2 Lyons Township High Incumbents Leaving Next Year

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School's seven-member board will have another change in leadership after the April 1 election.

Monday was the deadline to file candidacies.

Board President Jill Grech did not submit paperwork to run for reelection. Nor did member Michael Thomas.

Grech took the reins in the spring after the abrupt resignation of President Dawn Aubert.

Six candidates are vying for four positions. Two are incumbents Paula Struwing and Gioia Giannotti Frye. Struwing was appointed to fill Dawn Aubert's seat, while Frye was recently picked to replace member Elvia Nava, who resigned after 15 months.

The other candidates are Elias Lopez, Christine Kozelka Campbell, Shawn Kennedy and Arlene Farolan Cabana.

A Patch story on Thursday noted the candidacies of Frye, Lopez, Campbell and Kennedy. Cabana and Struwing submitted their paperwork after that.

A lawyer, Cabana is the former president of Pleasantdale School District 107.

In 2023, she and her fellow board members opposed the high school board's effort to sell land in Willow Springs to an industrial developer. The land is next to houses and Pleasantdale Elementary School.

During a Willow Springs town hall a year ago, Cabana said the high school board's actions caused much "angst and trepidation" for residents. She said the school was 25 feet from the high school's land.

"Industry does not belong next to a school," Cabana said.

Last year, the attorney general's office ordered the Lyons Township High School board to release closed-session recordings about the since-abandoned land deal. Behind closed doors, officials insulted Willow Springs officials and strategized about how to keep village and Pleasantdale officials out of the loop.

Struwing, a Willow Springs resident, also lives in the Pleasantdale district. A few months ago, though, her statements about the land prompted some Willow Springs residents to wonder whether she was on their side.

In Illinois, school board members are unpaid.