Not Your Run-Of-The-Mill Elmhurst School Board Member

ELMHURST, IL – It may be hard to find another school board member like Elmhurst's Jim Collins.

Case in point: He created a board game that explains the intricacies of school finance.

Also, Collins, whose last day as a board member was Tuesday, served 16 years, starting in 2009.

That's unusual for a school board member. By comparison, Hinsdale High School District 86's longest-serving board members go back to 2021. At Lyons Township High School, the senior members started in 2019.

On Tuesday, board members hailed the service of Collins and member Kara Caforio, who served eight years.

During his tenure, Collins' focus was on finance. Among other things, he often warned about the increased staff head count while enrollment was relatively flat.

When he joined the board, it was amid the Great Recession.

"The school district didn't have enough money to pay all their bills that fiscal year," Collins said at the meeting.

The district, he said, laid off 56 employees and froze base pay for two years.

He said he never wanted to undergo that experience again, which is why he called himself a budget hawk.

Since 2011, the district has enjoyed a budget surplus every year but one, Collins said.

From left are Elmhurst school board members Brian Bresnahan, Courtenae Trautmann, Athena Arvanitis and Nikki Slowinski. Trautmann swore in the other three at Tuesday's board meeting. In the April 1 election, Arvanitis, Slowinski and Bresnahan prevailed. (David Giuliani/Patch)

When Collins joined the board, the youngest of his two children was in kindergarten. Now, that child is in the second semester of senior year of college.

Board member Kara Caforio said schools have been her life's work for the last 20 years. Before joining the board, she was active in PTA.

In her role as a board member, Caforio said she saw "the best of our community and honestly at times, the very worst."

As for the best, she described experiences with students and staff.

She did not give any examples about "the very worst." During the pandemic, she was the board's president, presiding over emotional debates about remote classes and face masks.

In the April 1 election, Athena Arvanitis, the board's president, won a second term. Also prevailing were Nikki Slowinski and Brian Bresnahan. They took the oath of office Tuesday.

The board re-elected Arvanitis, who became president in 2023. The others elected were Kelly Henry as vice president and Kelly Asseff as secretary.