Dupage Policy Journal

David A. Sohmer said he is running for a seat on the Wheaton Warrenville Unit School District 200 school board "to bring common sense and academic excellence back to District 200 schools."

“When I was a kid, I received an excellent education that focused on the core fundamentals of learning,” Sohmer said in a video in which he discussed his candidacy. “Expectations were high, grades were earned. Kids were not indoctrinated with social experiments, politics, and the culture wars. I'm guessing that you had a similar experience. One of the most disturbing trends in our schools has been the decline of student performance, lower math scores, and reading scores.” 

And despite the fact that “over 50% of our students in District 200 cannot read or do math at grade level," he said, the incumbent board "keeps patting themselves on the back, telling us how great they're doing," Sohmer said. 

"I not only believe that our schools should be more academically rigorous, but that the results should be reliably measurable," he said. "I believe that our schools should focus on the core building blocks of learning, reading, writing, and mathematics. And I believe that our schools should promote intellectual engagement by maintaining high standards for every student. If you share this vision for education, then I ask for your vote and I ask you to vote for our slate of like-minded candidates. Jim Hobbs for the open two-year term, and vote for Amy Erkenswick, Spencer Garrett, and David Sohmer for the four-year term. In other words, vote for Hobbs and ballot numbers two, three, and five to help our students thrive.”

According to the Parents for CUSD200 website, Sohmer is a software engineer for First Trust Portfolio. He earned his degree in B.S. Mathematics from Wheaton College, and his M.S in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University.

Sohmer and his wife Julie have made Wheaton their residence since 1999 and have nine children.

State Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) is putting her support behind Parents for CUSD 200 Children. “I’m very happy about my local district 200 school board (candidates) “I'm just so excited, so happy that the parents have said, okay, enough with you lawmakers. We're not going to let you push us around. It's really great,” Grant told DuPage Policy Journal. “I think that they're upset pretty much about what has been thrown at them by the majority legislation as far as sex education. I think the school has now been able to opt out of this because they're putting their sex ed in the health class. And I think that the lawmakers are figuring this out and they're going to probably do something about that, too.”