Lyons 103 school supplies

Four candidates help kids get ready for semester

By Steve Metsch

Four candidates seeking election to the Lyons School District 103 board spent part of Jan. 5 giving supplies to kids and meeting with parents.

Olivia Quintero, Winifred Rodriguez, Vito Campanile and incumbent Jorge Torres are running on the Parents for Student Excellence slate in the April election.

They gave away supplies during the meet-and-greet in the community room of the Lyons Village Hall.

“We’re here as an introduction to our candidacy. We get to see our friendly neighbors and the parents who want to make a difference,” said Quintero, who has a fifth-grader at the district’s Home Elementary School.

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She ran, but was not elected in 2017.

Rodriguez, whose children are grown, said that “with the kids being out of school for two weeks, this is perfect.”

“I’m running because education is important. It’s important to instill that in children,” she said.

Winifred Rodriguez, a candidate for the Lyons School District 103 board, hands school supplies to a young girl during Saturday’s event at the village hall. (Photo by Steve Metsch)

Campanile was happy to be busy distributing book bags, erasers, pencils, crayons, markers, rulers, loose leaf paper and spiral notebooks.

Campanile’s candidacy “all started when I first caught wind of the teacher who was hired who has had some problems in the past.”

He’s referring to the teacher, fired in December, who had been hired last summer despite an attempted murder charge in a 2017 road rage incident.

“I have granddaughters growing up in this school district, and I’m concerned,” Campanile, of Brookfield, said. “I’ve always been up to step up and make a difference and that’s what I intend to do.”

Torres currently finds himself in the minority on the board and is hoping to bring change to the District 103 school board which he accused of “failing” to protect the safety and interests of the children, and making the board more accountable to parents.

“We should let our professionals do what they do best, what they are paid to do. The reason why I’m running again is our community is not in the loop on a lot of things. People don’t have the luxury to attend a four-hour (board) meeting to learn about the district,” Torres said.

Each candidate took time to visit with parents during the event. One of those parents, Lyons resident Josephine Giampietro was glad she came. She has a 9-year-old in the school district.

“This is great. Really good. Comes in handy, especially when the kids like to do crafts at home. It was nice to meet the candidates, too,” Giampietro said.

— Desplaines Valley News

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Steve Metsch

Steve Metsch is an award winning veteran reporter who previously worked for the Daily Southtown Newspapers, Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times. Metsch is a writer and editor at the Southwest News Newspaper group based in suburban Chicago, and a freelance writer for a financial newsletter, a health magazine and the Naperville Sun.
Email Steve Metsch at sm4610@sbcglobal.net