District 65 Names New Member To Fill Vacancy On School Board

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board members appointed the first-runner up in recent school board elections to fill a vacancy created by a post-election resignation.

Marquise Weatherspoon was one of seven people who applied to fill the vacancy left by the April 28 resignation of Rebeca Mendoza. Interviews were conducted last week, according to an announcement from the district.

Weatherspoon is a third-generation Evanston resident, graduate of District 65 schools and a single mother with four children who are past or present students in the district, it said.

She works in sales and customer service and serves as president of the group Advocates for Action, treasurer of the Chute Middle School Parent-Teacher Association and a minister at Christ Temple Missionary Baptist Church.

In the April 6 elections, Weatherspoon earned nearly 11.9 percent of the vote in an eight-way school board race, falling fewer than 140 votes short of fellow newcomer Donna Wang Su for the fourth and final available seat. Weatherspoon's campaign was endorsed by the Organization for Positive Action and Leadership and Evanston Fight for Black Lives.

District 65 Board President Anya Tanyavutti said she was excited to have sworn in Weatherspoon during the final board meeting of the year 2020-21 school year.

"What a school year this has been, y'all," Tanyavutti said Monday. "We made it. We are here, and we still have our eyes on the prize, I think. We have landed here — on the right side of history — with incredible people to share our community with."

During her first planning discussion for the coming school year, Weatherspoon said one of her primary concerns was addressing the mental health of students.

"I think it should be important that we implement a block of time for them to have a mental health assessment of themselves," Weatherspoon said. "How we kind of did the temperature check and warning before you go to school, I think we should do a mental check before we continue the rest of the day."

Weatherspoon's term will run through the April 2023 election.

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Mendoza, a grants officer for Rotary International, was appointed in 2017 to fill a vacancy created by another resignation and elected to a full four-year term in 2019 in an uncontested race. She declined to comment on the reason for or timing of her resignation.

Last year, she filed paperwork to run for 5th Ward alderman in the April 6 municipal elections, but a Cook County judge ordered her name removed from the ballot after testimony at an Evanston Electoral Board hearing established she had not bound, stapled or paper-clipped her nominating petitions before submitting them to the deputy clerk.

Mendoza was the board's second resignation in less than 15 months. In February 2020, former board president and candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for state representative, Candance Chow, resigned without explanation after seven years on the board.

In an announcement issued after Monday's meeting, Tanyavutti said the board was fortunate to be able to add a new member with "a wealth of fiscal and advocacy knowledge" and a lifetime of experience in the district.

“Weatherspoon's depth of and variety of knowledge are an excellent complement to this governing body and the priorities ahead for [District 65] to address the gap in opportunity to achieve for racially/ethnically marginalized students and students with [individualized education programs] as well as resolution of the structural deficit,” Tanyavutti said.

In the district's announcement of her appointment, Weatherspoon said she considered the appointment a privilege and promised to bring her experience, determination and love for children to the board.

“I am committed to cultivating an equitable, safe and inclusive environment for all of the students, faculty members and families of the diverse Evanston/Skokie School District 65 system. It was this dedication and the support of my community that afforded me this opportunity," Weatherspoon said.

"Prayerfully, it will be what will guide me through and help me to build successful outcomes for our children. History is watching and I am eternally grateful for the future that is dependent on me.”