New District 79 board member:

The Fremont Elementary District 79 school board has selected Gabriela Lucero Whipple to fill the vacancy left when Sandra Bickley moved out of the area. Whipple, a Hawthorn Woods resident, has two children in Fremont schools and a third who will enter preschool next year. She has eight years of international project management experience in a Fortune 100 company. A former auditor who is fluent in Spanish and French, Whipple's goal is to foster a culture of continuous improvement in all district activities, officials said.