Endorsements: Saake, Nagel, Doremus, Klapatch for Dist. 94 school board

Six candidates are running for four 4-year terms on the West Chicago High School District 94 school board.

Gary Saake, Richard Nagel, Katherine Doremus and Dean Klapatch are running for reelection.

Douglas Orlyk and Jovany Zuniga are running for the first time.

The pandemic has upended the normal school routine for students, teacher, parents and the school board. It's been a challenging year for the District 94 board.

Incumbents Saake, Nagel, Doremus and Klapatch agree the board did a good job of rapidly adapting when the pandemic closed down the school to in-person learning. Challengers Zuniga and Orlyk also state they believe the current board made sound decisions and did the best job possible during the pandemic.

The high school students are attending fully remote or on a hybrid schedule. The incumbents satisfied to this point with this and all agree that getting back to full-time in-person learning is the goal but that it must be done per state guidelines.

Challenger Douglas Orlyk states he does not believe full in-person learning should happen until all students have been vaccinated. And that until that has happened, hybrid learning is best.

The pandemic forced the District 94 school board to make some quick decisions last year. We feel the current board performed well and had the best interest of the students at heart.

The incumbent members of the board have earned the chance to finish what they started when the pandemic began.

Challenger Douglas Orlyk's statement that in-person learning should not happen until all student are vaccinated is not feasible since the current vaccines are not approved for anyone under the age of 16.

We hope that Jovany Zuniga will run again in the future and give input to the current board.

Gary Saake, Richard Nagel, Katherine Doremus and Dean Klapatch are endorsed for the West Chicago High School District 94 school board.