Crowded school board ballots in Elmhurst District 205, other area districts as candidates file for April 6 election

Elmhurst — There will be eight candidates for three open seats on the ballot for the Elmhurst Community Unit District 205 school board.

District 205 is among a number of crowded fields in area school board races ahead of the April 6 election.

With the filing deadline closed at 5 p.m. Dec. 21, District 205 incumbent Margaret Harrell did not seek a reelection petition with the DuPage County Clerk’s Office. Harrell, the board’s vice president, has been on the board since 2013. Board President Kara Caforio, first elected to the board in 2017, filed the previous week. Board member Jim Collins filed Dec. 21, the last day of filing.

Also running are Laurel Schrementi, Athena Arvanitis, Nicole “Nikki” Slowinski, T. Marie Gall, Leslie Stettin and Gordon Snyder.

Stettin, the mother of two children at district schools, this fall started the Reopen D205 Facebook group and organized a protest in October outside the District 205 administration building calling for the district to return to in-person learning. On her Twitter profile, Stettin refers to herself as “CEO to The Stettin Family and full-time taxi driver to three kids who play travel sports.”

Arvanitis is the assistant principal for student programs and operations at New Trier High School.

Gall works at Cicero Public School District 99 and is a former teacher at Chicago Public Schools, according to her Facebook page.

Schrementi is a senior interactive learning designer with Oak Brook-based John Wiley and Sons, was a graduate research assistant and teaching assistant at Northwestern for more than two years and was a grade school teacher for one year in Indianapolis, according to her LinkedIn page.

Slowinski is the Center for Learning director at Advocate Health Care since 2011.

Snyder, who previously ran for a school board position in 2019, is the construction operations manager at Elgin-based Hampton, Lenzini and Renwick, according to his LinkedIn page.

In Community Unit School District 200, President Brad Paulsen, incumbent Rob Hanlon and eight challengers make up a field of 10 candidates for four seats. The challengers include Tom Paulsen (no relation to Brad Paulsen), Anjali Bharadwa, Mary Yeboah, Steven Gross, Kevin Nickell, Angela Blatner, Michael Evans and Amanda Spans.

Bharadwa, who has kids in all three levels in the district, is the project manager of DMC Engineering, according to her LinkedIn page. She created the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council for District 200, according to the bio on her candidate website.

Yeboah, a Wheaton North graduate with four children in the district who previously ran in 2019, is the director of graduate student life at Wheaton College and a former principal and art teacher, according to her candidate website.

In Glenbard District 87, the race for four board seats will have eight candidates. Four incumbents – President Judith Weinstock, Vice President Jennifer Jendras, Robert Friend and Mireya Vera – are running for reelection. They will be joined on the ballot by Kermit Eby, Cyndi Covelli, Nicole Dawson and David Dejanovich.

Eby has two children at Glenbard East and one at Glenn Westlake Middle School, is retired from full-time teaching after 37 years and is adjunct instructor at UIC in Wheaton and North Central colleges, according to his candidate bio.

Covelli, whose daughter is a senior at Glenbard East, teaches sixth grade in a school near Chicago. She participated in a rally in September outside the district offices calling for District 87 to return to in-person learning.

In Glen Ellyn School District 41, eight candidates have filed to run for four board seats. Running for reelection is President Robert Bruno and Vice President Jason Loebach. Board members Bruce Currie and Guillermo Guzman have not filed to run for reelection.

Also on the ballot are newcomers Adam Collins, Millie Sessions, Abigail Emerson, Jodee Dunham, Chris Martelli and Tayyaba Syed.

In Downers Grove Grade School District 58, there are four on the ballot for four open seats. President Darren Hughes and Gregory Harris have filed to run for reelection, as has board member Tracy Weiner. Board member Jill Samonte is not running again. They are joined on the ballot by Melissa Bocker Ellis.

In Community High School District 99, there are four candidates for four open seats. Board members Terry Pavesich and Sherell Fuller have filed to run for reelection, while board members Daniel Nicholas and Rick Pavinato have not sought reelection. Also on the ballot are Jennifer Hagstrom and Christopher Espinoza. Hagstrom is an attorney at Perkins Coie. Espinoza is a former student at Downers Grove North and a third-year student at the University of Illinois at Chicago studying public policy, according to his candidate website.