On April 6, community members will vote on certain town officials, some of them being school board members. This year there are five candidates running with only four spots open on the school board. Heidi Fairgrieve, Edward McNally, and Carolyn Waibel are up for reelection while Kate Bell and Jim Stombres are new candidates. Nick Manheim is not running for reelection this year.

Kate Bell

Kate Bell is a new candidate for the school board and has not served any terms. She has worked in the medical field, restaurant management, for the Chicago Blackhawks and she runs her own company. She has two sons, one who graduated from D303 in 2020 and one who is a current sophomore in D303.

What motivated you to run for school board, and what views do you have? 

“I’ve learned that our district has a habit of reacting to situations and not being proactive and times are changing every day, more so with what happened with COVID, but times are changing constantly. And so there’s a lot of adapting that needs to happen and there’s more to education than reading and writing, and we need to step up and support kids that have SEL needs, social, emotional, we have to support the student as a whole, not just focusing on math, reading, engineering.”

What is your stance on the reopening of schools and high school sports and activities during COVID-19?

“I think that we have to have options. I personally would be okay with us going back to school full time, granted it’s eight weeks to go, so that’s a little difficult but as far as whether we should be in person, or at home, I think we should be in person. However, you can’t go against the regular guidelines, you have to follow what’s going on but there’s other districts in the communities around this, going back to school, five days a week all day long. We have to figure this out.”

What would you like to say to high school students in D303 considering some are old enough to vote?

“I want to be a student voice, I want to be a student conduit, because I don’t think that the board has any way to bring in student needs.”

“I will be accessible. People can come to me, a student, a parent, a teacher, a taxpayer who’s got no kids in this district, anyone. I want to do that. So I want to be accessible and find ways to do so and I feel it’s important to hear what everybody needs.”

Heidi Fairgrieve

Heidi Fairgrieve is up for reelection for her second term. She is the director of underwriting at a bank. She has two daughters in D303, both attending St. Charles North as a junior and freshman respectively.

What motivated you to run for school board, and what views do you have? 

“I think that things have been accomplished over the last four years, but there’s still a lot more to do not only to help lead us out of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impacts of that, but also to continue on the road that we’re on toward academic excellence.”

“My primary focus is really to bring all of our schools back to a full time status, and whatever that looks like. But I would like to see us at a point, especially at the high school level, where we’re able to get back to increasing our instructional time.”

What is your stance on the reopening of schools and high school sports and activities during COVID-19?

“I am absolutely fully in support of that. I think that’s with the caveat that things need to be done in a safe and intentional manner, and I think we’ve proven as a school district up to this point that we’re able to do that. The COVID positivity rate within our school district, since we began tracking it in September of 2020 has been extremely low within our school community and much better than Kane County community as a whole, so I think that the data supports returning to school and supports activities as well with the appropriate precautions in place.”

What would you like to say to high school students in D303 considering some are old enough to vote?

“I would just encourage everyone that has the opportunity to vote to do so. This is one of the rare opportunities that our country and democracy affords that everybody has a chance to give their opinion and to make their voice heard. And that doesn’t mean that everybody agrees, all the time, or that what you are supporting necessarily comes out on top, and is the direction of the country, but it’s a huge opportunity and I would just encourage everyone to take advantage.”

Edward McNally

Edward McNally is up for reelection for his third term. Outside of volunteering for the school board, he is a science teacher at Proviso West High School, which is located in Hillside, Illinois. He has three children currently in D303: a junior and a freshman at St. Charles East and a fifth grader at Richmond. 

What motivated you to run for school board, and what views do you have? 

“I wanted to make sure that people had time to actually know and understand what the issues were, because it’s hard to get all that information out in that period of time. And then to actually learn well over those decisions in that area, and really be able to understand people’s concerns.” 

“I’ve been a teacher since I started teaching in 1989. So the fact that I really have an understanding when we talk about different policies, particularly in learning and teaching, which is the committee chair right now. When we talk about policies like that, I have probably a little bit better of an understanding as to how that’s going to work when it actually gets to a classroom as opposed to kind of a theory or concept that I think, sometimes is the case if you’re not involved in education directly.” 

What is your stance on the reopening of schools and high school sports and activities during COVID-19?

“So my preference has been really kind of from the start, again, within the guidelines that are allowable, as many students back as many days as possible, as soon as possible. And that goes for sports and other activities as well, particularly because sports and other activities are volunteering.”

What would you like to say to high school students in D303 considering some are old enough to vote?

