West Chicago District 94: Brown, Doremus, Casey-Maher

Voters will choose three candidates to serve four-year terms on the West Chicago High School District 94 school board from a field that features incumbents Katherine Doremus and Lauren Alexis Scanlan and newcomers Bob Brown, Lynn Casey-Maher and Jennifer Shilakis Wiesner.

All the candidates are worthy of consideration, but three stand out.

Brown, 54, of Winfield, has served on the Winfield Elementary District 34 school board for 20 years, the past six as president. He will not seek re-election when his term ends this spring. With experience negotiating contracts and having worked with a new superintendent, he offers valuable skills as District 94 prepares to replace retiring Superintendent Doug Domeracki and tries to repair relationships after narrowly avoiding a teachers strike a year ago.

Casey-Maher, 60, is a nurse, precinct committeeman and lifelong West Chicago resident whose late husband was a teacher in the district. She wants to boost faculty morale and improve communication with teachers and the community. She also says the board should be meeting with teachers and building rapport even before contract talks.

Doremus, of Winfield, is a bank mortgage branch manager and has been a member of the school board since 2007. She brings financial expertise and a deep understanding of the district's needs. She says the district learned important lessons from the last round of teacher contract talks and wants the board and administrators to invite teachers to "collaborate in decisions much more than we've had before."

Scanlan, 29, of Carol Stream, is a teacher who was appointed to the board in April 2018 after the difficult teacher contract negotiations and believes her professional background can help rebuild trust in the district. Wiesner, 44, of West Chicago, is an attorney and adjunct professor at College of DuPage who also believes rebuilding trust among all stakeholders in the school system is a key issue.

But we find that the best combination of experience and leadership for handling all the diverse issues that will face District 94 in the next four years is found in Brown, Casey-Maher and Doremus. They get our endorsement.