We asked each candidate to answer questions on topics important to the Senn High School community. Below are their answers.
Rocio Carbajal
(pronouns: she / her)
Running for: Parent Representative
About the Candidate
In just a few sentences, please tell us about yourself.
I am a working mother and responsible for my son's educational progress.
What is your relationship to Senn?
Mother of junior student
Why do you want to be on the Senn LSC?
The main objective is to support the activities and decision-making necessary for the well-being of our students.
Do you have any previous experience on a Local School Council? If so, tell us about it.
The first year my son started high school I was a member of the Parent Bac, participating in the different meetings and contributing suggestions regarding the bilingual community
Where Your Candidate Stands
We asked each candidate a series of questions that important to the Senn High School community. Their answers are below.
Editor's Note: We are dedicated to providing answers exactly as written by the candidates. However, Ms. Carbajal provided answers in Spanish and her answers were translated using Google Translate so that they could be translated into all the various languages on this website. Any discrepancy between Ms. Carbajal's orginal answers and the ones listed below is purely due to the translation software and we will work to correct any errors that come to our attention.
Q1. What do you believe are the responsibilities of a Local School Council?
Candidate Answer:
I believe the main responsibilities are monitoring the different activities and meetings for the benefit of the students.
Q2. What core values do you hope to uphold as a member of the LSC?
Candidate Answer:
I would like to emphasize the values of discipline, punctuality, honesty, and respect, as well as focus on empathy, tolerance, and solidarity within the SEEN community.
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 have never been an LSC Member.
- I commit to completing all required trainings within six months of taking office.
Q4. What does effective communication for a principal entail, in your eyes? In what moments does principal communication matter most?
Candidate Answer:
In my opinion, good communication will always be fundamental to maintaining a community more focused on what a leader wants to convey through clear and timely messages.
Q5. What is your understanding of CPS's policies regarding ICE and federal agents in school buildings?
Candidate Answer:
At the moment, the information I have is not very extensive.
Q6. What kind of leadership would you expect to see from the principal when federal agents target our neighborhood and families?
Candidate Answer:
It would be very convenient to be better organized in order to have clear action plans if necessary, to have precise instructions, and to know if there are any risks so that we can make timely decisions.
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:
I think the main priorities would be to identify the learning opportunities that students have and to focus on supporting their needs for a successful academic outcome
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:
To be able to contribute suggestions, follow-up and opinions on what we want to work on for the benefit of the students
Q9. What should the role of the LSC be if the principal attempts to quietly make changes without transparency or community input?
Candidate Answer:
To intervene in order to review the method to be used and see if it is beneficial for the school community
Q10. When families consistently learn important information from outside sources rather than school leadership, what should the LSC do?
Candidate Answer:
Analyze why communication is focusing on an external area of the school community and review optimal communication strategies to focus entirely internally.
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:
Conduct an analysis of areas of opportunity with members of the school community, selecting leaders more effectively, since there is an average number of teachers and parents.
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:
Returning to the suggested values of empathy, solidarity, and respect among each member of the school community, it is important to communicate to them the importance that each person has in the school society.
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 think the main factors to review are the academic and training results in the school community, and the atmosphere maintained between the community and the environment in general.
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.