Applications Open For Evanston School Board Vacancies

EVANSTON, IL — Less than a month after local elections were held, the boards of both Evanston public school districts are looking to fill vacancies. Applications are open for both open seats, with new school board members expected to be announced next month, district officials said this week.

In Evanston Township High School District 202, a seat was left empty after the elections because there were fewer candidates who filed to run for office than there were available board seats — and no write-in candidate, who could have secured four years on the school board with a single vote. While in Evanston/Skokie School District 65, the vacancy was caused by last week's resignation of a board member.

State law requires school board members to be adult U.S. citizens who are registered to vote and not child sex offenders. To be eligible, board members must have lived in the district they represent for at least a year, not hold another public office or certain government jobs, not have a conflict of interest with the district and not already be a school trustee somewhere else.

Ultimately, it will be up to the existing boards members to pick their newest additions.

District 202 Board President Pat Savage-Williams said applications are open for the ETHS board.

"Please submit a letter of application and a resume to the board president by June 1, 2021," Savage-Williams said Monday. "The board will conduct interviews in June, and the board intends on selecting a member on or before June 28, 2021."

Savage-Williams, special education coordinator at New Trier High School, and two other incumbents — attorney Gretchen Livingston and consultant Pat Maunsell — chose to run again. Jude Laude declined to seek a second term on the board and has announced plans to direct the Youth Job Center.

District 65 school officials announced Monday that former board member Rebeca Mendoza had resigned last week. Mendoza did not attend this week's meeting, where newcomer Donna Wang Su was seated alongside recently re-elected incumbents Joey Hailperin, Soo La Kim and Biz Lindsay-Ryan.

Board President Anya Tanyavutti acknowledged Mendoza's resignation at Monday's board meeting and announced a timeline for filling her seat.

"We thank you Rebeca for your four years of impactful and impassioned service to District 65 over the past four years, Rebeca has been a consistent and unwavering voice for early childhood, environmental justice and quality bilingual services," Tanyavutti said. "We want to express gratitude to her for her four years of service and wish her rest and respite as well as she takes her time to focus on being in community with us in a different way."

Mendoza, a grants officer for Rotary International, was appointed in 2017 to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of former board member Omar Brown. She was re-elected to a full term in 2019 in an uncontested race.

Ahead of this year's municipal elections, Mendoza filed paperwork to run for 5th Ward alderman. But after testimony at a December Evanston Electoral Board hearing established she had submitted her nominating petitions without first binding them together, a Cook County judge ordered her name removed from the ballot.

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No explanation for Mendoza's resignation from the school board was released by the district, and Mendoza declined to comment about the reason or timing of her resignation. Her term had been set to last until after the April 2023 elections.

Interested candidates may apply online for the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board vacancy or the Evanston Township High School District 202 board vacancy.

Applications for District 65 are due by May 21, with interviews planned for May 31 and June 7 and a final selection by June 14.

Applications for District 202 are due by June 1, with plans for interviews in June and final selection of a new member by June 28.