District 200 school board race pits incumbents against challengers questioning middle school projects

Few school board races in DuPage County are as crowded as the one in Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200, with seven candidates vying for four available seats.

Unlike the election battles in the pandemic’s shadow, the candidate roster this time is largely divided along more familiar lines, with some challenging the status quo and raising questions about a voter-approved plan for major projects in the district’s oldest middle schools.

The field includes three incumbents — current school board President Rob Hanlon, Angela Blatner and John Rutledge — assuring at least one new face on the board. Rounding out the ballot are Amy Erkenswick, who finished just 33 votes shy of winning a board seat two years ago, Brooke Gennaro, Sara Paver and Katy Ebbesen.

It’s the first school board contest since 68% of voters in November backed the district’s request to take out $151.5 million in bonds for work at Edison, Franklin and Monroe middle schools.

Gennaro notes less than 30,000 people cast “yes” votes. Opening in 2009, Hubble, the newest middle school, also “boasts the lowest proficiency rates,” she said.

“This tells us that bright, shiny new buildings do not automatically increase academic performance,” Gennaro said in an interview with the Daily Herald Editorial Board. “We need to concentrate on what else is going on in the inside. We need to look at discretionary spending, see what we can free up to get more supports for our students that will actually correlate to the grades that they're getting in their classes.”

Ebbesen, an attorney, countered that Hubble’s “test scores are lower not because our building is new or because anything is wrong with Warrenville, but because we are pulling from a different demographic.”

She’s the only candidate from the city and says her biggest motivation in running is “to be that voice for Warrenville.”

At a League of Women Voters forum, Ebbesen said she “wholeheartedly” supported the district’s ballot measure and that she heard from people in Wheaton who thought, “Franklin hasn’t changed since I went there in the 80s.”

Erkenswick, who campaigned on a slate with three other challengers in 2023, said she has a “strong voice” and resilience.

“I came really close two years ago, but I'm not the kind of person who will back down, and I think that's really important because, when it comes to advocating for and protecting our students, we need people who will really step up and strongly advocate on their behalf,” Erkenswick said.

She suggests the district should be funding more of its facility improvements through its operating budget.

“It's wonderful that the community is so giving and so generous, but to me, that speaks to a sort of inherent and persistent problem that we're not planning for the maintenance of our buildings,” Erkenswick said.

Paver has experienced the district as a high academic achiever — she went on to earn a PhD — and then as a parent attending IEP meetings.

“I want to meet the access needs of all of our students, so that every single one of them receives a high-quality education, that every single one of them feels safe at school, and that every single one of them belongs in their school communities,” she said.

“Because as a parent of a child who's been treated as an exception, I think that that helps me see that we need to … represent and advocate for the needs of all students.”

At the League forum, Paver said she supported the middle school upgrades with an “asterisk,” pointing to concerns about “what kind of planning went into the future of special education.”

Blatner, a pediatric physical therapist, has been on the board since 2021. Blatner said she was skeptical in initial discussions about the middle schools and that’s she cognizant about spending other people’s money.

But in terms of equity, “we are making sure that all of our middle schools have the same opportunities. I love that we are committed to fine arts, music, band, orchestra, chorus, all of that, and that we're building that into those facilities,” Blatner said.

Rutledge, a former Wheaton city councilman, won a 2-year term in the last board election. Science labs in the middle schools are undersized, he said.

“We have found that the extracurricular or cocurricular activities are really important in terms of keeping attendance high and student engagement, and this is a major part of what we're proposing for the middle schools to modernize them,” Rutledge said. “It's been a long time since any significant work was done other than routine maintenance.”

Hanlon said the “community graciously and with wisdom” approved the investment in the middle schools, and he wants to see that work through the finish line. Part of his focus is on ensuring student safety with construction activity happening during the school year.

“I’ve brought it up several times. I am very confident that it’s going to be addressed and there won’t be an issue,” he said.

Hanlon is the longest-tenured incumbent, with eight years on the board.

“Our school system is an asset to this community, and that's honestly why I'm running again,” he said. “I want to protect that asset.”