3 incumbents and a newcomer make up New Trier School Board Caucus slate

The New Trier School Board Caucus has announced its endorsements for the four expiring seats on the high school’s board of education.

Three incumbents — Avik Das, Kimberly Alcantara and Sally Tomlinson, the board’s vice president — lead the slate, and are joined by newcomer Joo Serk Lee, of Wilmette. Keith Dronen, whose term is expiring, will retire from the School Board after serving two terms.

Lee is a technology professional and consultant with nearly 30 years in tech experience. He is a 20-year resident of Wilmette who previously served on the New Trier School Board Caucus. Lee has two children at New Trier High School and one NTHS graduate. He said he is “very honored to be slated” and believes his professional experience will be an asset to the board of education.

“I think I can bring some of that expertise … fresh thinking and new perspectives to the board and steer and drive sound decision-making,” said Lee, who added he hopes to enable more civil dialogue that is “badly needed.”

Alcantara, of Wilmette, is an attorney and has previously served on the Wilmette District 39 School Board and League of Women Voters of Wilmette board; Das, of Glenview and Avoca District 37, is the executive director of the Cook County Justice Advisory Council; and Tomlinson, of Winnetka, is a communications professional who is a former Winnetka Community Nursery School board member.

“We are incredibly excited about the slate. They each bring a great perspective to the board and we feel confident they will be strong stewards moving forward,” said Laura Friedel, the caucus’s chairperson.

The New Trier School Board caucus comprises delegates from each of New Trier High School’s six feeder districts, and a district’s number of delegates is decided by its size. For instance, Wilmette District 39 has the most participants and Kenilworth District 38 the least. For this caucus cycle, 46 delegates cast votes.

Interested School Board candidates applied with the caucus earlier this fall, and each was interviewed between Oct. 1-10 in front of the entire caucus. Friedel declined to say how many candidates were interviewed.

The caucus has vetted and recommended New Trier Board of Education candidates since 1954. Friedel said the caucus considers incumbents and newcomers on a level playing field, and this year the caucus was impressed with the incumbents, all three of whom were also caucus endorsed in 2021.

In four cycles between 2011-2019, the New Trier caucus slate went unchallenged on the ballot; however, the past two elections challengers have entered the race, but come up short in the final results.

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