Citing new job, Bloom resigns from District 15 school board

Citing new job responsibilities, a member of the Palatine Township Elementary District 15 school board is resigning his post with more than two years left on his term.

Mark Bloom, elected to the board in April 2009, announced his resignation Friday in a letter to the school board.

“My new employment includes a lot of traveling and I’m simply not able to attend the meetings I need to,” Bloom said in an interview Monday, noting he’s missed two of the last three board meetings.

“It’s not fair to the district or to the community,” he said.

School officials said that because of the timing of Bloom’s departure, it is too late to put the final two years of his term up in this year’s consolidated election. Instead, board members will appoint someone to fill the seat until perhaps as late as the 2013 election.

The board will meet at 5 p.m. Wednesday to discuss procedures for choosing a replacement, Board President Gerald Chapman said. While no decisions have been made, the board probably will ask residents to apply for Bloom’s position.

“Obviously, it’s the board’s call, but it would be natural for them to look for someone similar to me, and I tended to be independent in my voting,” Bloom said.

There are three, 4-year board seats are up for election in April. Joining incumbents Chapman and Dr. James Ekeberg on the April 5 ballot are Scott Herr, a board meeting regular who actively fought the district’s $27 million bond issue, and Manjula Sriram, a technology professional and PTA member.

Incumbent Sue Quinn decided not to seek re-election in order to spend more time with her three children and focus on her career as a children’s author.

Chapman is a former District 211 superintendent, an Inverness resident and a consultant. Both he and Ekeberg, a medical doctor from Palatine, were elected in 2007.