Candidates for the Glenbrook High School District 225 Board of Education spoke about academic excellence, fiscal responsibility, college counseling and a yearbook controversy at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters on March 16 at the Northbrook Public Library.
Seven candidates are running for four four-year seats on the school board in the April 1 Cook County consolidated election. Early voting opened March 17.
Incumbents Peter Glowacki, Board vice president, and Matthew O’Hara, Board member, are running in a field that also includes newcomers John “Jack” Downing, Beth Hope, Julian Cheng, Lowell Paul Eisenstadt and Lisa Kane.
Illinois law dictates that school board elections are non-partisan, according to the League of Women Voters, meaning that a candidate’s party and affiliations will not be on the ballot.
Opening Statements
Glowacki, a first generation American, said his life turned for the better when he attended high school in the suburbs after going to school in the city. He said he is running for re-election to give students, “the opportunity to succeed (and) thrive.”
O’Hara said he ran for the first time four years ago because he wanted to improve the schools in the district, and his second term goal is to improve students’ academic and social and emotional learning.
“My goal is progress for us,” O’Hara said. “I know progress has been kind of a dirty word at times, but for me it’s the word that we need to use. We should be progressing slowly and surely,” he said.
Cheng is the owner of the Kumon Math and Reading Center near Pfingsten and Willow Roads and has lived in the school district for 18 years, both in Northbrook and in Glenview. He said he is running for a seat on the school board, “because our students, teachers, families and community deserve an exemplary education.”
Downing, a District 225 native and founder of an executive search firm, said he spent 30 years on the board of the nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago. “If I’m elected on the (Glenbrook) board, I’ll put kids and families first in my decision making. I’ll remain engaged in our community, actively reaching out, listening to people. I will be fiscally responsible, making data driven and transparent decisions.”
Eisenstadt, a District 225 parent and substitute teacher, said the school district is at crossroads when it comes to addressing hateful incidents, such as a yearbook controversy last year. “Recent incidents of antisemitism, discrimination and safety concerns have exposed the critical lack of transparency and accountability. Families deserve a district that does not just acknowledge these issues, but actively addresses them,” he said.
Hope, a District 225 parent and spokesperson for a mental health center, echoed the cultural rifts that have put the district in the spotlight. “We’re living in a time with (increasing) cultural and political divisions, and our schools must remain places of learning, safety and inclusivity,” she said. “I’m committed to ensuring that every student has access to a world class education.”
Kane, a District 225 parent and high school counselor, said she is the only candidate that is a full-time certified high school educator. “If elected, I will use my experience as an educator to advocate for increasing funding towards (the) college and career (center.) We have an incredible student services team and many counselors, but we only have three college and career counselors to serve our 5,000 Glenbrook students,” she said.
Cultural schisms, post-pandemic schooling
Glenbrook South High School was mired in controversy after a yearbook published in Spring 2024 contained a quote from a student that some viewed as antisemitic.
The district commissioned a law firm to investigate, and they found that a student’s quote was taken out of context. The district received backlash for allowing the quote to be published.
Eisendstadt said the district’s most pressing need is to bring the community back together. “We had not such a good year last year as far as culture and the divides in the community… we need to recapture that, we need to bring that back (and) take a strong stance against hate and (earn) the community trust again.”
“(COVID-19) really tested us. It tested the culture, it tested what we expected from our schools,” Glowacki said. “There’s also an education revolution taking place. We’re focused on learning in new ways,” he said.
“Mental health is a huge piece of my platform,” Hope said. “I can’t say enough about the impact (COVID-19) has had in our students and what they need.”
Kane said her priority is to address safety and belonging concerns students have. “We’ve seen several social media posts that have been discriminatory and have been hurtful in the last couple of years, and I think it’s really important that we create a standardized training for our students and our staff. They can’t recognize or see discrimination if they don’t know what that is.”
O’Hara said the pandemic was able to illuminate discrepancies and what changes the board needed to implement.
Cheng said the district needs stronger leadership, increased safety and accountability and communication. “We’ve had a lack of leadership with the GBS yearbook incident — and a rise of racism, even within the last month or so at both schools.”