Jarratt, Weinert, Meskel competing for 2-year board appointment at Grayslake District 46
Grayslake Elementary District 46 board members will select from a current colleague, an interested observer and a former school official to fill a vacancy on the panel next week.
Shannon Smigielski’s resignation March 3 created the need to fill the vacant seat for two years. Smigielski resigned, in part, because of what she said was the emotional distress and fear that resulted from a District 46 substitute teacher who has been charged with harassing her by telephone during the instructors’ three-day strike in January.
Officials announced Wednesday night that board member Karen Weinert, who didn’t seek re-election April 9, submitted a letter to be considered for filling Smigielski’s unexpired term until 2015. Weinert would leave the board at month’s end if she doesn’t get the two-year appointment.
The other two people who submitted letters are 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. A retired educator, Meskel was on the District 127 board from 2005 to 2009 and didn’t win re-election.
District 46 board President Ray Millington said a special meeting is set for Tuesday night in an effort to select Smigielski’s successor. If the officials have a decision on an appointment, it would be announced during a public portion of the meeting after the three candidates are interviewed behind closed doors.
Smigielski was elected to a four-year term in 2011 on a platform that included a need for ethical and attentive public servants, fiscal responsibility and transparency.