The Lockport High School District 205 board reviewed applications Monday from 16 candidates seeking to fill the vacancy following Martin Boersma’s resignation
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from the board in December.Superintendent Robert McBride said the board reviewed resumes during a closed session Monday and selected candidates for interviews Wednesday. The Illinois Open Meeting Act allows boards to meet in closed session when filling board vacancies.
McBride declined to state how many candidates will be interviewed Wednesday or give their names. Following the interviews Wednesday, the board may decided to hold more interviews, he said, so he wanted to give the board flexibility.
But board members did express confidence in the candidates, McBride said.
“The people they asked back for interviews, they saw a diversity of strengths … that would enhance the board,” he said.
Board President Ann Lopez-Caneva said she was most excited by five candidates, but that all the candidates who applied had strong backgrounds, from finance to engineering, which would be helpful to the board.
“We have quite a few qualified candidates,” Lopez-Caneva said. “Usually, you don’t have that many people apply for a board.”
Lopez-Caneva said the board will appoint a member who has a passion for education and will work well with the incumbent board.
“We just really want that individual to be passionate about education and our students … administrators, superintendent and staff,” Lopez-Caneva said.
Boersma resigned in December after seven months on the board. He was elected in April backed by We The Parents Illinois, a group that endorsed challengers during the 2023 election to several school and library board races in Homer Glen, Lockport and Crest Hill.
Of 13 regular and special board meetings since his swearing in, Boersma did not attend five meetings, according to board meeting minutes. Boersma arrived late to the Nov. 20 meeting, according to the minutes.
In September, Boersma was a dissenting vote as the board approved the 2023-2024 budget in a 4-3 vote. When the board approved the tentative budget in July, Boersma was absent from the meeting.
Boersma raised questions about the effect of spending the district’s cash on hand. He said he voted against the budget after hearing from residents about the district’s cash on hand via email and four residents during public comment.
The board plans to seat a new candidate at its Feb. 20 meeting, McBride said. The new board member would serve a term through April 2025.