New faces to join Batavia 101 school board

Candidates endorsed by the Batavia Education Association appear to be poised to win seats on the Batavia Unit District 101 school board.

Four women and three men sought three 4-year seats on the Batavia Unit District 101 school board Tuesday.

Board members Chris Lowe and Erin Meitzler did not seek reelection.

Board President Cathy Dremel sought reelection but received the fewest votes of the seven candidates, unofficial vote tallies showed. The Batavia woman who has been on the board for 12 years received 1,990 votes.

The Batavia Education Association, the union represents teachers and other certified staff, backed Raquel Gonzalez-Thomas, who received 3,002 votes; Danielle Sligar, who had 2,890 votes; and Jeffery "Rob" Arulandu, who received 2,687 votes. Gonzalez-Thomas and Sligar live in Batavia and Arulandu lives in unincorporated Geneva.

Gabrielle Fender, of Batavia, had 2,221 votes; Jeffrey Ekstrom of Batavia got 2,526 votes; and Kris Rayman of unincorporated Geneva received 2,200 votes, unofficial results show.

Several of the candidates said the district needs to improve its efforts regarding diversity, equity and inclusion for students.

Arulandu, Gonzalez-Thomas and Sligar also were endorsed by the Kane County Democrats.

Gonzalez-Thomas and Sligar said the district's DEI efforts were lacking. Rayman agreed it needs improvement, but said, in a newspaper questionnaire, "We need to be careful, however, about telling kids that they are either part of an oppressive group or that they're victims" because the situation is "more nuanced than that."