ultimately need each other. I am confident these negotiations will again result in a mutually beneficial agreement.

By next fall, all three of my kids will be in elementary school. I am very concerned about them getting a first-class education. While our duty as board members will be to the public—not to the teachers—I believe it is in the public’s best interest that we treat our teachers very well. A well-paid staff who feel respected and supported will deliver a better product. That’s true anywhere. And it’s why we should telegraph that there will be a new superintendent and HR director soon.

“How do you plan to guide our school district in navigating the new presidential administration’s planned federal policy changes in education, including the reduction of diversity initiatives in education, the rollback of protections for LGBTQIA+ students, and the broader elimination of the Department of Education’s role in supporting public education?”

I plan to guide the district like a competent, thoughtful professional.

As is always true, the obstacles will be the path. We need leaders who demonstrate an ability to learn from what they observe and change tack accordingly. We should be strengthening the Unit 4 organization today so that we are in a better position to address the challenges of tomorrow. As I have argued, this begins with new leadership on the school board and in the administration.

Often wrong, but never in doubt, the current leadership appears impervious to improvement.

The superintendent has created a culture of fear within the ranks, an unpardonable sin. The current board has failed in its most important task—holding her office to account. Our staff has learned that speaking up will cost you, and in consequence, important challenges to the status quo are being suppressed. No one else wants the Rebecca Ramey treatment plan.  

Superintendent Sheila Boozer and Assistant Superintendent Ken Kleber are named defendants in a federal lawsuit alleging retaliatory employment practices targeting an openly gay assistant principal. Your tax dollars will be spent to defend them. I don’t know whether the claims are meritorious, but I suspect better leadership would have avoided them.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything. As we navigate the uncertainties ahead, we need leaders whose instinct is to rise above. The drama hurts everyone, but it hurts our most marginalized kids the greatest. Ask yourself, ‘How are they doing under this leadership?’

“How do you see your role as a board member in developing and maintaining positive relationships with faculty and staff throughout the district?”

It’s important to remember that most of our faculty and staff are also political constituents. So, while we must respect the administrative chain of command, as public servants, we owe a duty to our employees as constituents also. I plan to communicate freely and clearly with anyone who wants to bend my ear or understand my point of view. I will always tell it like it is. Hopefully, we will agree most of the time. Sometimes we won’t. But I’m going to tell the truth, and I will thoughtfully consider differing viewpoints because I value them greatly.

I have been troubled to see our district’s reputation suffer as petty grievances among board members have devolved into abject dysfunction. Bickering like undisciplined children while making your staff sit there until midnight and watch is dangerously narcissistic. It’s embarrassing our community. It’s hurting our businesses. It’s scaring off the potential new talent that organizations like the University of Illinois, Carle, and our own school district are working tirelessly to recruit.

Our school board meetings shouldn’t last six hours. They don’t have to look like the Jerry Springer show. This is not normal. We are better than this.

Our faculty and staff look to the board to guide the culture. When we make a mockery of this responsibility, we aren’t doing much to maintain positive relationships with the employees. We are embarrassing them.

I hope to do our faculty and staff proud by bringing professionalism and decorum back to the boardroom.

“How would you actively engage the University of Illinois’ College of Education with Unit 4 to become the best statewide school district model?”

We have a world-renowned institution of higher learning cranking out talented new teachers in our own backyard. Many of them get their first classroom experience student-teaching in Unit 4 schools. It is our responsibility as an under-staffed employer to inspire these gifted new educators to apply for a job. If anyone can cure a teacher shortage, it’s us.

Beyond serving as a source of human capital, the university provides us so much more. It shows us how great institutions treat their people. The University of Illinois paved the way for students in wheelchairs to play sports. It showed the world the humanity of a ramp at the end of a sidewalk. The very concept of special education was conceived here. Yet, our own children are being denied its promises. We must do better.

We would do well to note the intellect and examples that surround us. Most communities could only imagine these resources. Our schools should find partnership with the university wherever possible.

Capitalizing on these opportunities is the job of our full-time administration. So is identifying our shortcomings.

Good government relies on professional staff to identify problems, develop a menu of possible solutions, and make recommendations for adoption. Nobody wants a school district as big and diverse as ours running on the spitball musings of seven community volunteers. The school board’s role is to make sure we have the best staff in the business and that we treat them so well they never want to leave.

In the 18th and final installment of our four-month series taking community members' questions to the crowded field competing for five spots on the Champaign school board in Tuesday's election, the candidates were asked what last words they'd like to leave with voters.

For more than a year, I’ve been working to hear and understand the concerns and hopes of our community. I’ve met with parents, principals and pastors. I’ve talked with teachers and business owners. We’ve met at coffee shops, restaurants and public events. Some staff have asked to meet in the privacy of my office.

I am left with these final thoughts before Election Day.

As the world climbed back from the pandemic, we began to fall behind. When the basics mattered most, our house was not in order. Nearby communities have been eating our lunch while we’ve been tearing ourselves apart.

Our staff knows what needs to change. Many have been afraid to speak up. They’ve seen what our superintendent does to critics.

Change isn’t easy, but it’s a defining feature of growth. The right decisions are often the hardest.

Transparency is a sign of strength. Playing hide-the-ball with information should arouse suspicion in even the most trusting minds.

Public service is not a hobby. When being a school board member becomes your identity, the interests of self can quietly and perniciously creep in to suffocate the interests of children.

Racism is a huge problem, but it isn’t the cause of every problem.

White kids do better when Black kids do better. We’re all on the same team. We need school board members who believe that.

The answer to the achievement gap is not to lower expectations, but to raise them.

Elections matter. We get the government we deserve. I’m asking for your vote to rebuild what is broken. To pull the nose of this plane up and aim for a brighter future.

I don’t have all the answers, but I promise to work hard and always tell the truth. Thank you for considering me for this important job.

To make a donation by check, please make payable to Citizens for Tony Bruno, 301 W Green St, Urbana IL 61801

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