Two Lake Forest School District 67 officers are departing the elementary school board, with both set to move on to other governing bodies.
School board President Annie Geraghty Helms has announced her intention to resign as she intends to join the Lake Forest High School District 115 board. She is set to depart the board not long after the recent resignation of Vice President Alice LeVert after her election to the Lake Forest City Council.
Helms, who was elected to the District 67 school board in 2021, was one of the two finalists for the open position on the District 115 board, following the resignation earlier this year of Marcus Schabacker. The LFHS board recommended her for the position, and is set to formally vote on the decision in June.
“It has been an honor to serve as president of the District 67 board,” Helms said in a statement released through a district spokeswoman. “While I’m sad to be moving on, I know the district is in good hands with a strong board, and moving to the high school felt like a new challenge and opportunity to serve the community as my own children move toward high school.
“I’m grateful to the District 67 board and administration for being so supportive of the move, and I’m looking forward to continuing to serve alongside the rest of the District 115 board,” she said.
LeVert, who was first elected to the school board in 2017, was elected Third Ward alderwoman in April’s municipal election, and inaugurated at the May 6 City Council meeting.
District 67 is requesting applications from residents seeking to join the board for the remainder of the terms, and the hope is to appoint new members to the seven-member board in June, according to a letter from Superintendent Matthew Montgomery.
Both seats will be up for election next year in the municipal elections.
LeVert was sworn into the City Council where she will succeed Jim Preschlack, who is leaving after serving the traditional six years.
LeVert joins Peter Clemens as new council members as Clemens won a special election last month to fill out the last year of a term representing the city’s First Ward. The vacancy was created by the resignation last June of Terry Mieling, shortly after his election.
Joseph Waldeck was appointed to fill Mieling’s vacancy, but Waldeck did not run in the special election for the remainder of the term.
LeVert and Clemens were sworn in May 6 alongside incumbents Nancy Novit, 1st, Edward “Ted” Notz, Jr., 2nd, and Eileen Looby Weber, 4th who were all re-elected in April. All five ran unopposed in the municipal elections.
