Glen Ellyn – Glen Ellyn Education Association (GEEA) today announced its recommendations for the upcoming District 41 Board of Education election. Ahead of the April 2 municipal elections, the union representing approximately 200 teachers in District 41 recommended three candidates for the three open seats: Jessica Buttimer, Ted Estes and Julie Hill.
“As a union, we hope to use our collective voice to improve District 41 for our students and our community,” said Dina Sbarra, co-president of GEEA. “That means strengthening relationships and having open and transparent communication with the administration. Buttimer, Estes and Hill embody those qualities.”
GEEA recommended three candidates for the board election. In part, GEEA has chosen to recommend these candidates to improve relationships with the board and increase collaboration in District 41. The three recommended candidates all highlighted the importance of working with teachers and staff to provide the best possible quality public education for our students. Additionally, these three candidates also highlighted key initiatives that are supported by GEEA: successfully hiring a new superintendent and considering implementation of full day kindergarten.
“We did not take this recommendation process lightly. We want to ensure that the board is comprised of people who want to provide the highest quality public school education for our students and are open to diverse perspectives on how to accomplish that,” said Tracy Guerrieri, co-president of GEEA.
GEEA sent questionnaires to all five candidates running for the three open seats on the District 41 school board. Two candidates chose not to fill out the questionnaire. One candidate explained that they did not think the union should be involved in local elections while the other felt it was inappropriate for the GEEA to be involved since “a majority of [GEEA] members do not live in D41.”
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The 135,000 member Illinois Education Association (IEA-NEA) is the state’s largest education employee’s organization. IEA represents preK-12 teachers outside of the city of Chicago and education support staff, higher education faculty, retired education employees and students preparing to become teachers, statewide.
