Neighbors in the news: District 70 names new assistant superintendent of finance

• Libertyville School District 70 hired Stacey Bachar, a 28-year school finance veteran, as the district's new assistant superintendent of finance and operations.

Bachar previously served as assistant superintendent of finance and operations for Aptakisic-Tripp School District 102, a position she held for the last 16 years.

Prior to Aptakisic, Bachar was the business manager and treasurer for Mundelein Elementary School District 75 for seven years. She also worked in finance for Community School District 15, Glen Ellyn School District 41 and Lombard Elementary District 44.

She also spent a year with PMA Financial Network, Inc.

"We are excited to welcome Stacey into the District 70 family," said District 70 Superintendent Rebecca Jenkins. "Stacey has a tremendous amount of experience to make an immediate and lasting positive contribution to District 70."

Bachar holds a master's degree in school business management from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, and an undergraduate degree in accounting from North Central College, Naperville.

•

Elk Grove Village resident Kevin Wojdak and co-brewer Noah Wojdak were recognized with a bronze medal for their European Sour Ale named "Can't Wait To See Where This Gueuze" by the American Homebrewers Association during its National Homebrew Competition awards ceremony June 24 in San Diego, California.

The National Homebrew Competition, the world's largest amateur home-brewing competition, celebrates the most outstanding homemade beer, mead, and cider.

The 2023 competition received 4,335 entries from 1,708 home-brewers across 50 states, Washington, D.C., and 13 countries. The Wojdaks won in Category 26: European Sour Ale, which had 162 entries.

The 2023 American Homebrewers Association National Homebrew Competition was made possible, in part, by the generous support of its sponsors, which included Urban Knaves of Grain Homebrew Club, the oldest and largest home-brew club in DuPage County.

• Fremont School District 79 announced a pair of administrative hires for the upcoming 2023-24 school year. Nick Atchley was named assistant principal of Fremont Middle School, while Alana Davidov will serve as the new assistant principal of Fremont Intermediate School.

Atchley is no stranger to District 79, having served as the assistant principal at Fremont Intermediate School since 2020. Prior to joining Fremont, he spent 13 years at Parkland School, McHenry, where he served as the band director and then dean of students.

Davidov joins the Fremont team after most recently serving as a fifth grade teacher at Lions Park School, Mount Prospect, since 2018. During her career, she has primarily taught intermediate grade levels and served on various leadership committees at the school and district levels. This summer, she is serving as the extended school year principal at Fairview Elementary School, Mount Prospect.

Fremont School District 79 is a preschool through eighth grade public school district serving more than 2,100 students in the communities of Grayslake, Hawthorn Woods, Libertyville, Long Grove, Mundelein, Round Lake, and Wauconda.

• Rebecca Giannelli, a teacher from St. John Brebeuf School, Niles, recently returned from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous' Alfred Lerner Summer Institute for Holocaust Educators.

The JFR selected 28 middle and high school teachers and Holocaust center staff from 13 states as 2023 Alfred Lerner Fellows to delve into the complex history of the Holocaust, as well as discuss new teaching techniques for introducing the subject of the Holocaust into their classrooms.

The intensive, five-day course took place at the Hilton Newark Airport in Newark, New Jersey, June 24-28.

• Send your 'Neighbors in the News' items to ntwohey@dailyherald.com.