Supna Jain, vice president of the Indian Prairie District 204 School Board, has been nominated to complete the term of Naperville City Councilwoman Allison Longenbaugh.
The Naperville City Council has asked staff to add a resolution to its Sept. 16 meeting agenda through which Jain will be appointed to the vacant seat. If approved, Jain will be sworn in immediately and serve in the role until April 2027.
Longenbaugh announced last month that she would be stepping down to take a new job that prevents her from serving on the council.
If sworn in, Jain would be the second Indian American to serve on the council as well as the first woman of color. The first Indian American is Ashfaq Syed, who was elected in April.
Her appointment will require Jain to resign from the school board. She was elected in 2021 and re-elected in 2025. Her term ends in 2029.
Jain, who is employed as a principal lecturer in communication and media studies at Naperville’s North Central College, said the decision to apply for the vacancy was not an easy one, particularly given that the school district is in the process of searching for a new superintendent.
However, after several people urged her to put her name in for the position, she gave the idea a good deal of thought and decided her skills and past experiences could be valuable to the council.
Some of the challenges Jain said she navigated as a board member included approving changes to the D204 school boundary map and putting a tax referendum on the election ballot that passed with 74% approval, she said. As a council member, among the first issues she will dive into are the IMEA contract and development of a proposed data center.
Jain, a 47-year-old married mother of two teenage boys, has a law degree from DePaul University and a master’s degree in communication studies from Illinois State University. She’s worked at NCC for more than a decade and, according to a city news release, teaches Indian dance for the Naperville Park District and is the founder/artistic director of a nonprofit dance troupe.
“I’ve known her since 2020,” Councilman Ian Holzhauer said. “She’s well-respected in the education community, well-respected in the government community and well-respected in the larger neighborhood community.”
With the budget season on the horizon, Jain’s experience dealing with spending plans and navigating other challenges as part of the D204 board would be invaluable to the council, Holzhauer said.
“She’s somebody who is very neutral, she’s not extreme right or left, and very smart and she does her research,” said Syed, who has known Jain for more than five years. “She’s somebody who can fit in Allison’s shoes.”
While it was not the main reason for putting her name forward for consideration, Jain acknowledged that she understands the significance of having an Indian American woman on the council given the large percentage of Asian Americans who make up Naperville’s population.
“Representation of this really diverse community with qualified and capable people means a lot to me,” Jain said. “I never saw someone like myself serving in such a capacity growing up, and so when I do see women of different races and ethnicities being represented in such positions, it inspires me.”
A 2023 survey done by the U.S. Census Bureau estimated nearly 37,000 Naperville residents identified as Asian, nearly a fourth of the city’s population. Of that number, the majority — an estimated 22,000 — identified as Indian.
Naperville’s diversity, and the businesses that serve those diverse communities, is something Jain said she loves about Naperville, where she has lived since 2010. Growing up in Bloomington-Normal, Jain said her family would need to drive two to three hours to get Indian groceries.
“The idea that I could drive five to 10 minutes to Patel Brothers and get those groceries is just magical,” Jain said.
The last time a council seat was filled by appointment was in 2022, when former Councilwoman Patty Gustin stepped down after being elected to the DuPage County Board. Nicki Anderson, former CEO of the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, was selected to complete her term and did not seek election to a full term.
Jain can run for a four-year council seat in the 2027 election but said she is currently undecided as to whether she will do so.
cstein@chicagotribune.com
