Endorsements: Weinstock, Friend, Vera, Jendras for Glenbard High School Dist. 87 board

It's been a trying year for parents, for students, for teachers and for the school board members who are trying to make them all happy.

Not surprisingly, the pandemic and the way in-person, remote and hybrid learning schedules have been employed has prompted a lot of unhappy parents to run for school boards.

Glenbard High School District 87 is a prime example of that. Eight candidates are running for four seats, and the battle lines are clearly drawn. That's what this race is all about.

Incumbents Judith Weinstock, Bob Friend and Mireya Vera are running with retired teacher Kermit Eby and are supported by the District 87 teachers union.

Incumbent Jennifer Jendras is joined by newcomers Cyndi Covelli, Nicole Dawson and David Dejanovich in the D87 Students First slate.

Jendras, who is an occupational safety and health specialist with the Department of Labor, has been critical of what she calls the board's failure to investigate out-of-thebox ways to get kids into schools for in-person learning faster.

Covelli, Dawson and Dejanovich echo those concerns.

Jendras points out she is the only incumbent with a child attending a Glenbard high school.

School districts across the suburbs have had to negotiate the pandemic without a playbook. School leaders have had to worry about the physical health of their students, their teachers and others who work in their buildings as well as the health of everyone's family members who could be infected should someone take the virus home with them.

Yes, there are plenty of drawbacks to remote learning - depression, lack of socialization and less accountability.

District 87 should be lauded for adopting saliva testing in order to better protect everyone.

We feel it's better to have erred on the side of keeping students apart too long than expose them to each other too soon.

For that reason, we support Weinstock, Friend and Vera.

And because it's a good idea to have different perspectives on the board, we feel Jendras has earned another term. She first earned her spot on the board as a squeaky wheel parent, and we encourage her to continue in that vein. Her work experience and her tenure on the board make her a better choice than her slate mates to be that voice of the parents.