17 candidates vying to fill U-46 school board vacancy
Seventeen candidates are vying to fill a vacancy on the Elgin Area School District U-46 school board after board member Traci O'Neal Ellis' resignation last month.
The U-46 school board is interviewing 10 of those candidates individually tonight and Friday and is expected to appoint someone at the Monday or June 4 regular board meetings.
Candidates being interviewed are:
• Thomas Ashton, of Wayne, director of eastern region sales for Walsworth Publishing. He has three children attending high school in U-46.
• John Devereau, of Bartlett, chief actuary for Ryan Specialty Group in Chicago. He has a son who is a Bartlett High School graduate and another son graduating from there May 26.
• Cecilia Diaz, of Elgin, a seasonal tax specialist for H&R Block. She is a graduate of Larkin High School and a member of U-46's Hispanic Parent Leadership Institute and the Citizens' Advisory Council.
• Nazneen Hashmi, of Streamwood, associate chair and professor of information technology and management for Illinois Institute of Technology and community relations commissioner for the village of Streamwood.
• Lisa Klimek, of Streamwood, a billing supervisor for Oak Brook-based Central States Trucking Co. She is also the parent of U-46 graduates.
• Preet Mittal, of Bartlett, an environmental specialist with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Mittal has three children attending U-46 schools.
• Eva Porter, of Hanover Park, a retired second- and third-grade classroom teacher for U-46 and Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 and a Poplar Creek Library Board trustee.
• Kevin Sweeney, of Elgin, a parent representative on U-46 Citizens' Advisory Council for Lowrie Elementary School and a former Larkin High School student.
• Kate Thommes, of Elgin, Elgin Community College adjunct faculty member in adult basic education. Thommes is a former social studies teacher for Jacobs High School in Algonquin, and a U-46 parent.
• Jocelyn Vana, of Bartlett, budget and procurement manager for the Illinois Tollway Authority and board chairwoman of the nonprofit Lost Boyz Inc.
Others who applied are:
• Randall Hodges, of Elgin, former principal of Larsen Middle School and Sheridan Elementary School in U-46.
• Glen Holland, of Elgin, an executive with IBM's Technology Consulting Practice.
• Ciera Chancellor, of Elgin, procurement category lead for Abbott Labs in Lake Forest, who previously served in the Army as a medical specialist and patient administrator in Iraq.
• Winfried Cooper, of Elgin, who works at CVS Pharmacy and previously attended Bolingbrook and Elgin high schools.
• Beatrice Smith, of Elgin, formerly worked with the nonprofit Jobs and More Christian Workplace Mentoring.
• Khurram Syed, of Bartlett, manager at OfficeMax/Office Depot who previously ran for Bartlett Park District trustee.
• Shaylon Walker, of Elgin, principal for Proviso Area for Exceptional Children in Maywood and former assistant principal at Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove.
Ellis, an Elgin attorney and executive director of human resources for Aurora-based Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, stepped down after serving seven years on the board. Whoever is appointed will serve the remainder of her term expiring next April.