“Any decisions that are made by the board are going to impact all students. But I think it’s important for students to make sure they understand the issues from all sides, and those who are voting, make sure they understand the issue from all sides. It’s easy for anybody, and it doesn’t matter your age, it’s easy for people to look at things from a single perspective. And one of the things you have to bear in mind is that the issues that we’re voting on are going to impact everybody.” 

“And so one of the things I think a lot of people don’t understand the one person that the board actually does hire is the superintendent. The superintendent’s job is then to make sure that all the people below him in that structure, that he hires them, or if they’re already hired, that he supervises them, or ceases to supervise properly. So he’s really the only one who reports directly to us.” 

Jim Stombres 

Jim Stombres is a challenger for a position on the school board. He worked as a public school teacher for 37 years, ending his career as the first band director here at North. Retired in 2015, he continues to work as a teacher part time and currently is a part time teacher at Wheaton College. He has three children who all were a part of D303 and went to St. Charles East. He has two grandchildren who will be future North Stars. 

What motivated you to run for school board, and what views do you have? 

“One of the reasons I want to get on the board is to open those lines of communication [between the board and the community] because if students have an issue they want to bring to the board, they shouldn’t feel alienated or afraid to do so, and the same with the teachers…  I’d like to make that shift to more of the board being more of advocates for the community: the students and the teachers.” 

“The platform is I want to be an advocate for the teachers and the students. And I’ve lived in St. Charles, almost 40 years and my kids went through this system and I want to give back to the community in the school. I desperately miss going to North every day in teaching.”

What is your stance on the reopening of schools and high school sports and activities during COVID-19?

“My position is: we need to get school back in session. We need to get the teachers vaccinated. We need to get it done safely, but get it done as quickly as possible.”

“I always felt that teaching was about relationships. You don’t really learn something from a teacher you don’t like or respect. Getting back into school and having that relationship, I think is really important.”

What would you like to say to high school students in D303 considering some are old enough to vote?

“I’d like the students at North to know that there’s an advocate on the board if I’m elected. To be an ear for the students and an ear for the teachers. When there’s changes that are being made, my first thought is ‘how is this affecting the teachers, is it good for them?’ ‘Or is it not good for them?’ ‘Is it good for the students, is it good for all the students, not just a specific group?’. Because my background is that I have a concern for the students that are in athletics, I have a concern for the students that are in the arts, you know, being the former band director from North. And there’s a lot of different things to consider when decisions are being made. Also a concern for the academics.” 

Carolyn Waibel 

Carolyn Waibel is up for re-election for her second term. She grew up in St. Charles and graduated from St. Charles High School. She had a career in sales and marketing, but currently is retired and does all philanthropic work now. She has one son in D303, a senior at St. Charles East. 

What motivated you to run for school board, and what views do you have? 

“I’m not done yet. And so I just think with communication [between board members and students], we have a long way to go about how we are collaborating together, and making sure those relationships are really symbiotic.”

“So equity is really important to me, the IEP process, or any kind of special ed process really needs to improve. That is really my area of focus, we literally just started a parent group. That is something I’ve been pushing on for four years. And so now they’re going to do a focus group for the next couple of years. So I’m very excited that that finally got to fruition. But it took a while.” 

What is your stance on the reopening of schools and high school sports and activities during COVID-19?

“I’ve always fought for that at the table to make sure kids are back in school as much as we can, within the safety guidelines of the health department’s. Sadly, those are the realities that we have to work within. We have to put children’s health and safety first. That’s literally our oath. So that’s what we had to work with. But I’m very glad and happy to work within those parameters to get students back in school safely and back in sports safely and as quickly as possible, so I’m relieved.” 

“My stance with high school sports, and even middle school sports is as much as we are allowed to, by health regulation recommendation. I think it’s important that we get kids playing, they need to be active, they need to have social interaction, they need to have a physical outlet in order for them to express some of the anxiety and frustration they’ve had being in COVID-land for a year.” 

What would you like to say to high school students in D303 considering some are old enough to vote?

“I would encourage everyone who’s 18 to make sure you’re registered to vote, and to make sure that you vote for just for anything that’s available to vote for… it’s really important that you guys speak up on what you want the future to look like. I’ve always been an activist in the sense of the democratic process, and parliamentary procedure and process.” 

“It’s our job in the district to speak for you guys, for the students in particular. And so as a candidate, and as a board member, that’s always been my priority. My priority is to listen to the students’ needs first. And what it is that we can do to help your education experience your personal experience and help you grow into a contributing member of society, after your time in D303.” 

Voting takes place April 6 and is a way for every community member to make their voice heard.