We asked each candidate to answer questions on topics important to the Senn High School community. Below are their answers.
Michael Angileri
(pronouns: any)
Running for: Community Representative
About the Candidate
In just a few sentences, please tell us about yourself.
I am a parent, artist and tech worker living in Uptown. My entire lived experience is the product of 17 years of my communities investing in public education.
What is your relationship to Senn?
I am a community member who is a neighbor to parents, students, alums, teachers and staff. I attend arts, sports and other extracurricular events to build on the feeling of belonging to the Senn community.
Why do you want to be on the Senn LSC?
I believe in what Senn offers: wide-ranging programs under one roof — general education, arts & IB — creating diversity of experience amongst peers. I have seen Senn's potential held back when we cannot get on the same page due to miscommunication or competing priorities. I want to continue progressing toward clearer communication and a more functional school — together.
Do you have any previous experience on a Local School Council? If so, tell us about it.
Yes - I am an incumbent member of the Senn LSC completing my first term. During these two years, I gained hands-on experience with the LSC's functional role: reviewing and approving the continuous improvement work plan, reviewing and approving the budget to ensure it aligns with the plan, and evaluating the principal on professional practices and growth.
Where Your Candidate Stands
We asked each candidate a series of questions that important to the Senn High School community. Their answers are below.
Q1. What do you believe are the responsibilities of a Local School Council?
Candidate Answer:
The core responsibilities of a Local School Council are to provide accountability in our public schools via teacher, staff, parent, community member and student oversight of school administration. This is primarily done via reviewing and voting on the Continuous Improvement Work Plan and annual Budget as well as evaluating the principal's performance each year.
Q2. What core values do you hope to uphold as a member of the LSC?
Candidate Answer:
Collaboration, accountability, and an outside perspective. I can ask basic questions and speak plainly about problems. I believe in partnership over posturing, and follow-through over blame.
Q3. All Parent and Community LSC members are required to complete 9 mandatory training sessions within six months of taking office.
- If you are a current or former LSC member, have you completed all your training sessions?
- If you have not served on an LSC before, do you commit to competing all 9 training sessions within six months of taking office?
(Candidates were given a matrix of preselected answers. Below are the answers they selected)
Candidate Answer:
- I am a current LSC member.
- I have completed some required trainings.
Q4. What does effective communication for a principal entail, in your eyes? In what moments does principal communication matter most?
Candidate Answer:
Effective communication is clear, concise and timely. It is always imperative for a public school principal to be an effective communicator. Especially during times of uncertainty and conflict.
Q5. What is your understanding of CPS's policies regarding ICE and federal agents in school buildings?
Candidate Answer:
School leadership should NOT cooperate with ICE or federal law enforcement agents without a valid criminal judicial warrant. Additionally, we must be vigilant about what data we share with the federal government with regards to our students, parents and community members.
Q6. What kind of leadership would you expect to see from the principal when federal agents target our neighborhood and families?
Candidate Answer:
Visible, proactive, and reassuring. Families need to know that school leadership is aware of the threat, understands their rights, and is prepared to protect students. This means clear communication about policies, resources for families, and a posture that prioritizes student safety and trust above all else.
Q7. LSC members are responsible for developing and monitoring the school's improvement plan (CIWP), which includes goals around academic success. Describe your understanding of Senn's academic programs. What academic priorities will you emphasize in your role on the LSC?
Candidate Answer:
In addition to Senn being a neighborhood school providing a world-class education to the kids who live between Irving Park & Devon, we also benefit from being home to an IB program and Arts programs all in one building.
This means we have some of the most diverse programming in Chicago Public Schools along with a student body that has a significant variety of academic and post-secondary goals. We cannot generalize here and need to prioritize an environment that allows all students to succeed.
Q8. One of the key responsibilities of the LSC is aligning the school's budget to the CIWP.
- If you are or have been a Senn LSC representative, provide an example or two of what you have done to ensure both ongoing and annual budgetary transparency?
- For candidates who have not served on Senn's LSC: Describe your approach to budget accountability, transparency, and oversight.
Candidate Answer:
During my first term on the LSC I have generally pushed for more transparency and clearer communication. With regards to the budget & spending I have pushed for more transparency by ensuring that the administration is providing LSC members with financial updates each month.
Q9. What should the role of the LSC be if the principal attempts to quietly make changes without transparency or community input?
Candidate Answer:
The LSC should address it directly with the principal — first via direct conversation, then formally if needed. Transparency isn't optional; it's how trust is built. That being said I do not assume negative intent. Communication can break down for many reasons. The goal is accountability and a functional school with a community building towards progress.
Q10. When families consistently learn important information from outside sources rather than school leadership, what should the LSC do?
Candidate Answer:
Similarly, If it's a pattern, it needs to be addressed via direct conversation and/or principal evaluation. Families should hear important news from the school first.
Q11. The 5Essentials Survey (link), developed by the University of Chicago in collaboration with CPS, identifies strengths and weaknesses across five areas:
- Effective Leaders (Score: 28, Weak)
- Collaborative Teachers (Score: 47, Neutral)
- Involved Families (Score: 40, Neutral)
- Supportive Environment (Score: 50, Neutral)
- Ambitions Instruction (Not scored due to data error)
What stands out to you and what action steps would you take as an LSC representative to address the challenge areas?
Candidate Answer:
The 5Essentials Survey is a useful tool for gauging annual feedback, particularly when it comes to principal evaluation. While useful for viewing trends and gaining annual insights, I believe it is a lagging point-in-time signal that is not a sufficient feedback mechanism for identifying issues that require leadership's attention generally.
Q12. Describe your approach to equity. How would you ensure that decisions made by the LSC support and do not proportionally harm Black, Latino, Indigenous, immigrant, or low-income students? What systems and practices would you support to make sure marginalized voices are not just heard, but actually shape outcomes?
Candidate Answer:
In order to incorporate marginalized voices, input must be actively solicited by leadership. This means going beyond open meetings — surveying families in multiple languages and ensuring that feedback loops exist for those who can't attend evening meetings. It is necessary to solicit meaningful feedback from all in the Senn community in order to move forward and grow together.
Q13. One of the key responsibilities of LSC members is to evaluate the school's principal. This LSC term will coincide with the contract renewal timeframe for Senn's principal. Describe how you will approach this responsibility.
What key performance indicators should be the primary focus factors when deciding whether to renew a principal's contract.
Candidate Answer:
I approach evaluation the same way I would any performance review: gather evidence, solicit input, and assess against clear criteria. The factors that matter most to me are communication and transparency, follow-through on CIWP goals, staff retention and morale, and equitable outcomes across all programs.
Additional Candidate Materials
Candidates were offered the opportunity to provide the public with additional materials to be displayed on their profile page. Those materials are provided here.
