We asked each candidate to answer questions on topics important to the Senn High School community. Below are their answers.
Seth Torres
(pronouns: he / him / they / them)
Running for: Community Representative
About the Candidate
In just a few sentences, please tell us about yourself.
I am a Queer and Trans, Jewish, Latino, disabled person who has lived in the Senn community since 2019. I hold a bachelors in psychology and theater from Northwestern and earned a masters of public policy and a masters of social work from the University of Chicago. Prior to COVID, I was a theatrical lighting designer and continue to have a deep love of the arts. Now I am a policy professional working as an internal auditor. I live in Edgewater with my husband and cats, Pinto Bean and Toast.
What is your relationship to Senn?
I have lived in the Senn community for almost 7 years. In that time I have attended some of the arts showcases. Additionally, I began regularly attending LSC meetings in the 2025-2026 school year to learn more about the school. Through attending LSC meetings and meeting students, parents, and teachers, I learned about the significant challenges facing the school and felt that my educational and professional background were a good fit to help the LSC tackle these challenges.
Why do you want to be on the Senn LSC?
I am running for the LSC because I have lived in the Senn community since 2019 and I want to be more involved in the schools in the place that I call home. The decisions made about Senn today will impact the school in decades to come. I want to help Senn build on its strengths and tackle its challenges head on so that Senn remains the top choice of school for neighborhood students, IB students, and arts students.
Do you have any previous experience on a Local School Council? If so, tell us about it.
I have not been on an LSC before but I have extensive experience working with government bureaucracy and instilling a sense of urgency in administrators.
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 responsibilities of the LSC include voting on budget and proposals to spend school funds, conducting the principal’s performance evaluation, participating in the creation of the CIWP, listening to the needs of students, teachers, and parents, honing in on issues at the school, holding the school administration accountable to their responsibilities to the school, and working to find solutions to challenges that work for all involved.
Q2. What core values do you hope to uphold as a member of the LSC?
Candidate Answer:
The core values I hope to uphold as a member of the LSC are accountability, compassion, honesty, empathy, curiosity, joy, and collaboration.
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 eyes, effective communication from a principal means that all students, parents, and teachers are informed about the major happenings at the school in plain language and in all languages spoken by members of the school community. This includes events, policy and budget updates, and major incidents at the school. Principal communication is most critical in times of crises such as ICE being near or on campus, budget cuts which affect programming, and rapid changes to CPS or school policy.
Q5. What is your understanding of CPS's policies regarding ICE and federal agents in school buildings?
Candidate Answer:
My understanding of CPS’s policies regarding ICE and federal agents in school buildings is that federal agents and ICE are prohibited from entering a school without a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge. Additionally, CPS will not coordinate with any federal immigration officials and will not ask families for their immigration status.
Q6. What kind of leadership would you expect to see from the principal when federal agents target our neighborhood and families?
Candidate Answer:
First, I expect the principal to have a robust plan for federal agent activity. The plan must include the way the principal plans to physically protect students and families in and around the building, the immediate communication provided to families, and the follow up with families after the incident has ended. I also expect the principal to engage in an iterative process with families to ensure the plan continues to serve the needs of families as the tactics of federal agents change over time.
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:
Senn has 3 academic programs: major studies available to all neighborhood students, the IB program, and the arts program, which are both selective enrollment programs. I would want to see a more culturally relevant curriculum, increased support for DL and EL students, new approaches to behavior and attendance issues including restorative practices, new ways of engaging students and hearing their feedback on what supports and changes they need, and more evidence based practices in all classrooms.
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:
For budget transparency and oversight, I expect budgets to be available far enough in advance and in an accessible format so that all stakeholders have ample time to review the budget and provide input before a budget is voted on. For accountability, I expect each budget line item to be justified by students' needs and for there to be robust explanations as to why funding decisions were made, especially if programs and initiatives will not be fully funded.
Q9. What should the role of the LSC be if the principal attempts to quietly make changes without transparency or community input?
Candidate Answer:
First, the LSC should inform the principal that it is not acceptable to make the changes without the necessary input. Then, I would try to inform the Senn community about these attempted changes by reaching out to the various parent and community groups that support Senn. If a proposed change violates CPS policy or state law, I would not hesitate to reach out to the district to inform them of the improper changes a principal is trying to make.
Q10. When families consistently learn important information from outside sources rather than school leadership, what should the LSC do?
Candidate Answer:
The LSC should inform the principal in LSC meetings the information families are consistently learning from sources other than school leadership and ask the principal what they plan to do to correct this issue. Additionally, when a decision is made that families need to know about, the LSC should ask the principal when and how they plan to communicate the decision to ensure families are informed of important updates through an official channel.
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:
Two major issues stand out to me. First, that Senn has none of the five areas above neutral, showing systematic issues across the school. Second, that effective leaders has a weak score which has decreased over time, showing persistent issues with effective leadership. To address these issues, I would first want to dive deeper into why these issues exist by listening to the perspectives of students, parents, and staff. Next, I would create a plan with the LSC to address the perspectives shared.
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:
I would want to see data broken down further to include more marginalized characteristics to compare to students without the marginalized identity. If the data shows disproportionate harm to marginalized students, then the LSC needs to identify new ways to approach an issue that produces better outcomes. I would support soliciting ideas from marginalized families and ensure that at minimum, some of the ideas are implemented and evaluated for effectiveness.
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 would approach this responsibility thoughtfully and with full transparency. There are several key performance measures I would use including the 5 essentials report, especially the supportive leadership measure. Additionally, the CIWP and the progress made over the principal’s tenure. Third, student, parent, and staff feedback gathered using a survey. Finally, budget decisions during the principal’s tenure and whether those decisions support the needs of students and staff.
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.