Two District 59 appointments give new board majority even tighter grip

The appointment of two school board members this week in Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59 gives new board President TR Johnson and his allies nearly complete control of the panel.

Nicole Kitzinger of Elk Grove Village and Michelle Notini of Mount Prospect were appointed on a 4-1 vote to fill two recent vacancies, with Joe Sagerer — the only holdover from a previous board majority — casting the lone “no” vote.

The appointees were chosen following a closed-door application and interview process prompted by the resignations of Daisy Espino on July 10 and Robert Mancilla on June 28.

Mancilla cited personal and professional reasons for stepping down, and Espino never said why. But they already were on the other side of Johnson’s new board majority.

Son of longtime Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, the younger Johnson ascended to the board presidency this spring with the support of board members Lucas Szczesny and Sarah Dzak, who ran on his Save Our Schools slate in 2023. He also was backed by new board member Nikki Eddy, appointed in March to fill the remainder of longtime board member Mardell Schumacher’s term.

Kitzinger, a bookkeeper for Bookkeeping Bistro and volunteer for school events, is the mother of two children who attend the Ridge Family Center for Learning and Grove Junior High. A former bank teller, Kitzinger is Ridge’s book fair coordinator and a catechist for her church’s religious education program.

Notini, a certified public accountant who is a manager at an accounting firm, is the mother of two District 59 graduates now in college. She is a former PTO treasurer and president at Robert Frost Elementary and Friendship Junior High schools.

In casting his “no” vote, Sagerer said there were others who applied for the board vacancies who could have represented parts of the community “not represented now,” in a district where the plurality of students are Hispanic and most are from low-income households.

“As a board we have lost important voices with the resignations of our two Hispanic members,” Sagerer said. “While I know it is comforting to my fellow board members to add members who they have known and with whom they agree, I however feel that a board works best with diverse viewpoints. … Those perspectives matter. They matter doubly so in District 59.”

The appointments last until April 2025, when four of the seven board seats will be up for election.