Kaneland fills school board vacancy
Sugar Grove resident Peter Lopatin was appointed Monday to the Kaneland school board.
He replaces Joe Oberweis of Sugar Grove, who resigned in August because he is moving out of the district.
Lopatin was one of five people who applied for the position. The school board interviewed them in a closed-door session Saturday.
Lopatin is a member of the Kaneland Citizens’ Advisory Committee and also sits on the board for the Kaneland Arts Initiative.
He has a stepdaughter attending Kaneland High School, and his wife, Diane McFarlin, is an assistant principal at the school.
He will serve until the April 2015 election.
Lopatin is president of Godeep Systems consulting firm.
He tried to run as a write-in candidate in the April 2013 election, but was denied, because the school board already had three members from Sugar Grove Township.
As for having a board member with relatives on the district payroll, that’s not new. The wife of former board member Elmer Gramley was a teacher in the district, and the wife of former Trustee Ken Carter worked at the high school as a paraprofessional, while they were on the board. High school dean John Pavlak is the son of Trustee Gale Pavlak.