Dist. 15 urged to put board member's name on a school

From Walter R. Sundling Junior High to Frank C. Whiteley School, officials are fond of putting the monikers of longtime administrators and board members on District 15 schools.

Now, the man whose own name graces the Joseph M. Kiszka Educational Service Center administrative building wants the same honor bestowed on Joel Meyer, someone he says served Palatine Township Elementary District 15 constituents with distinction for 21 years.

"Joel Meyer represents the finest in 'boardsmanship,'" Kiszka, a former teacher, principal and acting superintendent, said after Wednesday's board meeting. "I've been with District 15 in some capacity since 1951, and few people ever had as big an impact as he did."

Meyer, 90, worked for Northwestern University when he was approached the day before the April 1957 election to run for the board of education to give Rolling Meadows representation, Kiszka said. To this day, Meyer remains one of only two write-in candidates to be elected to the District 15 board.

Meyer served on the board, including two years as board president, until 1978 - making him the longest-serving board member in District 15 history behind Sundling.

Kiszka wants to make sure that service is recognized and asked the current board to consider renaming a Rolling Meadows school after Meyer.

Central Road and Willow Bend Schools are possibilities, as is Plum Grove Junior High. Less likely to be change would be Kimball Hill School, named after the homebuilder that left its mark all over Rolling Meadows, and Carl Sandburg Junior High, named for Chicago's own late Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Meyer, an Army veteran and still an active volunteer at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, helped oversee District 15's growth from about 1,700 students to more than 11,000 when he resigned.

Scott Meyer wrote the board that one of his father's first tasks as a board member was auctioning off the district's sole remaining rural schoolhouse. He found his niche as longtime chairman of the budget and finance committee, which provided the opportunity to ensure the district had a strong financial base.

"The '60s may have been turbulent for many, but for District 15 they were far more stable due to his abilities to help steer a steady course over sometimes choppy waters," Scott Meyer wrote.