Here’s what Sycamore District 427 school board members will focus on

SYCAMORE – After filling a vacancy on the Sycamore Community School District 427 board last month, Sycamore School Board members were appointed to their committee assignments last week by Board Chairman Jim Dombek.

There are four committees the school board is required to have a board member attend – the City Planning Commission, Illinois Association of School Boards, Citizens Advisory Committee and the Sycamore Education Foundation – and with three new board members there’s been committee assignment shake up.

Dombek will take over for former board member Steve Nelson, who was the board’s liaison representative at Illinois Association of School Boards meetings. Board member Eric Jones will take over Nelson’s other marquee assignment – Sycamore’s Planning Commission.

James Chyllo was assigned to the Sycamore Education Foundation, while rookie board member Beth Marie Evans and vice chairman of the board Michael DeVito will alternate as Board of Education representatives on the Citizens Advisory Committee.

DeVito said the Citizens Advisory Committee is comprised of about 20 appointed members from the Sycamore school district community. Those committee members give school district officials their overall feedback about school district practices, policies and ideas.

“It’s really a creative outlet and a point of critique for the district at large,” DeVito said. “I’m excited about it. It’s not the most pragmatic thing, but the more opinions, the more stakeholders you can solicit feedback from, just the better your decisions are going to be. The Citizens Advisory Committee really is a great medium for that. I’m very, very excited at the opportunity to serve on this committee. That was a want for me for while.”

Evans, who will share the committee assignment with DeVito, said the Citizens Advisor Committee was her first choice out of the 19 potential committee assignments.

“I’m very excited about learning about the committees, and I really enjoy being a part of the board of education,” said Evans, who has a Bachelor of Science in education from Northern Illinois University. “I’m learning more about it and I’m just waiting to hear when the first meeting will be and learn more.”

DeVito said he’s unsure when the first Citizens Advisory Committee meeting will be but speculated it may not be until November.

Aside from the four committees considered mandatory for the school board, there are 15 other ad hoc committees and organizations with a liaison from the Sycamore school board that were assigned to board members July 18.

Board member Alex Grados, a 2022 Sycamore High School graduate, was assigned to Spartan Senate and will share committee assignments with Jones for the district’s Technology Committee and Finance Subcommittee. Grados also will share a seat on the Finance Advisory Committee with Evans.

On top of the Finance and Citizens Advisory Committees, Evans also was assigned as a liaison for the different parent teacher organizations in the district. She will alternate a seat on the Curriculum Coordinating Council with the school board’s newest member, Christian Copple.

Evans said she’s happy to be on the Curriculum Coordinating Council and the Finance Advisory Committee. She told her constituents while camping earlier this spring that she would advocate for conservative spending policies and a curriculum that focuses on reading proficiency.

Copple, a public defender in Kane County, will alternate with Evans on the Curriculum Coordinating Council and also was assigned to the North Grove School Association and Calendar Ad Hoc Committees.

Chyllo’s second assignment is to the Ad Hoc Community (public relations and staff development) Committee. Dombek gave himself two other assignments, one to the Ag Advisory Council and the other to the Policy Advisory Committee.

DeVito also was assigned to the Policy Advisory Committee, as well as Sycamore Sports Boosters and the district’s Athletic Council. He said he’s learned from setting this year’s graduation dates that it’s helpful to run things by the district’s Sports Boosters to check if there’s any scheduling conflicts.

The Athletic Council is inactive, but DeVito said he’s got an idea to reimagine the concept: a council for the advisors of all extracurricular activities, not just sports teams.

DeVito said he needs to run his idea by Director of Athletics and Activities Chauncey Carrick but hopes to pitch the idea at the Aug. 8 school board meeting. He also said he knows faculty aren’t asking for another after-school meeting to attend, so he’s proposing an Extracurriculars Council that would meet for 15 minutes after Sycamore High School’s annual back-to-school night – an event all of the high school coaches and club advisors normally attend.

“I think there’s close to 30 clubs at the high school in addition to athletics,” DeVito said. “So if we have an opportunity for all of those advisors to talk, put their heads together and then there’s some overlap, I think that would be a really purposeful way to use a minimal amount of time so we’re respectful of those people.”