Maine Township District 207 chooses new board member
The Maine Township High School District 207 board has selected Paula Meyer Besler to fill the remaining term of longtime board member Donna Pellar, who stepped down earlier this month after 19 years of service because she is moving outside the district's boundaries.
Besler, the director of community and health relations for Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, will be sworn in prior to the May 5 board meeting. The school board chose Besler, a Park Ridge resident, Sunday after interviewing nine candidates for the vacant seat.
"We had nine outstanding candidates from which to choose," board President Margaret McGrath said in a news release. "Each candidate brought community involvement, a real passion for the quality of our high schools, as well as commitment to serve students well while being good financial stewards for the community.
"Paula has worked closely with our schools in her capacity at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, helping us bring programs like cardiac screening to our schools, and working with both student internship programs and providing support for the school-based Health Center," McGrath added. "We welcome her to the District 207 Board of Education."
Besler graduated cum laude from the University of Illinois with a bachelor's in business administration in 1986 and earned a law degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 1989. She has extensive experience throughout the District 207 community in providing health care outreach to a variety of diverse populations. She has two children who are students at Maine South High School and a third child who graduated from Maine South.