Oswego School District 308 board votes, 5-1, to appoint former member to vacant seat

OSWEGO – Jared Ploger has returned to the Oswego School District 308 Board of Education as an appointee to replace board member Donna Marino, who resigned in February.

The remaining six school board members selected Polger from a group of applicants.

He took the oath of office at the board’s April 11 meeting at Oswego East High School, after the board approved the appointment by a 5-1 tally, with board member Alison Swanson casting the lone no vote.

Ploger was elected to the board in 2015, serving one term until 2019. He did not run for reelection. His appointment runs until the next board election in the spring of 2023.

Before his election in 2015, Ploger served on the District Parent Committee and the Bilingual Parents Advisory Council, and initiated the Father’s Forum program at Long Beach Elementary School in Boulder Hill.

The returning board member is on the faculty at Bolingbrook High School in Valley View School District 365U, where he teaches social studies. He also serves as coach of the high school’s junior varsity Scholastic Bowl team.

Ploger coached basketball at Jane Addams Middle School in Bolingbrook and was a three-time recipient of the Coach of the Year award from Illinois Basketball Coaches Association.

Ploger has a bachelor of arts degree in history from Northern Illinois University and a master of arts degree as a reading specialist from Olivet Nazarene University.

An Aurora resident, Ploger is married and has two sons attending classes in SD308.

Marino was first elected to the SD308 board for four-year term in April and then was subsequently elected by her board colleagues as president.

She said her decision to leave the board was “very difficult” but “necessary for the well-being of herself and her family.”

In December, Ruth Kroner left the SD308 board because she and her family were moving out of the state. Kroner had announced her intentions earlier in the fall.

In Kroner’s place, the board appointed Dominick Cirone.

With Marino’s departure, the board elected LaTonya Simelton as president and Eugene Gatewood as vice president.

The other board members include Jennifer Johnson, Lauri Doyle and Swanson.