Tallin Curran, candidate for school board in Granite City CUSD 9, IL
Name: Tallin Curran
Political party (if applicable): N/A
Age as of April 6, 2021: 38
Campaign website or social media page: www.tallincurran.com
Office seeking: Board Member, Granite City Community Unit School District #9
Are you an incumbent? Yes
Have you run for elected office before? I ran for the same office in 2019, but was not elected. A board member resigned in 2020, and I was interviewed and appointed to fill the vacancy in September 2020.
Occupation: Information Technology & Facilities Manager, Six Mile Regional Library District
Education: Granite City High School - 2001; SIUE, B.S. Mass Communications - 2006; SWIC, A.A.S. Network Design & Administration - 2011; several IT certifications
Please list highlights of your civic involvement: I was a member of the Granite City Cool Cities Committee, an advisory committee to the mayor and City Council. I helped draft the Granite City Sustainability Action Plan, which was adopted in 2017. I have since been told that Action Plan has been used as a template for neighboring cities. I have been on the Board of Directors of the Madison County Historical Society since 2016, where I currently serve as secretary. I have also assisted the Old Six Mile Historical Society in Granite City from time to time. In my job at the Six Mile Regional Library District, I supervised the digitization and online publishing of the Granite City High School yearbooks from 1910 to 2010 and am currently supervising the online publishing of the Granite City Press-Record archives from 1903 to 2012. In my spare time, I am the administrator of the Facebook group Granite City, Pontoon Beach, and Mitchell Memories, which currently has over 6,600 members. I believe this helps keep local history alive with relevant posts and comments about the history of our community.
Why are you running? I am running because I feel that my background and experience is an asset to the school district. I can bring an information technology and buildings and grounds perspective to the board. I believe I can make a difference to the students, parents, guardians, staff, and faculty in our school district. I have two daughters who will be in the school district for several years to come. My oldest daughter is in 3rd grade at Mitchell and my youngest is in 1st grade at Maryville, and they are a huge reason why I am running for a seat on this board.
What is the top issue in your race, and how would you address it? Assuming that COVID-19 will soon be of less concern than it has been for the past year, I would like to reevaluate whether or not we can return to neighborhood schools. It has been more than five years since the school board voted to move to attendance centers. I’ve never heard from a parent or teacher who prefers the attendance center model over the neighborhood schools model. Selfishly, I would love to go back to neighborhood schools. My daughters are only two years apart and, under the attendance center model, they will never be in the same school until one is a junior and the other is a freshman. Unselfishly, this could be an opportunity to help raise the morale of our teachers, aides, paraprofessionals, etc. We could retain at least some of those who may otherwise leave for another district or another profession by moving back to a model that was beloved by pretty much everyone I know. Nationwide, a shocking number of teachers are leaving for other professions, and that puts it on boards and administrations across the country to explore ways to keep them in education. Something like neighborhood schools could be one way to do that, by bringing our district back to something familiar and allowing our staff and faculty to build relationships with these students over five or six years, rather than seeing them moved along to another school every two years. The data may well show that moving back to neighborhood schools isn’t economically feasible and would require higher taxes to sustain. Then so be it. We should still look into it in a very public manner so that the parents and the citizens can see what the board sees and understand why board members are casting votes for or against. Discussions could be held in public session and not executive session so that the people do not feel as though they are being deceived.
Why should people vote for you? With two daughters in the district, I have about as strong a personal interest in seeing this school district prosper as one can have. I also believe that if the school district prospers then the community will prosper. I work for the library and my wife works for the City of Granite City. We don’t plan on going anywhere. I am accessible and will answer questions to the best of my ability. If I don’t know the answer I will say so and do my best to try and find it. Even if I have a genuine disagreement with someone, I don’t want that person to feel as though I simply didn’t listen. I am also willing to listen to all sides of a discussion and research the data and information at hand before forming a decision. I will also go out in search of more information. If I believe something but everything is pointing in another direction, I have no problem abandoning my idea and helping someone else with their idea or solution. The board and the district need to operate as a team in order to accomplish the most for everyone.
This story was originally published March 2, 2021 at 1:05 PM.