Elmhurst Conservative Runs For School Board Again

ELMHURST, IL – Tom Chavez, a high-profile conservative critic of Elmhurst School District 205's leadership, is running again for the school board.

Monday was the last day for candidates to file for the April 1 election.

Besides Chavez, the other candidates for three board seats are board President Athena Arvanitis and challengers Nicole Slowsinski, Brian Bresnahan and John Bishof.

Incumbents Jim Collins and Kara Caforio, elected in 2009 and 2017, respectively, are not seeking re-election.

In the 2023 election, Chavez's team of conservative candidates lost to their progressive, teachers union-backed rivals.

Whether Chavez will find allies among the other candidates is unclear. But Bishof doesn't appear to fill that role.

In February 2022, Bishof spoke up at a board meeting during a debate over masks. He backed the mask mandate.

"I hope to God (the latest coronavirus variant) continues to burn through real quick, so we can remove our masks because we want to, not because we're told to, not because other people are shaming us," Bishof said. "Lots of bullying is going on both ways with the masks. I hope you guys address that and continue to keep our kids safe."

Chavez's allies opposed mask mandates, although Chavez himself was relatively quiet on the issue. He became prominent locally by helping lead the campaign to reopen schools during the pandemic. In 2021, Chavez repeatedly accused the district of teaching critical race theory, which the district denied.

When he campaigned in 2023, Chavez focused on test scores and the district's rising property taxes.

Shortly after that election, Chavez publicly objected to the high school making the book, "American Street," required reading. At a board meeting, he read excerpts with obscenities and a racial slur.

The English department recommended the book, but officials later decided to only include passages from the book in lessons.

More recently, Chavez has taken the district to task for downplaying the news that York's SAT scores have fallen.

In Illinois, school board members are unpaid.