Humbled and grateful: Successful Oswego School Board candidates react to election results

Oswego School District voters elected four newcomers to seats on the district’s Board of Education in balloting Tuesday, April 6.

From a field of seven candidates, final, unofficial vote totals showed Dr. Donna Marino of Aurora, Eugene Gatewood of Aurora, Jennifer Johnson of Oswego, and LaTonya Simelton of Oswego winning four-year board terms.

The newly elected board members will occupy the seats held previously by Board Vice President Matt Bauman, Toni Morgan, Heather Moyer and Brent Lightfoot, who all opted no to seek re-election. Bauman was elected Tuesday to a two-year term on the Montgomery Village Board.

With votes coming in from Will County, Kane County and Kendall County, final, unofficial totals show Marino with 3,883 votes, Gatewood with 3,742 votes, Johnson with 3,161 votes, and Simelton with 2,916 votes.

Placing fifth and out of the running for board seats was Katie Heiden with 2,889 votes. Heiden was followed by Eulalia Valdez at 2,844, and Keisha Earl at 1,494

When reached for comment late Tuesday night, the four successful candidates said they are eager to start work.

Gatewood said that the feeling of victory is “beyond humbling.”

“You just sit back, and of course you work hard and hope to win, but when it actually happens, it’s like, ‘Wait a minute, I just won’,” he said. “I’m really humbled, honored, and I can’t wait to serve.”

As a board member, Gatewood said he is looking forward to building relationships.

“We can’t do anything in this district if we don’t have a team of people that are all rowing in the same direction,” he said. “For me it’s about starting to build relationships, getting people to know who I am, getting me to understand the team that I’m working with, so that we can create a strategy for student achievement for our kids so that we can get the district and community going in the same direction.”

“It feels great, I’m really excited,” Marino said.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity, and I know there’s a lot of work ahead to do, but I’m very grateful that the community saw I could bring value to the board.”

A priority for Marino, will be sending students back to school in the fall “in a healthy way.”

This plan, she said, includes “providing the resources that kids need, and really working as a collaborative, solution-focused team on the board.”

“I’m grateful for the opportunity and flattered to seeing the number of votes coming in,” she added. “I’m really looking forward to working with everyone.”

Over the course of the campaign, Johnson said she has been studying the state’s Evidence Based Funding and its impact on the district, something that will remain a priority once she is sworn in.

“I think that we’re in a financial crisis, and I don’t think that everyone in our district realizes how dire it is,” she said. “I really look forward to working with our community and helping them understand the fact that we don’t have the reserves that we need, that we have to borrow money to pay our current bills, and really start to dig into the finances and help our CFO (Chief Financial Officer) and our administrators make these decisions so that we can start to dig out of this situation.”

Johnson also pledged to work towards sending students back to school in the fall, while still providing opportunities for students who need to learn remotely.

“I’m very excited to serve the community, our students, our families, our teachers and administrators,” Johnson said. “I feel an incredible call to service, and I am very passionate about education, so this was a natural progression for me in my life.

“I’m excited to dig in. I think we have a very big job ahead of us, but I also think it’s my responsibility just as much as anybody else. So why not me, and why not now?”

Simelton said that it “feels great to have taken on such a task and been successful in my first run.

“It feels exceptionally good...I feel as though I am on my way to doing what I want to accomplish.”

When she is sworn in, Simelton said that she is eager to hear from the school disrtrict community.

“One of the opportunities we have is to understand what it is that our community, what benefits do we need to deliver to them?,” Simelton said.

“Listening is going to be really important. I think tackling my role in terms of understanding it, the learning curve. But the most important thing is hearing from our community; what makes them do the things they do, make the decisions they make about their district.”

Once election results are certified, Simelton confirmed that she will step down from her position as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Coordinator for the district.

The Board of Education will vote on Simelton’s resignation as part of the personnel report, an item on each meeting’s agenda.

“We’ve done some great work as it relates to DEI, and there’s a lot of decisions the district has to make in terms of how they want to go forward with the role,” she said, adding that she will work to ensure that there is an appropriate transition between her and her successor.

Candidates make history for District 308

Gatewood and Simelton have also made Board of Education history, as the first two Black members of the board.

“I hadn’t even considered that,” Gatewood said. “I think that it’s most definitely important to our community because representation absolutely matters, and given that our district represents roughly 45% people of color, I think that it’s very important that we have a perspective on the school board that can represent students so that students can see themselves.

“I’m elated and even more humbled...after almost 200 years of history for the district, I’m excited and humbled by the opportunity.”

“That’s history, isn’t it?” Simelton said.

“I’m just so humbled by that,” she continued, adding that she understood the importance of her appointment to the board.

“Representation matters. All students should be able to see themselves in all aspects of our district, from the classroom to the bus driver, to administration, to the board.

“All students can benefit from having representation that looks like all of us,” Simelton said.

The Board of Education will next meet at 7:30 p.m., April 12, in the Community Room of Oswego East High School.