25 apply for District 203 school board seat
Twenty-five candidates have thrown their hat in the ring to fill the vacant seat on the Naperville Unit District 203 school board -- including three who ran unsuccessfully in the April election.
Jerome Buch, Steve Deutsch and Fred Lu have decided to take another shot at the board. All three campaigned this spring but lost to incumbent Suzyn Price and newcomers Terry Fielden and Mike Jaensch.
The new seat opened earlier this month when fiscal conservative Jim Caulfield resigned, citing personal reasons. His term expires in 2009.
His replacement will be selected by the sitting school board, which has scheduled closed-door interviews with the candidates today, Wednesday and Thursday.
The board is scheduled to take a public vote on its eventual appointee by Aug. 10.
Other applicants for Caulfield's spot are Becky Allgauer, Shane Beard, Jonathan Bobb, Michael Cho, Daniel Cmiel, Jeff Couch, John Cummins, Nancy Drapalik, Karl Fry, Terry Gaca, Jim Gaw, Raymond Hill, Lynn Hodak, Jerry Hron, Kevin Hynes, Kulwant Lall, Patti Mathewson, William Mitchell, Richard Oppenheimer, Jackie Romberg, Bob Swininoga and Susan Walsh.
The new board member will be responsible for making decisions concerning the district's 21 schools and about 18,000 students as well as an annual budget of more than $200 million.
He or she also will have to immediately jump into ongoing discussions about renovating district facilities. The board is considering three plans that could cost between $22 million and $167.9 million.
"We need to look at all the buildings, create a master plan over 20 years laying out all the improvement they'll have to make," Bob Swininoga said. "I'd like to see us come to the citizens completely transparent."
Swininoga, who is retired from Tellabs and is a founding member of the Will DuPage Taxpayers Alliance, does not have children in the district but said he has many ideas to improve the schools.
Lynn Hodak, president and owner of Look Staffing and a longtime district volunteer, has a child at Naperville Central.
While she said she loves the school's facade and character, it's time to make some improvements though she is concerned about students going to school in a construction zone. She said she is not coming to the board with an agenda.
"I think that first of all I'm coming to the school board in my opinion with genuine and true desires to be part of the most important thing for youth and our future," she said.
Bill Mitchell is a former library board president and owner of Benefits Insurance Group and is looking to move to the school board to continue his community involvement. He has a son at Washington Junior High.
"I'm really looking to have an opportunity to put the experience I have gained to work for the people of Naperville," he said. "I just would like to continue in that vein."