Special education teacher, parent appointed to District 59 school board

An Arlington Heights parent and special education teacher has been appointed to the Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 school board.

Nicole Eddy will fill the remainder of the term of Mardell Schumacher, who had been one of the longest-serving school board members in the Northwest suburbs. Schumacher stepped down for personal reasons in January after 35 years on the elected panel. The term expires in April 2025.

Eddy, a K-12 special education teacher for the past 18 years, now works with elementary school students in Deerfield Elementary District 109.

A resident of District 59 since 2012, Eddy and her husband have a daughter at Holmes Junior High School and a son at John Jay Elementary School. She joined the parent teacher organization at John Jay in 2018 and was secretary and then co-president until 2023. She currently manages the yearbook at John Jay and is the PTO treasurer at Holmes.

Eddy also served on a number of district-level committees, including superintendent search, strategic planning process, curriculum and behavior.

After Schumacher’s departure, the six remaining school board members had 60 days to collect applications, review candidates and make a selection. They said they conducted hours’ worth of interviews in closed session.

A dozen people applied, all of whom were “highly qualified,” said board President Joe Sagerer.

“In the end I think we’ve come to an excellent consensus,” Sagerer said before the board’s unanimous vote to appoint Eddy in open session Monday night.

Added board Vice President Robert Mancilla: “I’ll admit when there’s six (board members), the likelihood of a tie is very high. And I had mentioned that I was a little worried whether or not we’d be able to land the plane, but I think we did here.”