Eight candidates remain down to the wire in Dist. 203

Eight people remain in the running to fill a vacancy on the Naperville Unit District 203 school board, with the winner to be chosen next week, officials said Monday.

Sitting school board members broke into two teams last week to meet the original 24 applicants and narrow the field to the eight who will be interviewed again Aug. 7.

President Suzyn Price said she's hopeful the full board will choose the new member that night to meet the state-imposed Aug. 10 deadline. The interviews will begin at 4:15 p.m. and are scheduled to be completed by 8:30 p.m.

The finalists are Shane Beard, Michael Cho, Jeff Couch, Nancy Drapalik, Karl Fry, Lynn Hodak, Patti Mathewson and Jackie Romberg.

They're competing to replace Jim Caulfield, who cited personal reasons for resigning this month with two years left on his first term.

"While our candidates range in their work experience, all have been involved in the community in key ways, and many in positions of leadership," Price wrote in an e-mail. "All were critical thinkers who asked perceptive questions and all were very cognizant of the need to balance high-quality education for students with good stewardship of tax dollars."

The new member will be responsible for making decisions concerning 21 schools and about 18,000 students as well as an annual budget of more than $200 million.

The finalists:

•Shane Beard, 47, is a 14-year resident of Naperville and owner of FASTSIGNS. He said he's proud of the city's downtown and business community but "without a strong school system, people wouldn't be moving into the area in the first place."

He said he's well known in town and his circle of influence would give him credibility on the board along with the ability to solicit a wide range of ideas and resources.

A member of the Naperville United Way board and the board of trustees associates at North Central College, he regularly speaks to students about business and graphic arts.

•Michael Cho, 47, is a seven-year resident of Naperville and an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"I have some ideas to present to the board to make the school system even better than it is now," he said.

He declined to discuss specifics, saying, "I want to share them with the board first."

•Jeff Couch, 50, is a 26-year resident of Naperville and an accounting systems manager for McDonald's Corp.

He said he has a background in many issues facing the district after serving on the Education for the 21st Century Committee in 2001, a facilities and finance committee in 2004 and on the facilities task force starting last year.

He said he would bring strong critical-thinking skills to the board. "Once I choose to do something like this," he said, "I'm very committed."

He said the board must develop a good long-range plan to address its challenges.

•Nancy Drapalik, 48, is a 19-year resident of Naperville who has worked part-time for the past four years as a second-grade reading tutor assistant at Naper Elementary School.

She said she's done extensive volunteer work with Home and School programs and worked on the 2002 referendum team.

Drapalik said she's particularly interested in facilities issues, especially in regard to Naperville Central High School and Mill Street Elementary School.

•Karl Fry, 51, is a 27-year resident of Naperville and a civil engineer and transportation planner. He served six years on the city's plan commission, including four as chairman, and now serves on its zoning board.

His background would help as the district addresses questions about the future of Naperville Central and Mill Street, he said.

"I'm particularly interested in the facilities upgrade plan they're working on," he said.

Fry said he has experience in helping design classroom buildings at Great Lakes Training Center.

•Lynn Hodak, 46, is a 12-year resident of Lisle, president and owner of Look Staffing, and a longtime district volunteer.

While she said she loves Naperville Central's façade and character, she believes it's time to make improvements -- despite concerns about students attending class in a construction zone.

"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.

•Patti Mathewson, 52, is a 51-year resident of Naperville who is "absolutely passionate about education" and has served as a teacher, counselor and administrator. A graduate of Naperville Central, she did her student teaching at Naperville North and spent 10 years teaching civics at Central.

She also served on the plan commission, Transportation Advisory Board and as a Naperville Township trustee.

That background, she said, will allow her to bring a "multi-layer" approach to the school board.

She said she's also spent the past three years helping her church, Knox Presbyterian, prepare for a multi-million renovation project that has given her experience with facilities planning.

"I understand the problems of working with a finite amount of land," she said.

•Jackie Romberg, 49, is a 23-year resident of Naperville and a former financial consultant who is a frequent volunteer in District 203. She's a member of the Naperville Education Foundation board of trustees and organized last fall's Yuks for Youth comedy show that raised $50,000 for the study skills academy -- an after-school program that assists regular students who need help and aren't involved in other such programs.

Proceeds from the 2006 fundraiser allowed the program to expand into the high schools; it already was offered at all the district's elementary and junior high facilities.

Romberg says she's passionate and dedicated about education and has been involved in district advisory boards, fundraisers and parent organizations.

"I think I have a lot of credibility and lots of people have worked with me and know how I think," she said.