Park Ridge-Niles Community Consolidated School District 64 welcomed three new board members at its May 11 meeting and re-elected Denise Pearl to serve as board president for a second term.
Matt Doubleday, Rachel Georgakis and Monica Milligan took their oaths of office, replacing members Tom Sotos, Larry Ryles and former Board Vice President Carolina Sales.
Their seating marks a changing of a guard on a board that has recently seen membership and administrative churn with the resignations of outgoing superintendent Eric Olson and former board member Nicole Woitowich.
Prior to those resignations, the district experienced a series of conflicts over COVID-19 mitigation policies, the district’s move to hire consultants on matters of diversity, equity and inclusion and a controversy over a proposal that the annual “Holiday Sing” concert be changed to a “Spring Sing.”
Member Gareth Kennedy moved that the term of the board president be one year, but his new colleagues did not move that forward.
“I don’t want to set a precedent that bypasses really thoughtful cooperation and consideration before we get to the board table,” Milligan said.
That motion failed in a 4-3 vote. Members Phyllis Lubinski, Demetri Touzios and Gareth Kennedy voted yes. Pearl and the three newly seated members voted no.
Doubleday, who nominated Pearl to serve a second term as president, said he did so in the interest of promoting continuity on a board where four out of seven members have served less than a year and which was preparing to onboard a new chief administrator in incoming superintendent Ben Collins.
“When you have the opportunity to have someone continue on in a leadership role that’s known by the staff, someone the administration that knows, at least the recent history of what’s been going on and can speak to what’s been going on and why, that is, I think, important to help maintain some consistency and stability within the district and the board,” he said.
Touzios said he’d support the idea of yearly elections as a way to promote accountability for board leadership.
“I don’t think keeping stability is a bad thing,” he said. “But if leadership isn’t good at the top, you don’t keep it for the sake of just keeping stability.”
The board elected Milligan to serve as vice president and Doubleday to serve as board secretary. The recomposed policy committee will be made up of Milligan, Lubinski, Touzios and Georgakis.
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