Grayslake school board member skips election, gets 2-year appointment
Karen Weinert didn’t run for re-election, but she’s managed to remain as a Grayslake Elementary District 46 board member.
Weinert was appointed by her board colleagues at a recent meeting to fill the final two years of Shannon Smigielski’s term until 2015.
Smigielski resigned March 3, in part, because of what she said was the emotional distress and fear that resulted from a District 46 substitute teacher who is charged with harassing her by telephone during the instructors’ three-day strike in January.
Four board members-elect — Jill Alfrejd, Robert Roop, Steven Strack and James Weidman — won election to four-year terms April 9 and will officially take their seats next month. Considering the number of newcomers, said retiring board member Keith Surroz, Weinert’s sense of District 46 history and willingness to share ideas were good reasons to appoint her to the two-year vacancy. She joined the board in 2003.
“There is something to be said for continuity,” Surroz said Monday.
Because she didn’t seek re-election April 9, Weinert was set to depart the District 46 board after her four-year term ended in May. However, Weinert in March raised the possibility of completing Smigielski’s term.
Two other candidates sought the two-year post. They were Linwood “Lennie” Jarratt of Round Lake Beach, who frequently attends District 46 meetings and fell short in the 2012 Republican primary for a 31st District state senate seat, and former Grayslake High School District 127 board member Tom Meskel.