“I’m not a doctor, a lawyer, a financial CPA—I’m a regular guy with a passion for the community and the high school and I want to see [its excellence] continue,” said Fred Arkin when distilling his primary motivation for running for the District 200 school board in April’s election.
The businessman, a lifelong Oak Parker, said that he wants present and future generations of OPRF students to experience the same education that his stepdaughter received. She graduated in 2006, a B-plus away from going out as a valedictorian—just four years after immigrating here from China.
“She came from China just five days before her freshman year in high school,” Arkin said. “She was handled fabulously.”
Arkin, an insurance broker with expertise in construction and risk management, noted that he would lend the board his unique expertise dealing with architects and contractors. He’d also bring a strong passion for working with youth and being able to view the high school experience, particularly as it relates to sports, from their perspective.
Arkin helped turn OPRF’s wrestling team into a state powerhouse, coaching the program’s former head coach Mike Powell.
“He started with us when he was five years old,” Arkin said of Powell. “I had him up until junior high before moving out to Hoffman Estates and starting a club there.”
An active participant with USA Wrestling Illinois, Arkin has also been the freshman wrestling coach at OPRF since 2008. The former Eagle Scout said that, if elected, part of his mission would be to open up the high school’s athletic experience to the wider community through better, more accommodating facilities—and that would start with the much ballyhooed pool.
“Due to my background working with contracts, architects, designers and engineers, I think I can lend a lot of real-world advice to the board,” he said.
“I read construction budgets and scopes of work all the time. I get the gist of it. OPRF is within a million square foot building,” Arkin said.
“The master planning for maintenance and upgrading of the school is very important and will be very expensive. That has to be one of the key issues. But this has to be a community pool, even if the funds come out of the high school—I want one tax bill,” he said.
“The few dollars of increase in the tax bill won’t be as life-changing as having the ability to drive over there at 6 a.m. in the morning and swim laps,” said Arkin. “It’s got to be more open to the public. I’d like to see the facilities be more of a focal point in the community.”
CONTACT: michael@oakpark.com