For three years, Meg Woodman drove her children to school because her district had no buses. The school did have some arts classes and a librarian — as long as the PTO kept those functions funded.
Woodman said she raised her children in an “affluent neighborhood in southern California,” where lower taxes and a large population meant that even the wealthiest school systems “had been cut, slashed and burned.”
So, the newest member of the Kildeer-Countryside Elementary District 96 School Board said she will take nothing for granted in her new position.
“I appreciate every time my kids get on the bus,” Woodman said.
The District 96 school board appointed Woodman earlier this month to fill the spot that opened up after board member Lauren Gordon died on Feb. 2 from complications of breast cancer. Board president Marc Tepper said four candidates applied for the seat, but that the effort Woodman had done to get to know the district made her stand out.
“She’s been a very active, visible face in the schools,” Tepper said. “She’s got that never-say-die attitude. She’s a quick study.”
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Natives of western New York, the Woodmans moved to California before relocating to Kildeer for work opportunities. Tepper said when former board member Robert Gauthier resigned a year and a half ago, Woodman was one of the three candidates to replace Gauthier. The board ended up selecting current board member Cynthia Zarkowsky.
“She just didn’t have enough school experience,” Tepper said of Woodman’s first application. “We gave her some ideas of what things she should do, and she did those things.”
Woodman joined the district’s Parent-to-Parent Network and the PTO, and later became president of the parent review committee.
“That’s where I got a better understanding of the district’s inner workings,” Woodman said.
Tepper said he was impressed by how Woodman followed through with the recommendations.
Woodman said the three years in southern California motivated her to make sure her kids did not experience that kind of education system again.
“I saw what can go wrong with education,” she said. “As soon as we could relocate, we did.”
And she now sees issues to consider in District 96. The conversion of Willow Grove into a full-time kindergarten program will require construction and renovations, including a kitchen and cafeteria. Tepper said another focus of this summer’s capital budget will be new science rooms in the middle schools.
Woodman is scheduled to serve until spring 2018, when a special election will define a new term. But she isn’t sharing yet her interest in running for another term and filing all the extra paperwork that comes with it.
“I’ll have to make that decision later,” she said. “This is all really new for me.”
District 96 serves Kildeer and portions of Buffalo Grove and Long Grove.
Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer