Who’s running for Sycamore school board in 2025?

SYCAMORE – With the candidate petition filing period for the April consolidated election officially closed, Sycamore voters can expect to see familiar and new names on the ballot for the Sycamore School District 427 Board.

Two people known for their involvement in the Sycamore Pumpkin Festival were the first to file their paperwork, and one of them would be a fresh face for the board. Festival committee president Jonathon “Cole” Regnery, first to file, said he’s running for the board because he likes community service and wants to find a way to further give back.

“I think the Sycamore school board does a lot of things right,” Regnery said. “I think a couple of things they could do better is get a tentative budget out in May. A lot of our peer districts do, and this will help build transparency and trust with the voters.”

Regnery said he also wants to see long-term plans for capital expenditures detailed by the school district.

“[It] would build a lot of trust and also just be a good fiscal idea going forward,” Regnery said. “I want to make sure we keep supporting teachers and students any way that we can, and responsible planning for the future is the best way to do that.”

Sycamore school board President Michael DeVito, who took over the board’s presiding role after longtime board President Jim Dombek died in August, filed his papers second, according to the DeKalb County Clerk’s Office.

Over the past three months, DeVito has steered the board through a myriad of formal updates to best practices and procedures. He said he still has more to do.

“I’ve got a job to finish,” DeVito said. “I believe that I can still offer more to the community and the school district. And so right now, I’m really trying to focus on being a positive agent for change with our board in board governance, adherence to policy and just really making sure that we focus on our mission and vision of the school district.”

Four other candidates, including three school board incumbents, also filed by Monday’s deadline for the spring election.

Incumbent Eric Jones will seek to retain his seat, while Alan Zantout, who was appointed by the board to fill Dombek’s vacant seat this fall, will seek a full elected term. Christian Copple, who got his seat on the board when a position on the board went unfilled in the 2023 consolidated election, will seek the two-year unexpired term. Jones, Zantout and Copple were not immediately available for comment.

Heather Tomlinson, a mother of a Sycamore school district student who said she’s studying for a bachelor’s degree in social work, also filed to run.

“I wouldn’t want an open seat available, so I thought I would get involved and see if there was any good I could do in the community,” Tomlinson said.

Asked what she’d want to focus on if elected, Tomlinson said she wants to hone in on safety and the quality of education for Sycamore students.

“Just making sure that students are getting the care that they need, and the learning programs that they need, and that our safety measures are in place,” Tomlinson said. “We did have a couple of threats for safety this year, and that was very concerning to me as a parent. So I just would like to be involved in decision-making for things like that.”